review

Motorola Moto E

This is my personal review of the Motorola Moto E, the budget Android smartphone which is taking the world by storm at the moment.
For those of you who follow me on Twitter and Google Plus, from November 2013 until April 2014 will have been a bit of a Blur of the hashtag #MotoG (Android skin pun intended). I really liked the device and used it as my main smartphone, flanked by the Nexus 5 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. When my Samsung S5 came along, I passed the Moto G on to a friend who was in need of a basic smartphone and who is now delighted with it and living the Android dream.
Over the last six months at least a dozen of my friends and relatives have been advised by me to get a Moto G (and they did). The Moto G is great device which packs an impressive amount of bang per monetary unit. With the Moto E Motorola are looking to wrap up the budget segment of the smartphone market using a similar recipe to the one which made the Moto G a success.
The Moto E is currently Motorola's budget handset offering, sitting below the Moto G in Lenovorola's product portfolio. For £80 (~$125) you get what would have been a 3G flagship specs a few years ago:
  • 4.3" qHD 540x960 display
  • Dual-core Snapdragon processor
  • 1GB RAM
  • 5 megapixel camera (with no flash)
  • 4GB built in storage (expandable with up to 32GB MicroSD)
  • Android 4.4.2, with guaranteed timely upgrade to the next major release of Android
Value for money, the Moto E delivers an excellent proposition: good performance, almost on a par with current flagship devices like the Samsung S5, for a fraction of the price. I must say, in some situations I think it actually outperforms many of the market heavy hitters. As a bonus, you get a smartphone which is also splash and dust resistant which can be particularly useful in Scotland.

The Moto E runs an almost stock version of Android 4.4.2 KitKat at the moment, with very few very minor extras which are unobtrusive and actually useful (like Motorola Assist). In my day to day use, I haven't suffered from any issues with the software or apps I usually use. If anything the stock Android experience makes me more likely to reach for the Moto E than the Samsung Galaxy S5. 
Pocket Casts, Google Play Music All Access, Audible, Gmail, Twitter, Google Plus and Hangouts are the apps I use the most and the Moto E runs them flawlessly. As long as you remember to change the settings in the media heavy apps to use the MicroSD there seem to be no storage issues either.
The Moto E has a 4.3" qHD (540x960) screen which is bright and clear. Use in direct sunlight, although not really an issue here in Scotland, is excellent. The auto brightness settings haven't created any annoyances for me and watching video on the screen is great.
The thing difficult to describe and that you won't see on a spec sheet is the feel of the handset in the hand. Just like the Moto G, the curved soft touch plastic back is really pleasant to hold, and sits in the hand very comfortably. This SKU of the Moto E, from Tesco Mobile, comes with an extra red shell in the box. Accessorising has never been easier!
The 5 megapixel camera on the back of the Moto E was a huge let down. No flash, slow and sometimes unresponsive I didn't like it. There is another disappointment in the camera department too: no front facing camera means making Google Hangouts or Skype calls with face to face video is impossible. I suppose some trade off had to be made to bring down the price of what is a great handset overall for the price. Or was it all a cunning ploy by Motorola to try and curb the number of selfies on the internet?
Sample: weak camera doesn't perform very well
Battery life on the Moto E is great. The 1980 mAh battery lasts me more than a day in heavy use, even on days when I play Threes and Voxel Rush a lot. If I used the phone less, it would probably quite happily last a couple of days in between charges.

The Moto E is a great device, which delivers a great smartphone experience for an affordable price. The weak points are definitely the camera and the lack of a front facing camera, but in every other department the device excels within its category. Considering that the Moto E is up against the Samsung Galaxy Fame and the Nokia Lumia 520 in the same price range, I think Motorola have a clear winner in their product portfolio.

A word of warning if you are considering buying a Moto E: the standard retail box does not have a mains charger, just a micro usb cable.

Feel free to leave comments and/or questions below, thanks!

Bing For Android [Not Reviewed], Fail!

I was going to review Bing for Android, Microsoft's search engine's app for Android. I can't do the review and this post will explain why.
I would love to install the Bing app on one of my many devices...
I tried searching for the Bing application on my current main Android device (a ZTE Skate also known as the BAP) and it would not appear on the Android Market. Having had no luck finding it, I swapped phone and used my Samsung Galaxy Pro. No luck with that device either. Thinking all this was very strange, I then picked up my Archos 80 G9 Honeycomb tablet and searched for Bing in the Android Market. I was relieved to fing "Bing - Microsoft Corporation" but when in the Android Market description page was faced with this:
"This item is not available with your operator."
I was quite annoyed by this. I logged onto market.android.com on my laptop and found the Bing application. When trying to select a device to install the application to I was faced by a list of 11 devices the application is not compatible with.
"This app is incompatible with all of your devices." Bing Fail!
So that's how what was going to be my review of the Bing app for Android turned into another blog post about Microsoft failure. I hope this is covered in the Linux Outlaws' Microwatch segment next week because it is really worthy of it in my opinion.

