Motorola Moto E steps up the entry-level game for 2015

Motorola has just announced the launch and availability of their 2nd gen Moto E, the latest member of their line of budget smartphones.

Considering the original Moto E was launched about nine months ago, the 2015 edition is a pretty big upgrade. Not only is the new Moto E bigger at 4.5-inches, it also has a more poweful processor and is going to be hitting the market worldwide very soon.

Video and images after the break.

Under the hood, the Moto E 2015 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor and 4G LTE networking, which is similar to that being used by the Samsung Galaxy A series and the Xiaomi Redmi 2, with 4G LTE as a standard. It also has a 5 megapixel rear camera with autofocus, VGA front facing camera, 1GB RAM mated to 8GB storage extendable via microSD, an 4.5-inch 540 x 960 pixel display as well as Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box.

They’ve also added it’s Quick Capture feature that lets you access the camera with a twist of your wrist as well as an Active Display feature that wakes up the screen with notifications or when you retrieve it from your pocket. This generally makes it a little better than the 2nd gen Moto G, which only has the advantage of a slightly larger rear camera sensor and display compared to the new Moto E. There will also be a slightly cheaper, 3G variant of the new Moto E that sports a Snapdragon 200 processor.

In terms of design, the smartphone pretty much looks the same as it’s predecessor. The Moto E will also get the same colourful swappable back covers with the new edition featuring the ability to swap in one of Motorola’s “grip shells”or coloured bands with six colour options.

The original Moto E was one of the best entry-level budget smartphones and the Moto E 2015 is looking pretty appealing. The 2nd gen smartphone will be retailing for $149 (RM 537)  with the 3G models going for $119 (RM 429). No word exactly when we will be getting it here but we bet it would be pretty soon.

Hit the video for a intro on the new Moto E or check out our hands on video of the Moto E 2014.

[SOURCE, 1]