Motorola Defy – MB525
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My experience with a Motorola Defy
This is an open letter to Motorola and whoever might want to read it.
A few months ago, I was preparing a trip and was looking for a tough new phone. This is a summary of my user experience.
I found a great ad, that really represented what I wanted for a phone:
Motorola Defy
The 10th of may, my new Motorola Defy arrived. First things first, I updated the system with the latest firmware made available by Motorola, started to configure the phone for my use and had a first surprise: I HAVE to login to motoblur to use my Motorola Defy – I don’t like this: I think motoblur considerably slows down the phone, and I experience a few bugs with it, namely for long facebook passwords.
So I did my trip (2300km on bycicle).
The Motorola Defy was waterproof as advertised, but I must admit my huge deception towards it’s toughness.
The Motorola Defy withstood a few falls without worries, and one day it just didn’t withstand the shock of a 3 feet wall, leaving the gorilla glass shattered from left to right.
The phone was still “kind-of usable”, but I must admit the screen has been a bit buggy since then.
I tried to get info trough Motorola official forums, and that’s where I found out that I wasn’t the only one with this problem: https://supportforums.motorola.com/thread/43674?start=0&tstart=0
Even funnier: since that post about the Motorola Defy was created on January 11th, there has not been a single official Motorola answer: that’s basically why I created this page: to catch their attention.
I’m sad I waited Motorola’s support and didn’t take pictures of the phone when it had a little crack, because this morning, the phone was in my pocket and with a little pressure, the cracks extended on the whole screen, rendering the phone barely usable.
Broken Motorola Defy
Now I’m stuck with two options: repair my Motorola Defy for half it’s original price or get another phone.
I hope I did the right thing by creating this page to prevent people from doing the same mistake I did: If you want a tough phone, a Motorola Defy might not be it!
I remember when I once had a problem with a HTC Hero, I called HTC and in the week, I had a new phone, chargefree!
Conclusion: I wonder who of both vendors did the right choice, but I just ordered an HTC EVO 3D without hesitation.
If you too had your defy’s screen broken and would like to share your experience, please mail me a pic pf your Motorola Defy at jupiter126 at gmail d0t com, I will be glad to add it here.
Thanks Phil for this nice illustration of a Broken Motorola Defy:
A Broken Motorola Defy
Thanks Tony for this nice illustration of a Broken Motorola Defy:
Tony's Motorola Defy with Broken Screen
Thanks to tarinai-da for yet another example of a cracked Motorola Defy screen:
Motorola Defy with cracked glass
Thumbs up for peely, thanks a lot for all your researches and updates, looking forward for the next ones! Here’s the picture of his Motorola Defy with damaged screen:
The screen of this Motorola defy is broken
Thanks to Gasón who sends us the picture of 2012 ‘s first Broken Defy 
Let’s bet it’s not the last one!
PS still no news of Motorola :p
Gasón's Motorola Defy
This morning I got an email of Josh, a sad Kiwi with a broken defy like us all, he wrote: “My motorola defy was just sitting in my pocket… I got a txt pulled it out and this is what I saw…”
At the start of march, Dimitris had the good idea to send me two pictures of his phone: another one bytes the dust…
Again, my Motorola Defy showed water and dust proof in those short 3 months, the glass just was weak: waterproof but weak!
I am quite sure this is due to a default in some of the phones, however It is impossible to get heard by Motorola and have a replacement proposition. I am still waiting in hope to change my point of view about their customer relationships.
If you disagree, please consider review a few other Motorola Defy user experiences : links to similar problems on the Motorola Defy:
https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/432615
https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/344854
https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/414081
https://supportforums.motorola.com/thread/43674
http://forum.frandroid.com/topic/46795-motorola-defy-achete-il-y-a-1-mois-12-irreparable/
Motorola renewed it’s forums and killed all links \o/
I found back this one allready:
https://forums.motorola.com/posts/6f308ca777
And found out Motorola’s misleading ads have finally been banned \o/
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/motorola-defy-ads-banned-for-being-misleading-50006002/
[update 27/01/2012]
I finally have some news to post!
