Motorola Defy is not the droid you’re looking for if you’re that kind of geek hipster who likes pussy glam shiny slim touchy feely smartphones.
No sir, this one is as tough as they come; I AM NOT AFRAID kind of device, GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT attitude.
It’s a rugged, dust proof, scratch and water resistant Android GSM phone.
Wherever you go, this little guy will keep you connected to the world; it will survive you in the woods or in Afghanistan and your friends will appreciate your last gasp, as caught on the 5 MP Autofocus camera.
At first glance, let’s see the main ingredients:
Key features
• World’s first durable Android smartphone
• Scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass screen, dustproof and water-resistant (no official certification)
• 3.7" capacitive TFT touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 854) resolution, 16M colors
• Quad-band GSM/EDGE, HSDPA 900/2100
• Android OS 2.1 Éclair with custom MOTOBLUR UI
• TI OMAP3610 800 MHz processor
• 512MB RAM, 2GB onboard storage
• micro SD card slot (up to 16GB), 2GB card included
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging
• VGA video @ 30fps
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (with A2DP) connectivity
• Built-in GPS receiver, digital compass
• microUSB port, charging enabled
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• FM radio with RDS
• Accelerometer for UI auto-rotate
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
• Nice social networking integration
• Swype text input
• Web browser with Adobe Flash Lite
• Very good audio quality
• Awesome web-connected music player
• Video player has Xvid video support
Full specs here.
In terms of software, Defy features the last MOTOBLUR User Interface, with Éclair android on board. Even if it doesn’t feature the latest and greatest in terms of software, this is not the boring type of device.
Unboxing the Defy reveals a small box, in which there are some basic accessories like the USB charger, a micro USB cable, a 2gb micro SD card and the usual headset plus the manual which teaches us not to submerge the phone in water with all of its lids open, a good advice kids.
The Defy is a compact unit, with a 3.7 inch wide display, measuring only 107 x 59 x 13.4 mm and weighing 118 g, very little for a full touch smartphone.
Motorola Defy is the first android who was said to meet the IP67 standards, but in the end Hello Moto decided not to give specific details about protection ratings, though the phone was marketed as dustproof, scratch resistant etc.
Anyway, this little one is as tough as they come, even If Moto doesn’t want to be held responsible for your droid getting messed up in the combat zone.
The Defy comes in 2 versions, all-black and white on black , on the front we can see the 3.7 inch touchscreen and the 4 capacitive buttons underneath, the display is a 16M-color capacitive touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 854 pixels), which is covered by a scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass. Viewing angles and sunlight legibility are average, the image quality is pretty good for such a device, and the sensitivity of the touchscreen is excellent and supports multi touch.
The controls are haptic enabled and very sensitive, above the display there are the ambient and proximity sensors, on the left we find the micro USB sealed with a rubber cap, on the top we can see the 3.5 mm audio jack, also protected with a flap.
On the back, the main attraction is the 5 MP with autofocus camera lens, with a LED flash. The battery has 1540mAh, it is a Li-Ion battery quoted at up to 238 hours of standby and 6 hours 48 minutes of talk time.
The design is very pleasant for a rugged phone, it looks more polished than most of them, the rubbery back cover is comfortably curved for a better handling, the phone fits well into your hand and the rubber provides a secure grip. The assembly is rock solid.
The OS is Android 2.1 Éclair and Motorola’s social-networking engine, MOTOBLUR. Widgets are the most interesting parts of home screen. And Motorola added excellent social networking skills and make the widgets resizable. Tap and hold on a widget and four handles will appear in the corners – you can drag them to resize the widget, which will change its appearance to fit the new size.
The phonebook is excellent, it can store all kinds of information about your contacts, it is social network integrated, the phonebook shows MOTOBLUR at its best – blurring the distinction between “local” and “online” and putting all the info from all the sources at your fingertips.
In terms of telephony, the device had no issues, reception is top notch, also the in call sound quality, due to the Crystal Talk technology, Motorola’s own active noise canceling method.
The Defy features voice dial and voice commands, Smart Dialing is missing in action.
The messaging app handles the text based communications in a unified box, threaded messaging is enabled too, and the text input is enhanced by Swype.
In terms of music, all the music related things are in the same place, the Music Videos section of the Music app offers quick searches on YouTube or Go TV for the music videos, in terms of audio quality, Moto did great, it can successfully replace your dedicated MP3 player with a good pair of cans.
The video player is minimalist; it supports DivX only up to WQVGA resolution (400x240). Higher-res videos seem to need more processing power than the DEFY can offer.
Defy comes with a built in FM radio with RDS, it has a simple yet efficient interface; you can listen to the internet radio too.
Camera is a 5 MP shooter with a maximum resolution of 2592х1944 pixels, the user interface is simple, the camera performed well but it’s not amongst the top dogs on the market, it’s average in terms of performance.
Video recording is handled well; the phone shoots very good clips at VGA resolution at 30 fps.
As per connectivity issues, there are none, the Motorola DEFY has great connectivity features – quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE fast dual-band 3G with 7.2Mbps downlink speeds and 2Mbps HSPA.
The local connectivity features include Wi-Fi b/g/n (with DLNA support), Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and a microUSB port.
For the avid internet user, the smartphone makes a good impression, the Android browser is very good, Flash support included, and browsing is fast and without glitches.
The good people from Motorola did a great job of integrating social networking with the rest of the phone’s features, the Defy is a social phone, it also features a great organizer and a GPS receiver with Google Maps preinstalled and Street View Mode, for anything missing you can always pay a visit to the Android Market where you can find all kind of apps, free or paid.
Final words, this is a tough little droid, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the right phone for the more physical active part of the geek audience, compact and friendly, young and social. It has a decent price tag and a full set of features; it’s a respectable smartphone who performs well in any situation.
You can have your own Motorola Defy here, on a monthly contract deal.
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