Moto’s budget phone hits 4G, will come to Australia

When Motorola returned to Australia last year, it did so with a budget offering, the Moto E, which we liked but admitted that it needed 4G desperately. Good news, though, because Motorola has apparently been listening.

This week and ahead of Mobile World Congress in Spain next week, the company has announced that a new model will be coming, and this time, it’s ready for 4G, with LTE on-board and a slightly bigger screen.

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The new model retains the original name — Moto E — but will update to the 4.5 inch quarterHD screen, running at 960×540, and protected by Gorilla Glass 3.

With the exception of the screen size improvement, that’s the same as it was last year, as is the 5 megapixel camera on the back, the use of a microSIM card, and 1GB RAM.

What has changed?

 

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Well, you’ll be interested to know there’s more storage, with 8GB to work with instead of the 4GB from last time, while the processor has been updated to a quad-core Snapdragon 410 clocked at 1.2GHz, which will no doubt be a better performer than last year’s Snapdragon 200.

Of course there’s 4G LTE, and Android has been updated, too, improved to version 5.0, also known as Lollipop.

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Pricing and availability in Australia hasn’t been announced yet, but here’s hoping it’s not too far from its $179 original, which can still be found in local shops with a street price ranging from $109 to the aforementioned $179 recommended retail price.