Rooting the Motorola Milestone has been a somewhat impossible task given Motorola locking down the bootloader. I say somewhat because some folks at AllDroid have managed to gain root access on the TELUS Milestone, albeit without kernel access.

A good start is better than nothing and there are some directions on how to root the TELUS Motorola Milestone over at AllDroid. I find the poll at the top quite humorous: “Did this thread help any” with the choices all answering questions with questions… onf of them “Did you brick your phone”? Feel free to try this out yourself, but if you have to answer the question with the question we noted – don’t blame us!

In our review of the TELUS MILESTONE we lamented Motorola’s decision to digitally sign the bootloader which makes rooting quite difficult. Thankfully, over the past couple of days there has been a lot progress within the Android community and root access for the TELUS MILESTONE has obtained by way of a Brazilian sbf. Sadly kernel access is still absent, but at this point we guess we should just be happy we’ve made it this far. Hit up the read link for a full set of instructions.

Thanks, Arjun!

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A few days ago when we learned that Motorola is going to bring its complete line-up of MOTOBLUR handsets to Canada, we didn’t know which carrier was to be getting which handset. In the span of a couple days however, things have changed. We now know that the BACKFLIP, that crazy concoction of a device is going to be a TELUS exclusive while the DEXT is bound for Bell. As for the QUENCH, no one carrier has laid claim to it just yet, but we think most would forgive us for assuming it’s going to Rogers considering the others are spoken for.

Read [BACKFLIP] Read [DEXT]

It’s been out in Canada for a little under three weeks now, but the Motorola MILESTONE has already proven itself to be quite the popular handset thanks in part to all of the Canadians watching American TV and witnessing Verizon’s huge media blitz for the DROID. For a device that has been on sale in one form or another for many months, we have to wonder — is the MILESTONE still worth it? Put on your reading glasses, sit back and relax, and join us after the jump for our hands on the the TELUS Motorola MILESONE to find out.OS

Seeing as this is a hardware review we decided we’d bypass once again dissecting Android because everything that needs to be said about the Android OS has already been said by BG in his epic Android tirade post. If you’re seething at rage just thinking of what it is he said or simply as the prospect of reading well over 1,400 words then let us quickly catch you up to speed: Android, while a damn fine OS that has all the promise in the world, has “practically no human emotion with Google when it comes to technology. Everything is statistical and analytical.” On we go.

Tech Specs

When its EV-DO counterpart came out late last year, it was easily the most advanced Android handset to come to market. Quite a lot of things have changed since that time — what with the release of the Nexus One and the announcing of the Desire — but as it stands, the MILESTONE is still no slouch. Here are some key specs to keep in mind before you go on:

• Android 2.0.1
• 550MHz OMAP3 processor
• 256MB RAM / 512MB ROM
• 3.7″ WVGA capacitive touchscreen display
• 5 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash
• aGPS with MotoNav pre-loaded
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• 10.2Mbps UMTS/HSDPA
• 6.5 hours talk time / 380 hours standby (3G)
• 60mm x 115.8mm x 13.7 mm, 165g
  

Build Quality

As far as build quality goes, it’s pretty hard to fault the MILESTONE. On the top half of the device we have the display, encased by a metal bezel, and made up of a sturdy slab of plastic that does a more than admirable job of resisting scuffs and scratches. Underneath this is a fairly unique sliding mechanism that relies not on an easily breakable spring but a simple and unseen rail system. When pushed open or closed, it locks itself into place with a delightfully reassuring “click”.
On the lower half of device is where we see the plastic components come out of hiding. But fear not because they’re amongst the best we’ve ever encountered. The bezel immediately surrounding the keypad and d-pad is matte black while the entire backing of the device is made up of rubberized plastic save for the rectangular piece directly below the camera module that bears the “with Google” mark. Your average hardware-related creaks and groans and nowhere to be found on this device.
The only real concern we have with the hardware is the volume rocker/camera zoom because it’s looser than… well, we’ll let you fill in the blank. All of this high quality fit and finish means that the MILESTONE weighs in at an incredibly hefty 165g but oddly enough it feels great in the hand and surprisingly light in pockets. Bonus: This weight equals crime deterrent.

