Motorola Defy (2010)
Phone Scoop Review
Nov 1, 2010 by Philip Berne
The Motorola Defy is the most stylish water resistant phone around, and a real smartphone to boot. Is this the perfect companion for your next adventure? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Great Size Android Phone
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I long avoided the touch screen conversion... for two main reasons:
1. Durability - I'm not crazy rough on phones, but I have been known to toss them in my pocket, on tables, drop them, etc... and having one giant screen with no physical keys generally makes for a pretty fragile phone.
---Motorola Solved This -- This phone is Water Resistant (not proof!) though i couldn't resist and did drop it in a glass of water... though I wouldn't recommend it. It also has the tough Gorilla Glass that you'd have to gouge at to get it to scratch ... and lastly its dust proof and shock resistant.
2. I don't like HUGE phones... sure the Samsung Galaxy is gorgeous, huge screen, but it doesn't slip easily into a jeans pocket... and for a guy who only sometimes likes to carry my 'man bag' - yea, glorified purse, its nice to have a phone I can stick in my pants pocket without it bulging out.
So -- in response to the guy who said "would be nice to have a bigger screen" - get a different phone - not everyone wants a HUGE screen, this is perfectly adequate.
Also - YOU CAN assign individual ringtones, its right at the bottom of the contacts options... read a manual or play around before posting untrue things.
On to the review...
Overall, its a great phone and I'm very happy -- I was always die hard Nokia, but they have work to do with touch screens. Call quality is great, its fast, speaker phone is adequately loud considering water proofing. I get a signal in our house where most other GSM phones drop in and out. WiFi calling is a plus... though I haven't needed it like I thought I would.
Now... if you have larger fingers, the combo with the smaller screen can make it tough to type portrait on the QWERTY board, however, I downloaded an app that gave me the standard 12 key setup with T9 (it seems most phones with swype lack this feature now)
Small gripes... in call volume controls speaker and handset ear piece, would be nice if separate. Talk to text works well, all in all A++
Great Phone...Great Speed
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I owned the Vibrant from the day it came out. The phone is beautiful and was expensive. The Defy is better. I was worried when I thought about getting this phone because it only has an 800 MHz processor, but it has excellent reviews and I thought I would give it a try.
The Vibrant also has excellent reviews but I did not have a good experience with the phone. It was slow and froze up a lot and the web experience was awful and slow. The Defy has an excellent web experience. Pages load very fast on both 3G and wifi.
All the same applications that were on the Vibrant are now on my Defy and I have none of the sluggishness or freezing of the phone.
I really don't understand why the defy performs so much better than the vibrant, but in my experience it does by a landslide.
Call quality is superior to the vibrant and the noise cancellation works very well in a noisy environment (I work as a restaurant manager, kitchens are very loud).
Pros:
Has the ram to handle android very well
call quality on both ends of the conversation
built tough
easy to root
no lag or freezing up for minutes on end
fast browser
smooth and responsive touch screen
excellent keyboard (I use the muti-touch keyboard not swype Which is the default).
nice display
excellent speaker and ring volume
Battery life is superior to the vibrant
Cons:
would have liked a 4" display
can't assign individual ring tones
no hd video recorder
Overall if the quality of calls and the ease of texting are important to you this is your phone. If social networking is important to you this is your phone. If using apps is your thing then this is your phone. This phone is well rounded and gives me a superior user experience in all that I use a phone to accomplish.
Lastly, the reason I got a new phone was because the Vibrant's screen cracked. I really don't know how it happened. The Defy has gorilla glass and is scratch proof and water resistant. Here is hoping it will last.
Excellent,perfect size android
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Coming from a blackberry it takes some getting used too but the Defy is the same size as my Bold 9700 but the screen is much bigger because it basically goes from border to border. The phone has a vibrant screen and it also has a good battery life,also its nice not to need a screen protector or case if you choose not to. Pros:scores really well in the quadrant test,accident proof,nice screen,and Motoblur seems to run well on this phone. Cons:None, not even 2.1 which runs fast on the Defy,besides Froyo will be coming soon.
Not made for Lefties
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First i'll dive into the goods about 2.1.
Although its not 2.2, this is still an excellent option. Swype texting is good (although the phone still has trouble sometimes interpreting any words with two consecutive letters of the same kind such as guess or spell). 3G coverage is great in my area (South Texas). App installation and uninstall are a breeze. This device can also be used as a mass storage device. Web browsing is good too. 3G coverage and a decent processor makes for quick webpage rendering. Speakerphone is GREAT on here. Crystal clear voice from both sides of the conversation.
The Body: The phone feels solid in your hand. There are no loose parts on here at all. I purposely dropped it three different times from about 3-4 feet up during my one week of ownership. No markings on it yet, however i have no intentions of purposely dropping it anymore. I also did my personal water-resistant test by placing the phone under a faucet and allowing water to flow on to the screen and battery cover. After drying it off and checking any corners or slits on the phone, it remained dry.
