Help Questions before changing from Galaxy to Milestone

[spottyelephant]

I've had enough of my Galaxy. It's great, but being stuck on android 1.5 is killing me and it's time to move on.

I was considering the Nexus one, until i realised it's essentially the exact same as the milestone except for the live wallpapers, however glancing through this forum, i have a couple questions which'd be great if you could answer.

1. The whole point of changing my Galaxy is for android updates, and i'm slightly worried that the milestone might have the same update problems..in that it doesn't get any! Is that the case?
2. Being in Ireland, i'd have to buy off ebay or amazon or somewhere - if updates are done OTA, how would i get them? Can you download them via PC software and flash with usb?
3. Camera. The second most important reason for me changing. How is it on the milestone - did anyone have an n95 before to compare? I've watched a couple videos on youtube, and the video recorder doesnt look bad at all, but im reading lots of problems with autofocus, white balance etc...so does it take good photos or not!?
4. What apps have pinch zoom!? Web? Maps? Photo gallery?
5. Any other info you would like to volunteer, good or bad?

Cheers.

 

[strictly86]

I've had enough of my Galaxy. It's great, but being stuck on android 1.5 is killing me and it's time to move on.

I was considering the Nexus one, until i realised it's essentially the exact same as the milestone except for the live wallpapers, however glancing through this forum, i have a couple questions which'd be great if you could answer.

1. The whole point of changing my Galaxy is for android updates, and i'm slightly worried that the milestone might have the same update problems..in that it doesn't get any! Is that the case?
2. Being in Ireland, i'd have to buy off ebay or amazon or somewhere - if updates are done OTA, how would i get them? Can you download them via PC software and flash with usb?
3. Camera. The second most important reason for me changing. How is it on the milestone - did anyone have an n95 before to compare? I've watched a couple videos on youtube, and the video recorder doesnt look bad at all, but im reading lots of problems with autofocus, white balance etc...so does it take good photos or not!?
4. What apps have pinch zoom!? Web? Maps? Photo gallery?
5. Any other info you would like to volunteer, good or bad?

Cheers.

1 - You would get updates OTA, the milestone is being sold SIM free so is carrier independent.

2- u can flash the ROM but you'd have to root the milestone

3 - There is currently a bug with the camera but i dont have the phone so cant comment on quality

4 - All as far as i know, definitely the browser does - multi touch is enabled on the milestone but not on the droid

 

[Afront]

The Nexus One and the Milestone are not the same: they have completely different processors for a start. Anyway, I have the Milestone (UK) so can maybe answer some of your questions:

1. Updates. The Milestone is still at 2.0 i.e. there have not been any updates yet. From what I read it will get the 2.0.1 or 2.1 update very soon. As strictly86 says, it's a SIM-free phone: updates will come directly from Motorola.

2. Flashing. Not sure, I've not rooted mine.

3. Camera. It's OK but not as good as I'd hoped. I had a G1 before where the camera was as good as useless. The Milestone's is much better, but I think I will still need to bring my Sony Cybershot on vacation with me... the camera bugfixes might improve picture quality a little: we'll see.

4. Pinch zoom is available in the browser (both the standard one and Dolphin), the gallery but NOT in Google Maps (at least not on a Milestone UK).

5. Check out my blog post for some more info!

 

[Webmonkey]

the camera is a piece of crap, autofocus issue aside, it really really sucks. my previous phone was a nokia n95 and the milestone camera doesn't stand a chance against it.

 

[Bozzy]

I've had enough of my Galaxy. It's great, but being stuck on android 1.5 is killing me and it's time to move on.

I was considering the Nexus one, until i realised it's essentially the exact same as the milestone except for the live wallpapers, however glancing through this forum, i have a couple questions which'd be great if you could answer.