Display

It’s not an AMOLED nor is it even Super AMOLED, but for the life of us, we haven’t come across many screens that have wowed us like the 3.7″ WVGA display on the MILESTONE. Popping to life with rich color, easily viewable from all angles and bright enough to overcome direct sunlight, this display is also very accurate making things like web-browsing and typing on the virtual keypad all the easier. How would we rank it overall? Second only to the iPhone, but just by a few hairs because of the slightly better capacitive factor.

Keyboard

We know it looks like it might be nightmare to type on what with its lack of very flat surface, lack of major definition and overall footprint, but the QWERTY keyboard on the MILESTONE is actually quite nice. Okay, it doesn’t even come close to anything RIM makes and could definitely have used a bit more refining before the design was finalized (who in God’s name thought the tiny spacebar, two blank keys and non-sensical punctuation layout was a good idea?), but after a few days we think most people will be rather happy with it. And let’s be honest: with the stock Android virtual keypad being as bad as it is (who actually likes it?) you’re really going to want to use the real deal as much as possible. Or get Swype.

Camera

The MILESTONE’s 5 megapixel auto-focus camera is barely passable as a camera on a modern smartphone. It boots up in an acceptable amount of time, but the saving of images consistently took 4 plus seconds. The worst part is that after going through the whole boot up, focus, snap the pic and save it routine, any special moment you had hoped to capture forever will invariably come out looking like they were taken on a VGA webcam in a dimly lit room way back in the early 2000’s. Just in case you were wondering, the dual-LED flash seems to be as effective as the goggles Radioactive Man once infamously wore. Yeah.

Multimedia

Simply put, Android needs some work when it comes to multimedia. It can do everything you want reasonably well, but the interface feels rushed and incomplete and, what’s more, is quite clunky and cumbersome. We did find ourself enjoying videos if only for the screen, but things like the music player might prove to be a cause for concern for those hat refuse to carry a phone and a dedicated MP3 player. Nonetheless, it still manages to do an admirable job given what we honestly feel is a lack of effort on Google’s part.

Browser

Thanks to the MILESTONE’s snappy processor, awesome display and a little thing called multi-touch, the web experience on the MILESTONE is fantastic. We hate to do it, but for the sake of a benchmark that everyone can understand, we pitted the device against an iPhone 3GS (you knew this was coming, didn’t you?), the de facto standard for mobile web browsing. Speed wise both devices loaded up content-heavy sites within +/- 2 seconds of one another over 3G and 1 second over Wi-Fi. What set them apart, however, is rendering. We really appreciated how big everything seemed on the MILESTONE and how easy it was to read even the tiniest text, but overall the  iPhone 3GS did a much better job of accurately and properly rendering websites as they’d appear on a desktop. But again, it’s a very close call.

Email Support

Being a product of Google, Android naturally has great Gmail support built into it and supports all of the goodies you’d expect like labels (sadly you cannot create, edit, or remove them), stars and search so we’ll leave it at that. The thing we really want to talk about is Exchange. Yes, the MILESTONE supports it, but we use the word support loosely. We hooked up one of our Exchange accounts to the MILESTONE and, truth be told, we wouldn’t count on Android for our BGR email if you paid us. Here’s a few reasons why: On several occasions the notification panel let us know we have a new Exchange email only for us to find it actually hadn’t been downloaded by the Email. This either led to us having to wait 5 seconds (!) while a sweet and simple text email was downloaded or manually hit Menu > Refresh. No doubt this is a bug and will likely be addressed in a future update, but the reality is we have no idea when an update is coming and have no guarantees it will completely fix the issue. Another fatal flaw with Exchange is folders because you can’t actually place an email into a folder of your choosing. To make matters worse, you can’t look at emails that are already in folders that are older than the maximum length you set up for synchronization (it caps out at one month). Add to this the fact you cannot even do something as basic as search for messages and the picture is quite clear: business users stay the hell away, get on board with Google Apps, or use one of the hideous looking but very function third party clients like Touchdown.

