The Motorola DEFY is one pretty-but-rugged Android handset, which is rare for phones that can take a good beating, so it’s a little sad to hear news that the earpiece may not be up to par. For a handset that can withstand most of the elements, including being dropped in water or bombarded with sand and dust, you’d think that its parts would last much longer than your average smartphone.
According to Android Police, the Motorola DEFY earpiece is failing on devices as young as two weeks old, which could definitely signify a manufacturing issue if it’s widespread. Motorola is apparently investigating the issue, but Android Police reports:
The headphone jack on the DEFY sits very close to the earpiece speaker. So close, in fact, that it’s possible regular use of the jack may be pushing the contacts onto a weld or other conductive surface, creating a circuit to the earpiece speaker and causing a short.
Interesting given Motorola’s reputation for making some solid hardware, but if it’s the case that a short is being caused, little mistakes can happen every now and then. At least it’s not like the “exploding” earpiece on the Droid smartphone that hurt a man’s ear. In fairness to Motorola, it turns out it was just dropped and the user didn’t realize the glass was cracked before making or answering a call, hence the injury and the cracked earpiece.
Do you own a Motorola DEFY? Have you been suffering from a sporadic or completely non-working earpiece, too? Feel free to let us know in the comments, and we’ll keep you abreast as we get word of how Motorola will be handling this if it turns out to affect a number of its rugged Android handsets. Until then, keep on subjecting the DEFY to all it can take as that’s what it was meant to do, right?
[Via: Android Police]