Michael Crider
Flagship phones get the headlines, but budget pones still make noise, or at least sales volume. Motorola has been fleshing out its budget lines for years, and the latest phones in the Moto G (left) and Moto E (right) series are worth checking out if you want reliable phones on the cheap.
The cheapest is the latest generation of the Moto E—just “E,” though it’s been labelled as the E7 in some leaked material, the seventh line in Motorola’s least expensive smartphone family. $150 will get you a 6/2-inch HD+ screen, Snapdragon 632 octa-core processor, and a fairly paltry 2GB of RAM. The rear-facing camera is 13MP with a secondary 2MP depth sensor, plus a 5MP front-facing cam in a “teardrop” notch in the screen. The E gets a fingerprint reader on the rear, which is uncommon at this price point, and the battery is mid-range at 3550mAh. Software is Android 10.
If your budget will stretch a little further, you might also consider the Moto G Fast for $200. That extra fifty bones gets you a screen that’s .1 inches bigger, a slightly faster Snapdragon 665 processor and 3GB of RAM, and upgraded cameras all over. Three on the back are 16, 8, and 2 megapixels in standard, ultra-wide, and macro lenses, plus an 8MP front-facing camera in a more stylish “hole punch” cutout. The battery gets a dramatic upgrade to 4000mAh, and the phone also uses a rear-mounted fingerprint reader and Android 10.
Both phones will be available as unlocked LTE devices in the US, while Canadians can pick them up at the larger carriers like Bell, TELUS, Rogers, et cetera. They both launch on June 12th in the States, with “summer” as a less specific window up north.
Source: Motorola