Telephony

We don’t often use our cell phones for actually calling people any more thanks to things like email, IM, BBM and SMS, but when we do we demand excellence, and thankfully the MILESTONE delivers. Calls came in loud and clear on both ends, and a few of the people we spoke to made a point of mentioning the lack of background noise.

The Network

Reality check: TELUS’s HSPA+ network is brand new and most of its customers are still milling about in the land of EV-DO. Because of this we think it would be unfair and inappropriate for us to compare its network (or Bell’s, for that matter) to Rogers’s which has been at the GSM/HSPA game for years. Having said that, commenting on it in and of itself is fair game. So how then would we summarize the network? Mind-numbingly fast. In fact, we ran speed tests on a daily basis and not once did we see speeds drop below 4Mbps.

Two Huge Issues

So far most of what we have said about the MILESTONE is positive, so naturally it’s time for two huge drawbacks.
The first is that paid apps from the Android Marketplace are unavailable in Canada. So unless you want to be greasy and get into pirating apps, you’re just going to have to make do without. Hope might be on the horizon considering it was just this week a spokesperson for Google mentioned the possibility of an announcement related to paid apps in Canada as early as next week, but this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard such a thing.

The second major drawback won’t hit everyone like the lack of paid apps, but it will sting the keeners. As you no doubt know, one of the greatest things about Android devices past is the ease in which users can root, hack, and load custom ROMs. Unfortunately when it comes to this particular device, Motorola has made what we consider to be a very weak move in locking up the bootloader. It doesn’t mean hacking is forever out of the question, it just means it’s going to be tough and take some time (odds are someone ends up gaining root access not too long after the first software update is issued). Nonetheless, we can’t help but think such a move violates the spirit of Android and is just plain odd considering the DROID does not have this restriction. “Smartphone Without Limits”? our asses.

Overall

There’s no denying that we’ve had some pretty uncomplimentary things to say about the MILESTONE, but it must not be forgotten that we’ve also given it a lot of praise. As we sit back and try and think of how to sum up our thoughts into a few sentences, we can’t help but come to the inevitable conclusion that, despite our perceived flaws, we think the average consumer who is out for a smartphone will really enjoy the MILESTONE provided they’re okay with dedicating some time to what is for some a bit of a difficult learning curve. As for the nerds, it’s really hard to say. If you’re not totally put off by the lack of paid apps and the fact that rooting is presently an issue then we say give the MILESTONE a shot. After all, we like it.

FREE THE BOOTLOADER

Remember the Opus One, the Android-powered iDEN handset from Motorola we scooped and then spec’d just before Christmas? Well apparently it’s going to be made official sometime in the next few weeks (hello, CTIA!) and will feature one added but obvious goodie: MOTOBLUR. Since we know most of you don’t have encyclopedic memories, here’s a bit of a refresher on what we’ve been told this phone is all about:

• 3.1″ hVGA 320×480 capacitive touchscreen display
• 3 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash
• Accelerometer
• Proximity sensor
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth
• microSD card slot
• 2.5mm headset jack
• Home, Menu, Back, Speaker buttons are capacitive buttons with haptic feedback
• iDEN PTT & PTX
• Android LBS which is integrated into the iDEN GPS engine
• “Enterprise email”
• Plastic-molded housing with some rubberized texture finishes
• 58mm in width, 118mm in length
• 100g weight
• 512MB Flash / 256MB of RAM
• 64k and 128k iDEN SIM card support
• A-GPS
• Motorola dual-mic technology noise-canceling for noisy environments
• Flash Lite v3.1.x
• Some of the preloaded apps include: corporate email client with ActiveSync support, MOTONAV navigation app, barcode scanner, and document viewer.

Obviously without being official it’s not possible to confirm carriers, but naturally Sprint’s Nextel and Boost are going to get on board while TELUS’s Mike is said to be getting it in Q3.

