Mobile

CompareComparing...

Motorola Defy – Full Review – Video + Tests

Now Reading

Share via

A long time ago, Nokia came out with the 5210 and later the 5500, both these phones were extremely rugged and water resistant. But, they were no smart phones, in fact the devices were poor built versions of Nokia’s existing line.

From then till now no one thought that, post the smartphone era, we would see a Smartphone which would defy the elements and prove to be a valuable competitor in the Market.

Enter the MOTOROLA DEFY, lets take an in-depth look at the interior and exterior of the device.

Build Quality

This device exceeds many others by leaps and bounds and does exactly what everyone wants, resists water and dust, the screen is tough and scratch proof, the construction is super rigid and environment proof, Drops on concrete and mis-pocket events wont deter the DEFY from doing what it promises to do, Stay with you till the absolute end.

Rubber backing, Rigid metal frame and outer body, along with gorilla glass and masculine rivets, which man would not want a defy?

The device delivers as promised and can live up to harsh expectations, dip it in water , throw it around even go through a wash cycle. check out our quick test video below

Hardware

Buying a smartphone today leaves you expecting more for less. Lets see what we like about the device:

Stunning 3.7″ touchscreen
480×854 px Resolution
Gorilla Glass
Rubber back seal
Water resistance
Dust resistance
Wifi

FM RADIO
5 Megapixel Camera
1500mah Battery
impact resistant design
Accelerometer
Proximity Sensor
800MHz Cortex-A8 processor
TI OMAP3610 chipset

The device has all the fancy stuff you can get at the price + it has the rugged construction. We still miss HD video.

Camera & Multimedia

The Defy packs a 5 MP shooter which has auto focus, but, lacks tap to focus. Hopefully, an upgrade from motorola can add that feature to the device. I

mages come out sharp from the device and extremely quickly. Video on the other hand is just VGA and could have been HD video at 720p. That would make the camera on the defy, a complete package. The fact that you can shoot images and video underwater is what makes the camera an extremely fun instrument to use. Video at pool parties anyone?

As far as media playback goes, since the device runs Android, it is capable of a vast variety of formats and supported codecs. Everything is available either free or at a premium from the marketplace. The device packs enough power to play all sorts of videos and stream movies from the internet. The loudspeaker on the device is simply “superb” packs a punch has great sound coming from a sealed speaker.

Call Quality and Battery Life

Here at iGyaan we stress on Call quality a lot. Especially since the DEFY is priced slightly higher than other phones, we wanted that the device perform well. We got exceptionally clear sound from the earpiece, even as the device was dipped into water several times it continued to sound clearer than ever. the microphone is also exceptionally good at doing its job. Motorola made sure that the earpeice issue was resolved before launching the device.

We got zero dropped calls in our 4 hours of testing and no signal issues what so ever. The device is just plain a good phone.

Battery life was also pretty impressive we got on an average 5 hours of talk time on the device. About 8-9 hours on media playback, 6 hours of internet browsing and about 20-24hours of music playback. All of this with the WIFI on. The battery is a 1500mah battery, the large capacity plays a huge role in such battery performance.

OPERATING SYSTEM

The Defy runs Android 2.1 with MOTO BLUR- (yes MOTO BLUR works perfectly in INDIA). The performance of the device is great with a few hiccups here and there. The upgrade to ANdroid 2.2 should be rolled out soon, and should remove the lagging in the processor. Since this device has a 800 mhz cortex A8 processor , flash would work perfectly in the browser. We would also definitely love the move to sd card option.

Currently in its state the Moto Blur and customized UI from Motorola add to the experience of the OS. The OS is color-ful and has a lot of unique customizations that make life that much easier while using the DEFY.

Conclusion

An extremely well built phone / device with somewhat all the latest features. It does lack a few things (HD video, Android 2.2) but atleast a software upgrade would bring one of them. Water resistant and dust proof had us from the get go. The device is an absolute must for the outgoing individual, an outdoor person or even a clumsy fellow.