14 DAY TRIAL // We reported earlier today that Motorola launched its cheapest Android smartphone, the Moto E in India. The smartphone should go on sale in the country tonight at midnight for Rs 6,999 outright, which is about £70 / €85 / $115.
Motorola also announced during the launch event in India that the Moto E would be available in the UK, Canada, Brazil and Mexico as well, but did not offer any additional details on availability and price tag.
However, it took the US-based company only a few minutes to officially introduce the Moto E in the United Kingdom, so Android fans in the country can enjoy the same privilege of being able to grab the cheapest smartphone launched by Motorola on the market.
The first UK-based carrier to announce the immediate availability of the Moto E is O2. Customers who wish to purchase the Motorola Moto E on PAYG (pay as you go) can do so for only £80 (€100 / $135).
You can also get it for free on select O2 plans and the good news is that O2 has confirmed that it has the Moto E in stock, so you might get it in just a few days.
The Moto E comes with a slightly smaller 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display in comparison with the Moto G. The screen supports qHD (540 x 960 pixels) resolution and features Corning Gorilla Glass 3 coating for extra protection. It’s also water resistant.
On the inside, the smartphone comes equipped with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, an Adreno 302 graphics processing unit and 1GB of RAM.
Even though it provides only 4GB of internal memory, the Moto E comes with microSD card slot, unlike the standard Moto G model, which did not have such capabilities until recently. This means that users will be able to further expand storage up to 32GB.
However, keep in mind that the Moto E’s 5-megapixel rear-facing camera does not feature LED flash. Moreover, the smartphone lacks a secondary camera for video calls or selfies.
Motorola Moto E is powered by a 1980 mAh battery, which should provide up to 400 hours of standby mode or up to 14 hours of talk time.
More importantly, the Moto E ships with Android 4.4 KitKat operating system out of the box. Users will also be able to switch the back covers with other Motorola Shells, which can be purchased separately.
The smartphone is expected to go on sale at other carriers and retailers in the UK, so customers will have more alternatives to choose from.