Moto E Full In Depth Review + Unboxing [Video]

Moto E Quick Specs

Display Size: 4.3 inch IPS LCD capacitive touch screen with 540 x 960 qHD resolutionProcessor: 1.2 GHz Dual Core Snapdragon 200RAM: 1 GbSoftware Version: Android 4.4 (Kit Kat) OSCamera: 5 MP Fixed Focus CameraSecondary Camera: NoInternal Storage: 4 GB with 2.21 available to userExternal Storage: Expandable up to 32GB – Yes you can use MicroSDHC cards as well.Battery: 1980 mAh battery Lithium IonConnectivity: 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, aGPS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM RadioOthers: OTG Support – No, Dual SIM – Yes, LED Indicator – Yes (White)Sensors: Accelerometer, gyro, proximitySAR Value: 1.50 W/kg (head) and 1.36 W/kg (body)

Box Contents

Handset with battery (non removable), USB charger with MicroUSB pin, Standard Headphones not In Ear, User manuals in Hindi and English and No MicroUSB to USB data cable, you will need to buy that separately or you can use any MicroUSB data cable if you have it.

Physical Dimensions and Weight

It weigh around 142 grams and does feel slightly heavy initially but feels solid as well on the other hand based on the material which has been used to made this phone, does not have cheap quality of plastics. It does not feel big in hands, it feels like a very good phone and the rear matte finish rubberized back cover gives a great grip to hold it. The front display has two chrome grill one on the top which has a ear piece and the other at the bottom which has speaker behind the shiny chrome grill and both of these makes the device looks good. The thickness in the middle of the phone is around 12.3 mm which makes it slightly thicker but the curved back cover makes it comfortable to hold in hand and also to put in a pocket or a bag.

Build Quality, Design and Form Factor

The build quality is just amazing for this price point at which it is offered, much better than many budget android phones out there. It looks very similar to Moto G but there are some differences being made in front from which you can identify it, but from the back side you may not be able to recognize and might confuse this one with Moto G. The form factor of the phone is good, its feels good to hold in hand and the curvy back design also makes it feels better when you hold it. The thickness is 12mm approx but in the middle or center, the edges it goes thinner which makes it fairly pocket friendly.

Camera Performance

It has a 5 MP fixed focus camera which is just average in picture quality. Still it is quite decent being a fixed focus camera for long shots but for low light shots and close up shots its not at all a good option. It can also not record HD videos even when its 5 MP camera, but the max record resolution is just 480p, below are some camera samples you can check out. Camera Samples

Moto E Camera Video Sample

Performance and Usage

In day to day usage with the regular social media apps, running some games and video watching it performed good and lag free, its majorly lag free experience unless you playing a heavy game on this device. Even when I tried running multiple apps in background it ran quite smoothly.

Display, Memory and Battery Backup

It has an IPS LCD display with pretty good viewing angles but at extreme angles you will notice slight amount of color fading. It has a pixel density of the 256 pixels on 4.3 inch display which is again better than its competitors at this point of time both in resolution and display size. In built memory of the phone is around 4Gb out of which you get around 2.21 GB available to the user, you can expand the storage with MicroSD card but you cannot install apps or games on SD card directly. However some apps and games can be moved from the phone memory to SD card or external storage. Free amount of RAM on average you get will be around 350-400 MB. The battery backup is good enough, it can easily last for a day with moderate usage, for heavy users its still good but will not give one day if you play a lot of games and watch videos more.

Software, Benchmarks and Gaming

It has almost stock android interface with lag free UI and no nonsense customization. There are some useful motorola apps which comes preinstalled which includes Motorola Assist, Migrate and new app designed to work as if now with Moto E called Motorola alert. It allows you to do a lot like sending emergency message, meet someone using the GPS coordinates and follow a Moto E user based on his or her permission. We have done a review of this app, you can watch that the video below. Heavy games which are above 1.8Gb in size cannot be installed on this device, but with the current hardware config it has it can run HD games and graphic intensive games, we played Asphalt 8, Frontline Commando D day, Dead Trigger 2 in high graphic mode and they ran almost smoothly, very minimal graphic lag was there and some frame drops, but overall gaming performance was good.

Moto E Motorola Alert App Review [Video]

Benchmark Scores

Antutu Benchmark: 12365Nenamark2:  47.6 fpsMulti Touch:  5 point.

Moto E Gaming Review [Video]

Sound, Video and Navigation

The loudspeaker placement is at the top which makes it easy to be heard and it does not get blocked in any orientation you hold the device or even if you place the device on a table while watching a video, but the loudness is low the overall volume of sound could have been higher in terms of volume. It can play 720p videos without any issues but some 1080p videos may not play by the default video player and MXPlayer can play those videos but there will be some some audio and video sync issues in playback. However you can play HD videos from youtube using the youtube app or through the browser but they will not play in HD resolution but in HQ resolution they will play automatically. GPS works fine with google maps, location gets locked in few seconds provided you are in outdoors and indoors it may take sometime. It does not have the magnetic field sensor but GPS works fine with assisted GPS on Moto E.

What We Liked

Great Built QualityBest Hardware at Affordable PriceGood Amount of RAMAlmost pure android experience

What We Did Not Liked

Fixed Focus CameraNo HD Video Recording

Conclusion and Price

Moto E is listed on flipkart exclusively for a price of Rs. 6999 in white and black color, you can additionally buy more back covers in different vibrant colors. Overall it’s a pretty good value of money compared to the other phones in the similar price segment as if now. It comes with pretty decent hardware specs with 1.2 GHz dual core processor coupled with 1 Gb of RAM and both of these things make sure that you get a great lag free UI and nice usage experience from this phone. The only lagging part of Moto E is camera which could have been better as its 5 MP fixed focus camera with average picture quality and no HD video recording.