Whatever their pros and cons, no one can deny that Motorola’s phones generally have excellent build quality. And the latest phone from the Moto stable, the Moto Defy takes that one step forward. It is built to be resistant to water, dust and scratches, because ‘accidents happen’ as Moto says it. Mind you, it does appear to be a decent looking smart phone, although its prominent placing of metal screws on sides does give it that rugged look. You bet we are going to test every bit of that famous resistance when we get our hands on it – it might drop into a cup of coffee, because accidents happen.
Getting to the specs, the Moto Defy runs on Android version 2.1 and as per rumors will get Android 2.2 update soon (no time specified). That said, it does one of 2.2?s features already – the ability of sharing a 3G data connection by acting as a 3G Hotspot. We are certainly surprised to see that, as there are many other phones in the market running 2.1 (including those from Motorola), but none of them has this spot. For those who do not know, the Wi Fi Hotspot creating feature was one of the two main improvements in the Froyo update, along with the ability to save applications on to an expansion card. Given the fact that the iPad was just launched in India, we are sure that those who are buying the Wi-Fi only version will be interested.
Going beyond Defy’s looks and operating system, the phone feature list is pretty impressive with a 3.7inch Gorilla glass display (as big as the Moto Milestone and the XT720) with the social network-friendly MOTOBLUR interface, five megapixel shooter with auto focus, a 800MHz processor (more than both the Milestone and the XT720), 512MB RAM and 2GB of storage expandable up to 32GB, WLAN and GPS. It has been approved by the Digital Living Network Alliance that promises to make products compatible with each other for higher entertainment experience.
Frankly, barring the absence of Froyo (and this phone even has one of its best features), we cannot see much to complain – even the price of Rs 18,500 seems remarkably suitable for the specs on offer, with the toughness being a bonus feature. But will it survive our tests? Watch this space. We are going to get a unit soon!
