Motorola Defy (2021) review

Design and materials

The Motorola Defy has a stand-out design, which is to be expected as there aren't too many rugged phones around. Measuring 169.8 x 78.2 x 10.9 mm, it is chuckier than most smartphones out there but far from a brick or unwieldy. Its wide flat sides and extensive texturing make for a great, solid grip. It tips the scale at 232 grams - far from light but manageable.

The Motorola Defy feels solid and dense. The textured back side is hard, yet slightly rubbery, fitting the intended use perfectly. Even though it has an "industrial" look to it, which is far from universally appealing, the back still manages to combine style with function quite successfully. Having grooves in the perpendicular directions is a good idea in terms of handling, while also offering a bit of "flare" to the surface. The lower right corner and its smooth finish provide a nifty design accent, as well. In fact, this is the only bit of the entire body that can be had in a different color if you go for the Forged Green color variant. Our unit is the plain Black one. The entire plastic shell is made to be washable with soap and disinfectants too, so don't worry about dirt getting in the grooves.

Color options

The camera island on the back is circled by a small raised edge to protect it in case of drops, but also serves as a design accent.

We must also mention the massive lanyard hole on the bottom right corner of the Motorola Defy. It is nothing short of a blast from the past, but we can't help but appreciate the extra thought, though, since this is the kind of extra leverage and convenience that can really come in handy while working out in the field.

The front of the Motorola Defy looks quite outdated with its classical top and huge by modern standards bottom bezel. Again, part of the reason was probably achieving extra durability as slimmer bezels mean the front glass is easier to crack, but of course a larger part was just keeping the budget in check. On the other hand having the bottom of the display slightly higher up helps a bit with usability as you need to stretch you thumb less to reach the edge.

Regardless of whether you appreciate the extra ergonomics, we feel like the bezels could have been utilized better. For instance, there is more than enough room to fit a stereo speaker setup on there. And while that might not fit in the budget or conceptually on the Defy, a notification LED would have been right down its alley without affecting the price significantly. The Motorola Defy has sort of a motion-triggered standby display, but there's no reason while it couldn't coexist with a notification LED.

An even bigger gripe, however, has to be the fact that the selfie is mounted on a notch and cuts into the display. There is ample room for it in the full top bezel without disturbing the panel. At least the Gorilla Glass Victus surface on the front of the Defy feels great. Its oleophobic coating could be better, but other than that, we can't complain.

Just to reiterate the durability up on offer with the Defy - you get IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 35 mins, thanks to a double-sealed housing). Then there's includes salt mist resistant, though you should definitely wash off the salt as soon as possible, especially from the USB and 3.5mm ports. Drops to concrete resistance from up to 1.8 m are also not a problem and the phone can function from -30 to +75 degrees C for up to 30 minutes, as well as make it through category 4 vibrations.

Controls

The Motorola Defy has all of the basic controls covered and then some. Let's go for a quick tour. The left-hand side is mostly empty, save for a SIM card tray. The hybrid tray can either house two nano-SIM cards or a nano-SIM and a microSD. There is a thick red gasket on there as part of the weatherproofing.

On the opposite side - sits a textured, extra wide power button. It is nice to feel around and offers great tactile feedback. Alongside it are the far less tactile volume rocker and programmable button.

The latter can set it to trigger a number of functions in software, but the main reason it is there and likely the way it is most often going to be mapped is as a talk button for a PPT service of some kind. Motorola offers its own baked-in, but you can download any other app too.

Programmable button

The top of the Motorola Defy has the 3.5mm audio jack and a small hole for the secondary noise-cancelling microphone next to it.

On the bottom - the main microphone, the Defy's singular bottom-firing speaker and between those - a USB Type-C port. It is OTG-enabled and can do a maximum of 20W of charging.

The Motorola Defy has a capacitive fingerprint reader in what is a traditional location for a Motorola - on the back, right below the cameras. The reader is always-on and is very accurate and speedy. However, the unlocking animation on the Defy is quite slow and long, for some reason, slowing down the actual unlock procedure.

Of course, the fingerprint reader won't do you much good while wearing gloves. For those situations, you can either opt for some sort of on-screen software unlock method, or more convenient-still facial recognition. It is just basic 2D facial recognition, nothing too fancy.

Biometrics and security