If you’ve been sitting here, reading the posts from our American brethren on the upcoming Droid 2 and Droid X handsets from Motorola and thinking to yourself that you would happily splash some cash to get one of those handsets in Australia… You can forget about it. Because today, Optus has announced that it will be selling the original Droid – the one reviewed by the US team in November last year – as the Milestone in Australia, starting next week.
The phone, powered by Android 2.1 and still an admirable performer despite its age, was pretty much the top competitor to the iPhone for a few months. But now that we’ve been swarmed by more recent, more powerful Android phones (and the fact that the American public is soon to get this model’s successor), you kind of get the feeling that someone here dropped the ball with the local release of this handset.
Still, if you’re after a high powered Android device with a physical slide out keyboard, this is currently your best bet. Unless you decide to wait a few weeks and import a Droid 2 from the States, which is what I would do if I were planning on buying an Android phone with a keyboard.
The Milestone will hit Optus stores on July 7, available for $0 up front on a $49 plan over 24 months. Which seems to be the sweet spot for Android phones at the moment, even if they are a bit old…
Thomas Hambleton
July 1, 2010 at 5:02 PM
Yay, clearing out stock by shipping to the technological third world that is Australia.
Report PermalinkAaron McAuley
July 1, 2010 at 5:30 PM
I heart my Milestone. I still think it’s the best Android phone on the market.
With this and the Nexus One coming out here soon it’s good that everyday Australians finally get to find out what it’s like at the top of the Android pile.
Report Permalinkmatt
July 1, 2010 at 5:38 PM
…to who? exactly?
people who don’t keep up with everything will just buy the iphone, either the 3GS or the 4. and people who DO keep up with everything will know… well, they would have seen the other deals on much newer better phones on this very site…
should be $20 or $30, a kind of first ‘budget’ smart phone. then it would be great, fast enough, nice physical keyboard…
Report PermalinkSimon Reidy
July 1, 2010 at 6:41 PM
There are people that keep up with technology that will still buy an iPhone 4 ya know. It’s a tough choice between the HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy S or an iPhone 4, but antenna problems aside (I’m buying a case!) the iPhone edges in for me.
As for the Droid/Milestone? zzzzzzz. Dated as hell. It was exciting in 2009 and even then it had issues (it’s widely accepted the hardware keyboard is pretty awful). Not to mention I’ve got so used to typing quickly on a software keyboard it would actually feel like a step backward for me.
If the Droid X was being released here I would get that for sure. .
Report Permalinkmatt
July 1, 2010 at 9:36 PM
yeah, I didn’t say those in the know wouldn’t pick the iphone, all I was saying is those NOT in the know, the only ones likely to get ‘tricked’ into buying this old droid, usually all just flock to the iphone anyway. specially at that price.
Report PermalinkEdward Jackson
July 1, 2010 at 6:16 PM
“Unless you decide to wait a few weeks and import a Droid 2 from the States, which is what I would do if I were planning on buying an Android phone with a keyboard.”
I wouldn’t recommend this, unless you wish to buy an exquisitely crafted paperweight. Most US carriers’ hardware is NOT compatible with the Australian networks.
Report PermalinkBen
July 1, 2010 at 6:22 PM
And to those who imported the Milestone earlier this year (myself included) a general slap in the face. So much for having something out of the ordinary…
Report PermalinkPat
July 1, 2010 at 6:38 PM
The droids 600MHz OMAP3 processor still beats a 1GHz snapdragon for any graphics application as it has a GPU on chip.
In fact while it might be “old” now, it is still very much competitive spec-wise (guess that shows how far ahead it was when it was released). The only spec bumps for the droid 2 are a slight increase in clock speed (720MHz) and 512MB RAM (up from 256) and the addition of a HDMI port.
Report PermalinkThis is still a very capable phone and I for one am just glad to see android starting to really gain speed in australia.
matt
July 1, 2010 at 9:44 PM
orly? thats interesting to know.
I know there are CPU/GPU benchmarking apps for android. do you know of anywhere on the web they have done a big head to head of all the android phones so we can stop speculating/guessing from the very vague specs we get from the manufactures?
Report PermalinkSam
July 1, 2010 at 11:16 PM
I think you’re thinking of the Droid X, The Droid 2 has a 1ghz processor, i could be wrong
Report PermalinkDROID
July 1, 2010 at 7:07 PM
Yea but you catn just import the DRoid 2 from the US because it doesnt work in Australia. The Droid is different to the milestone even tho the shape and look are the same.
Report PermalinkSam Papadopoulos
July 1, 2010 at 9:58 PM
Droid X and Droid @ are both CDMA. Phail.
Report PermalinkWard Paterson
July 1, 2010 at 10:02 PM
Good to see you got my tip off in your other thread about the Wave Nick.
The milestone is old news. I’m even surprised that Optus decided to push this aside the Galaxy S. The GS is a clear winner between the two..
Report PermalinkDan
July 1, 2010 at 10:30 PM
Old tech is old.
Droid X is the new king.
If I didn’t have a wife I would be trading my Nexus One for a Droid X.
Report PermalinkJames C
July 2, 2010 at 1:59 PM
How would you get it to work in Australia though?
Report PermalinkAsh
July 6, 2010 at 10:42 AM
http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/GB-EN/Home
UK verions work here. but still we shouldn’t have to import a phone to keep up with tech, companies should be aware of the “Internet” where people can get information from around the world in moments and if a new phone is released that’s the next gen, don’t try to sell us the last model that was released more than 6 months ago
Report PermalinkMidda
July 2, 2010 at 12:28 AM
Yeah, I’ve had a Milestone since they launched last year, and it’s still keeping up with the high-end devices. Hell, you can stably over-clock the CPU to 1.2 GHz if you like, with no ill-effects (not that it needs it, though). It’s still a very-capable device.
Report PermalinkDavid Anderton
July 2, 2010 at 2:10 AM
this will be on the $29 virgin smart cap for sure
Report PermalinkJoshua
July 15, 2010 at 7:26 PM
Its out….
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