Looking for a reasonably priced Android smartphone with decent performance and built quality? Then you should consider giving Motorola a try. The under-marketed brand (here in Malaysia) has dropped the pricing for its three most popular smartphones.
The sexy RAZR is now RM1,699 from RM1,999. We’ve been using the RAZR for a while now and it just gets better and better with each firmware update. Motorola has also significantly improved the camera performance with the latest firmware update. Built-quality is top drawer and despite the ultra-thin form-factor the RAZR is tough as nails. We can attest to this having dropped the device from various heights on a variety of surfaces – including ultra-abrasive tarmac – numerous times. If you are not one to go with the Galaxy S II crowd, the RAZR is definitely worth a look especially now with the reduced pricing.
The Atrix 2 and robust Defy+ have their pricing revised as well and honestly there’s a lot to like with the pair, it’s just that Motorola Malaysia is not marketing the devices as much as they should.
The Atrix 2 is now RM1,399 from RM1,599, it features a 4.3-inch 960×540 pixels display, 1Ghz dual-core processor, 8MP rear camera with 1080p video, 21mbps HSPA+ connectivity and a 1785mAh battery.
The all-weather Motorola Defy+ is now RM899 from RM1,099 with a 1Ghz single-core processor, 512MB RAM, 3.7-inch display with 854×480 pixel resolution and a 1,700mAh battery
The rugged Motorola Defy+ smart phone with a IP67 rating now gets a tougher new edition. Motorola in the UK is releasing a JCB edition of the device which comes with a specially designed exterior case which improves its shock resistance capabilities.
Internally it is the same as the normal Defy+ with a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and a 3.7″ WVGA display. In addition, the Defy+ JCB Edition will get a longer 2 years warranty as opposed to the usual 1 year. Pre-installed are some tool-man apps such as torch, therodolite, spirit level and even a decibel reader. It is priced at £268.80 outright with sales starting in early December in the UK.
This isn’t the first phone from the heavy machinery company as they have a range of rugged ToughPhones that are also IP67 certified. The Toughphone tradesman is the world’s first floating Phone while the Toughphone Pro-Talker even comes with a 2 way radio. Comparing the Defy+ and the Toughphone, the Motorola version is a lot smarter and better looking without compromising its rugged credentials.
The Motorola Defy+ is a replacement of the original Defy which is a rugged Android smart phone that’s water, dust and scratch resistant. The device was announced today at the Motorola Razr event with the retail price of RM1,099. Availability is slated for this Friday, 11th November 2011.
The new Defy+ has more grunt with a 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM. Internally there’s 1GB of storage which is expandable via microSD up to 32GB. Screen remains unchanged with a 3.7″ WVGA display that does 854×480 while the rear camera is still a 5MP shooter. Obviously Corning’s Gorilla Glass comes as standard.
Being a rugged device, it has a thickness of 13.4mm and weighs 118g. Despite having the same weight as the model it replaces, it has a larger 1700mAh battery. The Defy+ runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. For the full specs, head over to Motorola’s website.
Special thanks to keithwoo for covering the event!
Watch Defy+ product video and pics after the break.
Maxis has released their latest tablet service plans for the Motorola Xoom and the Dell Streak 5, and here are our observations on what they have to offer.
Motorola Xoom.
There’s not much of a service plan for the Motorola Xoom from Maxis. The Maxis Motorola Xoom plan is in actual fact a “get one free Motorola Defy” promo where you purchase the Xoom for RM2,499 from Maxis and then signup for a 3GB data plan with your choice of Maxis Value Plus plan to get the free Defy.
There is no option to purchase the Xoom with any other Maxis service plan.
Retailing for RM2,499 outright, you can’t deny that the WiFi only, 32GB Motorola Xoom is overpriced. Against it’s closest competitor, the WiFi 32GB iPad 2, priced at RM1,799, the Xoom is RM700 more expensive. In fact, for RM2,499, you can get the “top-of-the-line” 64GB 3G+WiFi iPad 2.
We’re not saying that the Xoom is not a capable tablet but it is really that awesome to command such a high price premium over its closest rival? We don’t think so.
With regards to the service plan, we’d rather Maxis offer just data plan with a MiFi device. If they can do it with the WiFi iPad why can’t Maxis do the same for the Xoom? It makes more sense and we’d gladly carry a MiFi — that is lighter, smaller and would probably have a better battery life — over an additional phone which we won’t be using to make calls on anyway.
So the Maxis Motorola Xoom service plan is lacking any appeal for us.
Update: Take a closer look at the camera specs stated in the image above. Maxis got it the other way around. Fellow techie Amanz pointed it out.
As a follow up to the April announcement, Maxis has started sending out email reminders to those who’ve signed up for the Motorola Xoom ROI announcing that the device will be available at any Maxis Centres from tomorrow (May 6).