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As the Canadian Parliament opened yesterday for a new session, Governor General Michaëlle Jean dedicated a small portion of her Speech from the Throne to highlighting the Conservative government’s plans to open up the wireless industry to foreign investment. As anyone who even closely pays attention to Canadian news will remember, it was just a few short months ago when Industry Minister Tony Clement over-ruled the CRTC’s decision to bar the launch of what is now WIND Mobile. Since then, the controversy over the move has died off, but it looks like what we experience in December could easily balloon into something much bigger. Here is what Jean said:

“Our Government will open Canada’s doors further to venture capital and to foreign investment in key sectors, including the satellite and telecommunications industries, giving Canadian firms access to the funds and expertise they need. While safeguarding Canada’s national security, our Government will ensure that unnecessary regulation does not inhibit the growth of Canada’s uranium mining industry by unduly restricting foreign investment. It will also expand investment promotion in key markets.”

So far there is no official word as to whether or not the government will attempt to amend the Telecommunications Act which stipulates that wireless carriers must be no more than 46.7% owned by foreigners and no less than 80% controlled by Canadians, but it certainly doesn’t seem as if there are many other options.

So what think you, Canadians? Is this just progress that will be of great benefit, or is it just another example of the slow but steady parcelling off of Canada’s identity.

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Motorola just published a “triple play” press release of sorts, announcing Motorola BLUR on 3 handsets (Backflip, DEXT, QUENCH) to be available on all three major Canadian carriers (Rogers, Bell, TELUS). So I guess that would make it a double triple-play?

We already know pretty much everything about each of these handsets and we’re all familiar with BLUR, love it or hate it – so why don’t we just check out the press release mmk?

MOTOBLUR™ Debuts in Canada – Say Hello to the First Phones with Social Skills

Only MOTOBLUR organizes all your messages from Facebook, MySpace and Twitter along with your emails and texts, and streams them to a single live widget for immediate reply – right from the home screen

TORONTO, Ont. — March 3, 2010 — Motorola Canada today announced that MOTOBLURTM, its revolutionary social service for Android-powered devices, is coming to Canada with all three national wireless carriers in the first half of 2010.

MOTOBLUR is the only solution to sync all your friends, posts, feeds, messages, e-mails, photos and much more—from sources such as Facebook®, Twitter®, MySpace, Gmail™, Yahoo! and work email—with continuous updates, automatically delivering them to your home screen for immediate reply. MOTOBLUR delivers these updates in easy-to-view streams, so there is no need to switch between different mobile applications to keep up with the latest content, allowing you to spend less time managing your life and more time living it.

“We are thrilled to be bringing Canadians three unique MOTOBLUR handsets with all the major wireless carriers,” said Rick Gadd, Vice President and Sales General Manager, Mobile Devices, Motorola Canada. “With MOTOBLUR, we are differentiating the Android experience and delivering phones that are truly instinctive and socially smart.”

Life: Organized, Streamed and Delivered
Only MOTOBLUR automatically delivers conversation threads, friend updates, stories, links, photos and more, to live widgets on your home screen for immediate reply:

• Happenings: View your social site updates in one spot with the live Happenings application. Every friend feed, status update, wall post, bulletin and photo upload is automatically delivered and ready for immediate reply, anyway you like.
• Messages: Quickly scroll through the Messages application for a snapshot of current work or personal emails, social site messages, and texts, and view messages all together in the universal inbox or separately by source.
• Social Status: Blast your status right from the home screen and even save time by updating your status to one or all your social networks at once.
• News Feeds: Keep track of your favorite news feeds, sports scores or even celebrity gossip without leaving the home screen.

Even cooler is MOTOBLUR’s ability to back up and restore all your contacts, log-in information, home screen customizations, and email and social network messages via the secure MOTOBLUR server. Lost or stolen phones can be found with integrated AGPS from the online owner’s portal, and data can even be wiped clean. Simply enter the account username and password on the next MOTOBLUR phone, and all the information will be ready and waiting. Now there’s peace of mind!

Integrated Contacts with Context
MOTOBLUR keeps track of contacts so it’s easy to keep up. Only MOTOBLUR syncs and merges friends from Facebook, MySpace and Twitter together with your work and personal email contacts into a single phone book. Contacts are automatically synced to the phone from personal and work email as well as social network accounts, and MOTOBLUR updates any changes friends or contacts make to their information so you don’t have to. When making or receiving a phone call, your friend’s latest profile picture and status is shown on the screen. In the contacts view, see your communication history with each person and their latest social network broadcasts organized in an easy-to-read manner so you’ll always know the latest info about friends and family. Plus, communicate with them anyway you like, directly from their contact information.

