Root Milestone or Wait for Desire

I posted the same question a few weeks ago.

I'm luck that my provider is doing a trial on the Milestone at the moment so Ive got one on demo.

The keyboard is what attracted me to the device at the beginning but I'm starting to try both screen and physical and I can assure you that I'm starting to not see any benefit in the physical one apart from maybe having some of the punctuation keys available without alt.

Its been fast enough for what I want without over clocked. Im using it mainly for work email, alot of txt, basic news based surfing, and some toy apps at the weekend

I'm only gripe at the moment is the battery life is very poor. As a power user I'm not sure Ill make it through an 8 hour day let alone do a full 12+ hours with traveling.

Tim

TimGuyUK said:

I'm only gripe at the moment is the battery life is very poor. As a power user I'm not sure Ill make it through an 8 hour day let alone do a full 12+ hours with traveling.
Tim

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Battery life is not better on any Android phone I know.

To the OP - if you are not after the keyboard forget the Milestone and get a Desire - especially if you are not a user who is after customization and your own thing. The SenseUI will haelp you.

mfpreach said:

I will probably wait for the desire, I have just been tempted to the milestone recently.

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Apart from the fact that it looks like a cheap toy from a flea market it is a great device.

mfpreach said:

Thats one of my concerns, I haven't seen it in person but definitely the Milestone LOOKS better.

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I've had the two side-by-side. I own a milestone, and got a desire recently with my carrier upgrade (but subsequently sold it to my amigo).

Why did i sell the desire? Personal preference really - i'm a bit of a gamer, and at the moment the Milestone is still the best gaming phone due to both it's GPU and keyboard. Even though you'll find everyone with an N1, Desire, Incredible, etc. spouting figures about the number of flippity flops and polybonbons of the snapdragon, the fact of the matter is that thus far, every 3-d game that has come out has run best on the Droid/Milestone. Put it down to optimisation, put it down to magic, i don't really care. I know what i sees! However I would not that games dont run badly on snapdragons, and they'll only improve (and will eventually surpass). But for now, Milestone's the best at 3-d.

Then you have the keyboard. The keyboard itself is RUBBISH, and i never use it - but i did buy a game gripper control pad. So now I can play Snes, Megadrive (and soon Playstation) emu's on it perfectly. Oh, and quake 2.

But that really is where the milestone's benefits over the Desire end. The Desire is definately more future proof IMO. And if you're into customisation, it's WAY more customisable. Milestone's very limited on the ROM front. Sure only yesterday XDA developers developed a hack that allows the Nexus 1 to record 720p video! I have no doubt that that'll make it over to the Desire since they're basically the same phone.

The Desire is also far snappier and smooth in all aspects of operation. Even swiping across home screens there's zero stutter, whereas there is a bit on the Milestone. The Desire's screen is also a lovely size. It really looked great.

As for feel in your hand, the milestone is nice and solid feeling. The Desire is a bit more iPhone-y and plastic-y. But that's a minor thing.

So to sum up:

Currently - milestone is better gamer, Desire probably better in everything else.
Future - Desire will probably match or beat milestone in gaming, continue to be better on everthing else!

spottyelephant said:

Then you have the keyboard. The keyboard itself is RUBBISH, and i never use it - but i did buy a game gripper control pad. So now I can play Snes, Megadrive (and soon Playstation) emu's on it perfectly. Oh, and quake 2.

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Took me a week to get used to it and love it the same as my previous XPeria.

But that really is where the milestone's benefits over the Desire end. The Desire is definately more future proof IMO. And if you're into customisation, it's WAY more customisable. Milestone's very limited on the ROM front. Sure only yesterday XDA developers developed a hack that allows the Nexus 1 to record 720p video! I have no doubt that that'll make it over to the Desire since they're basically the same phone.

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The bootloader has been cracked and it is just a matter of time before we get custom ROM (not that I need them) and there is a custom ROM running already using a different method.

