Motorola DEFY+

Motorola DEFY+

Motorola DEFY+
Motorola DEFY+

Motorola's announcement of the "DEFY+" comes the day after the surprising news that Google has agreed to buy Motorola for a staggering $12.5 billion. And although the announcement of a single handset is not that important compared to a massive takeover like that, the DEFY+ is still quite an important handset.

The original Motorola DEFY was launched last year, and it was the first Motorola smartphone to make any serious inroads into the European market for some time. As with the "DEFY+", the DEFY's almost unique selling proposition was that this was a ruggedised but fully featured Android smartphone that appealed to those customers who found standard smartphones a bit too fragile.

Although the DEFY sold quite well, it had a couple of major weaknesses, the processor was relatively slow at 800 MHz, and the operating system only went up to Android 2.2 rather than the latest Android 2.3. The new "DEFY+" builds on the old handset's strong points and brings the DEFY line bang up to date.

The CPU is now a 1 GHz unit and Android 2.3 ships as standard, with makes the "DEFY+" much more competitive under the hood. Motorola have also given the "DEFY+" a much bigger battery, with a 1700 mAh cell fitted underneath giving up to 7.1 hours talktime and 16 days standby time. You can never have too much battery life with Android, so this is also a help.

But of course the main feature of the "DEFY+" is the ruggedness. Built to IP67 standards, the "DEFY+" is highly resistant to dust and water and the Gorilla Glass screen is scratch resistant too. Don't expect it to be indestructible though as big screen devices like this can still break relatively easily if impacted in the wrong place.

The other features of the "DEFY+" are pretty much like the old handset, with a 3.7" 854 x 480 pixel display, a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus on the back, an FM radio, WiFi, GPS and an electronics compass and 3.5G support. Android 2.3 of course comes with a comprehensive media player, web browser, turn-by-turn navigation and access to thousands of application in the Android market. The "DEFY+" is the same size and weight as the old model, despite the larger battery, at 107 x 59 x 13.4mm and 118 grams.

Motorola say that the "DEFY+" should be available in the early autumn in Europe, Latin America and Asia. No guidance was given on price, but we would expect the "DEFY+" to retail for about € 400 (4.92 million Indonesian rupiahs) at launch.

Product Specification

General
Network:	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 + UMTS 850/1900 or 850/2100 or 900/2100 or Quadband
Data:	GRPS + EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSPA + WiFi
Screen:	3.7" 854 x 480 pixels
Camera:	5 megapixels
Size:	Medium tablet smartphone 107 x 59 x 13mm / 118 grams
Bluetooth:	Yes
Memory card:	MicroSD
Infra-red:	No
Polyphonic:	Yes
Java:	Optional
GPS:	Yes
OS:	Android 2.3
Battery life:	7.1 hours talk / 16 days standby