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Welch
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Moto E - $129 Off Contract

Tue May 13, 2014 3:35 pm

http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/13/motorola-moto-e/

Man.... The specs, build quality and some water resistance all for $129 bucks. Now we are getting into the price territory we should for budget phones. The only thing that kinda had me slightly dissapointed was the 5mp camera. If you can use your phone for anything these days it should be a decent camera, 8mp probably would have ran close to the same price as it was a standard sensor back since before the Atrix 2 (3-4 years ago). Either way, still for $129 off contract, hard to argue.

Thoughts? Anyone going to pick one up for anything? If my Atrix 2 (second phone) dies as my business phone I'll probably seek out the Moto E. Plus this is the release price, I can only imagine that it would eventually drop sub $100 bucks. It looks like it might be enough of a winner that they wont have to drop the price though.
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bthylafh
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Re: Moto E - $129 Off Contract

Tue May 13, 2014 3:52 pm

At this price & with that hardware it's not competing with smartphones so much as it is with crappy feature phones. I'm still using an old LG Rumor 2 and this looks pretty good to me, assuming the battery life isn't too terrible and that Ting will eventually support it.
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MadManOriginal
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Re: Moto E - $129 Off Contract

Tue May 13, 2014 4:07 pm

The Moto G has added LTE and an SD slot too! But alas, only for the 8GB version :cry: A 16GB with SD slot, for enough internal memory for plenty of apps including some games, would be an absolutely fantastic non-high-end phone.
 
Welch
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Re: Moto E - $129 Off Contract

Tue May 13, 2014 6:41 pm

Nice to hear, I didn't know that the Moto G added LTE, that was its largest detractor for me. I didn't think to even check if the Moto E had LTE or "HSPA+" (Just checked, of course not)

Interesting none the less, can't wait to see the competition for these phones heat up, it will most likely bring the cost of the middle to mid-upper range phones down. If I can pickup a "Almost top of the line" phone for under $400 off contract, I'm happy.
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

1600x | Strix B350-F | CM 240 Lite | 16GB 3200 | RX 580 8GB | 970 EVO | Corsair 400R | Seasonic X 850 | Corsair M95 / K90 | Sennheiser PC37x
 
Captain Ned
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Re: Moto E - $129 Off Contract

Tue May 13, 2014 7:01 pm

Now if someone could just sell a "Droid 5" or the like:

Slide-out physical keyboard
Able to run latest native Google Android (IOW, elimination of all carrier crap/bloatware)
No factory lock on bootloader
LTE/4G

I could care less about screen size, camera specs, and how much music I can cram on it. I have purpose-built devices for those other uses. I want a 4G Verizon/Droid "Crackberry" (BB-style functionality without BB ecosystem) running latest Android and that I can hack. VZW promises me that if I bring a fully-paid non-subsidised device to them I get to keep my grandfathered unlimited data. The Droid 2 Global is getting a bit long in the tooth.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
bthylafh
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Re: Moto E - $129 Off Contract

Tue May 13, 2014 7:42 pm

My work phone, a Droid 4, can run the latest 4.4-based Cyanogenmod once you root it and unlock the bootloader, and it's got LTE, /and/ it's a Verizon phone. See if you can pick one up on eBay.

It's a little poky, though, being as it's a couple generations behind now. Don't run Cyanogen 10.2.1 on it; that was buggy as all get-out, go for the latest 11 milestone.

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Maserati_Info
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NovusBogus
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Re: Moto E - $129 Off Contract

Wed May 14, 2014 12:38 am

Hmm...the slightly smaller size would be nice, I have small hands so big phones don't really do it for me. Might consider getting this instead of fixing the Nexus 4, depends on how much a Moto E replacement screen costs.

Low to mid range no-contract phones would be a very good role for Motorola to fill. The Nexus line, while good value, has always put raw specs over build quality and the other unlocked choices are incredibly expensive and more phone than most users actually need.
 
