Motorola Defy 2 – rugged smartphone review

Motorola is launching a new ruggedized Motorola Defy 2 model in partnership with Bullitt, also known as CAT, a manufacturer of CAT phones and a provider of satellite communications services. In particular, the Defy 2 itself is an analog of the CAT S75 model, but with a slightly modified design. In this review, I will tell you who the Motorola Defy 2 smartphone is designed for and what it can offer users.

Motorola Defy 2 specifications

Design, materials, protection

The appearance of the Motorola Defy 2 lives up to expectations; when you first meet the device, it seems to be in a plastic protective case, but in fact it is the body of the smartphone.

The device has a black plastic cover with textured ribs that make it less susceptible to fingerprints and minor scratches. There is also a compact camera unit with three lenses and a fingerprint scanner.

The frame of the Motorola Defy 2 is made of an interesting polymer that feels monolithic, but in fact, when you press on it with your fingernail, a mark appears on the surface and immediately disappears. We can conclude that the massive frame should absorb shocks well, especially since it is reinforced with a metal plate on the inside.

The smartphone’s display is covered with thickened Gorilla Glass Victus and is recessed into the body, so you can easily stick another glass on top without it sticking out.

The screen bezels of the Motorola Defy 2 are not only large, but very large by modern standards, but this approach is understandable because they are supposed to protect the display matrix from damage when dropped. What is not so clear is the desire of the device’s designers to make a small notch in the screen despite the massive upper bezel. I hope they had their reasons.

In general, the entire design of the smartphone can be explained by its protection. And Motorola has something to boast about: the device is IP68 and IP69K water and dust resistant, can be submerged up to 5 meters for up to 35 minutes, and can withstand high-pressure and high-temperature water jets. Dust, sand and dirt can’t get inside the case.

The surface materials of the Motorola Defy 2 also have antimicrobial properties. However, this is not the reason why the smartphone is so big. The company claims that it can withstand repeated drops from a height of 1.8 meters onto a steel surface from all sides and angles. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to test it.

Given the design of the device, I believe that it will not be damaged if dropped on a hard, flat surface. How the case behaves when it hits a rock is another question. I think there will be some scratches, however, for the conditions of use in expeditions or on the front line, scratches are not a problem at all, the main thing is that the smartphone works.

Motorola assures that the Defy 2’s ability to withstand harsh conditions is also confirmed by its MIL-SPEC 810H certification. In general, this is actually a whole set of standards that consumer electronics manufacturers do not like to specify, but fortunately, Motorola clarifies that the smartphone has passed tests for vibration, high humidity, low and high temperatures, and bending.

As a result, users can count on a higher level of security than with standard smartphones. However, it should be noted that this does not come without a price in terms of ergonomics: Weighing 268 grams and measuring 171 × 80 × 11.9 mm, the Motorola Defy 2 is a rather large and heavy smartphone.

Keys and fingerprint scanner

In addition to the standard power and volume buttons located on the right side, the smartphone has two additional physical buttons.

One of them is located on the upper edge of the case, is orange in color and is responsible for calling for help if the user is in an emergency. The SOS signal is transmitted via satellite, so it will be possible to send a message even in places where there are no cellular networks.

The SOS button also can be configured to send an emergency message via the built-in Android system or a third-party program.

An additional button is located on the left side, which is fully customizable and allows you to assign either a system command, such as turning on the camera or flashlight, or launching any application.

The action can be assigned to both long and double presses. The same button can also be used as a “tap and talk” button when using your smartphone as Internet walkie-talkies.

To unlock the Motorola Defy 2, there is a fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone.

It uses capacitive technology that has been proven over the years to work very quickly and accurately.

Motorola Defy 2 display

The smartphone has a 6.6-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2408×1080 pixels, an aspect ratio of 20:9 and a refresh rate of 120 Hz.

For users used to the bright OLED panels on modern smartphones, this screen may not seem very high quality. In fact, it’s a pretty good IPS matrix with good viewing angles and enough brightness to see the display in sunlight.

