The new Defy defined

The Motorola Defy Plus (MB526) could be your smart phone choice if you live in or travel around flooded areas.

The Defy Plus, an upgrade of the Defy, is waterproof, dust-proof and scratch-resistant – so you don’t have to worry about dropping the phone in floodwater. It has plastic caps to seal the USB micro-port and the one for a 3.5mm stereo headset jack. The battery cover locks tightly.

The specifications are similar to those of the Defy, but processor is 25 per cent faster, a TI OMAP 3620 1GHz rather than an 800MHz CPU.

And you’ve moved up to the Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) OS now.

You get 512MB of RAM and 2GB of internal storage, expandable with a microSD card to 32GB. There’s a 3.7-inch touch screen with 480x854-pixel resolution.

The Defy Plus supports quad-band GSM of 850/900/1800/1900MHz, and I am very happy that it also supports the 850 and 2100MHz of 3G HSPA connections.

I tested it on TrueMove’s 3G 850MHz connection and TrueMove H’s 850MHz. It connected to websites fast with the provided browser and I had no problem checking my e-mail accounts or updating my Facebook and Twitter accounts.

YouTube clips play smoothly and applications download and install fast. The touch screen responds very well and Web pages scroll smoothly.

Like some Motorola smart phones, the Defy Plus comes with a very useful Motoblur application so you can organise your social-network accounts and e-mail in one place.

I’d already opened a Motoblur account when I reviewed the Motorola Atrix. When I logged in at Motoblur this time with the Defy Plus, it successfully retrieved my Facebook, Twitter and Hotmail account settings for the smart phone, saving me a lot of time in manually setting them all up again.

Another nice feature of Motoblur is that it will find the Defy Plus – handy if it’s misplaced or stolen. Motoblur can also wipe your personal data from a stolen phone.

When I switched from a TrueMove H SIM card to a TrueMove card, the Defy Plus asked for the password to my Motoblur account. Without it, the phone would be locked. If you screw up the log-in at Motoblur, you have to order a factory-data reset, which will wipe out your personal data.

The Defy Plus also boasts a five-megapixel camera which takes decent-quality photos. 

I easily uploaded pictures to Picasa using TrueMove H connection.

The Motorola Defy Plus is distributed by SiS Distribution (Thailand) for Bt12,900.

 

        Key specs

 

_ OS: Android V2.3.4 Gingerbread

_ Processor: TI OMAP 3620 1GHz processor

_ Memory: 512MB RAM

_ Network: GSM&EDGE Band: (Quad Band 850/900/1800/1900), 3G: 850/2100 HSPA

_ Display: 3.7 inches, WVGA (480x854 pixels)

_ Camera: 5MP

_ Internal memory: 2GB (1.2GB for use) upgradeable to 32GB

_ Battery: 1,700mAh

_ Dimensions:  107x59x13.4mm

_ Weight: 118g