Motorola has updated their Milestone handset with the Milestone XT720. This latest version has some great new features, but is notably lacking the slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Without the keyboard, the XT720 is about 3mm thinner than the original, though its size and weight are about the same. Given how difficult the slide-out keyboard could be, it is unlikely that anyone will mourn its passing. The handset come with a 1390 mAh battery, which according to Motorola has a maximum standby time of 13 days and will allow 4.5 hours of talk time before needing a recharge.

The Motorola Milestone XT720’s big advantage is its price. It is noticeably cheaper than either the HTC Desire or the Google Nexus One, both of which come with a 1 GHz processor. By comparison, the XT720 comes with a relatively small 550 MHz processor and 256 MB of RAM. This does not mean the phone is slow however. In terms of processing power and speed, it performs almost every task very well.

Motorola did not make any changes with the display – using the same one offered in the original Motorola Milestone (a 3.7″ display of 852 x 480 pixels). The XT720 actually shines in this category, if compared with a much more expensive model like the HTC Desire. Even though the Milestone display is slightly less intense, it actually functions better in sunlight that the Desire’s OLED technology does and boasts a higher resolution.

The Motorola Milestone XT720 features a whopping 8 megapixel digital camera. There is an integrated Xenon flash and several picture taking options. This is one of the biggest changes to the Milestone which makes it a great camera phone for just about anyone. You can also make movies and short videos thanks to its operating software which are easily transferable to any format. You are definitely going to want to take pictures with this phone since your pictures will come out a lot clearer with higher resolution than any other smartphone out on the market.

The operating system for this phone is the Android 2.1, so you will be able to enjoy a huge array of apps, from the entire Google collection to the ever expanding world of the Android market. The XT720’s high screen resolution makes it the perfect choice for viewing web pages, and the included browser makes this possible. This phone will also support the usual array of video and audio formats such as MP3, MPEG4, ACC, AAC, AMR and WMA. Though if you prefer to listen to your favorite radio station, there is also an FM radio. You will also find a 3.5 mm audio socket, which can be used with any pair of good headphones.

Google has issued a statement that it suspending the January 20 launch of its Android mobile phone products in China. The mobiles were developed in cooperation with Motorola and Samsung specifically for the China market and were to use China Unicom as service carrier. This leaves rival carrier China Mobile in position to expand it’s market advantage.

The phones use Google’s open source mobile platform similar to the Nexus One and Droid phones which marketed in the US. Google sources sated that it would be “irresponsible” to start service at a time when the company’s future presence in the country is in question.

Many commentators have tied Google’s threat to leave China with a corporate stance against government censorship and cite the company’s superseded motto “Don’t be evil.” Google has operated under censorship since starting operations in China 2005, and has been working with the government of China to restrict and filter search results in order to gain a foothold in this burgeoning market. Google has implied that the hackers who targeted the email accounts of Chinese dissidents were so sophisticated that they must have had support from some unnamed government.

In a bold act of commercial espionage, the hackers also breached Google’s source code repository, threatening the search giant’s core business.