Microsoft have seen some sense (HTC pun not intended) and decided to get their search engine onto the fastest growing and soon to be dominant smartphone/tablet platform (mostly open source too!). They are not doing too well if their app is not compatible on my 11 devices which range from low-end low-res screens to high-res tablets.

I look forward to Microsoft sorting this out and being able to review the Bing app for Android at some point in the future...

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below.

HTC Wildfire S - Inexpensive Sense [Review]

I've been using the HTC Wildfire S as my main phone for most of the last few months. The small smartphone is HTC's follow up to the incredibly successful Wildfire, and the improvements on its predecessor are impressive. Android Gingerbread and HTC Sense are a delight in this small package.

It is difficult to review the Wildfire S and ignore its predecessor, the original Wildfire. Compared to the original HTC Wildfire, the HTC Wildfire S is smaller, has shed the optical trackball and gained a slightly faster processor, a higher resolution screen and a bit of polish. The Wildfire S feels good to hold, and I like the semi rubberised back, it gives you a sense of confidence while holding the phone.

The 5 Megapixel camera is as good as, if not better than the original Wildfire's for still images. As a former HTC Desire user it is a small step down, but in the sub £200 handset market segment I think it is second to none. On the downside the video recording is not great. Resolution of videos maxes out at 640x480 resolution, probably due to the slow chipset on the device. It would have been nice to have 720p recording.
An example of picture taken with the Wildfire S
HTC Sense on top of Android Gingerbread (2.3) maximises the possible efficiencies that can be obtained with the 600 MHz processor while still delivering plenty of HTC's eye candy UI. I hate to imagine how clunky Sense would be like on top of Android FroYo (2.2) or Eclair (2.1)... As a Vanilla Android UI user (even on the HTC Desire) HTC Sense (version 2.1 on the Wildfire S) takes a little bit of getting used to. For someone who hasn't used Android before it would be easy to get used to and simple to live with.

Battery life is pretty good with the standard battery that comes with the device. Due to the fact that I am a "Power User" of Android devices, I invested in a high capacity extra battery for the Wildfire S so that I could get through overnight trips and holidays. It is fairly easy to find reasonably priced extra batteries for less than £10 on eBay. I also picked up a cheap screen protector and gel case for less than £5.

Internal storage on the Wildfire S is fairly limited (512MB), but thanks to the version of Android it is running (2.3 Gingerbread) it is pretty easy to transfer your extra applications to the memory card (through Settings => Applications => Manage Applications). The Wildfire S also comes with a 2GB MicroSD card and will accept larger capacity ones up to 32GB.

Angry Birds (the Litmus test of smartphones nowadays...) runs smoothly and looks great on the 320x480 display. Multitouch and responsiveness are excellent.
If you like tinkering with Android smartphones and loading custom ROMs, the HTC Wildfire S may not be for you. HTC have made it incredibly difficult to root the device and change the bootloader. I hope the clever crowd at MoDaCo and XDA Developers manage to get the device rooted and get CyanogenMod running on it one day.

The Wildfire S is an exellent value for money smartphone that will no doubt be very successful. It may not be for the ROM hackers and uber geeks, but it is the sort of smartphone the average smartphone user will find simple and useful and probably get a couple of years use out of without being too frustrated.

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions either here or on the MoDaCo forum here.

Daily Record Gadget Filler Fail!

I had to laugh out loud last Friday! In the canteen at work I flicked through a copy of the Daily Record and got to the Gadget and Tech section. My eye was caught by the familiar image of a white Orange San Francisco, a phone I know well. Reading the article "Smartphone's a California Dream" just made me laugh.
Something is horribly wrong with this article...
The article is quite simply a quick review of the Orange Monte Carlo and starts off mentioning the Orange San Francisco. As the article goes on to review and  comment on the Monte Carlo, there is no naming of the successor to the Orange San Francisco. The author of the review is speaking of the Monte Carlo, but obviously the editor/impaginator has picked the name and put in a picture of the Orange San Francisco. (update: since the review was in the paper it has been rectified in the Daily Record blog here)
The image that should have been used (and was  used on the DR blog)
Brace yourselves, my own review of the Orange Monte Carlo, Orange's own branded version of the ZTE Skate, will be here on this website in the coming weeks.

As usual feel free to leave comments and/or questions below and share the link.

INQ Cloud Touch [Review]

As many regular readers of this blog know, I'm a big fan of budget Android devices. Google's Android OS is an open source operating system that manufacturers (and users) can modify to their liking and adapt to needs and/or devices. Many of you may have heard of or seen HTC Sense, HTC's take on Android's UI, or Motorla's Motoblur, or Samsung's TouchWiz. In a similar fashion to how these major players in the smartphone market skinned and adapted Android for their smartphones, INQ did so to create a new Android experience on the INQ Cloud Touch.



