Motorola beefs up rugged Android smartphone
Defy+ hits the 'G' spot?
Despite obvious distraction in the form of a rather large Google takeover yesterday, Motorola still found time to announce a Defy refresh, upping the speed of the rugged smartphone by 25 per cent.
The Motorola Defy+ now packs a 1GHz processor, which not only puts it 200MHz ahead of its predecessor, but also keeps one foot in front of Samsung's durable and similarly-specced Galaxy Xcover, announced last week.
The multi-element enduring Defy+ shares quite an alikeness with its older brethren in that it packs a 3.7in touchscreen with a scratch-resistent Corning Gorilla Glass cover, a 5Mp snapper and 2GB of storage.
While the Android OS has here been updated to 2.3 Gingerbread, the Defy+ still sports the company's front-end, Motoblur, which includes a customisable homescreen and easy access social network widgets.
The Motorola Defy+ will be out, come rain or shine, sometime this autumn. ®
COMMENTS
"...sometime this autumn"
I wouldn't count on the release date. This has rounded corners and a flat screen, so it might get a ban.
Nice phone though. I remember the reviewer here of the original Defy bought one for himself (and installed a decent launcher to replace Motoblur). I nearly did the same.
Motoblur
While it sounds good - for sailing, hiking skiing etc, I really balk at the idea of getting a phone with Motoblur.
WTF is wrong with stock Android - I want to use my phone, not gaze adoringly at it while it struggles to do anything due to excessive bloat.
Warranty
I've been a tad tempted by a Defy, as it's the nearest thing to my ideal option of a rugged non-smart phone witha decent camera. However, one -ve frequently mentioned is the motoblur software- I now gather this can be removed however, but would doing so invalidate the warranty?
Rugged
The original has a rubberised surround, rubber caps on the ports, a lockable back and visible screws (which are probably just for show). Like this one, it has gorilla glass, and I expect this one has the other features too.
No Opinion, Except
No opinion on the phone, but keep an eye on the psychopath on the illustrated screen, trying to entrap innocent users with coffee bait.
