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Everything’s better down where it’s wetter

Smartphones are many things but indestructible isn’t one of them. The iPhone 4 screen will shatter if you look at it funny and most phones don’t like being dropped very much. Get them near water and not only do they stop working but your operator won’t even help you with the problem.

Enter the Motorola Defy – an Android-based smartphone that claims to take knocks and drops without turning into a scuffed paperweight. However, Motorola makes it very clear it isn’t a waterproof phone. The first clue to that is on a leaflet in the box, which says: “This is not a waterproof phone.” But Motorola does claim it’s water-resistant – if you make sure all the plugs are in that cover its various ports.

So in the name of public interest and science we had to test that. My friend Toby Shapshak popped a Motorola Defy into a vase of flowers on the table at a restaurant in Barcelona, where we were dining with the product manager. With the phone very definitely submerged alongside some daffodils, I called it. And sure enough it rang. I also took it into the shower last week and had a conversation with a very confused public relations junior. In fact, it’s very water-resistant.

It may be the coolest Android phone on the market, although it does run 2.1 of the operating system and any self-respecting new Android device should be on 2.2 or 2.3. But the Defy has a nicely sized 3.7” screen, isn’t too big and pops into a pocket very comfortably. Its back has a nice, rubberised feel to it and the screen resolution is very close to being as good as the iPhone 4’s Retina Display.

Motorola has also made some nice refinements to the Android user interface and, best of all, the Defy’s battery is one of the longest lasting I’ve seen in a smartphone.

This is the phone for anyone who falls over a lot or just needs to survive a round of tequila with their phone intact. Its water-resistance and ability to take calls from the bath are a bonus. Next week we’re going snorkelling...

REVIEW

VERDICT: An almost indestructible Android phone

COMPLEXITY: Well, you won’t break it.

PRICE: R4 000

ALSO CONSIDER: Putting your iPhone in a zip-lock bag

VALUE RATING: 9/10
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