The tough new Motorola Motodefy has a lot going for it apart from the fact that it’s one of the toughest Smartphones available in Australia today, it’s also light and stylish.
Made by a Company that has a long history in the mobile phone market with products like the Razr, Motorola knew that if they wanted to get back into the Smartphone market that had to produce a product that delivered not only under the bonnet with the Android operating system but with consumers especially those who are pretty tough on a handset.
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The first thing you notice about Modify that it is small and fits easily into your hand. Secondly it has a pretty big screen 3.2″ which is the same size as most large Smartphones. But it’s when you take the water test that you know this beast is a little different because it is waterproof. Also helping their case is the use of Corning Gorilla glass which makes the TFT display screen resistant to scratches from the likes of keys in your pocket and all the paraphernalia carried in a woman’s handbag.
Setting up could be a bit painful for people who don’t want to use social network sites as you are prompted to log on for the Motoblur service. Though I suspect that if you bypass it you will be prompted to log in later.
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I wear glasses, so the large numbers on the phone keypad were excellent but then again they also come in handy after a few drinks. Another neat feature is that messages are displayed straight to the screen so that they are their instantly when you power up the screen.
The handset includes a 5.0 megapixel camera that has a resolution of 2592 x 1942 pixels and provides auto focus, as well as image stabilisation and geo-tagging, in addition to an LED flash.
The two shots I did using the phone were excellent with the LED flash taking out shadows on an interior close up shot.
The Foxtel application which comes installed on the phone activated easily and what was impressive was the speed that one was able to get into the Foxtel service. In the past I have found this to be quite slow with a lot of phones.
Entertainment comes in the form of an MP4/MP3 music and video player and a stereo FM radio that has RDS functionality. The Motodefy has an internal memory capacity of 2 GB which can be expanded to 32 GB with a slim SD card.
A let down is that it only has Android 2.1 and not Android 2.2 Fryo though we were assured that some of the applications are Android 2.2 Fryo.
The handset also comes with a variety of connectivity options including GPRS and EDGE connections, as well as blue tooth and micro USB in addition to internet access which is provided by included Wi Fi and HSDPA connections. Access is available at speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps, providing fast and efficient web surfing. Satellite navigation is provided by the handset is GPS function, which also includes A-GPS support.
The handsets display screen is a 3.7 inch TFT screen which displays 16 million colours and has a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels. Navigation is available through the Motoblur user interface, which has the option of live widgets. The handset also comes with proximity and accelerometer sensors as standard.
The 800 MHz CPU is fast and is protected by IP 67 certification which relates to its resistance to various environmental factors such as dust and water.
A standout feature is its integration with a range of social media integration features, including Facebook, MySpace and twitter integration. These are set up when the phone is activated via a registration with Motoblur which brings all of the social network and email services together.
The Motodefy is available for $49 a month with 1GB of data on the Next G Network.
Overall this is an excellent value for money phone that should appeal to a lot of people who have problems with the durability of a Smartphone. For trades or people who are heavy users of a Smartphone this device will have particular appeal as it not only delivers a host of applications and capabilities, it also looks smart which is rare as most tough phones look industrial and are heavy.
This little beast is light, durable and well worth $49 a month.
