Android in Canada Blog

When Telus announced they'd be getting the Milestone, I was ready to buy it on launch. Three months have passed since then; Android 2.1 and the Nexus One have been released, and the Milestone, which is still launching on Android 2.0, is already looking dated. Motorola and Verizon are promising an over-the-air update to 2.1 in the coming days, but no word at all on the Milestone. This is not a good sign. And of course, we've all witnessed the Dream and Magic update fiasco on Rogers.

I don't think the manufacturers or the Canadian carriers really understand the difference between a smartphone and an old feature phone. You can't ask a customer to drop hundreds of dollars on a phone, make a commitment to spend thousands of dollars on voice and data, and then abandon them after release to focus on the next handset. If I commit to you for three years, you'd better commit to me for three years too. If the latest apps won't run on my phone during that term, you have failed.

Obviously Apple gets this, as original iPhones continue to get updated to the latest OS release. I believe Google gets it, too. That's why I'm now waiting for a release of the Nexus One that supports the Telus, Bell, and Rogers 3G networks.

> Rumors put the price at $199 on a 3-year agreement and an outright price of $549

A Telus rep somewhere in Canada looked in the store computer and told me the no-lockin price will be $600. I'm strongly considering the European version instead of the Canadian version – even though it would actually cost a few bucks more – because the Euro version is a world phone instead of a North-America-only phone, but that means giving up ever having 3G access in Canada. Damn – why do they make everything so hard? Given that the costs of an unlocked Euro Milestone from expansys.ca (or on eBay) is about the same (just slightly higher) than buying the Canadian version from Telus, I guess it depends on whether the convenience of a 2G world phone is worth more than the cost of high-speed locally. Given that the phone also has WiFi this might not be the deciding factor. Hmmm.

Contrary to what f'dagain said above, I have been told by two sales people – one from Telus and one from Best Buy – that the phone *will* in fact roam to Euro GSM – if there is no HSPA high-speed available. So either the specifications sheets (hardcopy and online at Motorola.ca) are both wrong and common sense prevailed, *or* the sales people are both wrong and marketing won. Answer Thursday, hopefully.