The Desire is also far snappier and smooth in all aspects of operation. Even swiping across home screens there's zero stutter, whereas there is a bit on the Milestone. The Desire's screen is also a lovely size. It really looked great.

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Milestone's screen is THE SAME size plus it is HIGHER RES.

Have you overclocked your Milestone? While running at 1GHz it is as smooth as Desire.

As for feel in your hand, the milestone is nice and solid feeling. The Desire is a bit more iPhone-y and plastic-y. But that's a minor thing.

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To me this is a MAJOR thing as I buy my phones for cash.

So to sum up:

Currently - milestone is better gamer, Desire probably better in everything else.
Future - Desire will probably match or beat milestone in gaming, continue to be better on everthing else!

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I do not imagine Desire being better at exting, not at all.

Szadzik said:

Milestone's screen is THE SAME size plus it is HIGHER RES.

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So they are! They definately appeared to be different side by side. Also, i think despite the higher res of the milestone, the amoled just made the desire's look nicer (indoors, never had it outdoors)

spottyelephant said:

So they are! They definately appeared to be different side by side. Also, i think despite the higher res of the milestone, the amoled just made the desire's look nicer (indoors, never had it outdoors)

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The AMOLED will definitely make a difference, but as noted above no differences in screen size and a small plus for Milestones better resolution.

I've owned both handsets, Desire previously, have a Milestone now. I've bought and sold a lot of Android phones, and the Milestone is one of the best. The Desire is a nice phone, so you probably won't be disappointed, but personally I find the whole sense thing overwhelming. The Milestone doesn't need all that glossy, showy UI, and feels better for it.

Not sure about all this negative press the keyboard gets, either. If I'm hacking out a quick text, swype does the job, but for longer emails I always prefer the main keyboard. Inclusive QWERTY keyboard was a main selling point to me for the Milestone

I always thought disabling Sense really negated the whole point of the Desire, although you are right, it can be turned off

Sense is the main focus of the phone - without it you may just as well have a Nexus One, although the Desire with hard keys rather than the Nexus on screen keys is a plus for me.

I like the QWERTY on the Milestone The Desire is a nice handset, but given the overall package, I prefer the Milestone.

mfpreach said:

Cool man, thanks for your feedback.

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You're welcome. It's good to chat

For me I agree, the touch screen is good for those really short one or two word things, say a search entry or short text. Otherwise I am a tactile person, I find it very strange not to feel the key press. For that I longer entries I much prefer the physical keypad.

I know this won't really help Mfpreach, but it's probably worth mentioning that for the 'off the shelf" user like me, you're likely to get official updates faster simply because HTC needs to integrate so many proprietary features before it can release the build (they make some nice phones, but speed of releasing updates isn't really one of their strengths).

The keyboard on the Milestone is a *major* plus if you use a terminal app to ssh to your servers... a bit of a niche plus, but works well for me. I can even use Vi!

At first I didnt like the keyboard and the landscape keyboard was the tits. But now that i'm getting used to the phone, I think the keyboard is the cats pajamas. Especially when i show it off to my N1 or iPhone buddies, or pretty much anyone who doesnt have a qwerty.

An insider has confirmed that a Milestone 2 will be released this year, so given given that it's twin the Droid 2 is slated for July, a fair estimate will be around August/September. If Telus take it on board, you'd get a far superior keyboard as well as performance which knocks the Desire out of the water, and thats BEFORE you overclock.

If it's not urgent, I'd wait a bit.

mfpreach said:

I need a new phone by September and I highly doubt Telus will get it anywhere close to the US/Europe launch date, they usual lag. Look at the Desire, its been out since February and they still don't have it nor have they released a release date.

Also I would be more interested in the Shadow as it is Sans keyboard but it looks huge, I don't want an EVO sized phone.

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If not for the size a Samsung Galaxy S Pro would be a good choice. It is coming to the market really soon.