New Moto E impresses with 4G LTE, latest Lollipop and a low, low price
Motorola's latest 4G LTE smartphone is out now, and costs just $150 or £109. Read on for all the details.
Motorola's newest smartphone makes a good first impression. The revamped Moto E packs 4G LTE and costs $150 in the US or £109 in the UK from Motorola's website, meaning it could be a solid choice for first-time smartphone shoppers or those looking to pick up a new mobile without breaking the bank. US shoppers looking for something even cheaper should also note that in the US, Motorola is also making a 3G-only version of the new Moto E, which costs $119.
The newest Moto E follows on from last year's ever-so-slightly disappointing model, which was a decent smartphone but lacked a powerful camera and fell down in the battery stakes. The new model ups the specs with a 4.5-inch display and a 2,390mAh battery, plus 4G LTE for faster downloads and Web browsing. You also get Android Lollipop version 5.0.2, which is the latest version of Google's mobile operating system.
Mini mobile
If you're accustomed to the palm-stretching dimensions of the iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy Note 4, the new Moto E will probably feel very small in your hand. It's quite chunky to hold and has a thick bezel surrounding the screen. While this separates it from the slender luxury of high-end smartphones, bear in mind that this mobile is significantly cheaper than its bleeding-edge rivals.
Similarly, the 4.5-inch screen has a resolution of 960x540 pixels, which isn't as high as the 1080p HD displays we're used to on some phones. That said, icons on the screen look pleasingly crisp and the display itself seems bright and colourful.
Combined with its rounded plastic casing with a textured rim, the Moto E gives off the vibe of being cheap, yes -- but also cheerful. It's a rather thick phone, with a rounded backing that curves into your hand in now-classic Moto style. It comes in black and white.
Camera and hardware specs you get
The Moto E 4G LTE's 5-megapixel camera is a bit of an odd one, but not because it lacks a flash. When we started ours up, the 3.7-megapixel widescreen mode was turned on by default, as was fixed focus. A settings wheel that drags out of the left screen gutter lets you adjust this back a standard 4:3 aspect ration for the full 5-megapixel shot, and adjusts the focus so you can drag the brackets to your focus area before shooting.
You can enable a mode to quickly launch the camera with a twist of the wrist. Auto-HDR and Panorama camera modes are present, along with a handful of other options.
The video camera can capture 720p HD clips, including slow motion video. There's a 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front-facing camera too for video chat, or of course the odd selfie.
If you flex your fingers and put some elbow grease into it, you'll be able to pry off that textured rim to reveal a microSD card slot and SIM card slot beneath. (You can also change out the band for a range of other colors.) No such luck removing the battery though; that's embedded.
In terms of the processor, Motorola has outfitted this LTE-enabled E with a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 and Adreno 306 GPU. These aren't the highest tiers Qualcomm makes, but for the price and purposes of this phone, they don't have to be.
You'll find 8GB of internal storage and 1GB RAM. The Moto E 4G LTE has Bluetooth 4.0 LE (low energy), but no NFC. Its water-resistant coating will help protect it from splashes.
Lollipop, and a little more
Happily, Motorola hasn't interfered much with the vanilla Android experience, and as a result the Lollipop interface feels clear, calm and uncluttered. Access to Google Play will let you fill this phone with more apps than you'll know what to do with, as well as movies and music.
Motorola has slipped in a few of its own touches here and there, including a helper that shows you pertinent information at a glance of the screen. The software can also automatically turn on profiles as soon as your enter your home, say switching on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Low price
Motorola has earned a reputation for making capable mobiles on the cheap, and the new Moto E 4G LTE looks set to continue that tradition in fine form. This mobile will cost £109 in the UK, while if you're in the US, expect to pay $150 for the 4G LTE model or $119 for a 3G-only variant. It's on sale now, and will be coming to over 50 countries in Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia, Motorola says. It's not clear yet whether Motorola plans to release its new toy in Australia, but the UK price converts to around AU$215.
There'll be plenty more phones inbound over the next few days, as Mobile World Congress in Barcelona kicks off. Stay tuned, phone fans.
Update 9:10 a.m. PT: A previous version of this first take incorrectly stated the price of the new Moto E in the US. The 3G variant of the phone costs $119, while the 4G LTE option costs $150.