Motorola Defy coming to Malaysia next week

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!

Video after the jump.