back to article 'Indestructible' Moto Defy telly ad banned

Motorola Mobility has been chastised by the Advertising Standards Authority for TV ads that showed the Motorola Defy getting thrown around the place without being damaged. The ASA has told MotoMobe that it has to pull the ads, which featured on-screen claims that the phone was "dance-floor proof" and "pool-party proof" while …

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  1. TRT Silver badge

    Fashionable but...

    the only colour available is 'Captain Scarlet'

  2. Oliver Mayes

    So actual footage of a phone being dropped and knocked around without damage isn't enough evidence to support their claims that it can handle that kind of treatment.

    But ISPs can blatently lie about their broadband speeds and cosmetic manufacturers can use CGI and fake the results of their makeup with impunity?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If they want to test it on a night out, you could do worse than drop it on the floor at a typical grungy basement rock/metal gig in one of our fair cities here in the UK. A good kicking around the beer soaked floor of Camden The Underworld or the Highbury Garage, stomped by people often wearing ex-army size twelves and we'll see if it's any good!

    1. br0die
      Thumb Up

      I lost a mobile to the Underground floor. I don't know if someone nicked it or it was simply ground into very fine dust.

  4. Simon Harris
    Boffin

    Yes

    But ...

    Will it blend?

  5. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

    Shock horror: An ad made *without* CGI to fake the results !

    In this instance, I'm inclined to side against the ASA. If the Motorola phone in the ads was the same one all the way through, and survived unscathed, then I think it's a fair ad.

  6. CowardlyAndrew

    Urm maker says phone was dropped during the advert 'live' and several times, ASA says seen no evidence of phone being dropped.

    Does this mean they did not see the advert? Or they just want a person in a white coat to repeat the drops for them rather than pretty people used in an advert.

    Aren't most screen breaks from people sitting on phones? and bending beyond tolerance?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      The ad is not evidence

      Would you just take their word for it that there were no editing or post-production tricks employed?

      No, I think I would be more inclined to believe the results if it was done in a scientific and independently verifiable way.

  7. Pete 2 Silver badge

    One simple test

    Go to the shop, have the phone demonstrated, drop it on showroom floor from prescribed height. If it still works, do it again. If it *still* works buy it (or rather: another sample of the same model - which you "drop test" before walking out of the store).

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who cares?

    They don't sell it anymore. Nor do they upgrade it, so I'm stuck with Android 2.2 for a phone that's 6 months old... Oh and of course putting another rom on it to get rid of some annoying bugs will void the hardware warranty on the device they said.

    Other than that great phone, that will survive a dip in seawater.

    1. DF118

      CM7

      Cyanogenmod. It's now easier than ever to instal on the Defy. You won't look back.

  9. peter 45
    Facepalm

    Idiot proof

    The ASA....designated idiot proof as it has be conclusively proved that they never make idiotic decisions.

  10. Brian Mankin
    Thumb Down

    I've got one of these (MB525) - but its broken

    Not a joke. I really do have one. The front speaker is broken. This means that I can't hear the other person in phone conversations but they can hear me. The back speaker still works and I can play music. I did try setting the phone to speaker phone but the mic doesn't filter input so I get an annoyingly stupid whistle when I try this.

    My verdict : Tough as nails? Only if they're made of tin!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I gather this is a known fault

      Motorola will sort you out if you contact them - it apparently happens on earlier models because of the nearness of the headphone socket to the speaker. Any probs with Motorola, try a Sale Of Goods Act claim against the retailer.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The issue is...

    ...that they imply it is totally unbreakable, yet 3 people have had theirs broken by dropping them.

    Also Moto are bullshitting:

    but said it didn't know the exact incidents that had caused the mobe owners' phones to break and it "couldn't cater for every eventuality".

    Hey try Google

    http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Other-Manufacturers-and-OS/Motorola-Defy-Broken-Screen/td-p/712007

    https://supportforums.motorola.com/thread/48716

    http://www.track-days.co.uk/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&f=95&t=1023280&nmt=Who%20/%20Where%20/%20How%20to%20repair%20a%20Motorola%20Defy%20Screen

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    i want to see

    some scientific methodology applied to their claims. They could have dropped it from 3 feet high. Eggs will survive that. Dubious claim. Dubious evidence to substantiate it.

    1. DavCrav

      "They could have dropped it from 3 feet high. Eggs will survive that."

      Vids or it didn't happen.

      1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

        Not a video, but I've seen stuff in New Scientist magazine about throwing eggs over a house and them landing intact. A quick google reveals this as a starter for ten:

        http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QmJImAhPEwEC&pg=PA677&lpg=PA677&dq=new+scientist+throw+egg+over+house&source=bl&ots=xg8oap81MG&sig=tsdd4vF1_ACcuE10eAGc4tSlMuU&hl=en&ei=SMe6TvzfHJLt8QPUxfHRBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CGMQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false

  13. RollinPowell

    good

    I have a Defy and I've dropped it twice - once while standing (~4 feet to wood floor) and once from a couch (< 3 feet to tile) and the display broke from the second fall. While I understand phones, gravity, and tile don't play nicely - the phone didn't even land glass side down and the screen cracked from less than 3 feet. It's a pretty durable phone but not nearly as durable as Motorola advertises.

    The other advertising claim they should investigate that you can actually hear people during phone calls. In 6 months I've had to warranty the phone twice because the earpiece quit working.

  14. Robin Bradshaw
    Boffin

    MIL-STD-810G

    Well its not like there aren't enough standards for environmental ruggedness, im with the ASA if they want to make claims about the ruggedness of their phone then prove it and meet one or more ruggedness specifications eg. MIL-STD-810G (US military), DEF STAN 00-35 (UK military, so probably rubbish), EN 62262 (European standard IK rating for impact), IEC 60529 (IP rating for water/dust proofness).

  15. Stuart Castle Silver badge

    It's funny, but everyone I know that has had a Motorola phone has (within the year they keep it) gone from thinking it's the greatest phone ever to thinking it's an unreliable piece of crap. They seem to last around 8 months..

    Admittedly, that's not an exhaustive survey, nor is it intended to be..

    In my experience, Motorola's are often designed brilliantly (although their UIs can sometimes be a little better designed), but extremely badly made.

    Although, having said that, the last one I owned was a Motorola Timeport 260 that didn't even last 6 months before the battery failed, and the case disintegrated around the aerial.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Strikes me they should let the ad stand. Then if my Defy breaks after a fall I've surely got a good claim on the guarantee.

    Surely you can advertise ruggedness without having to show survival under all conditions.

    It's tough, not indestructable, and I feel a lot happier knowing it can take a few knocks. The screen is scratch free after 10 months too.

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