The Milestone has finally been released in the UK, previously titled the Droid; one of the most popular phones in the world and possibly the flagship product of the whole Android operating system.

The Milestone has washed up on UK shores courtesy of sole sales provider, eXpansys who reported that the phone sold out of all units available in the country within only 3 hours of going on sale. That’s great news for Motorola of course, but how does the Milestone handset compare to it’s peers and is it a worthy phone in it’s own right or just the Droid with a new marketing tactic?

The main style of the handset certainly hasn’t changed from the Droid, despite the fact all the other branding has been removed. It’s a stark contrast to the curvy design of most modern phones and is very square and angular in it’s overall design and build. It’s also quite hefty; not heavy or overly large at all, but it feels weighty and well built and overall easy to fit into any pocket.

It’s available in black and brown sugar – otherwise known as gold – though the gold is limited to a few small elements on the main design. Overall, it’s a design that isn’t going to amaze or excite, but it’s elegant, durable and nice to look at; just don’t expect to be completely blown way at first glance.

Under the hood there’s quite a bit going on. It’s 3.7 inch screen hides a slide out qwerty keyboard and powering everything is a 550MHz processor. There’s 16GB of memory pre installed via a microSD card and the phone can connect through all the usual outlets including GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Quad-band. Right now, the phone is completely GSM able and can be run on any network in the UK.

As for features, the Motorola milestone sports a 5-megapixel camera which can capture DVD quality video at up to 24 fps . There’s a 4x digital zoom and a dual flash with automatic focus. Camera software allows for various different modes include scene mode, store location, focus mode, flash mode and white balance options. Portrait and night scenes are set up by standard, but there’s no macro for taking close ups. Although it can’t compete with a proper compact camera, it’s quick and quality enough to be listed as one of the better smartphone cameras on the market.

The screen is as bright and viewable any other smart phone though it doesn’t use the newer – and much more expensive – OLED technology. Android 2.0 works as advertised on the phone and the processor is quick enough to keep things moving at a snappy pace. The system has a fair amount of new features from 1.6 which is currently being used in other handsets although nothing totally groundbreaking. Plus, having the latest version means a larger choice of applications from the store.

Browsing on the phone is a joy thanks to the Milestone’s full support for multitouch, something which the Droid didn’t have. However, multi-touch is currently only limited to certain applications; it unfortunately won’t work for other built-in apps such as the image gallery.

Overall, the Milestone is one of the most impressive Android phones available right now, and certainly a strong rival to the HTC Hero. Not being locked to a single network will appeal to many people and while the Google Maps software which made the Droid so famous is missing here as it’s US only, the Motonav replacement is nearly as good and certainly a functional GPS.

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