Motorola Moto X+1 to have Snapdragon 801 processor

Motorola is on the verge of launching its next generation Moto X smartphone. The device is dubbed as Moto X+1 smartphone. It is the successor of the Moto X smartphone launched a year ago. The Moto X launched last year was a very good device with average specs but brilliant user experience. Looking at the current trend, which mostly goes by high specs, the company has decided to beef up the Moto X series with the latest X+1 smartphone.

The Moto X+1 looks a beast on paper with its top notch specs; it has a Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB RAM, 32/64GB storage and 5.2-inch full HD display. Other details of the device are scarce right now and we expect the final details to leak out soon.

The Moto X originally came with a Dual-Core processor and 2GB RAM without memory expansion option. The Moto X+1 will be placed above Moto X and will be the flagship of Motorola for this year. The device will again not have a micro SD card slot but OTG is certainly on its list. The specs come in light courtesy of Geekbench, a popular benchmarking website which almost every major manufacturer uses to check out the benchmarks of its products.

Are you interested in Motorola’s flagship this year? Let us know your first impressions of the specs of the Moto X+1 smartphone.

Motorola Moto G2 specs leak ahead of official announcement

Motorola launched the Moto G smartphone and created a buzz globally. The device sold for a very attractive price and came down with every possible feature that was possible for that price and size. Moto G broke multiple records of sale in India and we already know that the company is working on Moto G2 smartphone. Although there is nothing hardcore known about the device but like its predecessor the G2 smartphone is likely to continue the legacy of low price and high end features.

The Motorola Moto G was launched in March in India. It was sold with an exclusive Flipkart partnership. Flipkart sold more than 1 lakh Moto G in India in a few months, so much so that every time new stock came in, the company would soon go out of stock. The phone continues to sell in India successfully and with a recent price cut of Rs 2,000 Moto G became even more attractive.

Now that companies are offering much better specs and features than Moto G for a price equal to it we expect Motorola to launch the G2 soon in India. A new leak about the Moto G2 has appeared on the internet which suggests that it will have a 720P display with 5-inch measurement. Other specs like 1.2Ghz Quad-Core Snapdragon 400, 1GB RAM, 8-MP rear and 2-MP front facing cameras have also been revealed.

Are you guys up for Motorola Moto G2 smartphone? Let us know what you think about this smartphone.

Motorola Moto G2 leaked: Specs and Price in India

Motorola created a lot of buzz with its low price Moto G last year. The company is now prepping for the launch of the successor of the Moto G smartphone. The device is allegedly known as Moto G2, though the official and final name of the device is yet not revealed everyone is using the Moto G2 name to refer this device. The Moto G2 comes with features and specs identical to the Moto G and has minor upgrades over the older Moto G smartphone.

The device leaked yesterday for the first time revealing a Moto E like design philosophy and the Moto branding on the top left corner. The placement of logo might as well get some praise from buyers but we find the device a little weird. The top of the display looks more cluttered in the new design as a lot of space is occupied with the metal covering for the in-call speaker and moto logo on the left of it. The front facing camera is placed on the right side with a black out graphics hiding something under it. The hidden part may be a new sensor or a front facing flash, you never know.

We take a look at this device and show the upgrades it has got over its predecessor.

Specs

Nothing much changed in this area except for the upgraded 8-MP rear facing camera, the design is little different from the older Moto G as it features the new placement of loud speaker and a steel coating over it, may be for protection or something. It has a Quad-Core processor and 1GB RAM along with a 720p display (size is still a mystery), we expect the display size to be of 5-inches. The battery on the device is likely to be non user removable and the interchangeable back panels may on the desk for this device too.

Price

Motorola launched the Moto G in India with a price of Rs 12,999 and 13,999 for 8GB and 16GB memory respectively. The older Moto G did not have a micro SD slot and that flaw may be taken care on this device. The expected price of this device is a difficult thing to guess as recently Xiaomi entered the Indian market with Mi3 for a dirt cheap price and it competes with Moto G directly. The Mi3 is a high end flagship phone from Xiaomi and beats every aspect of Moto G smartphone. SO may be to stay with market’s pace the company may price this smartphone around 11K. However this is just a guess based on market analysis and the final price may turn out somewhere between 11K and 15K.