After these few last months spent with a broken defy in the drawer, I thougth to myself “what the heck, this phone is useless anyway! why not just take the risk of repairing it myself?” (except of ripping-off off the screw and in my hand with the screwdriver, which is what usually happens when I use one).
Beware I’m quite sure this procedure voided any kind of warranty I might have had… Anyway considering how Motorola threated my phone, for me it was like I allready had none left.
So I launch Firefox, hit ebay and ordered myself a brand new digitizer, which arrived this morning:
so I launched Youtube to get a grasp of how it should be done and imitated the video:
And here’s the result:
Conclusion:
Fixing the Defy cost me 15$, a futile warranty, and 15 minutes while Motorola was asking me 150!
Anyway, now that I’ve screwed my warranty, the good point is that I have no point in keeping the bloated, out of date Motorola Motoblur Froyo (2.2) Firmware!
Please, keep posting pictures of your broken phones, the more we have the more likely they will avoid someone one bad buy!
PS: Due to spam issues I deleted all “out of topic” reply’s and from now on, messages with a wrong captcha will be automaticaly erased without human review.
________________________________
A few hours later (1.22 am now :s), that’s done, the phone has been rooted, nandroid backuped, and I installed CyanogenMod 7.1 on it (android 2.3.5).
I might give a few explanations soon, first I want to test if everything works well… but first I want to sleep!!!
________________________________
Update 08/02/2012
The defy is working well so far, while I just learned that “oups they did it again”… Motorola lyed to it’s customers by promising unlocked bootloaders and not delivering them.
Check XDA for more info:
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/operation-mosh-petitioning-motorola-to-unlock-their-bootloaders-amid-broken-promise/
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/opmosh2-developer-edition-is-no-solution-petition-for-real-droid-razr-bootloader-unlock/
and sign the petition on change.org,
http://www.change.org/petitions/motorola-mobility-inc-unlock-all-smartphone-bootloaders-2#
Looking forward!
________________________________
Update 09/02/2012
Receiving almost 20 spam a day and am tired of it, this is why I apologize for the unconvenience, but from now on comments will be filtered by akismet and the links will be nofollow.
_______________________________
Update 02/03/2012
It works, no more spam \o/
I purchased 2 Motorola Defy phones. The first one broke in my wife’s purse when she dropped her purse. No help from Motorola or any assistance offered. The second one has poor reception and the screen is so sensitive that it takes off on its own and performs random functions.
I have used and liked Motorola products in the past and have been satisfied. The “DEFY” is crap. They should take it off the market, refund everyone’s money, and apologize.
Instead they ignorantly plow on and say ” So sorry for your luck!”
I am going back to my IPhone.
VH
Thanks for your comment Vic,
please if you have pics of your broken phone send them to me so we can show the broken phones!
How do i post pics and comments?
http://img2a.htmlchat.net/Images.aspx?img=1_1108270532223481161wrbsb&fmt=.jpg
Cheers Phil, that has been included!
Notez que ce n’est pas le seul problème du Defy. Il a un défaut de conception qui fait que le haut-parleur interne ne fonctionne plus à force de brancher/débrancher un casque. Il semble que la prose jack soit trop proche du HP.
Je l’ai envoyé dans un centre de réparation agréé Motorola pour le SAV (adresse donnée par Motorola). Le téléphone m’est revenu vendredi avec le HP changé, mais avec de nouveaux problèmes ! Quelques milimètres du bord droits ne sont plus accessibles par le surface tactile, ce qui m’empêche, par exemple, d’appuyer sur les lettres a et q du clavier virtuel… De plus, depuis lundi matin où j’ai utilisé mon téléphone comme baladeur, le téléphone clique tout seul partout, le rendant carrément inutilisable !
Ok comments i’ve got, but how do i post pics? Cheers Defayced, good work.
