Motorola DEFY

Available now
1st September 2010

The Motorola DEFY is a ruggedised Android smartphone, designed to appeal to people who take their handsets "out of the office" in a serious way.

Rugged phones tend to be quite basic, but in this case the Motorola DEFY is a high-end handset with similar specifications to the Motorola Milestone and derivatives. It sports a 3.7" 480 x 854 pixel display, an 800 MHz processor and a 5 megapixel camera plus 3.5G HSPA data and WiFi, including support for 802.11n.

There's GPS support too, very useful in a rugged device like this, and also a media player and 3.5mm audio socket to keep you amused when you are out and about.

For some reason, the bundled software is Android 2.1 and not Android 2.2. It comes with all the usual features plus Motorola's MOTOBLUR service, and the 512MB of internal RAM and reasonably fast processor should make it a capable applications platform. We suspect that this particular handset has taken a while to put together which may explain the version 2.1 operating system.. we don't know if an update to 2.2 will be available, although we would be surprised if there wasn't.

What makes the Motorola DEFY a non-typical device is the ruggedness, apparently certified to IP67 specifications for resistance against dust, water and shock. The Gorilla Glass front should protect against scratches and breakage too, and it's a common feature across many Motorola devices.

Motorola haven't said exactly how tough this phone is, but it certainly won't be indestructible. It should survive most normal real-world experiences though, and remember that adding a good quality case can also help protect against impact damage.

The large 1540 mAh battery is quoted as giving up to 6.7 hours talktime on 3G and 16 days standby time, which should be enough for most people. The Motorola DEFY weighs no more than a typical phone of its class, coming in at 118 grams and measuring 107 x 59 x 13mm.

There's no word on pricing at the moment, but we would expect it to cost a bit more than the €430 than the Milestone XT720 retails at. Motorola say that the DEFY should be available in Europe during Q4 2010, and it looks like there are white and black colour schemes available. More information can be found at www.motorola.com/DEFY