Photos: Motorola DEFY+
The original Motorola DEFY caused something of a splash when it launched a year ago. This Android smartphone was certified dust and water resistant, and yet it looked more like an ordinary smartphone than a ruggedised device. The DEFY was a success. Now, a year on, it has been updated as the DEFY+.
Our review sample came from Clove Technology, where it's available for £246 (inc. VAT; £205 ex. VAT).
Photos: Motorola
The Motorola DEFY+ looks fairly standard at first glance. But a tour of the chassis shows how it has been able to acquire IP67 compliance — that is, it is 'dust protected' and can withstand 'immersion up to 1m' in water.
The backplate is held firmly in place by a sliding lock so that no dust or liquid can easily get under it. The side-mounted headphone jack and Micro-USB port are protected by a hinged cover. There's a sturdy seal around the sides of the chassis too.
In addition to the features that make the Motorola DEFY+ water and dust resistant, it has a scratch-proof Gorilla Glass screen — we tried marking it with a knife, to no avail.
Beneath all the sturdy exterior features is a smartphone with solid credentials. The operating system is Android 2.3, powered by a 1GHz processor with 512MB of RAM.
The screen measures 3.7in. across the diagonal and has a resolution of 480 by 854 pixels. There is Flash support in the web browser, and the display is sharp and clear.
The 5-megapixel rear camera has a small LED flash. There is 1GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot under the battery for adding more capacity.
Motorola provides the DEFY+ with seven home screens, with a range of additional widgets over the standard Android offerings. These include widgets for GPS, Wi-Fi and flight-mode management, social networking tools, RSS and calendar information.
Motorola includes DLNA support, a Car Dock screen with six large shortcut icons — ideal for use when you're driving and can't fiddle with the standard Android interface — and several additional applications. Motorola's Connected Music Player will go online to find lyrics and includes SoundHound for identifying tracks from recorded snippets.
With a 1,700mAh battery Motorola says the DEFY+ is good for approximately 6.8 hours of talk time. As well as Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth (2.1+EDR) and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, the DEFY+ supports HSPA at up to 7.2Mbps down and 2Mbps up.