It’s a phone!

[meant as like one of those ‘baby announcements’]

Okay, I jest, but you can really see how the Motorola Defy Pro looks very much as though some Motorola product met up with a RIM product in some dark alley…

Joking aside this is actually a very nice phone.  And we should celebrate it for what it really is.  A great ‘conversion’ device.

It shows off the true power of Android, that it can really be ‘all things, to all people’.  It’s a great bridging phone to have someone move from BB to Android, plus it’s priced to move at $0 on a contract.  A free phone goes a LOOOONG way with the customer.

Let’s dive in:

Specifications

• 2.7″ @ 320×480 screen made of GORILLA GLASS
• Android 2.3.7 with Motoblur UI
• 5MP camera with flash / VGA front facing
• 1GHz processor with 512MB RAM
• minimal storage, but has a microSD slot (depends on where you get it, it may be a 2GB or 4GB )
• Physical keyboard

What I liked

• I like that it shows off android’s versatility.  For a ‘power user’ like myself, it’s a little underwhelming, but it relatively holds its own in terms of performance, it’s no slouch.  So for a novelty aspect I’m giving it full marks in that category.
• I do like that it’s meant to be a ‘business device’.  Heavy on the messaging, great email app, CITRIX, Go To Meeting… all pre-installed ready to run your business and keep you in constant contact.
• Motoblur UI has some neat widgets like the frequently used apps, and frequent contacts.  A great way to multitask.  Also, the dock disappears when you leave the main home screen, and is recoverable by a tap, and hidden as well.
• I LOVE that it’s Gorilla Glass.  My Nexus isn’t and it attracts its scrapes, and everyone is like a dagger in my soul.  Knowing that this can be in the same pocket as your keys gives me a good amount of peace of mind.
• The speaker is quite loud on the device, even about midway volume I can hear it ring a notification when I’m in the coffee room and it’s on my desk.
• The notification light is subtle, but not tiny (like on the HTC One series).
• LONG battery life (from being a smaller screen, it doesn’t have to power as high a bulb as the others do).
• The presence of the keyboard didn’t negate an ‘autocomplete’.
• 12 hours of battery life!

What I didn’t enjoy

• The centre button on the device isn’t a ‘scroll pad’ like on the Blackberries… you physically have to press the edges.  That doesn’t feel ‘safe’ to me, and just screams of a broken part after a year.  There’s a reason they left that ball.
• SD card is UNDER the battery.  For the love of PETE!
• I tend to assume that the ‘hangup’ button is the power button, and every time I forget.
• Camera is slow… very slow.
• Android 2.3.7 with it very unlikely being able to update beyond that.

Overall

Before you go ahead and say “wow, only 1GHz processor and a tiny screen”, you can just go and wait for the Galaxy Nexus Premier.  This isn’t for you.  This is for your office coworkers who are still on BlackBerry and want a better smartphone.  To them, this is on par.

1GHz still runs the OS smoothly and handles browsing and even plays Angry Birds.  It just won’t be your 3rd person shooter game phone.  AnTuTu scored it a 3431, which actually puts it above a Nexus S & Quadrant puts it at 1356 (below the Nexus S).

And about the screen… for me, yeah, it feels like I’m missing something, but again, compared to the ‘on par’ devices out there, it’s similar.  In some cases even a better resolution.  I’m reminded of when I first bought my car (the Aztek) and the way the back window is it looks like it might restrict your vision, and everybody says that about it.  But after using it for a few minutes you forget that that was something you thought of.

The bigger issue comes in poor app designers who don’t account for this screen.  I.e. the ones that don’t rotate and you’re stuck with an app being sideways.  That’s frustrating.

It’s a great device for the office, and it’s a powerhouse communication tool.  It’s small enough to fit in any pocket so it’s ultra portable.  There’s not many $0 phones that will be as well.

Plus, it’s its own niche device with the keyboard that isn’t one of those slide out models that always breaks at the hinge.  There will always be those people who have to use a keyboard.  Watching my boss fumble with his new iPhone is a classic example.

In the end, this is a great device to introduce someone to the realm of Android, a true smartphone, but provide them the security of a physical ‘phone’.

Video

Sample Photos