Motorola Moto E tipped for May release to replace Moto G(worse than Moto G!!)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This is not good news:

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/1285...replace-moto-g
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/new...oCrjl3eIldBON7
http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_e-6323.php

The screen is much worse. There is a microSD card reader but it would not surprise me if the dual core is not any faster than the Moto G CPU.

[kompukare]

+1 for microSD though. Side-by-side:
http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3...&idPhone2=5831
it seems to a far worse spec otherwise. Dual-SIM might be interesting though. Wonder if this is still a Google influenced thing or has Lenovo actually influenced the design? Guess it's too early for Lenovo. Those Chinese Lenovo phones certainly don't seem to skip on features and most (all?) seem to come with microSD and a lot with dual-SIM. Dual-SIM is not popular with carriers of course.

[watercooled]

Maybe it's meant to occupy the market below the Moto G, rather than replacing it? Or perhaps it's not intended to sell at all here?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Moto G has a dual SIM version.

[DanceswithUnix]

So smaller and looks like it should be cheaper than Moto G. If they can make it a fair chunk cheaper than Moto G then they could be onto another winner.

Or another way: at what price would you be interested in buying one?

[watercooled]

Well the Moto G is ~£125 currently, so it would need to be significantly cheaper, maybe <£100, otherwise the G would IMHO still warrant the extra few quid.

[DanceswithUnix]

Well the Moto G is ~£125 currently, so it would need to be significantly cheaper, maybe <£100, otherwise the G would IMHO still warrant the extra few quid.

Well yes the MotoG is pretty cheap, I notice you can get one bundled on T-Mobile 2 year contract £11.99 with 1GB/month.

For £100 I don't think I would care, but if they are going up against that cheap laggy Samsung phone you see for £70 then it could be a winner.

Similar spec to the Experia E which is currently £85?

[watercooled]

That would be a better target market for the E IMO, some of the entry-level Android phones are borderline unusable (especially after what's left of the miniscule on-board NAND is filled with progressively bigger, mandatory Google Play updates), and aren't necessary that cheap.

[scaryjim]

Could easily be for developing markets, or (more likely, imo) as an entry level phone under the G.

It's amazingly thin though - only 6.2mm? And the battery's almost the same capacity as the G. That's pretty impressive.

[watercooled]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. I actually posted and edited out a bit along those lines - I wondered if ~6mm was too thin to fit everything in, but after a quick search it seems there are a few phones like that.

My Nexus 4 with a bulky case is about 17mm thick - and I like it like that.

[Number29]

Let's think about this logically for a minute. Motorola has to find a way to actually start making a profit (despite the fact that they are being sold to Lenovo). Sadly, I feel they aren't going to be able to effectively do so as they've already set the precedent of making products with zero profit so I doubt they'll be able to effectively arrest their decline.

[pp05]

I'd guess it is aimed at the Indian market.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I'd guess it is aimed at the Indian market.

Launched in the UK for nearly £100:

http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...oid-smartphone

It seems they have scrapped the 4GB and 8GB versions of the Moto G now,added a microSD card slot and LTE and increased the price by 50% it seems:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/m...t-jumps-to-149

So bye! bye! the £100 Moto g 8GB,and it appears to be replaced by the Moto E.

Looks like the Alcatel One Touch Idol S will be the best smartphone at £100 now,as long as EE don't increase the price.

[kompukare]

Well looks like it is out: £80 locked to 02. Here's the hukd thread about it:

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/moto...roid-4-1903058

Also, this is interesting a 4G LTE Moto G with microSD. Here's the gsmarena comparison:
http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3...&idPhone2=5831

Personally I think it is too soon for Lenovo to have had much influence with the specs of either of these but it seems everyone is blaming Google and praising Lenovo for the return of SD cards.

Edit: beaten by Cat!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Its kind of a disaster TBH. The Alcatel One Touch Idol S has 4G and a microSD card slot and was reduced to around £100 by EE due to the Moto G 8GB. Now the 4G LTE version of the Moto G is going to be close to £150,it means that Alcatel will probably rise in price. The Moto E is going to be the £80 to £100 Motorola phone and I suspect the 3G version will become EOL.

Edit!!

It seems the onboard storage of the Moto G 3G is an eMMC card which is sealed off:

http://www.slashgear.com/moto-g-micr...fast-27310163/

It would not even surprise me if the current 3G Moto G supports LTE,but they just disabled it.

So,they increase the price massively,all for the cost of probably dumping some cheap NAND onboard.

[DanceswithUnix]

The Moto G seems to have crept up in price since Christmas anyway, so £150 is only a £20 hike. I am still on 3G, but as time goes on 4G becomes more and more attractive, so I think it is a good move.

I doubt they are targetting Alcatel. More likely the £189 Samsung Ace 3, given the Samsung market share and the way the average punter will think of them first.