motorola defy

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tanivula

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#69140 3-Oct-2010 23:01

Looks like I've found the phone to take the jump into touchscreen & Android (from my beloved E66!).

The Motorola Defy is a 'tough' smartfone which even has IP67 rating making it waterproof!

Quick specs

3.7" capacitive touchscreen

480 x 854 pixels

quadband gsm and voda/2deg 3g compatibility

2gb built in storage & 512mb ram

Coring Gorilla glass (same as the galaxy s?)

802.11 b/g/n

TI OMAP 3610 clocked at 800 MHz

price listed on clove - 270 GBP!

The only thing I'm really worried about is the processor... I know clocks aren't always neccessary but something that has smooth performance is essential. Have on ly seen pre production units on youtube and they have shown a mixed bag - can be good at times eg screen swiping but menu scrolling seemed pretty shoddy. Could be motoblur...?

Anyways, pending some proper reviews of a production unit, this will be mine!

This cool video shows why! Dropping and dunking and still operational!

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#387513 4-Oct-2010 00:06

Motorola = locked bootloader, don't buy if you want to use custom ROMs etc.

caldazar

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#387515 4-Oct-2010 00:17

Motorola = locked bootloader, don't buy if you want to use custom ROMs etc.

Exactly... a shame really.

I guess for some people who are just concerned about having a rugged phone and not so concerned on performance or features, then this could do the trick.

I don't think any Android devices yet come perfect out of the box, so having no custom ROM option would surely be a pain.

tanivula

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#387521 4-Oct-2010 07:42

numfarr: Motorola = locked bootloader, don't buy if you want to use custom ROMs etc.

Oh man... burst the bubble why dont ya!

Thanks for the info though! Hmmm, we shall see how things play out and how it performs in a retail review.

Gutted - back to the drawing board and the E66...

Nimma

98 posts

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#396819 28-Oct-2010 13:37

I have ordered one of these from Clove as my first Android phone after using an iPhone 3g. Seems like good specs for the money not to mention the IP67. 279 GBP came to $600 exactly on yesterday's eaxchange rate.

The motoblur seems like a pain but overall still looks good for a mid-range phone compared to the HTC Aria and Motorola Milestone XT720. Flash lite on 2.1 will be nice but a 2.2 update will be better.

tanivula

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#396883 28-Oct-2010 15:37

Cool, keep us informed how it goes. I'm about to head off to the UK/EU for a few weeks so will grab a cheapie Orange San Francisco to be my first Android device. But still hold a candle for a tougher device like the Defy.

Nimma

98 posts

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+1 received by user: 3

#396908 28-Oct-2010 16:24

Sweet, will let you know. That phone is nicely spec'd for that price, especially the ram and screen.

Wouldn't usually spend $600 on a phone but that's about what I got for my inherited iphone. Was thinking about a windows phone but I'm too impatient for a mature platform. Plus I'm cheap.

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tanivula

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#407043 20-Nov-2010 11:47

How's the defy? I'm just starting to get used to android and all the work the community does :-) I saw on the modaco forums that the defy can be rooted, and pretty easily at that!

Nimma

98 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#407052 20-Nov-2010 12:37

Actually I ended up chickening out and getting the HTC desire. The launch kept getting delayed and I was impatient. Yeah, saw the rooting was easy like the droid 2 or something.

It was the lack of GPU that put me off in the end (no flash 10,1) That plus the desire came with froyo and was only $700 from expert infotech in stock.

NZtechfreak

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#407054 20-Nov-2010 12:44

The Engadget review for the Defy looks interesting, first 'rugged' phone I've seen that isn't completely butt ugly. Quite a nice phone if you need the durabiltiy.

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tanivula

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#407995 23-Nov-2010 09:06

Nimma: Actually I ended up chickening out and getting the HTC desire. The launch kept getting delayed and I was impatient. Yeah, saw the rooting was easy like the droid 2 or something.

It was the lack of GPU that put me off in the end (no flash 10,1) That plus the desire came with froyo and was only $700 from expert infotech in stock.?