Platform and speed of work

The smartphone uses a 6-nanometer MediaTek Dimensity 930 processor with IMG BXM-8-256 graphics. This is a chip of the same level as the older Snapdragon 695G, familiar to us from another Motorola smartphone – Edge 30 Neo.

The use of such a processor generally provides a comfortable level of performance with adequate interface responsiveness and the ability to play games that are not demanding in terms of graphics. However, it is also worth mentioning the 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory, which is not very much by modern standards. Although the user can increase the built-in memory thanks to microSD cards.

In general, given the positioning, this platform is quite sufficient for the main tasks that users of a ruggedized smartphone can face. However, it’s also worth noting that Motorola Defy 2 is not a budget “ruggedized” device, and the price of the smartphone won’t be low, given the preliminary announced price in Europe of 600 euros. Therefore, more RAM and internal memory would not be superfluous here, especially since it would not affect the already high price of the model.

Other features of the Motorola Defy 2 platform are standard for modern smartphones, such as Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, GPS (L1+L5), GLONASS, GALILEO and BDS. Also worth noting is the support for FM radio, although it only works with wired headphones that have to be connected via an adapter, as there is no 3.5 mm jack. To transfer data via cable, you can use the USB Type-C 2.0 port on your smartphone.

At the time of this review, the Motorola Defy 2 was running Android 12. Traditionally for the manufacturer, it had an almost standard interface with only small additions such as personalization options and gestures. It is also worth noting that the company is not in a hurry with updates, the smartphone had a security patch on May 5, so the software support still leaves much to be desired.

At the same time, Motorola promises two more updates to the smartphone’s operating system, first to Android 13 and then to Android 14 when it becomes available. However, there is no information on the timing of the updates.

Of course, major Android updates over the past few years have not changed much in terms of functionality from the perspective of the average user, but monthly security patches often bring important fixes. Motorola should therefore improve its support for updates to its smartphone operating system.

Communication capabilities

As mentioned above, the smartphone is equipped with a satellite modem, which allows you to send and receive messages and send an SOS signal.

In addition to satellite, the Motorola Defy 2 supports 4G LTE Cat 15 and even 5G mobile networks. The smartphone also supports dual nanoSIM cards, so you can use two phone numbers at the same time.

Motorola Defy 2 cameras

As you might expect from a ruggedized model, the camera is not an advantage of the Motorola Defy 2.

The smartphone uses three modules: 50-megapixel wide-angle f/1.8 with phase-detection autofocus, 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle f/2.2, and 2-megapixel macro f/2.4. All of them have electronic stabilization, so don’t expect good image quality in low light, but even with enough light, smartphone cameras don’t match the lower-end models, such as the Moto G72.

An example of a photo taken with a wide-angle camera:

Photo taken with an ultra-wide angle camera:

Macro

Considering the positioning of the Defy 2, it would have been more logical for Motorola to use a single camera module, but with optical stabilization and therefore better image quality.

Unlike the main cameras, the 8-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture takes decent pictures and provides decent image quality during video calls.

Audio

Ruggedized smartphones are hardly entertainment devices, but the Motorola Defy 2 has built-in stereo speakers, one on the bottom and the other combined with the earpiece. They are quite loud, but not very voluminous, so you shouldn’t expect comfortable music listening, although they are good enough for video.

The headphones can be connected to a smartphone wirelessly via Bluetooth 5.1 or via a USB Type-C to 3.5 mm jack adapter.

Motorola Defy 2 Autonomy

The size of the smartphone may give the impression that it is equipped with a very large battery, but the battery in Motorola Defy 2 has a capacity of 5000 mAh, which is not something extraordinary for modern smartphones. However, the energy-efficient platform allows the device to demonstrate a high level of autonomy at the level of 2-2.5 days, depending on the intensity of use.

This is confirmed by the synthetic battery life test in PCMark 10, where the Defy 2 lasted more than 15 hours.

The smartphone supports wired charging up to 15W and wireless charging via the Qi standard.