Tech —
Motorola's Moto E runs KitKat, resists scratches, costs $129 unlocked
It's cheaper than the Moto G, but it includes many of the same features.
Andrew Cunningham - May 13, 2014 11:55 am UTC
The Moto E is another cheap phone that wants to change how you feel about cheap phones.
There's a new Android phone on the block. It's got a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a five megapixel rear camera, 4GB of internal storage, single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, and a 4.3-inch 960×540 display. No, you didn't pass out and wake up in the year 2011—these are the specs of the Moto E, Motorola's latest play for the budget smartphone market. It costs $129 unlocked, $50 less than the cheapest Moto G. The phone will be available in "more than 40 countries" in "the next few weeks."
Like the Moto G, it looks like the Moto E wants to provide a decent user experience despite its lowish specs. It includes the same lightly modified version of Android 4.4.2 seen on the Moto G and the Moto X, and it will get "at least one update" to another version of Android. Most phones in that approximate price range can't say the same—they often run Android 4.0 or 4.1 out of the box, and there's little-to-no chance that you'll ever get even a single software update. Look at the phones available at this price from a provider like Straight Talk and you'll see the kind of competition the Moto E is up against.
The body of the phone is also similar to the Moto G and X. The back is all smooth plastic with an indentation for the Motorola logo and a cutout for the (apparently flashless) camera lens. The phone's speaker appears to be mounted on the front of the device, since there's no cutout for it on the back as there is on the more expensive models. The buttons are on the right side, and the headphone jack is centered on the top—it's easy to tell that all three phones are related, which isn't always the case across a company's entire lineup.
Like the G, the Moto E has colorful rear shells that can be peeled off and swapped—they're available in nine different colors for $15 each. The front panels aren't swappable, but you can choose either black or white when you buy the phone. The screen is coated with scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass, and it's also said to be "splash-resistant," though you shouldn't go dropping it in a swimming pool or anything. The one omission on the front is a camera, which is unwelcome news for selfie lovers and video chatters.
Enlarge / Interchangeable rear shells add a splash of color.
If the Moto G performs something like a flagship phone from early 2012, the Moto E will be more like a flagship phone from early 2011. Its dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 chip (which includes two Cortex A7 CPU cores and a 400MHz Adreno 302 GPU) will be a step down in CPU and GPU speed from the quad-core Snapdragon 400 used in the Moto G, but both should still be sufficient for basic tasks. Web browsing, checking e-mail, texting, looking up maps, and playing the occasional game will certainly be slower on the Moto E, but not impossible, and a 1,920mAh battery rated for 24 hours of "mixed usage" (whatever that means) should help. 1GB of RAM, the same amount in the Moto G, should keep things from getting too bottlenecked, and the 256 PPI display should be sharp enough for most people, even if it falls short of the 720p and 1080p phones we've become accustomed to.
More worrisome is the 4GB of local storage, especially since Android and the pre-installed applications will eat up a gigabyte or two all by themselves. There's a micro SD card slot on board that you can use to expand this by up to 32GB, but its usefulness will depend on the implementation. Motorola's product page says it can be used for "photos, videos, music, movies, and apps," so hopefully using it will be relatively seamless. If you want to use this thing like you'd use a higher-end smartphone, using micro SD won't be optional.
The Moto E is a promising phone for its target audience—people in those oft-referenced "emerging markets" and low-income folks in more saturated markets who haven't yet made the jump to a smartphone (in case the event's "GoodbyeFlipPhone" tag didn't give that away).
It's got other noteworthy competitors in this general price bracket, including Microsoft's Lumia 520/521 and upstart competitors like the ZTE Open Firefox phones. The draw of Android can't be discounted, though. It's got much more third-party developer support than either of those operating systems, and it's finally here on a $129 phone that's not either an ancient flagship or a low-end footnote in its OEM's lineup. We'll run a full review when we can get our hands on the device—hopefully the Moto E stands up to scrutiny.
One other minor addition to Motorola's lineup: there's now a version of the Moto G that includes LTE and retails for $219.99. The version in Motorola's store is compatible with GSM networks (so, AT&T and T-Mobile in the US). As of this writing it's only available in an 8GB model, though it includes a micro SD slot for expansion where the original Moto G does not.
Promoted Comments
aylonsSmack-Fu Master, in training
Let me put this on perspective to the subsidy-accustomed US public:
In Brazil, most people use prepaid plans, myself included. In my plans, I pay R$0,60 for day I use mobile data. If I don't use it at any given day, I pay nothing. I also may pay a fixed daily fee for unlimited SMS for that day and of course, for phone calls.
As a typical Ars Reader, I'm a pretty heavy internet user, even from my cell phone, a LG G2. However, most of the time I'm either at home, work or university, all three of them have wifi. The rare occasions I need mobile data don't account for more than 10 times a month (actually, much less).
Adding up everything, I pay less than US$10,00 a month for my whole cell phone usage[1]. However, this is only possible without subsidy - subsidized phones are available only with monthly contract [2].
So, this is the Brazilian landscape: lots of people want internet-capable phones, but they will pay full price for them. Even if they need to pay US$300,00 in a phone, they will, because plans with subsidy are way more expensive than that. Phones are always sold unlocked, often outside the carrier's shops.
Moreover, smartphones and tablets are a big thing, as PCs are expensive in comparison to the cheapest mobile devices. People who wnat email and facebook don't care about Windows or Mac. And as apps like Whatsapp enable people to pay even less to the carriers, subsidy is even a less attractive option.
The effect is that hardware manufacturers compete heavily on price, as people walk into electronics shops and buy the phones just like any other gadget. They don't feel the urge to change them every two years, and the carrier choice is not even cited at this time, as every carrier is compatible with every device nowadays, just needing to change the chip.
So, a good Android device for this price is killer in a way the US market can't understand.
[1] Actually, much less. This entire year I have paid about US$25,00 and still have credit to spare.
[2] BTW, the subsidized phones are still unlocked. You are contractually obliged to keep the plan for a whole year, but you may use the subsidized phone whichever way you want. Most people I know just buy the unsubsidized phone, so they can better negotiate a plan, prepaid or not.
16 posts | registered Jun 8, 2012
Andrew Cunningham Andrew wrote and edited tech news and reviews at Ars Technica from 2012 to 2017, where he still occasionally freelances; he is currently a lead editor at Wirecutter. He also records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.
Twitter @AndrewWrites