Motorola has officially announced another set of affordable Android devices in the form of the Moto E and Moto G Fast in North American markets.
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A pair of listings on GFXbench (via WinFuture) have revealed two Lenovo phones that may possibly be the next generation Moto E. Additionally, two devices with the Moto X3 moniker have hit an Indian import/export database that might allude to a release sooner than later.
Recently, Lenovo’s chief made some comments regarding the future of Motorola and Lenovo smartphones. Those comments seemed to indicate that the Moto brand name would only be used for high-end smartphones, while Lenovo’s ‘Vibe’ lineup would form the bottom end of the companies product portfolio. Some saw this as confirmation that Moto G and Moto E handsets would be discontinued.
Speaking to The Verge, a Motorola representative was quick to debunk those suggestions:
“Although we are simplifying the combined Motorola and [Lenovo] portfolio, we have no plans to retire Moto G, our most successful smartphone, or Moto E.”
Despite the fact that Lenovo’s chief seemed to be indicating an end to the bottom-tier Motorolas, it seems that instead, the Moto and Vibe brands will be used in different markets. The Moto G and Moto E are incredibly successful in a number of markets, particularly North America. In Asia, the Vibe brand is a better fit. So it could be instead that it slims down its portfolio, while still continuing to build new models of affordable Moto-branded products.
Most of the confusion and interest surrounding Motorola and its phones stems from a recent discovery that the Motorola brand name will be dying. Since then, it seems as though everything has been up in the air, at least in the media. While Motorola is going away, the Moto brand is too strong to give up. Just like it did with ThinkPad, Lenovo is going to continue using the Moto moniker for its devices.
Following news that Lenovo would be phasing out the Motorola brand-name, tech enthusiasts globally were intrigued to hear what else the company’s new owners had in store for us. Will Moto phones be just as good as they have been in the past? Will they keep the stock Android experience?
Lenovo’s chief, having spilled the beans regarding Google’s plans to launch its Play Services in China this year was seemingly keen to also share his thoughts on the Moto brand and what the next couple of years has in store for the fashionable smartphone family. As with all changes made when new owners take over, there’s both good news and bad news…
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Motorola first announced its Android 6.0 Marshmallow rollout plans in October. At the time, 11 devices were included in the list that was mostly made up of devices from 2015 and 2014. One notable absence was the Moto E, the company’s entry-level smartphone. Thankfully, the list has since been updated and now includes the budget device, although if you have one in the US, you’re out of luck. The update seemingly won’t grace US shores.
Puzzlingly, Motorola has left the States and China out of its list of markets due to receive the Marshmallow update. The 2015 Moto E with 4G LTE will get Android 6.0 in Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia (excluding China). Moto could still change its plans, and does state in the list that the China upgrade is still being evaluated, although no such statement is made about the US market.
Other handsets added to the list are those which were announced and released after the original list was published. As well as the Moto E, Motorola will bring Android 6.0 Marshmallow to the Moto X Force (which is currently part of a soak test), and the Verizon-exclusive DROID Turbo 2 and DROID Maxx 2. The full updated list of devices runs as follows:
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Motorola said earlier this year at the launch of the 2nd generation Moto E that the phone would get at least some number of software updates after purchase. But today, with the company’s announcement of the phones that would be getting Android Marshmallow, there was one device curiously missing: The new Moto E…
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Back to the Future: The Game hits PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, pre-order now
Nintendo 2DS seeing an official price drop of $30
Motorola and its parent company Lenovo recently opened a new manufacturing facility in India that is predicted to output as many as 6 million smartphone units annually. Motorola India published a video to YouTube today showing off the plant — in it you can see some of the individual steps that go into putting together a 2015 Moto E, much of which still seems to be done by hand.
The new plant has been created in support of a “Made in India” campaign that the government there has been pushing in order to get more companies manufacturing in India. The campaign so far has attracted big names including Microsoft, Xiaomi, LG, ASUS, and several others. India’s government hopes increased manufacturing investment in a handful of sectors including electronics will spark job creation and GDP growth, a good measure of living standards that is still low in the country. Lenovo earlier today tweeted a picture from a press event celebrating the company’s new plant.
Maybe this means India will finally get access to Moto Maker?
The Motorola update train continues rolling on. Today, we’ve got more information on updates to two of the company’s 1st-generation budget phones, the Moto E and Moto G.
From 9to5toys.com:
Groupon is offering the highly praised Moto E smartphone bundled with a Bluetooth speaker and 1200 Tracfone minutes for $99.99. Using the coupon code GOODS5 drops the price even further to $95. On Amazon, the Moto E, Bluetooth speaker, and Tracfone service would cost you $238 in total.
The Moto E has been praised for offering a great Android experience for such an affordable price, so this deal makes it even more enticing for first time Android users or first time smartphone users in general. It’d also make a great burner phone if you’re in need of one of those.
The Moto E includes a 4.3-inch touchscreen with 3G connectivity. Unfortunately it runs Android 4.4 KitKat, but includes WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. It’s not great, but for the price and bundle it’s hard to beat.
You also get 1200 Tracfone minutes included in the bundle, as well as 1.2GB of data service and 1200 text messages. The Tracfone service is good for a year.
Buy the bundle on Groupon now. The coupon code GOODS5 drops the price to $95.
The unlocked 2nd-generation Moto E might have already began receiving Android 5.1 Lollipop straight from Motorola in early May, but Verizon customers rejoice: your over-the-air update is dropping now.
This update brings all the changes we’ve come to expect from the 5.0.2 to 5.1.1 bump as well as a slightly tweaked “Interruptions” control menu and Device Protection, which ensures that a lost or stolen device will remain locked (aka can’t be factory reset) until the original owner signs into it with his or her Google account. Verizon has a handy PDF that covers most of the changes coming with this update.
To check if your Moto E has pulled down the update yet, head into the Settings app and select About Phone > System updates.
We told you a couple days ago that Android 5.1 had started rolling out to the 2015 Moto E, but now it looks like Motorola is soak testing the same version of Android for its much older first generation Moto E.
As per the change log on the company’s Indian support website:
We are excited to announce a new software update for Moto E (1st Gen.) by Motorola. This update brings Android™ 5.1 Lollipop to your phone along with other improvements.
For now the update is only hitting devices in India, but this means that it will almost surely be hitting other locales around the world soon. Android 5.1 includes support for multiple SIM cards, new device protection features, high definition voice calling, and more.
According to several users on XDA, Motorola this evening has started rolling out Android 5.1 to the second generation Moto E. The update, since the Moto E is sold off-contract, should hit all users of the phone, on all carriers, at the same time.
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Yesterday morning the FedEx truck delivered a cute little diorama that represented a Motorola keynote event complete with reporter badge, stage, and most importantly a demo unit of the new Moto E. Very nice job Moto PR. Nothing like going into a review with a smile on my face in my blogger PJs.
More importantly, the product they shipped is a big winner. The new Moto E, if you like your screens at 4.5 inches and non-Retina, is about the best thing you can get out there at any price. The fact that it is $150 for the LTE version and $120 for the HSPA+ GSM pushes this phone into no-brainer territory.
This is a really good, well built device…
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Update: Pictures of our Moto E box after the break…
Motorola sent out emails last week saying that they’d be shipping mysterious boxes soon with a surprise announcement within, and today many publications and journalists are receiving their boxes. We haven’t received ours quite yet, but the cat is pretty much out of the bag. Inside, Motorola announced the 2nd generation Moto E, the company’s latest fresh of its budget smartphone.
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