Customize with Apps and Widgets
Mix and match thousands of applications and widgets from MOTOBLUR, Android Market™ or pre-loaded Google™ mobile services. Everything from messages to news feeds to sports scores to the Happenings widget to Google Maps™ can be added to create custom home screens that fit anyone’s multi-faceted life.

Canadian MOTOBLUR Line Up

The following devices featuring MOTOBLUR will be available in Canada:

MOTOROLA BACKFLIP™ — Backflip’s unique reverse flip design makes it easy to enjoy videos, music and photos, while its QWERTY keyboard allows you to blast through e-mails, texts, news feeds, social network messages and more. Navigate quickly and easily through menus and features with the new and unique BACKTRACK™ feature. BACKTRACK is a touch panel located on the opposite side of the device, offering you a new way to scroll through the web, texts, e-mails and news feeds without obscuring the home screen.

MOTOROLA DEXT™ — Flick through your latest updates and fire back a response on DEXT’s slide-out QWERTY keyboard – no apps to open and no menus to dig through, just instant social gratification. Snap photos with DEXT’s 5 megapixel camera with autofocus; upload photos simply to your favorite photo sharing or social sites; and make and take clear calls even in noisy environments with dual microphones and noise cancellation technology.

MOTOROLA QUENCH™ — This sleek, customizable touch tablet fits nicely in a palm or pocket. QUENCH’s easy-to-use touch pad and enhanced browser bring to life content rich web sites (busy banners, full videos) that many of today’s phones can’t handle. And with pinch and zoom capabilities, it’s easy to enlarge and enjoy all this great content.

Stay tuned as Motorola turns the mobile phone into a whole new kind of social in the first half of 2010. For more information about MOTOBLUR, please visit www.motorola.ca.

Any Canadians hot and bothered by the news?

[Via Motorola]

Want a chance to win 1 of 3 Motorola Milestone’s from TELUS? Just retweet something from their @TELUS Twitter account between March 1st-5th and/or March 8th-12th for the chance to win. Each time you retweet, once per day maximum, you’ll earn an entry into the contest.

When the Droid launched on Verizon it caused quite a stir so I’m sure our Canadian friends will be eager to win the same-but-differently-named device. You can check out full details over at the TELUS website. Hope you Canadians appreciated the update and for everyone else… you already missed your chance to win a Nexus One! Sorry but we’ll have more contests in the future.

Although cross-carrier video calling is likely to rank very low on the wireless wish list of Canadians, don’t try telling that to the Big Three who have just completed the testing phase of the service. Intra-network video calling, which has been available in Canada since April 2007 with Rogers and became available with Bell and TELUS in November 2009 alongside their spiffy new HSPA+ network, has yet to strike a chord with Canadian consumers (we’d wager most don’t even know it’s available), but Bell, Rogers and TELUS have high hopes that it will be openly embraced by the public. Said Bell’s Stephen Howe: “By breaking down the barriers between video calling clients in Canada, we anticipate strong demand for the service — as we saw with past inter-carrier initiatives such as text and picture messaging.” So far no launch dates are floating around, but we can’t imagine it will stay secret forever. Is anyone excited by this news, or are you all still trying to think of the last time you used your phone to call someone? Plus, you know what this service would really come in handy for?

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A huge leap forward in the Canadian smartphone world today as TELUS has started to sell the Motorola MILESTONE. The first Android handset to go on sale in Canada that’s actually capable of holding its own against the likes of the Bold 9700, iPhone 3GS and Touch Pro2, the MILESTONE goes for $199.99 on a 3-year voice and data contract with no term pricing coming in at $599.99. At these prices we can’t imagine TELUS will have a hard time selling the MILESTONE to smartphone crazed Canadians, but then again we know better than to expect Canadians to warm up to Android after the disaster Rogers had on its hands with the Dream and Magic. Anyway… Any Canadians tempted to unlock a few and sell them off to desperate AT&T users at exorbitant prices?

