Moto G vs Moto E: What's the difference?

Moto G vs Moto E: What's the Difference?

Is the Moto E as Good as the Moto G?

The Moto G was our favourite affordable phone of 2013. And now it has a brother. TheMoto E is a cheaper alternative to the ridiculously popular G, lowering the cost further by decreasing screen size and cutting down a few specs. But is the saving worth the bits you lose? 

Moto G vs Moto E – Design

Moto G - Plastic, Gorilla Glass 3, 11.6mm, 143g
Moto E - Plastic, toughened glass, 12.3, 142g

Motorola’s Moto E is a slightly smaller phone than the Moto G, but they’re otherwise quite similar in look and feel. Both have plastic bodies, both trade slimness for a curvature that sits in the hand well. 

The Moto E is a bit thicker than the Moto G, which is a common effect in smaller phones. It is 12.3mm thick to the G’s 11.6mm – both deserve the ‘chunky’ label, and the Moto E doesn’t kick it up into the next category of chubbiness. 

Being slim is still cool among phones, but these look a bit better than some of the budget competition. There are no awkwardly labelled soft keys – both use software buttons instead – and the curves of both Motos look pretty good.

We think the Moto G looks marginally better as its front is all-black, lacking the silver strips that are a Moto E special. Looks aren’t a reason to pick between these two phones, though. 

Moto G vs Moto E – Storage

Moto G - 8/16GB, microSD (4G model only)
Moto E - 4GB, microSD

The Moto E has a lot less storage than the Moto G, but it does have a microSD memory card slot. 

You get 4GB with the Moto E, where the minimum is 8GB with the Moto G. However, there are three different Moto G in models in total. There are 8GB and 16GB 3G versions, and an 8GB 4G version. 

Memory is non-expandable in the 3G versions – these were the originals released in 2013 – but the new 4G version has a microSD slot like the Moto E. It is the ‘ultimate’ of all of Motorola’s lower-cost phones.

Moto G vs Moto E – Screen

Moto G - 4.5-inch 720p IPS
Moto E - 4.3-inch 960 x 540 pixel IPS

The Moto E has a smaller, lower-resolution screen than the Moto G. It’s a 4.3-inch display of 960 x 540 pixel resolution, where the G has a 4.5-inch 720p screen. 

The Moto G is a good step or two above its more affordable sibling, with sharper images and, from what I’ve seen of the phone, slightly better general image quality – the Moto E sample we’ve seen seemed to suffer from slight IPS glow. 

A larger, sharper screen is the most convincing reason to upgrade from the Moto E to the G. It’s better for browsing, better for games and better for watching high-resolution videos. The extra 0.2 inches of pure screen size comes in handy for the latter too. 

However, the Motorola Moto E screen certainly is not bad. It’s higher-quality than we’re used to at the price, with fairly well saturated colours and good contrast.
 
 

Moto G vs Moto E – Software, CPU and Performance

Moto G - Android 4.4, Snapdragon 400 quad-core 1.2GHz
Moto E - Android 4.4, Snapdragon 200 dual-core 1.2GHz

There’s very little to pick between the software of the Moto G and Moto E. They both use a near-vanilla version of Android 4.4, and Motorola promises they’ll both receive speedy updates to the next version of Android, due to be revealed in June at Google I/O. 

Using a streamline version of Android means the Moto G and E perform quite similarly day-to-day, even though the E has a significantly weaker processor. 

The Motorola Moto E uses a Snapdragon 200 chip, the Moto G a Snapdragon 400 one. Both are based on the Cortex-A7 architecture, but where the G has four 1.2GHz cores, the Moto E only has two. 

As they have 1GB of RAM a piece, general performance shouldn’t be hugely different, but under strain there will be a gap between the two. The Moto E also has a weaker GPU than the Moto G, an Adreno 302 instead of an Adreno 305. 

We saw this difference in action when we tried to play Angry Birds Go, which chugged along at a pretty low frame rate for the first minute or so of play. 

Moto G vs Moto E – Camera

Moto G - 5MP rear, 1.3MP front, LED flash
Moto E - 5MP rear

The Motorola Moto E and Moto G have roughly the rear core camera, in the most basic sense. You get a 5-megapixel back camera- nothing flash, but we expect little more in an entry-level phone like this. 

What the Moto E lacks are the extra bits that surround this main sensor, though. There’s no flash and no front camera at all: no selfies, no video chat. 

The Moto G has a single-LED flash and a front camera – a 1.3-megapixel one. It’s a lot more versatile. 

Moto G vs Moto E – Battery Life

Moto G - 2,070mAh
Moto E - 1980mAh

Both Motorola Moto phones have pretty respectable batteries for their screen size and spec. The Moto G has a 2070mAh unit, the Moto E a 1980 mAh unit. 

We’ve not fully reviewed the Moto E yet, but we expect it to offer similar stamina to the G – roughly two days with light-to-moderate use. 

You can’t remove and replace either phone’s battery, though, as they’re sealed in order to give the phone some light water resistance. 

Anything Else to Consider?

If you want to get hooked up with 4G mobile internet, you can only get this kind of connection from a Moto G. And not any Moto G. 

Motorola only announced the 4G Moto G edition on 13 March, with all previous versions limited to HSPA 3G mobile internet. Motorola is going to continue selling the non-4G version in the future too, so make sure you know what you’re buying.

Early Verdict

With a lesser screen and a lesser processor whose performance is occasionally noticeable, we think that the more avid mobile fan would be much better off with a Moto G than a Moto E. However, for casual use, or for someone not too familiar with high-end mobiles, the Moto E will more than do the trick.  

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