My service provider have tried to weasle out of the warranty thing by saying they make no claims about the phones “durabilty”. I have more specifically defined the issue with the Dept of Consumer and Employment Protection (DOCEP) and am trying to link the the provider with the claims. My service provider has stated that it’s Motorolas problem. BUT the SP use Gorilla Glass in their ” key features” to promote the phone.
Some links.
http://thisismynext.com/2011/09/07/motorola-droid-bionic-review/
http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/#praise-for-gorilla
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375657,00.asp#fbid=8jSJanvDSkB
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/01/what-is-gorilla-glass/
Like some of you guys, the glass has now splintered so that now i have tiny slivers coming off which presents a prick hazard.
I have also contacted Corning glass and advised them of the issue and plugged the page. As soon as i have a reply I’ll post that.
I have also noted that some of the cracks start at that litlle speaker hole thing at the top of the phone, mine did and it just starred out from there. Perhaps this is a design flaw? Just a thought.
disregard the last question, i work shifts and was half asleep when i logged onto the web site.
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/gorilla-glass.htm
http://www.tested.com/ces-2011-tested-vs-corning-gorilla-glass/47-260/
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/the-science-behind-stronger-display-glass-on-your-phone-computer/2997
Claims about how “tough” Gorilla Glass is meant to be.
I have been told by the service provider that the cracks are due to “physical damage” (well DUH).
I have explained to the womanat the shop that the phone did not suit my intended purpose, she said too bad.
I engaged the Telecommunications ombudsmen, who contacted the service provider. The service provider contacted me and parroted the same thing, that is , “we did not make the claim that the glass was tough”. I re engaged the ombudsmen and sent him various links etc. The service provider on their website has used in it’s description of the phone and among it’s key features(read, components.) “Gorilla glass”.
I contacted Motorola and recieved a list of service centres that will look at the phone, my service provider have told me that i could void the warranty if i take it to anyone else but them (the service provider).
I have contacted Gorilla glass and recieved a couple of phone numbers ( 1-800-734-5870.) also this number ( 866-289-6686.). They say that this is the manufacturers number, unfortunately i cannot get through on those numbers from Western Australia.
I spoke to the investigator this morning and he believes the issue warrants further investigation and despite the warranty issues with the provider the problem MAY be covered under Consumer Law that is “IS IT SUITED FOR MY INTENDED PURPOSE”.
He will now get back to the provider and seek a resolution in which i will be informed of the outcome.
Pursue this people, “MAINTAIN THE RAGE”.
P.S. due to my really poor organisational skills I am yet to send a pic, I’ll send it tonight.
Neil (formerly “peely”)
Just because the service providers say the phone glass is not covered under warranty, it does not mean you do not have lawful consumer protection. I don’t know what consumer protection laws you have in various countries but pursue that avenue.
Anyhow we’ll see how i go with an investigator looking into it. Might be good, might be bad for me.
“maintain the rage”
My service provider (Crazy Johns Australia) called me this morning, a lady from the “resolution team” rang. She began her speal with “Hi Neil blah, blah blah. I need to advise you that your call may be recorded for training purposes”. I replied that i was also obliged tell her that i was recording her for “quality assurance purposes”. She ummed and ahhhed and told me should would not consent to that.
I told her that i do not consent to being recorded either (let’s rely on our recalls shall we!)
She went on to say that she would correspond by email instead, I responded by saying she could do whatever she thought best.
She hung up.
Anyhow i will post their “resolution” or lack of when i get the email.
“Maintain the rage”
Benoit says (translated by Goggle translation)
“Note that this is not the only problem Defy. It has a design flaw that causes the internal speaker does not work to force connecting / disconnecting headphones. It seems that the prose is too close to the jack HP.
I sent in a Motorola Authorized Service Center for servicing (address given by Motorola). The phone came back Friday with the HP changed, but new problems! Few millimeters from the right are no longer accessible by the touchpad, so I can not, for example, pressing the letters q and a virtual keyboard … In addition, since Monday morning when I used my phone as player, click the phone itself everywhere, making it totally unusable!”
