Motorola Milestone XT720 review

At 3.7-inches the screen itself is relatively large for a smartphone. It has a resolution of 480x854 pixels which, although not quite as large as the iPhone 4's 960x640 pixels, is quite high. If we have a complaint it is that it is a bit tricky to see well outside in sunshine. This isn't unique to the XT720, but it could prove annoying.

Nonetheless, the bright screen is great for watching video. The high resolution is ideal for web browsing, since you can see more of the page at once, always a big plus. It's easy to zoom in and out of webpages using a pinching gesture since the capacitive touchscreen supports multitouch.

Unlike its previous Android phones, Motorola has chosen not to graft its own customised interface onto the XT720's Android 2.1 installation. This should mean that it can be upgraded easily to newer OS versions, including Android 2.2. However, although Motorola has confirmed that the Asian version of the XT720, the Motoroi, will receive the 2.2 update later this year, it has yet to confirm European availability.

Motorola has added a couple of useful apps including a version of the QuickOffice office suite is included, but it can only view and edit documents. Fortunately, the full version is available for just £6.49. Installed on the included 8GB microSD card is the Motonav GPS app. It's only a demo version though.

Another extra for car owners is the Moto Car Home app which gives you an alternative home screen for in car use. It divides the screen into six huge and easily tappable buttons – Home, Bluetooth, View map, Voice search, Music and Contacts.

MySign is an app which lets you start other applications by drawing a symbol on the screen. As a shortcut it is a great idea, but it doesn't run invisibly in the background so you need to run the app in order to access its capabilities and not all apps work with it, so its usefulness is limited.

Call quality was fine, but battery life falls a little short. Depending on how heavily you use high end features, such as GPS and Wi-Fi, you may or may not get a full day from the Motorola Milestone XT720 between charges.

Entertainment features include an integrated FM radio, a music equaliser and support for H264, WMV and MPEG4 video files. The microHDMI port allows videos and photos to be displayed on an external screen. A microHDMI cable is included in the box. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, this feature only works with the bundled media player app.

You may be drawn to the Motorola Milestone XT720 by its high end flagship features such as the eight-megapixel camera, Xenon flash and 720p video recording, as well as its large screen and quirky physical design. Unfortunately, the camera isn't much of an improvement over other smartphone cameras. This leaves little reason to choose the XT720 over other smartphones, including other, very similar Android models.