Two of the most popular features of the HTC Desire Z (Vision) are the slide-out qwerty keyboard and the Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system. However, these two key selling points draw obvious comparisons with another popular Android smartphone, the Motorola Milestone 2.

The Motorola Milestone 2 is more compact; it’s 13.7mm thick while the HTC Desire Z is 14.16mm thick. Both are quite bulky: the Motorola weighs 169g with the battery included while the HTC Desire Z weighs 180g inclusive of battery weight. In terms of which will fit most easily in your shirt pocket or handbag, the Milestone 2 is the winner.

Both these smartphones have the same display size, with a screen of 3.7 inches a piece. Take a look under the surface and it’s the Motorola Milestone 2 that has the quickest processor, a 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM. The HTC Desire Z also has 512MB of RAM available, but its processor is weaker than that of the Motorola and of its own sister phone the HTC Desire HD, the Desire Z’s processor being just 800MHz.

Customisation is key for the modern smartphone user. The Desire Z puts a huge amount of customisation at your fingertips, increasing usability too. As well as a full selection of menu options, there are five customisable home screens, meaning you can add all of your most commonly used and favourite apps and widgets to a place that is easy to find them.

The Motorola Milestone 2 features Motorola’s Android skin Motoblur, which means all of your data is automatically backed up online (handy if, for example, you have to restore your phone to factory settings for any reason) and it also makes managing Twitter, Facebook, email and other online updates very easy indeed. However, widgets and apps do not look fantastic on the Motoblur skin, so if app aesthetics are important to you, the Desire Z will be more appealing here.

And now to the keyboards, one of the major plus points of both smartphones.

The Motorola Droid 2 features an overhauled version of the original Milestone’s qwerty keyboard, with the key point of the makeover being making the keys bigger – a major plus point for those of us with larger fingers. The keys have also been raised, which makes typing easier.

You will find raised keys on the HTC Desire Vision too, which also features decently spaced (if slightly small) keys. Typing is pretty comfy and fast on the Desire Z, too.

Both of the smartphones feature decent cameras. The HTC Desire Z features a 5 megapixel camera with a range of features, LED flash and excellent quality HD video, while the Motorola Milestone 2 also features a camera of 5 megapixels with dual LED flash and HD video capability.

When it comes to storing your images (and any other data files), the Motorola Milestone 2 edges ahead because it comes with 8GB of internal storage with the possibility of expansion through a micro SD memory card. The HTC Desire also offers memory expansion via a micro SD card, but only has 1.5GB of built in storage capacity.

Again when you look at surfing the web, both smartphones are closely tied. You will find they both come with support for Adobe Flash Player (unlike, for example, the iPhone) which means that websites with rich content can be viewed the way they were intended to be, including videos and Flash animated adverts.

Both of these are excellent smartphones, each with their own band of dedicated fans. The HTC Desire Z is currently being offered with a free HTC BHM300 Bluetooth Headset for £290 (£348 inc. VAT), whereas the Motorola Milestone 2 is priced at £305 (£366 inc. VAT)

If you would like to compare device specifications for yourself, try out the Clove Technology Device Comparison Tool.