1. The whole point of changing my Galaxy is for android updates, and i'm slightly worried that the milestone might have the same update problems..in that it doesn't get any! Is that the case?
2. Being in Ireland, i'd have to buy off ebay or amazon or somewhere - if updates are done OTA, how would i get them? Can you download them via PC software and flash with usb?
3. Camera. The second most important reason for me changing. How is it on the milestone - did anyone have an n95 before to compare? I've watched a couple videos on youtube, and the video recorder doesnt look bad at all, but im reading lots of problems with autofocus, white balance etc...so does it take good photos or not!?
4. What apps have pinch zoom!? Web? Maps? Photo gallery?
5. Any other info you would like to volunteer, good or bad?

Cheers.

Ive had N95, Galaxy and Milestone, and i love the Milestone wayyyyyy more than galaxy, but neither galaxy nor milestone compares N95's camera capability and QUALITY. The Galaxy takes better pictures for now, but video quality i think its better on milestone but N95 wins by a long shot, in terms of clarity, noise levels, sharpness, white balance.....

As for pinch and zoom i have it in browser, and photo gallery, but not in google maps for some reason.

Ive had this phone since early December and other than camera i absolutely love it, it feels good and solid, ive dropped it few times on new years and not a single ding or scratch on it (other than screen protector). The physical keyboard took me a little bit to get used to and now im loving it. The galaxy's virtual keyboard annoyed me soo much that even though Milestones keyboard is slightly better (bigger and seems more responsive) i never use it and always stick to using physical because its such a joy to press actual keys.... Ohh and the updates are done via OTA, it has an option in the seting to check for updates every 30 days or you can check for manually.

If you have any other questions let me know

 

[spottyelephant]

Ok that's good guys cheers. Its a pity about the camera, but i didnt think it could as much worse than the Galaxy's as you say Bozzy (since the fix):

Galaxy Camera samples

Milestone Camera samples

So if they are of the quality shown there, im happy, as they'll be fine uploaded to facebook or where ever. Not looking for print-outs!

It looks like the milestone will be getting 2.1, so that's a huge plus for me too. And based on a video of a stable 2.1 on the droid it looks like it wont suffer from any slow down either.

Also, does anyone know if the milestone/droid will be getting OpenGL 2.0 (or does it have it already?). As far as i know the milestone has a GPU in it, making it pretty future-proof.

The screen too, how does that compare to the Galaxy's amoled?

Oh! The keyboard, buttons look very flat - does it require pressing with the nail, or can you type fairly competently on it?

Thanks guys.

 

[Bozzy]

Ok that's good guys cheers. Its a pity about the camera, but i didnt think it could as much worse than the Galaxy's as you say Bozzy (since the fix):

Galaxy Camera samples

Milestone Camera samples

So if they are of the quality shown there, im happy, as they'll be fine uploaded to facebook or where ever. Not looking for print-outs!

It looks like the milestone will be getting 2.1, so that's a huge plus for me too. And based on a video of a stable 2.1 on the droid it looks like it wont suffer from any slow down either.

Also, does anyone know if the milestone/droid will be getting OpenGL 2.0 (or does it have it already?). As far as i know the milestone has a GPU in it, making it pretty future-proof.

The screen too, how does that compare to the Galaxy's amoled?

Oh! The keyboard, buttons look very flat - does it require pressing with the nail, or can you type fairly competently on it?

Thanks guys.

Keep in mind the Camera has a bug every 24.5 days that makes the Camera auto focus screw up and pictures come out looking bad. Those samples you gave look like mine on bad cycle. On a good cycle they get better.

The keyboard does look flat but it doesnt feel flat, once you put your fingers on it it feels bubbly. Its not neccesary to use nails I type on mine just fine just like any other phone keyboard and almost never make mistakes. The thing that used to throw me off the most was the space button beacuse its not just one big switch like most phones, its a 3 swtiches that preform same function and even pressing all 3 at same time only registers once. It kept confusing me because sometimes it feels like i pressed 2 keys but it always registered one input for space which is a good thing.... I hope you understand what i mean with this

The screen is very good, its very bright and colorfull, although the colors are more vivid on galaxy the milestone screen is very good, and you can see clearly outside in sunglight. The resolution really makes it pop and look very sharp and smooth

 

[spottyelephant]

Cool, well based on all that I went ahead and put a bid on one! We'll see how it goes, im quite budget constrained.. can't really go above