Motorola Moto E launches as super cheap smartphone

Motorola Moto E launches as super cheap smartphone
E is for... umm... nope, we're not sure

Motorola has officially launched the low-cost Moto E at a special event in London, as the now Lenovo-owned firm looks to dominate the budget market.

Instead of replacing the excellent Moto G, the Motorola Moto E falls in below and thus becomes the firm's new entry level device.

The Moto E arrives with a 4.3-inch, 960 x 540 256ppi display, 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor, 1GB of RAM, microSD slot, 1980mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat.

That resolution might seem to be a little on the low side, but is claimed to be 'best in class' by Motorola, which makes sense when compared with the rest of the similarly-priced phones around.

Death of the selfie

Round the back you'll find a 5MP camera, like on the Moto G, but there's no front facing snapper here, which might mean that the selfie trend could begin to die a death for the younger generation who can afford this phone.

The screen is also protected by Gorilla Glass and comes as 'splash resistant' - without a definitive IP rating, we'll assume this isn't in the same class as the Samsung Galaxy S5 or Sony Xperia Z2, but will probably happily motor on while it's pouring down with rain.

Moto E

And for those that like to keep things fresh you can use the new Motorola Shells to change the colour of your Moto E, making it all lovely and personal. Harking back to the days of the Nokia 3310, jumpers for goalposts, what-ho! lashings of top quality string.

And the price? Well it will be available in the UK this week for £89 SIM-free. In the US, it'll retail for $129 off-contract via Motorola.com.

John McCann
Former Global Managing Editor

TechRadar's former Global Managing Editor, John has been a technology journalist for more than a decade, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He’s interviewed CEOs from some of the world’s biggest tech firms, visited their HQs, and appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC, and BBC Radio 4.

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