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Motorola's new Moto E wants to sweep up the affordable smartphone market offering some pretty impressive specs for just £100 (around $150, AU$190).
The biggest selling feature of the Moto E is its super low price point offering an all round solid package with no glaring problems and a good quality set up. It's hard to think of another manufacturer offering such an impressive package all around for such a low price.
We liked
The design is exactly what you want from this kind of handset. Although not showing off a premium look it feels solid, sits well in the hand and doesn't feel like it's going to crack on the first drop. It isn't particularly bulky either while having some nice looking round corners.
Battery life is pretty solid here offering a little more than Motorola's claimed 24 hours on moderate use. I found it to last a lot longer than the HTC One Mini 2 that I use daily and it performed well in our video testing to boot.
The be all and end all is the price though – if you can name another handset as cheap as the Moto E with 4G internet, such a nice design and all the other features I will eat my metaphorical hat.
We disliked
The display has a few issues such with the brightness and viewing angles. All round it is suitable but it did pose a bit of an issue in the bright light of the outside world that should have been sorted before Motorola rolled it out officially.
Storage is an issue here with 8GB on board and a lot less to play with once the operating system is taken into account. Motorola should have adapted the amount of storage, but it has offered microSD up to 32GB to try and make it a little better than it could have been.
That front facing camera isn't anything to write home about either. It's fast becoming more used than the rear camera on many people's phones, so you'd think Motorola would put a bit more work into the front snapper but sadly there hasn't been much work here to make it jump out from other handsets.
Final verdict
The Moto E (2015) can do everything you want it to do, now there's 4G LTE connectivity you can get that superfast internet inside which is a big relief for many.
It has a solid design, sits well in the hand and feels sturdy enough to take a couple of drops.
Although it won't keep up with the flagship handsets, the new Moto E has a solid display with a good pixel density making video and anything else you're using the handset for look pretty good.
As I said before, the biggest selling point of the Moto E (2015) is the price point and you'll be hard pressed to find a more satisfactory user experience at this end of the market.
If your wallet is your main concern, be sure to jump on the Motorola boat and grab yourself the new Moto E.
First reviewed: March 2015
