I’ve been using my Moto E for a couple of weeks now, and sometimes impressions over time are much better, or at least more useful in the long run, than initial impressions.
I still like the phone, but I’ve discovered a few things, mostly good.
The phone dialer. We’ll start with the bad. The phone dialer takes getting used to. When I tap the number pad to make a call, the pad doesn’t initially come up. I have to tap the pad, tap the back button, then tap the pad again. Then I get numbers. Once the phone populates my speed dial it may not matter much. I’m not sure if this is an Android 4.4 thing or a Motorola enhancement, but it’s irritating. It’s like someone forgot this is a phone, and sometimes you’re going to dial numbers with it.
Battery life. Forget to charge overnight, and usually you can forget about getting much use out of the phone the next day. Not this one. With my light usage, I can usually get a couple of days out of a charge. I’m used to having to charge a phone overnight every day no matter how much I use it, so this is nice.
Signal strength. Your mileage is guaranteed to vary, but my old phone barely worked in my office building. The phone would ring sometimes, but inevitably when I picked up, the call would be too garbled to have a conversation. The Moto E does better. It doesn’t work 100% of the time, but it does do a better job of staying on the network in poor-coverage areas than my old Samsung.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.