Motorola Defy

Editor's Review of the Defy

The Motorola Defy does what it says on the tin, and fights off the elements. It copes with those awkward day-to-day hazards, like puddles, pints and parties, although Motorola were keen to point out it's not a "rugged" phone as such, so don't go throwing it at walls.

Design & Build

The design of the Motorola Defy may not be to everybody's taste, but it certainly gives it that tough appearance it was going for. The handset is crafted from robust plastics, and is available on both black and white colour schemes. We weren't too keen on the visible screws along the side of the handset, but if it adds to the durability of the handset, they must be there for a reason.

We'd expect the Defy to be a chunky phone, but it manages to measure in at just 107 x 59 x 13mm with a weight of 118g. Despite its rugged appearance, it's the same size as your average smartphone and its curved chassis sits comfortably in your hand.

Although it may not cater to everybody's taste, the macho look is for a reason, that being to defy the elements. The Motorola Defy is marketed as being water, dust, scratch and shock proof, and with an IP67 level of toughness, it can spend 1 hour 30 minutes under water without breaking. Even the headphone and USB ports are protected, although the protective covers didn't feel all that reliable.

Despite it's Gorilla Glass protection, it's not all about defying the elements when it comes to the 3.7 inch display of the Defy. It's a huge screen that almost reaches the edges of the handset, and its 480 x 854 produces a vibrant image. It's not the brightest display we've ever seen, but it certainly does the job.

OS & Interface

We were a bit disappointed to learn that the Motorola Defy comes equipped with Android 2.1, missing out on all of the Froyo goodness featured on the Motorola Milestone 2. We're optimistic that an upgrade will soon be on its way, bringing with it HD video recording and Flash support. Hopefully.

Motorola have customized the interface of the Defy with their MOTOBLUR skin, which grabs updates from social networking sites and your email accounts, and slaps them straight on your homescreen. This is a great feature, making it easy to keep in touch with your friends at all times. This UI also dresses the handsets with 7 customizable homescreens, which you access by swiping from side to side. We were very impressed with the responsiveness of the capacitive screen, and experienced no lag, even with multiple applications open.

The handset also comes with Swype pre-installed, making the fiddly touch screen QWERTY keypad a whole lot easier to use.

Multimedia & Storage

When you think of tough smartphones, you don't usually expect them to come equipped with a decent camera. This handset defies stereotypes, and comes sporting a 5 megapixel snapper complete with LED flash. It captures video too, but with support for up to 640 x 480 resolution, putting it behind those high-end smartphones which offer HD video.

The handset packs all the entertainment features you would expect from an Android smartphone, and even has some neat apps pre-installed, including Blockbuster and WebTV.

Everything Else

You rarely need to browse the web on this smartphone, as everything is so easily accessed from your homescreen. However, with fast HSDPA and WiFi speeds on board, accessing the internet is a quick and easy process on the Defy.

As you would expect from a touch smartphone, the Motorola Defy packs a decent battery life, that equips you with 6.7 hours talk time and 16 days on standby.

Conclusion

What it lacks in high-end features, the Motorola Defy makes up for in muscle. Of course, we would have preferred to see Android 2.2 and HD video capture, but the fact that we can drop this handset in a pint, makes up for it.