Motorola Moto G2 could be coming soon

Motorola has already manufactured the successor of the Moto G smartphone. Moto G proved out to be the all-time best seller Android phone, with this device the company also started a price war in India which in deed helped bring down prices of most smartphones. Now the company is prepping for the launch of the Moto G2 smartphone, which will follow the footsteps of its predecessor by maintaining a low price tag.

We also expect Motorola to launch the Moto X+1 smartphone sometime in the coming months at Berlin. Moto X+1 will shift its focus from user experience to spec war and is likely to come with high end specs like Snapdragon 801, 5-inch 1080p display and 2GB RAM. About Moto G2 smartphone, we think it is likely to come with a 5-inch 720P display, Snapdragon 400 processor and 1GB RAM.

Moto G2 is also said to come with upgraded set of cameras; the rear camera will have a resolution of 8-MP while the front facing camera will have 2-MP resolution. And don’t forget the regular software updates for the device from Google. Xiaomi has already created a price war in the market to which Motorola responded with a Rs 2,000 price cut in Moto G. Do you think Motorola will keep the price of this device above 15K? Let us know what you feel about the Moto G2 smartphone.

Video: Moto E vs. Moto G vs. Moto X

Who would have guessed that less than a year after Motorola gave us theMoto X, that we would have a whole family of “Moto” branded phones to compare. I sure didn’t picture it, yet that is exactly what we have. Thanks to last night’s unveiling of the Moto E, we now have three devices in total under the “Moto” name, the third being the previously announced Moto G. A fourth – the Moto 360 – will be here shortly.

Since we have three Moto devices, we decided to take a moment to compare them on camera. The differences here are subtle in some areas, then drastic in others. The Moto X, for example, has flagship features like Active Display and Touchless control, along with customizable options through MotoMaker. The Moto G and Moto E, on the other hand, have minimal software add-ons from Motorola and only swappable shells for customization. 

The specs also differ here and there (Moto E specs, Moto G specs, Moto X specs). The Moto X tops the list, as you would expect, even with its older processor. The Moto G and Moto E are actually quite comparable, minus a flash and front facing camera.

In the video below, we’ll talk about all of these differences, including price.

The Moto G was Motorola's biggest selling handset of all time. With the Moto E, it's going even cheaper – but is this a cut too far?

2013's Moto G was arguably one of the most significant handsets ever produced by Motorola, and that's saying something when you consider just how long the company has been making mobile handsets. It is apparently the firm's best-selling smartphone of all time, and attained that status by providing fantastically capable tech with excellent software at a bargain price.

Does the Moto E compete? Or is it just a cut too far? Join us for our full review of the Moto E.

Motorola Moto E Review: Design & Display

At first glance you would be forgiven for assuming the Moto G and Moto E are identical; they both share a minimalist design, with a largely plain front and a matte-touch back panel which is rounded neatly so that it sits perfectly in the palm of your hand. Motorola has been subtle when it comes to embellishing the phone, too. The iconic "M" logo resides on the rear of the handset, but aside from that, there's little else in the way of innocuous branding. 

Upon closer inspection it becomes clear that the Moto E lacks some of the physical refinements of its slightly more expensive sibling. The build quality remains excellent, but it feels a little less robust than the Moto G. It's slightly chubbier too, despite the fact that in length and width, it's actually a smaller handset. 

There are some neat touches, however: the silver strips above and below the screen, which double up as grilles for the earpiece and speaker, conspire to break-up an otherwise monolithic frontage. While the back panel of the Moto E can be removed – just as was the case with the Moto G – the battery contained inside is not removable. It does support MicroSD cards, however. 

The Moto E's screen is one of the most obvious areas where Motorola has cut back costs. Here we have a 4.3-inch 960 x 540 pixel display, which is a step backwards from the 4.5-inch 720p screen we were greeted with on the Moto G. As a result, you'll notice that it's possible to pick out individual pixels on certain images, text especially. On the whole, however, the difference probably isn't as pronounced as you might imagine. The lower resolution also means that the phone's slightly weak CPU doesn't have as much heavy lifting to do, which is a bonus. 

Despite its bargain basement price, Motorola has ensured that the Moto E can withstand the usual everyday punishments we put our tech through. The screen is constructed of Corning Gorilla Glass 3, which is a super-tough material designed to withstand marks and scratches, as well as prevent unsightly smudging. We're happy to report that it performs its role admirably; compared to our Nexus 5, which has a screen that attracts greasy fingerprints with worrying regularity, the Moto E's display managed to remain almost entirely smudge-free during the review period.