Welch
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Re: Moto E - $129 Off Contract

Fri May 16, 2014 3:44 pm

NovusBogus wrote:
Hmm...the slightly smaller size would be nice, I have small hands so big phones don't really do it for me. Might consider getting this instead of fixing the Nexus 4, depends on how much a Moto E replacement screen costs.

Low to mid range no-contract phones would be a very good role for Motorola to fill. The Nexus line, while good value, has always put raw specs over build quality and the other unlocked choices are incredibly expensive and more phone than most users actually need.


Why worry about the repair cost of a screen on a Moto E? I mean $129 is cheaper than replacing the entire Top Glass, Digitizer and LCD that come fused together on almost every single current gen phone. The sad thing is my Atrix HD and Atrix 2 and Atrix (holy hell I was an Atrix fan), all could replace each part individually. So when I broke my LCD (but not the top glass.......) on my Atrix HD it cost me all of $36 for the replacement LCD, and my time. The Atrix 2 was the wifes that now serves as my business phone and ran me less than $25 to repair for top glass. The original Atrix 4G I haven't repaired but it was my old phone that was broken by my brother in law when lent to him, I'm suspecting less than $20.

I really wish manufacturers would make these things more repairable, the Motorola's thus far seem like they have been designed to be repaired. Unless there is a major benefit to fusing the 3 together other than price, I'd like to see the Motorola modular design to be continued.

As far as my "dream" phone.... If the Moto X+1 pans out as a 5.0in - 5.2in screen, with similar CPU performance to the Samsung S5, a near as good camera, dual sim option, SD card offerings and can sport a 2800-3200mAh battery, while keeping a fairly clean Android OS with similar or improved features to the original Moto X, and dare I ask for waterproofing like the S5.... With a price tag of no more than $400 off contract, then I'm sold. Damn I'm a hard sale.
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

1600x | Strix B350-F | CM 240 Lite | 16GB 3200 | RX 580 8GB | 970 EVO | Corsair 400R | Seasonic X 850 | Corsair M95 / K90 | Sennheiser PC37x
 
codedivine
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Re: Moto E - $129 Off Contract

Fri May 16, 2014 4:15 pm

For users looking for budget phones, I think the lower-end Lumia phones (520, 525, 630) might be a good option too. The 520 has been known to go for as little as $70 on sales for off-contract phones and will receive the WP 8.1 update.
 
MadManOriginal
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Re: Moto E - $129 Off Contract

Fri May 16, 2014 4:17 pm

The major benefit of the 'fused' design is better image clarity because there is no air gap between the glass and screen. There may be related side benefits such as reduced power draw at a given perceived brightness because a lower backlight level is needed due to the better image clarity and fewer internal reflections.
 
Welch
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Re: Moto E - $129 Off Contract

Fri May 16, 2014 5:03 pm

MadManOriginal wrote:
The major benefit of the 'fused' design is better image clarity because there is no air gap between the glass and screen. There may be related side benefits such as reduced power draw at a given perceived brightness because a lower backlight level is needed due to the better image clarity and fewer internal reflections.


Seems to make sense, I'm sure they like being able to sell 3 in one screens too. It sucks when you look at something like the Samsung S3 screen replacement and its still $140-$180, just not economical. Would be awesome if the industry would start doing "Core" charges like car parts. You have a cracked glass but the LCD works perfectly. So you send it in and get $40 bucks off the cost of the entire display. They run it through at the factory and slap new glass on it for next to pennies and resell them as factory refurbished screens. Seems so wasteful with how many phone screens get cracked to throw out the LCD when it works fine. How much extra waste with all of the chemical and heavy metals in those displays too?
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

1600x | Strix B350-F | CM 240 Lite | 16GB 3200 | RX 580 8GB | 970 EVO | Corsair 400R | Seasonic X 850 | Corsair M95 / K90 | Sennheiser PC37x
 
ludi
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Re: Moto E - $129 Off Contract

Tue May 20, 2014 5:03 pm

Mobile tech goes obsolete too quickly for that kind of change-out to be economical at a factory level.
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