The real intense cracking on the top right hand side of the glass is secondary damage to the rest of the original splintering on the rest of the phone.
I met a girl today who had a defy, she states that she has dropped hers numerous times with no damage.
So why so much damage to these handsets?
“Maintain the Rage”
Hi Pro Bowl, I’m unsure as to what you mean, could you elaborate?
My service provider emailed me yesterday with an olive branch, I was offered $200 as an “act of good faith” to subsidise the cost of a new handset, still leaves me out of pocket with the difference.
The service provider is still hanging onto the idea that because they themselves have not made the claim about the phone and it’s features they are not liable, the investigator has told me that some reponsibility is attached to the dealer.
I have never said they made any claims, the problem is not with what the sevice providers say or advertise, my issue with them is with the products they sell to joe public.
While i consider their first option at resolving this issue, i will attempt to ring the manufacturers using the number i posted previously.
The investigator has informed me that i don’t need to take that offer. I am going to continue to pursue this by trying to utilise Australian law and consumer protection strategies.
There is not much point just whinging to Motorola. Gather your evidence, the stronger your evidence the greater the initial impact your complaint will have. If someone was with you when the phone was damaged get them as a witness to write out Statutory Declaration that supports your claim. Gathering the ammunition takes a while, lodging the complaint takes two minutes.
I’m going to think about my options further, meanwhile i’m going bush for a while,mobile phones and the internet don’t work where i hang out.
“Maintain the Rage”
Hi, Thanks kids uggs boots on sale.
Love to hear more from everyone, results of research, law or anything else.
We can extend our gratitude to Defayced who made this site possible.
I returned from my trip to the bush and had recieved an email in my inbox from the investigator who assumed, when i hadn’t spoken to him for a couple of days that i had settled my claim with the service provider. I had told him and the provider that i would be away and needed time to consider the “resolution” put before me. ( When i go out camping there are no phones, no internet. Just me, my darling wife, my son and my German Shepherds.)
So I sent the following;
“Hi XXX(investigator).
You have not heard from me because I have been away and outside any mobile phone range, my apologies. I am attempting to contact Gorilla glass manufacturers myself as I seem to be the only one who sees the gulf that exists between claims made by the manufacturer and the splintering of my phone glass. I have not settled on anything nor will I give crazy johns another cent outside of what I’m obliged to pay for a useless item. I have explained to SXXh CXXXXXXe of Crazy Johns that I want to know why this phone splintered the way it did and her and her company are quite happy to let me do the work. I have been given two numbers that I’m trying to get through to. I have only returned from the bush today so will try in the next day or so.
If I am unable to see the light of day on this issue going down this path, I will invite other agencies to look into the problem, I am considering legal advice through a lawyer.
Crazy Johns are too lazy to even want to find out what kind of product they are selling, I’m doing the footwork. (“ I look forward to hearing from you after you return to discuss the complaint further.
I would be interested in receiving any information you may find about the handset or about Gorilla glass and would be keen to share this information with my colleagues within Crazy John’s” SXXXh CXXXXXXe).
You said concrete is quite unforgiving, I have not seen anywhere that some surfaces were exempt from their claims, my phone was not dropped on concrete it was dropped on pavers. It still does not seem reasonable to me that my old Samsung Icon has survived being dropped and bashed around in the same environment, dropped on the same types of surfaces for two years.
Crazy Johns have also failed to give me a payout figure and I have asked twice now, so I can consider paying the account out and getting rid of this phone that fails to live up to it’s claims.
I will remind you that I have a sworn statement from a another Officer that supports the details of the incident I have reported. If the screen had of simply cracked in a manner consistent with claims made by Corning glass engineers (I believe I sent you the links, if I have not, I will resend them) I would consider it reasonable. But this SPLINTERED into tiny pieces, you can see further examples of this here, I do not vouch to validity of anyone elses issues. (http://www.motoroladefy.eu/).
