Motorola Defy and Defy+

[Soumik]

Hi All,

I have recently bought a Motorola Defy from Letsbuy.com.
I am fairly impressed with the phone. I needed to discuss a few things about the phone and couldnt find any thread for Defy, so created one.

I am not sure if there are many Defy owners around here, but if you are, please give your opinions here.

Ok, i would first like a recommendation from you. I got a 2Gb card free with the cell, but i want to get a higher capacity card.
Please recommend me some good card that is supported by Moto Defy.
I was thinking of getting Patriot Signature 16Gb Class 10 card. It will cost me around Rs2100. My friend is abroad and might be able to get it for me. Is there any other good option? and whats the best i can get over here?

 

[ankit360]

it support upto 32gb so ii don't think it will create problem

 

[MatchBoxx]

No need to spend extra money on class 10 card...a class 4/6 will be enough...spend the extra cash on more capacity!
Class 10 cards are used in DSLRs and SLRs!

 

[Sid_hooda]

Just buy a SanDisk class 4 card, most usually give speeds equal Class 6 standards. Avoid Transcend and Kingston cards, their reliability is pretty terrible

 

[Soumik]

Ok... i read that the branded cards give speeds higher than the marked class. So, class 4/6 card is enough for a cell phone?
Is there going to be any performance degradation if i get a 32Gb card for Defy?

Other than sandisk, is there any other good micro sd card brand?
I was disappointed at a san disk 16gb pendrive's I/O speed which my friend had, compared to the 16gb corsair gt that i have. So, i am wondering if there's anything other than san disk that i can go for in the micro sd card segment?

How are the brands Patriot, A-Data, Lexar, Verbatim... ?

 

[Sid_hooda]

I've tried most, SanDisk handily beats them all (Though Verbatim was also pretty good, i'd still stick to SanDisk since they offer a better warranty). And the SanDisk flash drives will be slower than the Corsair GT, just look at the different in their prices.

 

[Soumik]

Hmm... I wont mind paying that small price premium if the difference is so much noticeable. I was having an idea that Patriot cards were very good. Anyways, getting sandisk from abroad doesn't make sense. Its better to get it from India. Thanks... . Any particular model/place that you can suggest?

Just out of curiosity, does Defy support Class 10 cards.

 

[Soumik]

hmm no one replied...

ok anyways... next query... i want to know what exactly was the earpiece problem that defy faced? Is it the 3.5mm jack port that died after sometime? or the earpiece on the phone body literally was broken?
I have noticed that in certain calls the othr person's voice is heavily muffled and the echo seems to be from my phone rather than his. Because he is able to hear me perfectly. So, i want to know if i also have the problem.

 

[desiibond]

yes. Defy should support class 10 microSD. do make a note of this:

LBA mode MicroSD problems - no LBA: +14MB/s on Patriot LX 16GB - xda-developers

regarding the problem with call voice, have it checked at motorola service centre.

 

[Soumik]

^^ thanks a lot for the link Desiibond .
Now i will stay away from class 10 cards... better stick with class 4... Its not like defy can play a 8gb HD movie anyways... so no use of fast sequential writes... (i guess sequential write speed is required for huge files...)
for the voice call problem, its not happening with all calls... only certain calls show this problem, and that too is a very small number, but calls from those ppl are always muffled.

I will try and get it checked by a Service Centre anyways. Hope there's one in Bangalore

 

[desiibond]

^^ thanks a lot for the link Desiibond .
Now i will stay away from class 10 cards... better stick with class 4... Its not like defy can play a 8gb HD movie anyways... so no use of fast sequential writes... (i guess sequential write speed is required for huge files...)
for the voice call problem, its not happening with all calls... only certain calls show this problem, and that too is a very small number, but calls from those ppl are always muffled.

I will try and get it checked by a Service Centre anyways. Hope there's one in Bangalore

I remeber one in Residency road, near the bus stop I think. and one in bellandhur.