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Well isn’t this a treat! We’re used to delays and rarely early arrivals, but TELUS has just surprised us by making the Motorola Milestone available ahead of schedule. The Milestone is better known in the United States as the Motorola Droid and sales figures have been impressive to say the least – I’m sure the pattern in Canada will continue.

So how  much will it cost you?

• 3-year contract: $199.99
• 2-year contract: $499.99
• 1-year contract: $549.99
• Contract free: $599.99

Seems pretty outrageous that you only get a $50 discount for signing a 1-year discount, but when you add an extra year from 2 to 3 year contract you save an extra $300. How does that make any sense?

Check out the full press release:

The highly anticipated MOTOROLA MILESTONE™ now available at TELUS
MOTOROLA MILESTONE™ sets a new standard for what a smartphone should be

TORONTO, ON — February 16, 2010 — TELUS and Motorola today announced the availability of the much-anticipated Motorola Milestone in Canada. Motorola Milestone, powered by Android, delivers a rich mobile web experience, superior messaging and top-of-the-line multi-media features in an innovative design that could only come from Motorola.

Milestone features the best of both worlds with a full QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen navigation, as well as the opportunity for users to customize their mobile with widgets and the freedom to run multiple applications at once.

“We are excited to bring the Motorola Milestone to Canada,” said Rick Gadd, vice-president, Motorola Canada Mobile Devices. “Canadians will now have the chance to experience a smartphone with no limits; harnessing the power of the mobile web with the latest version of Android, plus Google (NSDQ: GOOG)™ Search, simple messaging and extreme multi-media features.”

“The Motorola Milestone is quite a powerful Smartphone for Canadians looking for the smart fit to stay connected with their social network,” said David Fuller, senior vice-president of Products and Services at TELUS. “Our focus on Smartphone leadership over the last few years means that we offer our customers a state-of-the-art smartphone line-up that helps them stay connected and entertained on-the-go. The Motorola Milestone is a great addition to our 3G+ smartphone selection.”

Milestone Features:

* The mobile web like never before: Milestone is always ready for lightning-fast browsing with its superior processing speeds, Flash 10-ready HTML browsing, and premium 3G+ connection speeds. Navigation has never been easier with double-tap and pinch and zoom on the 3.7” WVGA display, that offers a clearer, more brilliant screen with twice the resolution of its competitors.
* The power of Google SearchTM right in the phone: Search and retrieve applications, contacts, songs, and more right from the home screen. With local search, Google makes location-based recommendations according to where the user is.
* Messaging made easy: With the world’s thinnest full QWERTY slider, a widescreen display, and copy-and-paste capability, Milestone can text, IM and email at blazing speeds. And, with Milestone’s Quick Connect option simply tap a contact and instantly access him/her via phone, IM, email or text.
* Integrated personal and business lives: Work and personal email all on Milestone through Exchange-server support, POP3, IMAP and GmailTM. Seamless contact integration keeps personal and professional lives in sync and provides access to friends through Exchange and Gmail contacts.
* Customized home screens: Discover thousands of applications and hundreds of widgets available on Android Market™. Think of the home screen like a personalized desktop; download applications for music, news, sports, games or tools and arrange them to create a custom home screen.
* A multi-media powerhouse: Milestone’s 5 megapixel digital camera comes with Auto-Focus, dual LED flash and image stabilization. Want to capture moving memories? Milestone records DVD (D1) quality footage with one-touch broadcast-quality (30 fps) playback and easy 3G or Wi-Fi YouTube™ uploads.
* Store and manage media in a snap: Store favourite movies, photos and music on Milestone’s 16 GB memory card included inbox. Manage it all using Motorola Media Link, which connects Milestone to a PC and the Web, providing the ability to manage, secure, share and extend media files.
* Unique docking station: when placed in its multi-media station1, Milestone automatically transforms into a multi-media hub for movies, music, pictures and can even act as your bedside alarm clock.