***Do not confuse the terms water-resistant and water-proof***
I have seen various videos of ppl submerging the Defy into swimming pools or large glasses of water. I'm pretty sure those phones were not theirs to keep.
My personal Con to this phone:
I understand that alot of android devices are not made for left-handed individuals like myself. I am mainly speaking of the camera app. When i go to take a pic, naturally i want to rotate the phone clock-wise. I can't take a pic that way at all, so i have to flip it to the "right" way (pun intended). I discover that ALL of the on-screen options are on the right side. Even the onscreen tap to take a picture is on the upper right side. When i am holding my phone in the default landscape mode with my left hand, my index finger lands perfectly on the volume keys and my middle finger perfectly blocks the lens and flash. Can any lefties get past this?
hide detailed ratings
Was only OK at best
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I'm in the Boston metro area. I only had this phone for about a month, that was all I could take of it. The phone itself was way too plastic-y (is that a word?) almost to the point of being toy-ish. One of the reasons I bought it was for the over the air FM radio but I could never find a headset that would give me good reception with this phone. I live in an area that radio reception is never a problem. It was definitely the phone or software. I have never had this issue with the Motorola Cliq XT or HTC Mytouch 4g with the same headsets. The screen size is pretty small, could have been the border around it or something but not great. Also the wi-fi connection would drop a lot! All in all I don't know if it was this particular unit I got or if they are general problems for this phone. I definitely was not impressed. The speed of the phone was relatively slow on 3G. Oh, and you have to sign up for Motoblur, there is no getting around this one and it just bloats up the phone. There are better phones out there. It's made water resistant by the plug in areas being rubber stopped - that's it.
it can take a beating
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This phone is very durable. Ive had this phone since it came out. Even though the screen has finally cracked but not on the 1st fall. Im a very clumsy person. I always dropping things. That's this phone was perfect for me. Ive dropped this phone several times. Talked on the phone while I was in the shower. This phone got closed on by the truck of my car oops. slipped out of my hand from the 2nd floor. no cracked and still worked as it was new until last week. I was sitting on a bar stool and the phone was in my lap. (and i do this often) I forgot that the phone was in my lap and stood up. Then the phone fell. I had confidence that the phone wouldn't break but its did. the whole right top of the screen was shattered... I guess that 2 story drop made the screen weak... so most phones will take only one short drop for this screen to crack but this took almost a year of dropping. cracked in all it still works. its in the shop right now getting a new screen.
oh btw. android 2.2 is av liable for this phone as an upgrade. the only thing that i don't like about this phone is that it has no front facing cam. processor speeds are kinda slow. other than that its great!
The best phone ever.
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I have had my DEFY for just under a week now, and I love it. Since I got it, I have not touched my computers and I am honestly thinking of selling them. The speed is perfect, the weight is perfect, the size is perfect, the OS is even perfect. I have been on my phone 24/7 now and I am writing this review from my phone. Clearly superior to the iPhone, and it is even water resistant- my I dropped my old phone in a puddle. This phone would laugh in the face of that!!!
Nice little phone.
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I preorderd this one for my wife.Who goes through phones like toilet paper!We got it in november.And so far its held up.Just for kicks after we got it.I through it into our garden tub wich was slap full of water!I came out no problems.Since then our kids have dropped it.Chewed on it,threw it across the room.And the thing keeps on going.My wife loves it!She likes it so much.I offerd her my G2.Because I've orderd a Samsung Galaxy S 4g.She said she didn't want it.So she must love it.It is as tuff as advertised!
I LOVE My Motorola Defy!
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I purchased this phone at the begining of the month, and the first week and a half was a bit rough. The first week and a half the phone would rest itself , or freeze up and drop calls. I almost sent it back three days after having it, and decided to that I had 30 days to give it a try before I was stuck with it, and around the end of week two, it became amazing!
Pros;
- NICE screen, love the gorilla glass!
- Loud speaker/ ear piece/ volume (ringer etc)
- Very easy to text on considering I never thought I would be 100% touch screen.
- Battery life on mine has been amazing!
- Most people complain about android 2.1, I LOVE mine, I can use live wallpapers, and download apps that I want just like my old iPhone.
- nice size, at first thought it would be too small, and it's become perfect for me.
- very easy to customize
- water resistant!
- Gorilla glass scratch proof
- feels very durable in hand
Cons;
- after taking several pics, it does have a tend to freeze, not sure if it needs an update, but it does freeze.
- predictive text messaging
- does have some force closing
- speakers at times sounds a bit crackly
I absolutly LOVE my motorola defy, and this is probably the first phone that I've ever purchased (including my iPhone) that I will have no problem keeping for awhile!
Great phone perfect size
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Being a contractor I needed a durable phone and this is it,I have been able to use it for all of my business needs and even dropped it from my shirt pocket onto a ceramic tile floor, the phone did not even have a scratch on it.Pros-size and durability.cons-none yet and I have owned it for two months