Oh yeah, fair enough about the delays. There's debate about the gpu though, even as it's listed as a TI MAP 3610 lots of people are saying it detects as a 3630 - the one with the PowerVR530 gpu!

Nimma

98 posts

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+1 received by user: 3

#408009 23-Nov-2010 09:37

tanivula:
Nimma: Actually I ended up chickening out and getting the HTC desire. The launch kept getting delayed and I was impatient. Yeah, saw the rooting was easy like the droid 2 or something.

It was the lack of GPU that put me off in the end (no flash 10,1) That plus the desire came with froyo and was only $700 from expert infotech in stock.?

Oh yeah, fair enough about the delays. There's debate about the gpu though, even as it's listed as a TI MAP 3610 lots of people are saying it detects as a 3630 - the one with the PowerVR530 gpu!

Yeah, I read the same thing, apparently it may be a motorola special to pair that GPU with that processor. Clove couldn't confirm though and, well, I already have froyo and flash now.

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nakedmolerat

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#409686 25-Nov-2010 23:16

tanivula: Looks like I've found the phone to take the jump into touchscreen & Android (from my beloved E66!).

The Motorola Defy is a 'tough' smartfone which even has IP67 rating making it waterproof!
Quick specs

3.7" capacitive touchscreen
480 x 854 pixels
quadband gsm and voda/2deg 3g compatibility
2gb built in storage & 512mb ram
Coring Gorilla glass (same as the galaxy s?)
802.11 b/g/n
TI OMAP 3610 clocked at 800 MHz
price listed on clove - 270 GBP!

The only thing I'm really worried about is the processor... I know clocks aren't always neccessary but something that has smooth performance is essential. Have on ly seen pre production units on youtube and they have shown a mixed bag - can be good at times eg screen swiping but menu scrolling seemed pretty shoddy. Could be motoblur...?

Anyways, pending some proper reviews of a production unit, this will be mine!
This cool video shows why! Dropping and dunking and still operational!

motorola defy is definitely an excellent phone

(been playing with it for 1 week now)

i can say that you will not be disappointed with it. very fast, nice screen and the size is just right. i must say that i love motoblur features. i love it so much that i have ordered milestone 2 with the multimedia dock. it is currently on its way to NZ.

ChundaMars

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#410867 29-Nov-2010 20:36

tanivula: Cool, keep us informed how it goes. I'm about to head off to the UK/EU for a few weeks so will grab a cheapie Orange San Francisco to be my first Android device. But still hold a candle for a tougher device like the Defy.

Hmm, I've got a sister coming back from the UK in early Jan, I'd be interested to hear about your experiences with the San Francisco as I'm contemplating asking her to bring one back for me as a bit of a "stop gap" before the dual-core phones come out next year - how have you found it? And how easy was it to unlock from the Orange network?

tanivula

998 posts

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+1 received by user: 158

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#411058 30-Nov-2010 10:32

ChundaMars:
tanivula: Cool, keep us informed how it goes.? I'm about to head off to the UK/EU for a few weeks so will grab a cheapie Orange San Francisco to be my first Android device.? But still hold a candle for a tougher device like the Defy.

Hmm, I've got a sister coming back from the UK in early Jan, I'd be interested to hear about your experiences with the San Francisco as I'm contemplating asking her to bring one back for me as a bit of a "stop gap" before the dual-core phones come out next year - how have you found it? And how easy was it to unlock from the Orange network?

The san fran is super easy to unlock. I paid a very small fee but you can do it for free now. Definitely worth getting this phone if you can. There are numerous froyo ROMs out already (phone ships with eclair). I haven't used an android device let alone a touch screen phone before. Check out the modaco forums, there's a very good review and heaps of activity on the forum.

ChundaMars

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#411414 30-Nov-2010 22:05

Many thanks, I think I'm sold - now the only problem I have is that she is in Scotland where they are currently in the middle of the largest snow storm in recent memory and all deliveries and public transport is cancelled so she has no way of getting to a store to get one!

Weird to think after the nice summery weather we're getting here.

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