Motorola has long been the go-to brand for decent budget phones. When Moto E was first introduced back in 2014, it quickly became a favorite of many for its affordable price and quality.

Six years forward and in 2020, Motorola launches another phone called Moto E, still with a budget-friendly price and midrange specs.

While there is no doubt of what the Moto E can do, six years have passed and many other competitors have emerged, let’s see if the phone can find its standing on the market:

Display

The edge-to-edge display is becoming more and more common and Motorola has jumped on the bandwagon with the Moto E 2020. There is a small chin at the bottom of the phone and a tear-drop notch on top, but overall, the display looks decent for a budget phone.

The screen measures 6.2 inches with slim bezels around, exuding a modern look despite the relatively cheap price.

While the Moto E is made mostly from plastic, it doesn’t have the cheap look of some other budget phones. But of course, you cannot compare its appearance with a high-end device.

On the rear, the phone features a fingerprint scanner right under the brand’s logo and a vertical camera module.

There is nothing new or surprise on the edge of the Moto E. What you have is the usual stuff like a volume rocker, SIM card and MicroSD card slots, and a power button.

While brands are moving fast with eliminating the headphone jack, Motorola still keeps one on top of the Moto E, a piece of good news for those who still use wired headphones.

On the opposite side, you will see a Micro-USB port, which is a bit odd as it is 2020 already and most phones use USB-C now, despite their price ranges.

Since the Moto E is a budget smartphone, you cannot expect more than a 720p resolution and an LCD display.

The display of this phone is different from what you have on the Moto G Fast as it cannot get as bright. This is why using the phone outdoor can be a bit challenging since you will have to make an effort to see what is on the display.

Processor

The Moto E runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 and 2GB of RAM. This much hardware means multitasking will be out of the question, so does playing heavy games.

However, for day-to-day tasks, the phone works just fine, even outperform many other competitors on the same price range.

However, those who accept the price and the fact that they cannot expect better performance on a budget phone are more than happy with what the Moto E can do.

When switching between apps, you will encounter skips and slow down, but since the phone can fix these issues quickly, it’s still useable.

Web browsing isn’t a problem but if you want to do anything heavier, consider stretching your budget for something more powerful.

Mobile gaming is limited to the most basic. Games like Call of Duty: Mobile is still playable but the gameplay won’t be so smooth. If you are looking for a gaming phone from Motorola, opt for the Moto G Power or at least the Moto G Fast.

If games are an important part of your day-to-day routine, look for a handset with Snapdragon 7xx-series SoC and above, or better, anything from Apple. However, this kind of problem isn’t unique to the Moto E but rather universal compromise manufacturers usually make to be able to sell at a low price.

Benchmark tests return decent scores despite the budget-friendly price. On Antutu, the Moto E claims 118,004, which isn’t bad at all. The score is even higher than that of the Moto G7 Play, which wins 98,111.

The Moto G Fast, with a higher price, hits 161,672 and the score for Google Pixel 3a is 157,902.

RAM

Moto E comes with 2GB of RAM, quite a low number for multitasking and gaming. But consider the price, this isn’t something surprising.

Battery

The phone draws power from the 3,550mAh battery, which works just fine powering the handset for a whole day.

For normal use, achieve a full day of use is doable. However, heavy usage will call for the charger before the day ends.

The capacity of the phone doesn’t allow it to stay alive to the second day. And to add to the short battery life problem, Moto E has neither wireless nor fast charging.

Users of this phone had better charge it at night or whenever they have no use for it.

Camera

On the rear, Moto E features a dual-camera setup with one of them is a 2MP depth sensor. The other in the set is a 12MP lens with an aperture of f/2.0. Overall, the performance is fine, not the best, but acceptable.

When in an environment with good lighting, Moto E can capture decent photos with good depth of field and color reproduction. Don’t expect lots of details with this phone but this isn’t a deal-breaker for a budget handset.

A decent performance is what you have when you are in a well-lit environment only. And when you are not, taking photos with the Moto E will only disappoint you.

There isn’t a night mode on this phone so expect to see lots of noise, even to the point that you can hardly see anything. If photography is a big deal to you, stretch your budget for something higher end is advisable. Brands have to make sacrifices to lower the price and we cannot blame them for that.

On the other side, there is a selfie camera of 5MP and it does its job. Don’t expect anything acceptable in low light and most of the time, you will see weird-looking colors in pictures. But with a bit of edition and the photos can be posted on social media.

Again, don’t expect anything high-end on a budget phone. With what you pay to get the Moto E, a mediocre camera setup is something you have to accept.