Review: Motorola Moto E

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Smartphones for emerging markets are a thing now. We’re seeing a race to the bottom in terms of price but smartphone manufacturers are pulling all the stops to recreate the smartphone experience found on more expensive devices. Motorola’s first salvo was the Moto G, which in 6 months has proved itself to be the best selling smartphone for the company and enjoyed shipment of 150,000 units in Canada alone. Now the Moto E is taking things down a notch and to a whole new level.

There’s now new competition in smartphones and it isn’t about the best specs, largest screens, biggest storage or fastest data connections. The challenge is to create the cheapest, most flexible and universally viable platform for emerging markets and the entry level of the smartphone segment.

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First look at the Nokia X Android smartphone

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

The Nokia X is the Android powered smartphone designed for emerging markets and for the low-end of the smartphone spectrum. This device isn't slated for North America or Canada but we ordered one from overseas to get a better feel of what Nokia is doing in this specific segment. The Dual-SIM Nokia X is surprisingly sturdy and feels rock solid even if it does have lower-end specs. We've just unboxed our unit and are putting it through its paces to see what this device offers and will have a full review in the coming weeks. For now, enjoy the slideshow.

Nokia approves Nokia X hack that allows it to run Google Android apps and services

It looks like Nokia’s appreciates the hacking being done on its new Nokia X device. xda-developers member Kashamalaga rooted the Nokia X to run most of the key services of Google. Nokia X runs a forked version of Android (much like what Amazon did with its Kindle line) and comes with its own app store. Kashamalaga got the smartphone to run Google Play Store and apps like Google Now, Gmail, Google Maps, and Hangouts.

The Finnish brand doesn’t seem to take offense with what xda-developers did though. They seem pleased with what xda-developers did with the device.

@KashaMalaga This is awesome! Very excited to see progress is being made - we actually really like @xdadevelopers

— Nokia Developer Team (@nokiadeveloper) February 28, 2014

Source: The Verge

Nokia X won’t come to Canada

We knew the Nokia X line targeted the emerging market. True enough the Nokia X, X+, and XL won’t be arriving on our shores. Ubergizmo reports that Nokia’s Vice President of mobile phone marketing Jussi Nevanlinna confirmed that Canada, the U.S., Japan, and South Korea won’t be getting the new devices.

The phones feature forked versions of Android with Microsoft services taking the place of Google. It also has its own app store. The devices will all cost less than US$150, which is why they are expected to do well in emerging markets.