I don’t care about their 200 dollar carrot, I make that before lunch every day. I want to know if the claims made by these manufacturers are honest or if there was perhaps a bad batch made and what responsibilities the service provider has in providing products that suit my intended purpose and the purpose of anyone else who may have this problem”.
This email was passed onto the resolution team at the service providers, I recieved the following a day or two later;
“Good Afternoon Neil,
I hope you are well.
I have recently been contacted by the TIO who have advised that you are not satisfied with the offered resolution to your complaint.
I would be happy to organise to have the handset sent through Crazy John’s to an authorised Motorola repairer for assessment and possible repair, if you are willing to agree to this. If you are happy to proceed with an assessment, please let me know which Crazy John’s store is most convenient for you and I will contact them directly to ensure the handset is accepted and sent to a repairer.
In addition, I understand you are also dissatisfied as you have not been advised of the early termination charges you would incur should you choose to terminate your service which is currently with Crazy John’s. As of today your early termination charge would be $530.13. This amount will decrease each day.
As per my previous email, should you wish to suggest an alternate resolution to my previous offer, I would be happy to consider it.
Kind Regards,”
As a result, I will send the phone to their repair centre.
To summarise my goal; To determine how such “tough” glass can splinter (not crack a bit) the way it has.
I believe that the LAST person you should contact is the person you have the complaint with. By the time you have contacted them the evidence has been gathered and you are armed with quotes, facts, claims, statements and/or photo’s.
The information the teenage store manager gave me was laughable and an insult to me but i followed due process in order to play the game, remain cool (difficult for me).
An Occupational Health and Safety co-ordinator told me once, “This is a marathon, not a sprint”.
“Maintain the Rage”
My handset was handed over to the service provider yesterday. I got the impression that they may fix it for free, just my impression, I could be wrong.
here is something to be happy about
Even if it’s only in UK. I didn’t specifically googledb for it, it is in CNET’s news..
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/motorola-defy-ads-banned-for-being-misleading-50006002/
Hello everybody thanks for your posts and sorry for the lag in the follow up, I’ve hectic work at the moment…
@Peely, that’s awesome news: I hope it’s true and they won’t join an invoice with the phone! That would be a great step towards admission of a default!
@tari, Thanks for the link, Finally some legal news!!! – I hope they will transpose that in Belgium asap!
See you soon!
My defy broke last night… Im really disapointed, here’s a pic: http://cl.ly/0J1C1C0k190l1w1o001I
Feel free to share
My partner bought a motorola defy this Monday the 23rd January 2012! It just broke today! Wednesday the 25th January 2012!
Fell out of his pocket onto the ground and screen shattered! So much for his skiteing about his phone being tougher than my 2 yr old iPhone 3GS. My phone has been dropped into the toilet, smashed onto the cement ground multiple times (almost once a day), fallen out of the car, left on the table and drinks spilt on it and my iPhone still lives without a dent or crack!
I am so glad I found this website!
I cannot beleive that he had his “unbreakable” “lifeproof” MOTOROLA DEFY phone for a bit more than 2 days and it shatters with one small fall! We will fight to get a replacement! This has got to be a joke if they don’t admit liability!
The service provider told him it was shock proof, dust proof water proof, very tough and will not break! He even told him that it can be dropped from up to 1.5 metres and still not break!
It shattered from less than 2 feet!!!!!
Let u know how we go. Seeing them on Monday.
Thanks for your input Sarah! please feel free to send your pic, it’ll be a pleasure to add one more example to this site!
@sarah: As you can see in the update, I decided to repair mine myself and got it done for about 15$
I bought the Motorola Defy for my 2 teenage sons in the mistaken believe these phones were tough. Within 2 months, both had cracked screens on them. Both from simple drops onthe ground. SO I had them repaired at a cost of 100$ per phone. One week after being returned, one son had a cracked screen again. He said that it was in his pocket. A female friend of his hit his pocket accidently and amazingly his screen broke.
These phones do not live up to their hype as being tough.