Motorola today launched the Moto E smartphone. It is variously described by Moto's marketing folk as "Made to last," "Priced for all," and the smartphone which will mean millions say #GoodbyeDumbPhone. The price of this new smartphone should be $129 or £89 without any contract.
It seems like Motorola is putting a lot of emphasis on this new mobile being the device which finally makes feature phone hold-outs succumb to the lure of the smartphone. The Moto blog says that "we want to radically transform the mobile industry once again by making quality smartphones that can do great things available to practically everyone". The firm aims to do that by making a smartphone that is cheap yet capable.
I have certainly bought a cheaper smartphone previously, which made me miss the immediacy of the 'dumb' or feature phone that it replaced. It will be good if people sold on the smartphone dream don't suffer from the nightmare lag and unresponsiveness of the old entry level (Android) handsets.
Motorola says that it kicked off this cheap yet capable movement with the Moto G, its biggest selling smartphone ever, and wants to continue with the "fully loaded and fairly priced" Moto E. It hopes to finally push over the wall of feature phone users which it says still account for 70 per cent of mobiles in use worldwide. (link to stupidly long infographic)
Moto E specifications
- Dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor with Adreno 302 400MHz single-core GPU
- 4.3-inch 540 x 960 pixel (256ppi) display protected by Gorilla Glass
- 1GB RAM.
- 4GB storage built-in + microSD card slot to add 32GB more.
- 5MP rear facing camera, takes panoramas and videos too. No 'selfie' camera.
- Micro SIM, dual-SIM option
- 1,980mAH "all day" battery
- Bluetooth 4, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS
- Built-in FM radio
- Android 4.4.2 KitKat
- Size 125 x 56 x 12.3mm, weight 142g
- Choice of 20 colour and design combinations using 'Motorola Shells'
This smartphone also offers water 'splashguard' resistance to aid in its everyday durability. It will be available in over 40 countries over the next few weeks.
Motorola also launched an upgraded Moto G today with the extra of 4G connectivity. The 4G Moto G will have an RRP of $219 compared to the $179 of the 3G Moto G.