 

[Soumik]

^^Thanks desiibond... I'll go check the phone with them this weekend. Strangely the problem occurs only on certain occasions... most of the time it is fine...

okay... next query...
Video playback problem...
When i copying videos from the hard disk to the memory card through the program, it asks if i want to convert the video to a compatible format. I said yes, and it hardly took any extra time to copy them... When i play them, they play perfectly, even HD videos, with HD clarity!... But one video.. a Still Loving you live in concert, it was a *.mpeg file, 85mb and normal SD, i copied without converting. It never played. Whenever i try to play it.. using mobo player also, the phone hangs up for some time... and i can only close the player through ATK. Any idea whats happening?

 

[thetechfreak]

I reccomend a class 10 as well
Better safe than sorry

 

[Soumik]

^^ Exactly what i was thinking...
ANyways, after checking that link, i want to stay away from cards with LBA mode. I want normal hi speed stuff. ANy card recommendation to buy india online, or shops?

 

[pentiumlover]

Off topic but Does Motorola has any intention of Updating to 2.2 Froyo in India .
Backflip was updated officially all over world except India . Why this sort of treatment to Indians ?

 

[Soumik]

Very good question and one of my future queries. But i would raise it after a month, cause Moto had given a Q2 2011 date for Asia Pacific for this particular update.
Motorola in India comes without motoblur, hence, they would have to prepare a separate official ROM for us here. They would usually not take that initiative unless the ROM would be used by a huge number of phones. Defy is more of a hit than Backflip, so i expect them to take that trouble.
If we are treated similarly and the ROM is not release, i wouldnt mind trying out the unofficial ROMs from xda forums. Am sure even icecream sandwich ROM would come for Motorola Defy.

 

[Soumik]

Hey guys... i think Defy Froyo update is available for India...
Software Update
Gonna try it this weekend. Will let you all know how it went.
Other users can also try out and let us know about the thing.

Anyone knows ho0w to back up sms from phone to pc/laptop?

 

[desiibond]

Hey guys... i think Defy Froyo update is available for India...
Software Update
Gonna try it this weekend. Will let you all know how it went.
Other users can also try out and let us know about the thing.

Anyone knows ho0w to back up sms from phone to pc/laptop?

Use smsbackup and restore application. Please do let us know if you are able to upgrade your defy to 2.2 through official channels.

 

[Soumik]

Thanks, i got the app.
I will update as to how the process went. Will do it this weekend.

 

[Soumik]

Ok... Its official... Defy has got Froyo...
Update process was pretty simple. Connect your device to a PC/laptop with net connection. Download Motorola Software Update tool. Open it. It recognizes your phone and checks for updates. If its there, will download the update while checking. Then, will instal it. Phone reboots, close the software and disconnect your phone, reboot it once more.. and you are done.
Nothing other than contacts will be deleted.
My firmware version is now 2.2.2

Changes :
Loads of minor UI changes. Installs task manager and a few other apps.(Nothing useful that i already didnt have)
Gallery app changed to a more traditional look and feel. (Far better than the old one)
Lots of UI optimization. Made the phone very very fast indeed. Whatever small lag that used to come while scrolling though the huge menu screen is gone. Transitions are a lot more fluid. Game loading time reduced slightly.

Advanced Quadrant score with Eclair - 1050-1083
Advanced Quadrant score with Froyo - 1190-1243
(depending on how many apps running in the background)

Whatever change they made to the software... the camera seems to be creating a slightly better image than earlier. - liked
The touch sensitivity seems to increased/shifted a bit - dislike, cause its causing unnecessary selection when i want to scroll through menu.
Battery life seems to have improved slightly, but will have to wait a few days to confirm that.

Quite happy with the upgrade. Seems i got quite a bargain of a device for 15K.

I did face one problem after the update that when i used my old memory card(i was using that earlier)... the phone just hung up after restarting. As soon i would click to open anything, it would just hand up.
I changed the memory card with the one that came with the phone.. and its working perfectly now. I have loaded the 2GB fully and moved all the apps to the sd card(they move the entire data with a small amount left on the phone memory.. probably registry type files). There's only about 40 Mb free now.. still no hangs or hiccups. Not quite sure what happened to the old card. Anyways, i had everything backed up to PC anyways, so no harm done.