SpecEagle
SpecEagle review · Motorola

Motorola Defy review: A 2010 rugged Android phone with IP67 water and dust resistance.

SpecEagle Editorial·Nov 2010·$370
Overall
40/100
Class rank
#3 of 4
Tier
Mid-range
Buy?
Look elsewhere
The verdict, up front

Rugged Android for everyday life.

The original Motorola Defy was one of the first mainstream rugged Android phones — IP67 water and dust resistance with Gorilla Glass, sold as the phone you couldn't break. It found a loyal audience among outdoor and trades users.

01Display

56/100

56/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2010.

TypeTFT LCD, Gorilla Glass
Size3.7 inches
Resolution854 × 480 px (FWVGA)

02Camera

48/100

48/100 trails the 51-point cohort average for mid-range phones of 2010.

Main5 MP, autofocus, LED
SelfieNone
VideoVGA

03Performance

40/100

40/100 trails the 45-point cohort average for mid-range phones of 2010.

ChipsetTI OMAP3610 800 MHz
RAM512 MB
Storage2 GB · microSD

04Battery

54/100

54/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2010.

Capacity1,540 mAh (removable)
Standby~ 360 hours

05Build

78/100

At 78/100 this is one of the strongest build showings among mid-range phones of 2010 — 12 points above the cohort average.

06Value

56/100

56/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2010.

What works
  • Mainstream IP67 rugged Android.
  • Gorilla Glass scratch-resistant.
  • Removable battery + microSD.
  • Affordable and unkillable.
What doesn't
  • Single-core 800 MHz CPU.
  • Updates ended early.
  • No front camera.
  • 512 MB RAM.
Cross-shop it against
Xperia Play
$500 · score 44/100

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 4-phone cohort of mid-range devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .