Motorola is on a roll these days, with every device creating waves in the market. What started with Moto G, has now a proud lineup up of some of the strongest mobile devices in the market ( Moto X, Nexus 6, Moto G2, Moto E ). The company may be a Lenovo Asset now, but the buy-out has only done them good. The new Moto E however, has got me thinking. For a phone whose first iteration sold like hotcakes, the new model, might not perform to that standard after all. Why, you ask?
Heres why –
Connectivity – As far as the connectivity is concerned, the new Moto E takes off from where the older one stopped, that is, the new device will come with 2G, 3G and 4G connectivity. There might be a dual sim flavour available lateron, but for now, there is only the Single Sim variant which is headed for the market. Overall, its a good move by Motorola to include the full connectivity package, as many were definitely feeling left out without the 4G ready configuration.
Display – The Moto E always had one of the best display configurations in its price range and this time too, it aims to do just that. The new Moto E will feature a slightly bigger, 4.5 inch display with an unchanged resolution of 540 * 960 pixels. While all this may sound alright, the deal breaker here is that the pixel density has been surprisingly ramped down to 245 ppi, from the previous 256 ppi, and while the reason to do so is unknown, it will definitely not do the new Moto E any favours. Overall, I would say Motorola could have done a much better job on the display, or atleast kept it the way it was in the first model, as one usually does not expect a downgrade when they buy a new device.
Performance – Performance wise , not much is clear about the new device, except the fact that it is going to feature a quad core processor and a SnapDragon Chipset ( I am guessing the 200 series), compared to the Dual core CPU that came with the previous Moto E. Some good news at last for the Moto E loyalists, and to add to that , the new Moto E will also feature Android Lollipop out of box, which means, no waiting in line for the OTA update. Just Boot and enjoy royalty.
Memory – The new Moto E will come with an upgraded 8 GB of internal memory, a hundred times better than the 4GB internal memory you got with the Older sibling. The RAM will stay constant at 1GB, and for that price range, 1GB is more than sufficient. There will also be the memory expansion feature which will be carried forward from the 1st Gen Moto E and the maximum accommodated will be 32 GB. Overall, a decent memory package. The upgrade to 8 GB internal will really come as a breather for those who had a hard time coping with the almost negligible 4GB.
Camera – This is one more area that has me worried. The 1st Gen Moto E featured a 5MP rear camera, with no front camera. This time, Motorola has added a VGA front camera, which honestly is stuff from the past, and to add to that, they have left the rear camera unchanged !!! If not anything else, Motorola should have added atleast an LED flash, something even run if the mill smartphones can boast of these days. I don’t know is this was a design flaw or a conscious decision on Motorola’s part, but whatever it was , will definitely cost them dear. If you want to talk about improvements, well, the video recording has been amped up to 720p, but thats just about it. Not at all a good camera package for a device which has the potential to uproot its competition.
Battery – The Battery is yet to be announced by Moto , but I don’t think it will clock anything more than 2500 mAh, which is ideal for this device. The battery should ideally give you a full day’s worth of usage on single charge, so no trouble there.
All in all, the new Moto E is not what I would call, a fitting successor to its rather glamorous predecessor, but nonetheless, its a device with good hardware, and leaving aside the ppi and camera, you can expect some good snappy action from this little fellow as well.
