Review: Motorola Moto E

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Smartphones for emerging markets are a thing now. We’re seeing a race to the bottom in terms of price but smartphone manufacturers are pulling all the stops to recreate the smartphone experience found on more expensive devices. Motorola’s first salvo was the Moto G, which in 6 months has proved itself to be the best selling smartphone for the company and enjoyed shipment of 150,000 units in Canada alone. Now the Moto E is taking things down a notch and to a whole new level.

There’s now new competition in smartphones and it isn’t about the best specs, largest screens, biggest storage or fastest data connections. The challenge is to create the cheapest, most flexible and universally viable platform for emerging markets and the entry level of the smartphone segment.

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Motorola's Moto E smartphone slated as budget bet

The Moto E, expected to be launched next week, is reportedly the most affordable smartphone to come out of Motorola as per a report from the Times of India. Referencing findings from,the database of Zauba, a website that tracking goods imported in India, "has revealed that at least 1,300 units of Moto E have been brought to the domestic market."

Specs are expected to be modest but durable with a 4.3-inch screen, 720p HD display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor,  1GB of RAM, a 5MP camera and a 1,900mAh battery. Storage is expected at 4GB onboard expandable with a microSD card slot. Android 4.4 KitKat is expected to be on tap as the OS. The Moto E is also expected to be thinner than its more expensive brothers, the Moto X and Moto G and reports of a water-resistant and dustproof enclosure are in tune with Motorola's own event announcement. All things considered, this looks like a great model to field in the emerging markets sector and the entry-level of the market. Although the water and dust resistant features as well as the addition of a microSD slot are traditionally premium features. Dual-SIM functionality was not mentioned but is most certainly a consideration for emerging markets.

Price point, a big factor for a new smartphone in this segment, is expected to be very aggressive although we won't know the price until the event next Tuesday. Stay tuned here are we report live from Motorola's launch event on Tuesday, their very first as a subsidiary of Lenovo.

Source: Times of India

Google’s PhoneBloks concept is exciting and it’s never going to work (for the mass market)

By Simon Cohen

When you love tech (sometimes just for tech’s sake), it can be pretty heady stuff to read up on the projects that Google has on the go. Consider this incomplete list, it’s really quite extraordinary:

• Android@home
• Google “X” Robots
• Driverless cars
• Space elevators
• Clean energy
• Extending human lifespan
• Android Wear

You’ve got to hand it to Larry and Sergei. When they dream, they dream big. How cool is it that a couple of guys who came up with a better way to index the web are now in a position to influence the course of human history?

But when you roll the dice on monster concepts, you’ve got to be prepared when some of them don’t pan out. Of the items on the list above, there’s a good chance that all but the space elevator and human lifespan will make it from concept to reality. Even the driverless car–an idea that we were scoffing at less than 6 years ago–is real, and it works and they’re even legal in some places.

What I like about all of these projects is that there is a strong chance that if they work out as planned, they will see mass adoption. A lot of people are going to want the benefits these projects will offer.

But I can’t say the same for Google’s most recent foray into the future: Project Ara.

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Motorola has shipped 6.5 million devices in Q1 of 2014

Motorola Mobility COO Rick Osterloh went on Twitter to disclose the company has shipped 6.5 million devices in Q1 of 2014. Big numbers, note that shipped doesn't necessarily mean sold so the actual profits earned by Moto smartphones is yet to be determined.

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