Motorola Defy
The basics
Although packed with features, far too many touchscreen phones are easy to break – simply drop one and it's game over. The Motorola Defy aims to change this, offering an incredibly rugged experience that the clumsy are bound to love.
The good
The Motorola Defy is head and shoulders above other mobile phones when it comes to build quality – at least in terms of robustness. If you need a phone that's virtually indestructible, this is the one to have.
You'll find incredibly tough plastics in place on the front and rear of the Motorola Defy, and this handset also uses Gorilla Glass for the display. This helps to prevent scratches, and also stops it from breaking when knocked or dropped. The Motorola Defy is even water proof.
We also love the way the Motorola Defy looks. It has a huge 3.7-inch screen, yet it's actually one of the smaller touchscreen smartphones. This is because the display makes up nearly the entire front of the device.
The bad
It's not perfect, however. We don't like the MotoBlur software on the Motorola Defy, as it's laggy, unintuitive and has an effect on battery life.
The bottom line
The Motorola Defy is a great handset. If you're looking for an Android device, it's well worth a look, with the added bonus of being one of the toughest smartphones currently on the market.
User comments (14)
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Anonymous30 November 2010
Due to get this phone. Its far better than the other products at similar price points (free from £20 a month), they are all stuck with small low res displays and 600mhz CPU's. Whereas this for the same price has a big and high res dispaly and an 800mhz cpu plus its tough so will last for the full lenght of the contract hopefully :P. You didnt mention any of the positives of motoblur such as Remote wipe and the ability to locate the phone using GPS if its lost and the backup features that motoblur has.
Report as inappropriateLiz 08 December 2010
I hoped that it was indestructable, my teenage daughter managed to crack the screen within a week. £60 excess on the insurance to to fix!it. Lifeproof but not teenager proof!
Report as inappropriateCurr94625 December 2010
Had it since t-mobile listed it for sale just over a month or so ago, great phone for £20 a month. Moto blur sync can be disabled under accounts if you thinks its having an effect of battery. But my wife has a HTC desire and my battery outlasts hers so... oh and you can install other skins from the market if motoblurs skins not to your liking.
Report as inappropriateyabbadabbadoo03 January 2011
Got this for the wife for Christmas and I can't stop picking it up, Motorola say it's boredom proof and I have to agree. After I told her the Gadget Show reported it was a must for the clumsy I got a lot of earache, 3 hours later she dropped it in the snow on a rock, it didn't even mark. For anyone wanting a smart phone that enjoys the outdoors I'd highly recommend it, I'm off to get one for myself now!
Report as inappropriateMark Campion20 January 2011
I love this phone! Easy to change anything you don't like but it's preinstalled with a lot of useful apps and android extras. Screen is fabulous and it works fast even though it's not got Android 2.3 or 2.3 update yet - thought should be coming soon apparently. Best in its price range by a mile I reckon as it's almost as good as Samsung's Galaxy S or Desire HD.
Report as inappropriaterichdick500022 January 2011
this phone is sound prof to. i got this phone in november i have currently gone through 2 phones and both of them the ear piace speaker goes and now i've found out its a common fault so i would not recomend it now i've had my contrat for so long carfonewarehouse refusese to change my phone there sending it in for repair and i have heared they take up to 3 mouths to return so if ya want hope of a good phone its there but its the software is the one letting the hard ware down i would advise if u really want this phone wait, wait a while before getting wait till u see some one get there back ad it acturlly works for more than a mouth.
Report as inappropriatePeter23 January 2011
Yes, I picked up this phone, and I am very impressed, would definitely recommend. The only nag I have is that I got my wife a ZTE blade from orange which was on Pay as you go at a ridiculously low price. And to be honest its just as good as mine. The Orange version of Android isnt great though, but there a few good places to get advice on installing the vanilla android. I referred to this site http://www.osys.com/articles.html they have some information on free unlocking too.
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ukgirl201116 March 2011
i love this phone and a load of free and payed apps to choose from android market best phone ever had
Report as inappropriateSteven10 April 2011
i have had this phone for 6 months now, from release pretty much, and have had numerous problems, Firstly the screen scratched within weeks. This is was a big surprise to me as ive had an ipod touch without screen protector for years and never scratched it. Secondly the speaker stopped working 1 month after i purchased the device, I have since received a new one which again has problems. Sometimes the speaker volume adjusts automatically, so i believe its breaking again, On the plus however this is my first smart phone and find it too be very quick, i receive minimal lag issues. But after the faults ive had, lets just say i wont be testing its water resistance....
Report as inappropriateDanniBoi29 May 2011
The earpiece manufacturing fault occurs in almost every handset produced before Feb 11. If you're about to get one of these, make sure it has been produced on Feb of this year or later. How to check it? By having a look at the serial number. SN looks like this: L026QA7WFN. We concentrates on 5th and 6th letter. Rest is not important and varies so will be different on your handset. 5th letter marks the year, 6th the month. Year: N to P=2010, Q=2011. Month: A and B means January, C and D is for February and so on. DO NOT buy phone unless it's xxxxQCxxxx or later e.g. xxxxQDxxxx. QA and QB are still likely to break, so avoid them. DO NOT buy if the first letter is different than Q. It's fair to say that nearly 100% of devices produced on or after February are free from this fault. Hope this helps.
Report as inappropriateshiloh01 September 2011
ive had mine from jan 2011 its been the best phone ive had so far love it will say speaker went on it in first week t mobile replaced it for me no questions i dropped it many times then once and broke screen sent of paying 20 pounds on excess came back 5 days later brill working superbly no probs any more missed it so much would recomend this mobile to anyone
Report as inappropriatesean pearson24 April 2012
i own this phone and i wouldnt recemend this to anyone who likes to have a phone for over a year mine has cost me over 300 like screen cracking when charging and metal peice charger plugs into snapping ear peice breaking water dammage DO NOT BUY
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