Review: Moto E (2nd Gen)

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

For the intended Moto E user, which is someone moving from a feature phone to a smartphone on a pre-paid plan, the Moto E (2nd Gen) will be a huge and empowering step in communicating, accessing the Internet, and running the latest, greatest applications available on Android.

Motorola’s Moto E (2nd Gen) bucks the trend of increasingly expensive smartphones with yearly incremental updates. Designed as a no-contract option, the latest ‘budget’ handset redefines value for money with a nice topping of functionality.

All technology should aim for ubiquity and as features and specifications become more popular, the idea is that they become more affordable and accessible to more people.

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HP shooting for the low end of the notebook market with new $199 notebooks

We're at an interesting place right now with Windows 8.1-based systems. Many users and potential buyers seem to be waiting out until the next revision (Windows 9, Codenamed 'Treshold') becomes available. Many of the recent hybrids, convertibles and ultrabooks have failed to gain much traction. Trying a different tact, it seems manufacturers like HP are going the Chromebook route. That is, offering cheap hardware to help push the OS. Revealed today is the colourful consumer focused US $199 HP Stream notebook that's geared to compete with similarly affordable Chromebooks. Interesting features include fanless design, 8-hour battery life and an HD screen.

Featuring modest Intel Celeron processors, an 11.5-inch non-touch display and 32GB of SSD memory. Each of these new-age netbooks will get access to a year subscription of Office 365, 1 Terabyte of OneDrive storage plus a $25 Microsoft Store gift certificate. The Stream notebooks accompany low-cost Stream tablets that offer Windows 8.1 functionalty starting at $150. No Canadian availability or pricing has been released but these will likely find their way to our shores for the holiday season.

Motorola Canada launches Moto E and Moto G (4G) in Canada

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Motorola just launched the Moto E smartphone for $179.99 geared to replace feature phones in price but adding various features and connectivity.  Motorola is also updating the Moto G smartphone, now with 4G-LTE on Rogers and Fido as well as a microSD card slot for productivity.

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Nokia sets to battle budget Androids with new Nokia X devices

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop recently launched the new Nokia X family of budget smartphones targeting emerging markets. The Nokia X devices feature Nokia's popular look and construction but use a forked version of Google's Android OS. While the move to launching Android-powered devices seems contraryto Nokia's focus on Microsoft's Windows Phone OS, it makes perfect sense as a business decision.

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