Not much new information has been revealed. The retail selling price for the Xoom will be RM2,499 and customers who subscribe to a 24-months 3GB Maxis data plan will get a Motorola Defy worth RM1,599 for free.
Assuming that you don’t offset the cost of the device with the price of the free Motorola Defy, the RM2,499 Xoom is on the steep side considering that a similarly specced WiFi Xoom retails for US$599 — which is equivalent to about RM1,800 at today’s exchange rates. That is a difference of almost RM700 or about 28% on top of the US price. Also consider that for the same RM2,499 you could get the top of the line 64GB 3G+WiFi iPad 2. This makes the Xoom a bit of a tough sell in our opinion.
The Motorola Xoom is the first tablet in Malaysia to run on Google’s Honeycomb tablet OS and comes in 3G+WiFi or WiFi only versions. Maxis is bringing the WiFi only version at the moment.
As we’ve noted during the earlier announcement, we’d rather Maxis bundle the Xoom with a MiFi rather than a mobile phone as it is more practical considering that connecting the Xoom to the internet with the Defy functioning as portable hotspot will be an issue for the phone’s battery life.
No other details are available at this point in time but we’ll keep you posted if we find anything news.
Maxis has announced today the anticipated Android Honeycomb tablet, the Motorola Xoom will be made available from 6th May onwards. We will be getting the WiFi only version as the 3G version is mentioned to be not available outside the US at the moment.
So how do you get connected you might ask? Maxis is offering a bundle of the Motorola Xoom together with the robust Motorola Defy for a combo price of RM2499. The connectivity for the Xoom is supposedly to come from the Motorola Defy through its portable hotspot feature as mentioned via twitter. Although this is workable, having hotspot enabled would be taxing on the smart phone’s battery and isn’t a recommended solution long term. It would be better if you could connect with a proper WiFi router while the Defy’s hotspot feature is used only when it is absolutely necessary. If we can have it our way, we would prefer the Xoom to be paired together with a MiFi device.
There’s no full details on the bundling plans yet but all should be revealed next Friday. To register your interest, head to Maxis Tablet page here.
Maxis is doing another round of festive promos on devices with more discounts on selected phones. This promo however is tied with a 24 months contract with either a 3GB data plan or BIS Pro plan that comes with 3GB.
So what’s interesting on the offer? The Nokia N8 is now RM788 (usual RM999 with 24 months contract) while the Motorola Defy is now offered at RM888 (usual: RM999). The HTC Desire Z also sees a reduction to RM1388 (usual: RM1449).
BlackBerries are reduced with a slight reduction on its older Curve 8520 and Bold 9700 but the Torch is further reduced to RM1288 from its previous 24 months contract price of RM1399.
On the Windows Phone 7 line up, the HTC 7 Mozart is now offered at a much lower RM1188 (usual RM1499) while the larger HTC HD7 is offered at RM1388 (usual RM1699).
To sweeten the deal for Samsung Galaxy Tab, Maxis is offering an outright price of RM1999 (original RRP: RM2699) with any purchase of a Value Plus Plan and data plan. As comparison, the Galaxy Tab is offered on contract at RM1749 over 24 months and RM1849 over 12 months.
UPDATE: Maxis clarifies via twitter that HTC Desire Z gets 2 year warranty.
As mentioned earlier, the HTC Desire Z is now available on Maxis starting from today. The Desire Z which was announced together with the Desire HD retails at RM2299.
On the bundled pricing, the Desire Z goes for RM1649 over 12 months, RM1599 over 18 months or RM1499 over 24 months contract of a bolt-on data plan on top of Value Plus postpaid plan. The Desire Z is covered with a 2 year warranty as confirmed by Maxis via twitter. Interestingly the Desire Z comes only with a 12 months warranty which is less compared to the older HTC Desire and HTC Wildfire that had 24 months warranty.
Also making an apperance is the rugged Motorola Defy which was just launched in Malaysia 2 days ago. In case you missed it, do read our Motorola Defy first impressions. On contract, it goes RM1299 over 12 months, RM1149 over 18 months and RM999 over 24 months duration.
At the same time, Maxis also has started bundling entry level Androids which includes the Huawei Ideos U8150 and Samsung Galaxy 3. The Huawei Ideos with RRP RM899 goes for an affordable RM449 over 12 months, RM399 over 18 months and a bargain basement RM299 over 24 months contract. For the Samsung Galaxy 3 which goes for RM1099 outright is offered on contract at RM649 over 12 months, RM549 over 18 months and RM449 over 24 months. The Galaxy 3 too was offered recently by DiGi with contracted price from as low as RM349.
Looks like the big 3 telcos are rolling out a huge arsenal of Android devices ahead of Christmas. Check out more information on Maxis’s android offers at Android Connection page.
Like we’ve said before, we’re fans phones that can take a pounding and still comeback for more. There is something seriously cool about a rugged phone, some kind of magnetism that we can’t put out finger on. So naturally, when we found out that the Motorola Defy was going to be launched in Malaysia we were pretty stoked.
