Motorola DEFY deals & review

There have been many phones released that cater to outdoorsy-type people, offering a rugged sturdiness that protect against drops, bashes and contact with large volumes of water. Devices such as the Sonim XP3 Sentinel or the Samsung E2370 have been designed to withstand all manner of tribulations that nature may throw at the hiker, rock climber or general adventurous phone user.

Catering for a niche market these phones have usually been quite noticeably lacking in other areas, providing only very basic features to enjoy. Many a rambler has lied awake at night contemplating whether or not to get a rugged, but archaic, handset, or whether to opt for a more feature rich device and risk destroying by accidentally dropping it off a cliff.

Now Motorola has solved this problem once and for all by offering up a rugged phone which has all of the desirable features of the most up to date handsets on the market. This phone does not feature a 1" monochrome display, but a full 3.7" capacitive touchscreen complete with Android 2.1. The Android OS is overlaid with Motorola´s Motoblur, which is the same interface to be found on many other Motorola phones of late, such as the Motorola DEXT.

The interface comes complete with access to Android Market and has full web browsing functionality thanks to the Android browser and 3G and Wi-Fi support. The phone also boasts a 5 megapixel camera, LED flash and features such as geo-tagging and video capture.

Other features include full messaging an email support, including threaded SMS messages and support for instant messaging. There is support for Google Maps, YouTube and quick and easy access to your favourite social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. For web browsing people will be pleased to hear that the Defy comes with full Adobe Flash 10.1 support.

The Defy features a rubbery case which will protect it against all sorts of knocks and jolts, and can be held under water for 10 minutes without any trouble ensuing. It may not be quite as rugged as some of the more basic rugged phones on the market, but this is pretty much the payoff for enjoying the latest features such as a touchscreen and heavy multimedia features.