Fashionable but...
the only colour available is 'Captain Scarlet'
Motorola Mobility has been chastised by the Advertising Standards Authority for TV ads that showed the Motorola Defy getting thrown around the place without being damaged. The ASA has told MotoMobe that it has to pull the ads, which featured on-screen claims that the phone was "dance-floor proof" and "pool-party proof" while …
So actual footage of a phone being dropped and knocked around without damage isn't enough evidence to support their claims that it can handle that kind of treatment.
But ISPs can blatently lie about their broadband speeds and cosmetic manufacturers can use CGI and fake the results of their makeup with impunity?
If they want to test it on a night out, you could do worse than drop it on the floor at a typical grungy basement rock/metal gig in one of our fair cities here in the UK. A good kicking around the beer soaked floor of Camden The Underworld or the Highbury Garage, stomped by people often wearing ex-army size twelves and we'll see if it's any good!
Urm maker says phone was dropped during the advert 'live' and several times, ASA says seen no evidence of phone being dropped.
Does this mean they did not see the advert? Or they just want a person in a white coat to repeat the drops for them rather than pretty people used in an advert.
Aren't most screen breaks from people sitting on phones? and bending beyond tolerance?
They don't sell it anymore. Nor do they upgrade it, so I'm stuck with Android 2.2 for a phone that's 6 months old... Oh and of course putting another rom on it to get rid of some annoying bugs will void the hardware warranty on the device they said.
Other than that great phone, that will survive a dip in seawater.
Not a joke. I really do have one. The front speaker is broken. This means that I can't hear the other person in phone conversations but they can hear me. The back speaker still works and I can play music. I did try setting the phone to speaker phone but the mic doesn't filter input so I get an annoyingly stupid whistle when I try this.
My verdict : Tough as nails? Only if they're made of tin!
...that they imply it is totally unbreakable, yet 3 people have had theirs broken by dropping them.
Also Moto are bullshitting:
but said it didn't know the exact incidents that had caused the mobe owners' phones to break and it "couldn't cater for every eventuality".
Hey try Google
http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Other-Manufacturers-and-OS/Motorola-Defy-Broken-Screen/td-p/712007
https://supportforums.motorola.com/thread/48716
http://www.track-days.co.uk/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&f=95&t=1023280&nmt=Who%20/%20Where%20/%20How%20to%20repair%20a%20Motorola%20Defy%20Screen
Not a video, but I've seen stuff in New Scientist magazine about throwing eggs over a house and them landing intact. A quick google reveals this as a starter for ten:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QmJImAhPEwEC&pg=PA677&lpg=PA677&dq=new+scientist+throw+egg+over+house&source=bl&ots=xg8oap81MG&sig=tsdd4vF1_ACcuE10eAGc4tSlMuU&hl=en&ei=SMe6TvzfHJLt8QPUxfHRBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CGMQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false
I have a Defy and I've dropped it twice - once while standing (~4 feet to wood floor) and once from a couch (< 3 feet to tile) and the display broke from the second fall. While I understand phones, gravity, and tile don't play nicely - the phone didn't even land glass side down and the screen cracked from less than 3 feet. It's a pretty durable phone but not nearly as durable as Motorola advertises.
The other advertising claim they should investigate that you can actually hear people during phone calls. In 6 months I've had to warranty the phone twice because the earpiece quit working.
Well its not like there aren't enough standards for environmental ruggedness, im with the ASA if they want to make claims about the ruggedness of their phone then prove it and meet one or more ruggedness specifications eg. MIL-STD-810G (US military), DEF STAN 00-35 (UK military, so probably rubbish), EN 62262 (European standard IK rating for impact), IEC 60529 (IP rating for water/dust proofness).
It's funny, but everyone I know that has had a Motorola phone has (within the year they keep it) gone from thinking it's the greatest phone ever to thinking it's an unreliable piece of crap. They seem to last around 8 months..
Admittedly, that's not an exhaustive survey, nor is it intended to be..
In my experience, Motorola's are often designed brilliantly (although their UIs can sometimes be a little better designed), but extremely badly made.
Although, having said that, the last one I owned was a Motorola Timeport 260 that didn't even last 6 months before the battery failed, and the case disintegrated around the aerial.
Strikes me they should let the ad stand. Then if my Defy breaks after a fall I've surely got a good claim on the guarantee.
Surely you can advertise ruggedness without having to show survival under all conditions.
It's tough, not indestructable, and I feel a lot happier knowing it can take a few knocks. The screen is scratch free after 10 months too.