The bodywork of the phone is also splash proof, which means you don't have to be too concerned about getting it wet when you're running for the bus on a rainy Monday morning. However, it doesn't offer the same protection as truly water-resistant phones, like the Galaxy S5 and LG G3, so don’t go getting in the shower or bath with it.

Motorola Moto E review: Software & User Experience 

One of the most appealing elements of the Moto G was the fact that it used stock Android, with only a smattering of exclusive apps to set it apart from the likes of the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5. Stock Android is generally faster and slicker than the UIs produced by the likes of Samsung and HTC, and this is because it hasn't been tinkered with in any way –– it's a "pure" version of Google's OS

Motorola has wisely maintained this stance with the Moto E, which is running Android 4.4.2 and will be getting an upgrade to the next version, Android L, once it becomes available later this year.

Motorola Moto E Review: Hardware & CPU

The Moto E is packing a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor backed by 1GB of RAM, and an Adreno 302 graphics processor. If that doesn't mean anything to you then take it from us, this isn't a cutting-edge handset. Even so, the overall performance isn't to be sniffed at. The Moto E may not offer the silky-smooth feel of the Nexus 5 or Galaxy S5, but it's still more than adequate for most users and not a million miles away from the experience provided by the Moto G, which is running a more powerful set of internal specifications.

Benchmark tests prove what we already know; the tech inside the Moto E isn't going to win any awards when set against the very best that Android has to offer. Running AnTuTu delivers a score of 12647, putting the Moto E well behind the likes of the HTC One M8, Samsung Galaxy S5 and LG G2. 

On Geekbench 3, the phone scores a 594 multi-core score, and a 322 single-core score – again, well below cutting-edge. Such figures sound damning on paper, but in reality the gulf isn't as pronounced as you might expect. 3D games naturally don't run as quickly or as smoothly, but every day usage is perfectly fine.

Motorola Moto E Review: Battery & Memory 

The Moto E comes with a 1920mAh battery, which can clearly be seen when you remove the back panel, but sadly cannot be accessed or removed. Motorola boasts that the phone is capable of lasting an entire day, and during our review this claim seemed to hold water.

We managed to get past that all-important 24-hour marker before a trip to the nearest wall socket was needed, but when we adopted a more aggressive usage pattern the stamina dropped massively. The Moto E may have a more modest CPU, but the fact that it's one of the older Snapdragon processors means that it's also not as economical with the juice and, therefore, won't last as long as its more expensive stable mate.

The Moto E comes with just 4GB of internal storage, of which you only have access to just over half – 2.16GB, to be precise. Needless to say, this fills up pretty quickly, so you'll want to invest in a Micro SD card as soon as possible. However, due to essential security changes in KitKat, external memory isn't the wild and free place it used to be on Android. Apps can only interact with folders they have created themselves on the SD card, so while you can create folders and add content using your PC, your apps won't be able to make changes within those folders due to Android's newfound security.

Translation: if you use a lot of apps you’re probably best of looking at a phone with more internal storage – 16GB and up-levels of storage, to be precise.

Motorola Moto E Review: Camera 

This is possibly the weakest point of the entire phone. The Moto E features a 5MP camera, but it's a fixed focus lens so you can't take close-up shots. There's also no LED flash.

While the auto HDR function does a good job of improving image quality, the overall performance of the Moto E's camera is rather poor when compared to most other Android phones. 

The fact that it's only when you use the Moto E as a photographic device that you're reminded of its low-cost origins says a lot about the general quality of this blower, but that doesn't make it any less disappointing. Photos are increasingly becoming a major part of our mobile experience thanks to apps like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and there's a good chance that you'll be too embarrassed to come along to the party when you're armed with such a lacklustre snapper.

It's also worth noting that the Moto E lacks a front-facing camera, so you can't use the phone for Skype calls or any of that kind of jazz.

Motorola Moto E Review: Conclusion 

The Moto G completely redefined the concept of the budget smartphone, providing an experience that most people would have happily paid twice or maybe three times as much for. The Moto E is even cheaper, but in order to shave some cash off the RRP, Motorola has had to cut corners when it comes to screen size, CPU power and camera capability. 

Despite this, the Moto E remains an impressive phone that puts rival low-cost smartphones well and truly in the shade. If you're in the market for a device and price is your primary concern, then it makes sense to save the additional pennies and pick this over the Moto G, but if you can stretch the cost then Motorola's 2013 offering is a cannier purchase. .