Motorola built its ultra-durable Defy smartphone with one purpose–to play the role of ‘toughest Droid on the market’. Just by looking at its heftiness and build-quality, one can (appropriately) guess that the DEFY can withstand more than any other smartphone currently available to the consumer market.
Around the body of the handset lie typical controls, a power/standby button, volume controls, but no dedicated button for the 5-megapixel camera on the back. The exposed screws and black and white design just exude toughness, and it can handle water pressure up to 1 meter. There is an LED flash, if you find such things useful for your mobile snapping, you could always use it as an emergency torch should you take the Defy camping.
Across the bottom of the screen are typical and familiar controls for Motorola fans, offering menu, home, back, and search. These buttons are touch sensitive and provide easy navigation around the device.
The Defy’s specs match up well with smartphones like the HTC Aria or even the Samsung Vibrant, which is pretty impressive considering its purpose. It packs a high-res, 3.7-inch edge-to-edge capacitive touchscreen display on the front shows. Although it may be finished in Gorilla Glass, too much rough handling will damage the screen.
It includes an 800MHz processor with 2GB of memory and runs Android 2.1, which is the major disappointment of the device. If it ran Froyo (2.2), it would run complete Flash video integration. However, Defy does run Motoblur; a software coating that runs over Android that specializes in a rich social networking experience.
Unfortunately, it only supports 640 x 480 resolution video capture, although superior video capabilities aren’t a priority for most users. You get all the hardware connectivity you’d expect, including HSDPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. It also supports DLNA, so you’ll be able to easily share your captured content with compatible devices. It can also double as a mobile hotspot, a feature that most carriers have come to love.
The Defy is a fresh face in what has been a non-existent ultra-durable smartphone market prior to its release. If you’re looking for a phone that has a strong extra layer of protection, the Defy should meet your expectations and give you a solid Android/Motoblur experience.
Looking for more new Android devices? Check out Exploring the HTC G2 and Motorola Droid Pro Announced
via Pocketlint
