Motorola’s Defy was to be the first “life-proofed” Android handset. Having taken a spin of it for ourself to test their claims and seeing countless crazy videos displaying the toughness of this thing, we believed them. But no one ever said anything about it breaking due to problems with engineering. Loads of users – after having extensively used the device for weeks since its launch – have experienced a horrible issue with their phones: the earpiece doesn’t work.
It makes the phone practically useless if you actually want to talk on it and not use headphones, a headset, or the speaker phone. Those familiar with the device say it’s because the headphone jack is so close to the earpiece. Repeated use of the jack may either contribute to a shortening of the component’s circuitry or it may be dislodging the entire thing from the circuit board altogether.
There’s no way to tell unless one of these brave souls open their devices, but we hear that’s about as hard to do as getting Motorola to release Android 2.1 for some of their more “uninspiring” devices. (Hehe.)
But they’re aware of the issue and are investigating it, thankfully. If you’ve fallen victim to these issues, I’m sure Motorola will have no problem fixing or replacing your device. And should they give you any crap, here’s a nice link to a support forum you can give them to prove it’s their issue and not a fault of your own. [via Android Police]