The hidden side of politics

Motorola Adds Some Class (and Glass) to Its Budget Phones

Reported by WIRED:

You ain’t hip unless you’ve got an extra long screen, dual cameras, and a glass back. Those are three of this year’s many smartphone trends, and Motorola has ’em all. The smartphone maker has taken the lid off its latest Moto G and Moto E phones and they look … well, a lot classier than you may remember.

The original Moto G was one of the first Android phones that managed to bring premium handset features down to a price more people could afford. It was a $200(ish) phone that actually worked well—a real feat back in 2013. The Moto G been a strong performer ever since, nabbing a WIRED recommendation in our 2018 Best Cheap Phones guide.

The Moto G6 continues that tradition with a starting price of $249 and a slew of small touchups that Motorola hopes will help it stand out among other similarly priced handsets. More importantly, the refresh will help Moto G6 owners blend in with friends and family who own fancy, expensive iPhones and Android devices.

The makeover is most evident on the phone’s back, which is now covered in Gorilla Glass that curves at the edges like the Moto X4. Also on the back, you’ll notice the 12-megapixel camera is now flanked by an extra 5-megapixel cam to add depth effects and the ability to do things like highlight only a single color in a photo and turn everything else monochrome. If you love shooting timelapse videos or putting silly digital hats and other objects on your face, the camera app has you covered. On the front, the 1080p, 5.7-inch screen is longer, smushing the fingerprint sensor down at the bottom.

The G6 uses fast-charging USB-C and the whole thing is splashproof, though not waterproof. On the inside, it has a faster Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, 3 or 4GB of RAM, 32 or 64GB of storage (with MicroSD), and the latest version of Google’s Android operating system (Oreo).

Many More Motos

One Moto G is not enough for Motorola. The less-fancy Moto G6 Play will start at $199. It mostly looks identical to the regular G6 and will have a much larger battery, but that’s about its only perk. It’s slower, has weaker glass covering its back, only features one rear camera (the horror!), and charges with that same ol’ Micro USB cord you’ve had for a decade.

Motorola

Motorola hasn’t given the Moto E5 or Moto E5 Plus official prices yet, but they’ll likely hover around $150 each. We’re not sure if either of them will be worth your time, but consider both small downgrades from the G6. The most promising is the Moto E5 Plus, which has a ginormous 5,000mAh battery—possibly big enough to last two full days on a charge. It’s also speedier, and its 6-inch screen is larger than the one on the regular E5.

The Moto E will be sold through wireless carriers at first, but you should be able to snag an unlocked Moto G6 that you can use on any network.


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Source:WIRED

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