So we were at the launch today to get some some brief hands-on time with the Motorola Defy and here’s our first impression.
Update (12122010 1200hrs): Reader @WaLauWei tells us via Twitter that the Motorola Defy is rated IP67 (not to be confused with IPv6) [source]. Being classified under the international protection rating (IP) with a rating of 67 means that the Defy is one seriously hardcore phone. In the IP rating scale, the first digit indicates the level of protection that an enclosure provides against access to hazardous parts (e.g., electrical conductors, moving parts) and the ingress of solid foreign objects. In this instance the Defy is classified with the highest rating of 6, meaning the Defy’s internals are completely protected against dust. The second digit in the IP rating rates the level of protection an enclosure offers the equipment inside against harmful ingress of water. In this instance the Motorola Defy is rated 7 — the highest rating is 8 — which means the ingress of water in harmful quantity is not be possible even when the device is immersed in water under defined conditions of pressure and time. To pass this rating the test device must be immersed in water 1 metre deep for 30 minutes. Apparently the Motorola Defy is the first Android phone to be rated IP67. That’s it. We so want to test the ruggedness of this device!
When we first heard of the scratch, dust and water resistant Motorola Defy, we thought, “hey that’s an Android phone we could use”.
Problem was, we didn’t know when the Defy will hit Malaysia and so with that, we listed the Defy as one of those phones you can never get in Malaysia — but we never gave up hope.
We don’t know about you guys but there’s always something about rugged phones that make us want to go out and get one. Having a phone that can take the spills, drops and knocks of day-to-day use and then some is a definite plus in our books.
So you’ll understand why we’re pretty excited to know that Motorola Malaysia will be launching the Defy right in the middle of next week — a mere three months after it was officially announced back in September 2010 and fresh from its Europe release in November. If we’re not mistaken the Malaysia release of the Motorola Defy is around the same time, if not ahead, of the US release.
The Motorola Defy is a mid-level Android device sporting a 3.7in (854x480px) Gorilla Glass display with a 800MHz processor running on Android 2.1.
The thing that sets the Defy apart from other Android devices is that it withstand not only scratches and drops but is also dust and water resistant up to a depth of up to one metre for up to 30 minutes. On top of that, the outdoorsy Defy also comes with Motorola’s rather good CrystalTalk PLUS technology incorporating a dual microphone setup where one is used to cancel out unwanted ambient noise and boosting the caller’s voice to deliver clear calls in noisy environments.
Also included in the Defy’s hardware list is a 5MP camera with LED flash (no 720p videos though), 512MB RAM with 2GB on board memory and 2GB MicroSD included in the box. The Defy can take MicroSD cards up to 32GB.
Connectivity wise the Defy comes with HSDPA up to 7.2Mbps and HSUPA up to 2.0 Mbps. There’s also WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.0.
No word on local pricing yet but we’re pegging the Defy to be around RM1,300 to RM1,500 mark outright. Looks out for our coverage on the Motorola Defy soon.
In the meantime, take a look at this. Oprah in her farewell season premier in September, gave every one of her audience on that show a Motorola Defy along with a round trip ticket to Australia. That is some good giving!
The Motorola Defy is a rugged Android device that can resists scratch, drops, dust and even water. As we mentioned earlier, this heavy duty device can withstand water 1 metre deep up to 30 minutes. Of course, most owners would be reluctant to test it out but luckily someone tried it out for the rest of us.
SlashGear had a brief first impression including a swimming pool test where the Defy was set on video recording underwater then dropped to the bottom of the pool of about 6 feet. As expected, it survived the dive, proving that the Defy is great for video recording at poolside parties.
Motorola has just announced the Defy, a 3.7in (854x480px) 800MHz Android 2.1 device that tougher that most others.
The Gorilla Glass protected Defy can withstand not only scratches and drops but is also dust and water resistant up to a depth of up to one metre for up to 30 minutes. On top of that, the outdoorsy Defy also comes with Motorola’s rather good CrystalTalk PLUS technology incorporating a dual-mic setup effectively canceling out unwanted ambient noise and boosting the caller’s voice to deliver clear calls in noisy environments.
Other interesting items on the Defy’s hardware list include a 5Mp camera with flash (though no word on it can do 720p videos), 512MB RAM with 2GB on board memory and 2GB MicroSD included in the box. The Defy can take cards up to 32GB giving it a 34GB storage potential.
We don’t know about you guys but there’s always something about rugged phones that make us want to go out and get one. Having a phone that can take the spills, drops and knocks of day-to-day use and then some is a definite plus in our books.
Although there’s no official word on pricing yet Motorola did say that the Defy will be in Europe within the last quarter of this year. With the Defy, we actually like what we see, and if the performance of the Moto Droids are anything to gauge this new device by, then we sure hope Motorola Malaysia brings this in.
