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Motorola Looks at Dirt-Cheap Smartphones Again, Launches Moto C and Moto C Plus (motorola.com)
We have seen over hundreds of manufacturers launch over thousands of smartphone models in the past three years. One of the remarkable smartphones, aimed at those who aren't planning to break a bank for it, has been Motorola's Moto E. Priced at $129, unlocked, without a contract, the handset was immensely popular in the developing markets. It changed the smartphone ecosystem at places like Indonesia and India, pushing several other Android OEMs to step up their game -- and they did. Three years later, after a series of "overpriced" phones, Motorola is attempting to break the affordable smartphone market again. From a report on CNET: The most important thing to know about the Moto C and C Plus, it seems, is that the phones are cheap. Like, really cheap. Motorola's Moto C starts at 89 euros (which converts to $98), and the more advanced C Plus begins at 119 euros (that coverts to $131). As for the specs, the Moto C sports a 5-inch display (854x480 pixel-resolution), 5-megapixel rear camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera with flash, 1.3GHz quad-core processor (unspecified model), 4G support, 2,350mAh removable battery, 8GB storage, 1GB RAM, and support for two-SIM cards. The handsets run Android 7.0.
Even the super-cheap phones are 5" or larger these days? I know hoping for a premium phone that's smaller than that is probably unrealistic at this point, but you'd think a smaller phone would be a reasonable "sacrifice" that people looking to save money would be willing to make.
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How is this dirt cheap? Alibaba has Android phones for $60.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
The Moto C Plus Plus!
Motorola builds hardware which is not garbage. My problem with this device is the RAM. Android in 1GB is no. I'll pay another twenty bucks or so to get another GB in there.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I have a Moto G 2nd in a Ringke Slim case, and I have thrown it around and generally abused it and it's still working great. Motorola's hardware isn't as spectacular as it was way back in the way back, when you could bludgeon someone to death with a 2-way radio and then call for backup, but it's still significantly better than average.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Sure, it's cheap. The thing is, they're counting on making you buy a new phone with every single Android update.
I have a 2015 Moto G. I got it partially because I thought Motorola, having touted an 18-month support + update policy, would be better about updates than most of their competitors. But they refused to issue a Nougat update, even though Nougat was released less than 14 months later.
The issue isn't hardware incompatibility or development time. The "Moto G Play" is practically a rebrand of the same hardware, re-released a year later; it got the Nougat update. The issue is that they want to entice people to ditch their still-new hardware to buy the new shiny.