Gadgetory

while last year's Moto e failed to impress in the specs Department its price was hard to beat this year Motorola is back with another version of its budget priced Android handset the Moto e 4G LTE and not only does the new phone have better hardware but a brand new design both inside and out I'm Bill Detweiler and this is cracking open compared to the Moto e the 4G LTE s hardware is a definite step up it's 4.5 inch display looks good hello it's not 1080p it has a 1.2 gigahertz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor and Adreno 306 GPU eight gigs of internal storage one gig of ram a 5 megapixel camera a 30 290 milliamp hour battery and of course 4G LTE connectivity it also ships with Android lollipop 5.0 point 2 now those specs aren't stellar compared to most high-end flagship phones but given the Moto E's $150 u.s. price there are pretty good value now along with the hardware changes Motorola also significantly changed the phone's external and internal design instead of a removable back cover the phone has a removable plastic rim that hides the SIM card and microSD card slots also gone are the external case screws now to open this phone you'll have to go through the front so let's get cracking after removing the phone's plastic rim we can use a heat gun hairdryer microwavable warmer or other heating device to warm the edges of the front panel just enough to loosen the glue that holds it to the plastic body then gently pry the front panel and display assembly away from the body disconnect its ribbon cable and ultimately set it aside next to come out is a thin metal plate that covers much of the main circuit board after removing more than a dozen screws including one hiding under the earpiece and disconnecting the battery cable you can remove a black plastic bracket along the bottom edge of the phones case and then ultimately the circuit board now unfortunately the metal shields that cover the board's processor Ram storage and other chips are soldered in place likewise the battery is glued to the plastic case now as I want to put this phone back together in working order not destroy it I'm afraid our cracking open ends here from a teardown standpoint the Moto e 4G LTE is a mixed bag on the downside the front panel is held to the case with adhesive and not screws or physical snaps there are more than a dozen screws inside the case and many internal components are soldered to the circuit board making them impractical to replace now on the plus side once you're inside the phone removing the internal Hardware is relatively easy and at least all the screws are the same size now for more information on the Moto e 4G LTE including real world tests and pricing check out luke Westaway and jessica dual courts full CNET review to see more tear down photos and read my full hardware analysis go to TechRepublic comm forward slash cracking over