A RUGGED phone with a business appeal, that is what Motorola DEFY is all about. At first glance this classy styled phone has all the trimmings of a socially adept phone. Just like most smartphones of today fitted with an Android OS, DEFY is definitely a phone set to connect.

This phone was left in my care for about two weeks, yes indeed not enough time to truly get physical with this unit and test most, if not all, its able capabilities. But, as a true test specialist I drew out some special techniques (accidental, but well executed) to test the bravado of this upstart claiming to be an “all-weather” smartphone. Wait, let me up the ante a bit because the manual of this phone did not specify all-weather but rather an even more tougher type of phone, a “ruggedized” smartphone.

Truthfully it’s been quite sometime since last I held, thrown, dropped, dipped in water, froze in the fridge and even heat-dried a phone, to be specific it was in 2007. Which is why I was double excited in testing this new phone.

Very familiar, yet different

UP-FRONT, the DEFY is truly designed to look in every which way a GenX smartphone, given that it comes in three eye-catching colors—licorice, licorice linen and red.

Truth be told, if it were not for its small size it could stand out as an ePad, probably more so because it uses an Android 2.1 platform for its OS, thus making this unit especially adept for social networking. I tried running different social-networking applications at the same time and it did not even flicker. Good news to the Twitter-savvy people out there who could not live without checking and updating their status every minute or so.

The whole body of this phone doesn’t even hint that it’s ruggedized. None of those thick rubber sidings, big bolt-type screws or even the hard rubber-coated antenna, which was part of the basic form factor for ruggedized phones of the past.

Add to this uncompromising form factor is the fact that most common in ruggedized phones of the past is the three- to five-liner monochrome screens, protected with supposedly thick break-proof glass. On the other hand, with the display alone the DEFY stands beyond the looks of a standard ruggedized phone and comes out as a regular smartphone with its 3.7-inch 854x480 display.

Certainly if it was not specified in its manual no one could judge the DEFY as a ruggedized phone rather than a regular top-of-the-line smartphone.

Drop and roll

SO the DEFY definitely does not look anything like a ruggedized phone, maybe it’s not? In comes the most basic of ruggedized test, the drop test.

I pulled out one of my kids’ old rubber mats, 5-mm thick and made of foam and plastic. Then I started dropping the phone at 1-foot intervals each up to 5 feet, while the phone is on.

The screen did not even flicker or shut down, the case did not come apart and, best of all, the glass did not even crack.

Then again a controlled test does not really reveal the true capabilities of a rugged phone. The true test came, ironically, by accident. My very excited daughter twiddling around with the DEFY tripped in front of our staircase. The phone dropped at about 3½ feet then rolled down the staircase in about six to eight steps, with a mild tapping sound of plastic on parquet floor. The phone settled, and woe and behold, nothing! My daughter quickly picked it up as if nothing happened, wiped the dust from the screen and continued playing with it. I actually screamed “I saw that!” and took the phone away from her, expecting to see a crack on the case or, at the least, the glass screen, but then again, nothing. Tough? Well you haven’t seen how really tough yet.

King Kong glass

WHAT really baffled me after the accident was that even with its size, the screen of the DEFY definitely would have been an easy target for destruction. Later though I found out running a kitchen knife through its glass edge was actually useless in trying to scratch it. The glass is made of the toughest transparent material in the market today—“Gorilla glass.” So it wasn’t really a surprise that after my nephew used the phone as a spin-the-top-on-a-rough-floor, there were no scratches at all, and still the tactile response to every finger touch never wavered. That’s one tough gorilla!

Swim with the fishes

I SAW a review of the unit submerged in a glass of water, it got me thinking. Dropping your phone in a glass of water is dumb, dropping it in an aquarium, that’s fun! Then again having our fish (named Fishy) attack the phone while its in his aquarium would be doubly fun!

So I took a picture of Fishy looking straight into the camera phone which has a 5-megapixel capability. Displayed his photo, taped a small string at the back, dipped it and watched the mayhem unfold, hehehe.

Well the phone won! After a couple of minutes attacking the phone, Fishy must have thought that his opponent was on the other side of the Gorilla glass and gave up. After which she merely swam around the phone and occasionally whipped it with her tail.

About 15 to 20 minutes or so, I, too, got tired of holding the string so I pulled out the phone, let the surface water drip and then wiped it off. I ran some basic screen, shake and tap test to see if its basic functions were still working, and they were. After completely drying the phone with a cotton towel, I opened the weakest part, am assuming, of the phone, which was the back cover to see if any of the water seeped in. The battery and its surrounding area was completely dry. Huh! It does not only slides, it swims, too!

Back to basics

FINALLY something was bugging me about these tests. It’s been so long that I’ve not tested a ruggedized phone that I was making the list of tests as I go along. But something was missing and it took me the final day of testing to realize it. Thanks to my commanding officer at home (my wife) who shook some sense in me by simply asking. So how do the calls sound? Is it easy to use when you‘re texting, especially with your thick fingers?

Man! I forgot to test the basics, it’s a phone, I should have tested how good a mobile phone it is in the first place, hehehe.

Well just like any smartphone in the market today, the DEFY truly is a well-constructed mobile phone. The sound of every call, whether you’re calling or listening, was crisp and clear. I’ll even go as far as saying that the DEFY is a good hands-free unit to use in your car. As for texting, the quick response of the touch keys make it a sweet experience, not to mention the “Swype” function, which helps you speed text by letting you swipe through the letters of the words you would like to text.

Finally, you don’t even have to worry about support for your phone. Amswell Marketing Solutions Inc., the exclusive distributor of Motorola mobile phones and tablets in the Philippines, has made it easier for its clients to have fun with the DEFY. They’ve also provided for the easy download and upgrade of your DEFY’s OS by simply going to the Internet and accessing it.

All in all the Motorola DEFY is definitely the smartphone for anyone who works hard and party even harder. With its classic smartphone appeal and easy access applications, one can work with this phone anywhere. Then after work anyone can enjoy the outdoors and have an adventure without having to worry that his/her phone might conk out at the most crucial time that you need it.