Gadgetory

it's an axiom known to parents financial advisors and other dispensers of wisdom far and wide you get what you pay for that's not necessarily a condemnation Motorola's new super chief Moto e is certainly an accomplishment on the price tag alone the question is did this affordable smartphone sacrifice too much of the smartphone in the name of being affordable let's find out i'm michael fisher with pocket now's video review of the motorola moto e motorola says it built the Moto e because using a smartphone should be a right not a privilege and of course affordability is a huge part of that the company already has some experience in this area thanks to the Moto G which we compared with the Moto e in a video last week check it out here on our channel page to stay within its price boundaries the Moto e makes a lot of sacrifices and specs from the dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor to the 4.3 inch quarter HD display with mediocre viewing angles to the paltry 4 gigs of built-in storage only half of which is accessible out of the box and those skeletal features are bundled up in a thick somewhat homely package whose loan concessions to style are asymmetric chrome strips hiding the speakers and changeable back covers which cost more money but Motorola is not after fashionistas here with the Moto e it promises a smartphone made to last and to that end the device is somewhat ruggedized with Gorilla Glass 3 and water resistance functionally it's held up well to fairly careless use over our 7 days of testing but the back cover isn't hard to scuff up still the e feels like a phone you can take almost anywhere without worrying about breaking it which is nice a microSD slot does its part in making up for the on-board storage shortage a hefty gig of ram backs up the processor dual SIM capability and a digital TV tuner are available in some markets and topping it all off Android 4.4.2 is here with guaranteed timely updates from Motorola but for all its distensible optimization for low spec devices even KitKat shows signs of sluggishness honest dragon 200 the Moto e isn't unusable by any means but it is slow even at medium typing speed keystrokes lag behind switching between apps and multitasking mode takes a few extra beats and app crashes are much more common than on higher-end devices this is not a phone you can trust to manage itself apps need to be aggressively policed and you should plan to restart it on a regular basis just to keep it happy also you might as well factor in the cost of a microSD card if you're considering a moto e a big part of the smartphone experience is downloading apps and you'll power through the available onboard storage in no time without a memory card there to soak up your media speaking of media the Moto E's camera is everything you'd expect from a five megapixel fixed-focus shooter it's the only camera on the phone and in bright sunlight with a good angle and a little bit of patience or just a bunch of burst shots you can capture some good-looking photos as with most cameras these days even Motorola's temperamental HDR mode offers a boost from time to time but turn the lights down and well it becomes pretty clear very quickly that this isn't a phone for night owls especially considering the lack of a flash also the absence of variable focus means close-up shots are basically off the table and the viewfinder itself is slow to launch slow to save slow all around and so is the frame rate when shooting FW VGA video in short the camera here is nice to have if conditions are right but overall it's little more than an afterthought Motorola's focus has instead been on the fundamentals and that shines is specially brightly in terms of reception the phone calls and endurance the Moto e doesn't sport anything fancy in the radio suite but it holds on to a signal just as well as you'd expect from a Motorola especially when it comes to the FM radio as the company's website says there's free music in the air and the Moto e does a great job of snapping it up with a minimum of static also sauce for the goose when it comes to Motorola call quality is excellent on both hands that's also true on speakerphone mode with the single front firing loudspeaker making everything from a two-way conversation to a quick YouTube video much more enjoyable than on other budget smartphones $9.00 direct from Motorola the question becomes how much are you willing to give up for 50 bucks and if you get too caught up in watching or listening and suddenly find yourself under attack or otherwise endanger motorola alert has a few helpful tools we're not sure how well the alarm will do at attracting attention honestly it's not as loud as we expected but the tools that enable trusted contacts to track you or to meet you at specific locations could be quite useful especially for parents or really anyone who needs something simple and effective for peace of mind finally there's battery life with a non-removable 1980 milliamp hour power pack we were slightly concerned especially when our day of heavy use shut us down after only eight hours with less than four hours of screen on time but that was a stress test of aggressive media streaming using the Moto e more like a flagship than a budget phone with more moderate usage the phone delivered closer to five hours of screen on time an impressive stat for such a small battery and that's without using power saving mode which could extend endurance even further between the software stumbles the storage shortage and the camera you might think the Moto e a pretty wimpy contender we're not confident that it'll age well updates aside smartphones usually slow down over time and when a phone is this sluggish out of the box it doesn't bode well for its future in the US or just $50 separate the two we still think the Moto G is a much better buy but in some of the markets Motorola is targeting with the Moto e the price golf is far wider and in those markets the Moto e brings you durability excellent call quality and a modern if not perfect smartphone experience in terms of getting what you pay for it is a very good value just remember to factor in the cost of the microSD card and remember when it gives you trouble how much you didn't spend on it for more on the Moto e see our written review at pocket now linked below right next to the like button please press it if you did enjoy this review also see our moto e vs. moto G comparison here on YouTube our initial hands on and follow us on social media where we talk text and tweet until next time this has been michael fisher with PocketNow thanks for watching