Business Daily
Date: 11.06.2015
Page 18
Article size: 462 cm2
ColumnCM: 102.66
AVE: 195066.66
Second generation Moto E offers
better experience than predecessor
Realising that 4G adoption wil soon be
on the rise, Motorola decided to launch
a variant of its budget smartphone, the
Motorola Moto E (Gen 2)). The new Moto E
(Gen 2) 4G has a souped up SoC with integrated
4G for connectivity. All other features are the
same as before.
It goes up against formidable competition
such as the Lenovo A6000 Plus, the Yu Yupho­
ria, and the Xiaomi Redmi 2, all of which can
connect to LTE networks.
era and a VGA camera for selfies. There is a
Basically, Motorola still hasn't figured out how to
make good cameras for low­end smartphones.
large 2390mAh battery providing the juice
The VGA front camera is even worse.
The phone has a 5­megapixel primary cam­
Verdict: There is no denying that the Moto
E (Gen 2) 4G is abetter bet than its predecessor
in terms of performance and because it's more
the experience is unchanged from the Moto future­ready. However, the Lenovo A6000 Plus,
Yu Yuphoria and Xiaomi Redmi 2 all have 2GB
E (Gen 2), which is great.
Performance and camera: The Moto E of RAM and better cameras, making them bet­
for the phone.
The Moto E (Gen 2) 4G runs an almost
vanilla version of Android 5.0.2 Lollipop and
(Gen 2) was a formidable performer but the
The phone looks identical to the Moto E (Gen
at any point. Even some high­end games such
2) and we still think that it is one of sturdiest and
as Asphalt 8 and Dead Trigger 2 ran without
any lags, albeit at lower graphics settings.
best­looking smartphones in this price range.
The recently launched Yu Yuphoria does use
metal in its build but the Moto E (Gen 2) 4G's
design is unique. The design and screen of the
phone are exactly the same as those of its non­
ter value for money overall. ­NDTV.COM
Moto E (Gen 2) 4G is faster and doesn't stutter
Even the benchmark results were much
better. In AnTuTU and GFXBench, the phone
scored 22,241 and 13,925 respectively. These
numbers are even higher than what the Yu
Yuphoria or the Lenovo A6000 Plus achieved,
Specifications and software: This is where although the Moto E (Gen 2) has afar less de­
things are slightly different. The Moto E (Gen manding qHD (540x960) display compared to
2) 4Ghas a 1.2GHz quad­core Qualcomm Snap­ the competition.
The phone can play all our videos without
dragon 410 SoC with Adreno 306 graphics.
any stutter or lags. The speaker is adequately
This is definitely much more powerful
4G sibling.
loud but the bundled earphones are really an­
than the quad­core Snapdragon 200 on the
non­LTE variant. The Moto E (Gen 2) 4G has noying to wear for long periods of time. We no­
ticed that the sound quality in phone calls was
1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage space,
average at best and there were some call drops
which can be expanded by up to 32GB using a
as well. Also, the 4G connectivity was pretty er­
microSD card.
ratic but that could have been due to problems
Furthermore, the Micro­USB port can be
with the network. One area where the Moto E
used with USB­OTG storage devices. One of
(Gen 2) 4G is far superior to its predecessor and
the SIM cards in the dual­SIM phone can con­
its competition, for that matter, is its battery
nect to 4G networks, including 2300MHz band
life. The 5­megapixel camera's performance is
used in India. The other connectivity options identical to that of the one on the predecessor.
include Wi­Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0.
Ipsos Kenya ­ Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road ­ Lavington ­ Nairobi ­ Kenya
Business Daily
Date: 11.06.2015
Page 18
Article size: 462 cm2
ColumnCM: 102.66
AVE: 195066.66
Fiio X3 (second generation)
Fiio's first­ever portable high resolution audio player, the Fiio
X3, has enjoyed considerable success since its launch in 2013.
It is held in high regard by both users and reviewers, and it sold
in huge numbers. It also set the stage forthe excellent XI and
X5 high­res players, which have won the industry over with
stunning performance.
The XI and X5 are at two ends of the cost spectrum.
The new Fiio X3 (second generation) sits in between those two
extremes. It seeks to offer a bit more than the budget XI, while
keeping costs below X5 levels. Finally, key improvements over
the old X3 include a complete redesign to bring it in line with
the XI and X5, and new and improved internal components.
Creative sound blaster jam
Creative, a popular audio products brand based in Singa­
pore, has more than a couple of Bluetooth gaming headsets
in the Sound Blaster range and also a very capable Bluetooth
speaker—the Sound Blaster Roar. Leveraging its expertise,
the company has launched an
affordable Bluetooth headset
forthe masses—the Creative
Sound Blaster Jam. The Sound
Blaster Jam's unique selling point
is that it is very lightweight and
won't burn a hole in your wallet.
Ipsos Kenya ­ Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road ­ Lavington ­ Nairobi ­ Kenya
Business Daily
Date: 11.06.2015
Page 18
Article size: 462 cm2
ColumnCM: 102.66
AVE: 195066.66
Nikon 1V3 offers faster shooting speeds
Nikon's 1 series of mirror­less interchangeable lens camera
(MILC) recently gained a new flagship — the Nikon 1V3. This
camera replaces the 1V2. There are a few changes in the form
of an upgraded design and beefed up specs.
The Nikon 1V3 loses the EVF to make the camera more pocket­
able. Furthermore, the 1­inch CMOS sensor on the 1V3 (with
a crop factor of 2.7x) can now shoot 18.4­megapixel images
compared to the 14­megapixel sensor on the predecessors.
Other improvements include faster shooting speeds in burst
mode and the inclu­
sion of Wi­Fi connec­
tivity to smartphones
and tablets. Time will
tell if these changes
make any difference.
Ipsos Kenya ­ Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road ­ Lavington ­ Nairobi ­ Kenya