Other Milestone Highlights:

* Powered by Android 2.0
* Superior call quality with CrystalTalk™ Plus that filters out background noise and enhances voice quality
* 3.7” widescreen display with 854 pixel width and more than 400,000 total pixels (more than twice the leading competitor) so you can see more of the web, e-mail, and more
* Full suite of Google applications including: Google Maps™, Gmail, Google Talk™, YouTube™
* Use stereo Bluetooth® to take calls and listen to music hands-free
* Plug your favourite headphones into the 3.5mm headset jack and kick back to your favourite music or movies

Availability

The Motorola Milestone is available only at TELUS for as little as $199.99 with a three-year commitment. For more information please visit www.telusmobility.com or www.motorola.ca.

With all the announcements of new Android Phones made in the past 48 hours, how many Canadians are still wanting the DROID and how many have their eyes set on recent “just announced” newness?

There have been a BUNCH of Motorola Milestone updates over the past several days/weeks and the phone is definitely getting some nice… mileage. It’s launched in new places, gotten updates and much more. We wanted to keep you up to pace with the Motorola Droid’s twin brother so here goes nothing.

Milestone Launching On TELUS February 18th
It looks like TELUS customers only have a couple short weeks until the Motorola Milestone lands in their part of town! TELUS themselves didn’t “tell us” (see what I did there?) but BestBuy had no problem blurting something out on their website:

This also means that folks with AT&T could unlock the device and essentially get a 3G capable Droid on their carrier of choice. (Via BestBuy)

Manitoba And Sasketchawan Get SasketchaScrewed
Aren’t you happy that the Milestone is coming to Canada? If you live in Manitoba or Sasketchawan you can SHUT UP! Just like happened with the iPhone, TELUS network can’t support these areas with good enough coverage, or something. Bottom line – you can’t get the Milestone if you live in either of these places. BOOOOOOO! [Via IntoMobile]

European Milestone’s Get Android 2.0.1
Users in at least Germany, France and Italy are now able to update their Motorola Milestone to Android version 2.0.1 and if you don’t have it through an OTA update yet, can do so manually through the Motorola website. For instructions, see the unwired article with details and a walkthrough!

Milestone Lands In Taiwan
If you live in Taiwan you can rejoice – the first ever Android 2.0 phone is now available in your country and as you probably didn’t have to guess, it is the Motorola Milestone! The carrier for this one is Taiwan Mobile – enjoy! [Via Digitimes]

Anything Else?
All you phandroids with your ears to the streets and hands on your Stones for Miles (get your mind out of the gutter, I was playing with words), any Milestone updates you have either big or small?

The guys at Engadget have done a pretty darn good snooping job through which they’ve figured out that the Dell Mini 5 has passed the FCC with the bands needed for AT&T, Rogers, Bell, and Telus 3G. This wasn’t an open and shut case of finding Dell’s paperwork, this time it was a little bit more tricky.

The Dell Mini 5 was rumored to be manufactured by a company called Qisda. Well above left you’ve got a filing from Qisda that comes with… a Dell logo! And on the right you’ve got a picture of what is known to be the Dell Mini 5 sporting what looks to be the exact same thing.

Nice work, Watson!

[FCC via Engadget]

Canadian Android aficionados who wait with baited breath for TELUS to release the Motorola MILESTONE might soon be able to breathe easy if a new rumor has any truth to it. According to the folks over at MobileSyrup, TELUS recently sent out a memo its employees that the MILESTONE will make its debut on February 18th with pre-orders at Best Buy starting as soon as the 5th. Pricing wasn’t mentioned, but it’s looking as if the MILESTONE start at $199 and max out at $549 without contract. Pretty damn tempting, eh?

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Before we told you that the Motorola Milestone made its Best Buy Buyer’s Guide debut, well now it is listed as “Coming Soon” on the Telus site.

On the new page you can register to receive updates on the Milestone and its availability in Canada. It seems Canada will be receiving the Moto Milestone very soon! With all the news this week so far on the release, when do you think it will be available from TELUS? My guess? We’ll see the Motorola Milestone on TELUS before the end of the month. What do you think?

[via TELUS]