Motorola Defy (2021) review

Competition

If there is one thing the Motorola Defy (2021) has going for it, it has to be the particular combo of rugged design, mid-range price and adequate overall experience, which as we'll see in a minute is virtually impossible to come by. While you can find smartphones with tough IP68, MIL-SPEC 810H, Gorilla Glass Victus body they are either quite pricey or notably underpowered. Throw in a few other things like the PPT programmable button and even the massive lanyard setup and what you end up with is a very particular tool, more so than just another smartphone.

If you've read this far we'll accept that the need for a rugged smartphone is a given. The most-powerful among those is the Samsung Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition, but that is over five times as expensive and even if you are willing to pay EUR 1,500 it's not really available to end users.

Samsung does have other, more accessible and viable options, though, in the slightly-neglected, but still active Xcover line. There is the Xcover 5 from this year, but we would probably go for last year's Xcover Pro instead, since it has more powerful hardware overall. With a 6.3-inch FHD+ LCD, an Exynos 9611 chipset, 25MP main and 8MP ultrawide cams it still costs more than the Defy and comes with a smaller 4,050 mAh battery. Perhaps the difference (if you can afford it in the first place) is worth it if you value a more modern One UI 3.0 and Android 11 over battery life.

The Nokia XR20 was only recently announced and at first glance comes very close to the Motorola Defy (2021), even adding a far more efficient and Snapdragon 480 chipset and 5G support. However at nearly twice the cost it will a hard one to justify

Ulefone has a few current rugged devices as well. The Armor 11 5G and 11T 5G are almost identical in most aspect, with the addition of a FLIR thermal camera on the latter, in place of the 20MP night vision cam on the former. Yet, even the cheaper of the duo costs over EUR 500, meaning they are far form direct rivals.

Samsung Galaxy Xcover Pro • Ulefone Armor 11T 5G • Ulefone Armor 8 Pro • Nokia XR20

The Cat S62 Pro is another product of the Bullit group, but once more priced closer to the EUR 500 mark than the Defy.

Verdict

So there you have it - the Motorola Defy (2021) is a decent looking and nicely tough phone with just above entry-level performance and lower mid-range price. And while you can find better performers in the niche you would still be paying a class above for it, pushing the overall spending significantly higher.

Obviously achieving all the ruggedness costs a lot in terms of extra materials and R&D expenditure so it's not really fair to directly compare those phones to convential ones. In sort of the same way that we can't complain a digger costs a whole lot more than a modern family saloon and is nowhere near as fast or well-equipped.

Having said that, the Motorola Defy (2021) is actually a pretty compelling offer. For a little over EUR 300 you get a decent if basic smartphone experience. Which, for better or worse, is not a proposition any of its rivals matches.

If you find yourself in need of a rugged phone, the Motorola Defy (2021) is worth a consideration, at the very least.

Pros

• IP68 and MIL-STD-810H-compliant, Gorilla Glass Victus-equipped, reinforced internal PCB. Should function from -30 degrees C up to 75 degrees C for up to 30 minutes and survive category 4 vibration.
• Rugged yet still decent looking design, with a lot of grip and comfortable to use with work gloves. Not too heavy, considering its size.
• Dedicated programmable button, meant to be a PPT key, but can be anything else you want.
• Great all-round battery life.
• The Snapdragon 662 chipset is far from cutting edge, but still provides decent performance, in part helped by HD+ screen resolution.
• Usable if unimpressive main camera

Cons

• 720p 60Hz LCD is as basic as they come, brightness and color accuracy don't impress either.
• The otherwise clean and snappy Motorola software layer is still based on Android 10.
• Uninspiring single bottom-firing speaker.
• No ultrawide camera, mediocre low-light image quality.