SlashGear Japan
While the US goes DROID crazy after Friday’s launch of the Android 2.0 smartphone, O2 Germany are not far behind when it comes to the GSM version. The Motorola MILESTONE – as the DROID will be known outside the US – was spotted on the carrier’s site last week and officially announced on Monday; it’s now being listed on the O2 Germany site, priced at €549.99 ($816).
Interestingly, the MILESTONE comes with an 8GB microSD card, whereas the DROID on Verizon comes with a 16GB card; however we found that the class 2 microSD supplied with the CDMA handset proved too slow for judder-free high-resolution video playback. In the MILESTONE’s case, that 8GB card is preloaded with Western Europe mapping data for use with Motorola’s own MOTONAV turn-by-turn directions app, since Google Maps Navigation is currently US-only.
From what we can tell from the German-language site, the MILESTONE is available to order now; we’re not sure when it will ship, but earlier rumors suggested it would be on sale imminently. As for whether the DROID is any good, check out our full review here.
[via Twitter]
6 Responses to “Motorola MILESTONE gets O2 Germany listing for €550”
Just to get the details correct. You can get the phone for 481 € if you buy the phone only. If you buy the phone together with a plan, any plan, it’s 549,99 €.
Seems illogical at first sight for usually phones get subsidized through plans. I heard the higher price for a phone with a plan is meant to discourage customers from locking their device into a two year contract. Perhaps O2 hopes to sell more phones that way.
+1Chris Davies November 7, 2009
Thanks for the clarification, Donald. That does seem an unusual way of pricing the MILESTONE, I can’t believe that’s quite how O2 intend it!
+1regatta November 7, 2009
“While the US goes DROID crazy after Friday’s launch”
Wow, which US was that then?
+1pinguino1 November 7, 2009
WHAT? 550 EU ??????
-6Man, I would pay that and more for HD2, TP2, Omnia2, X10 but not for this trial unit.
That’s one expensive phone especially powered by a free opensource OS with ZERO customization.
-4jabre November 9, 2009
O2 has startet a new way of selling cellphones. Instead of selling phones together with a plan they sell the phones by hire purchase on their own. You can see the pricing for this here: http://tinyurl.com/yzjod5o
A bit of german language: “Handys ohne Tarif” – cellphones without a plan, “Anzahlung” – initial payment, “Mtl. Zahlung über 24 Monate” – monthly payment over 24 month
O2 offers, that you can buy 3 phones this way (within 24 month?). To “convince” customers to buy the cellphone seperated from a plan, they rised prices for phones sold together with a plan above the price for a phone, that you buy by hire purchase.
The intended advantages of this model are:
You get cheaper plans for calls and internet.
All customers get the same prices for a phone, despite of the plan they choose.
I hope that was understandable, despite my bad english.
Neutral