The INQ Cloud Touch is a relatively inexpensive Android smartphone which has social media and the mobile internet at its core. Facebook passes from being an application (and/or web app) to an integral part of the device. People who use/live on Facebook will feel right at home with the INQ Cloud Touch as it is probably more of a "Facebook Phone" than the HTC Cha Cha or the HTC Salsa in my opinion.
The Main Homescreen - Facebook Rules!
The main homescreen of the INQ Cloud Touch is comprised of a group of custom Facebook widgets: a large Facebook News Feed (browsable) and above it a widget of your favourite Facebook contacts, one of your integrated Facebook and Google Calendar, one for your Facebook notifications and one for Facebook Places (Facebook's answer to Foursquare and/or Google Places). At the bottom of the homescreen there is a static dock that appears on the other homescreens you can slide through. The other homescreens are customisable but come pre-populated out of the box with a Spotify widget and the most popular pre-installed apps (Twitter, Windows Live Messenger, Facebook Messaging, Youtube, GMail).

Facebook is not the only service that INQ wove into the DNA of the INQ Cloud Touch. I was pleasantly surprised to find Spotify as the default media player on the INQ Cloud touch. As well as playing media files stored locally you can also stream your Spotify playlists if you have a Spotify Premium account.
Spotify Playing TWiG (local file)
Plugging my favourite headphones into the INQ Cloud Touch wasn't a problem as the device has a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack. In the funky box you also get a very iLike white set of headphones with microphone. I definitely liked the headphones that come with the INQ Cloud Touch as they are earplug style ones. They even come with size adapters for the plugs!
The INQ Headphones Bundled With The Cloud Touch
Sadly I can't afford Spotify Premium at the moment, so all my cheesy Spotify playlists have been there in the Spotify media player reminding me of their existence (and teasing me as well as tempting me to subscribe to Spotify Premium).
Tempting, oh so tempting. Spotify Premium Needed!
Battery life was pretty good on the device. In my day to day use it lasted long enough to get me through the average day. Mainly I use the device for social networking (Google Plus, Facebook and Twitter), Email (GMail), IM (GTalk) and as an mp3 player for listening to podcasts while I walk to work. Managing battery life was easy with the power and service monitor launched by the dedicated button on the left hand side of the phone.
The Power Control Screen (Launched by Info button)
As well as everything that comes set up and ready to go on the INQ Cloud Touch, it is an Android phone, so installing your favourite apps and games from the Marketplace is easy peasy. Angry Birds played smoothly and was entertaining on the INQ Cloud Touch. I must admit that I have almost stopped using Facebook and reduced my usage of Identica and Twitter since the launch of the Google Plus field test. As well as the Google Search widget, I installed the Google Plus widget and a few more apps such as Foursquare. Performance of all these apps was great and I didn't really have any problems with them.

I have now been using the INQ Cloud Touch for more than two weeks as my primary smartphone and have not really had the want (or need) for anything more powerful (or expensive) than the Cloud Touch apart from in the camera department.
The shiny red back of the INQ Cloud Touch with 5MP camera.
On the shiny red back of the INQ Cloud Touch there is a 5 Mega Pixel snapper (without flash of any kind). I didn't like the results of the camera and the lack of flash for it is definitely a negative point. The nightclub frequenting iPhone or Blackberry user (who Frank Meehan mentioned...) wouldn't be able to take very good pictures if they were to upgrade to an INQ Cloud Touch. Sharing and sending the pictures would be extremely easy with whichever service you please. Google Plus Instant worked a dream with the pictures taken, but sadly not many were worth sharing.
A Picture of @fatoldgingercat taken in optimal light conditions with the INQ Cloud Touch
Here's the geeky technical paragraph of the review you can skip if tech specs don't rock your boat: the INQ Cloud Touch runs on a 600 MHz processor, which is pretty smooth and responsive on Android 2.2. The crisp 480x320 screen is encased in solid feeling plastic and the chin at the bottom of the screen has three buttons (Menu, INQ Home and Back). The smartphone comes with a 4GB MicroSD card and you can expand the storage on the INQ Cloud touch up to 32 GB (I tested it with my card and it worked fine). The smartphone is a quad-band GSM device so it will happily work in the US of A on GSM networks too, and it also does HSDPA (3.5G for us Europeans, 4G for Yank marketers...). The speaker on the back and speakerphone performance are excellent. The INQ Cloud Touch is available in red (as my review unit is), white and black.

Right then, time to wrap up this long review with some sort of conclusion. I have been a fan of INQ since my experience with the INQ Mini 3G. I liked using the INQ Cloud Touch and enjoyed using it as my main smartphone. Battery life was good, performance was good and once I got used to INQ's UI I forgot I was reviewing a phone most of the time. If you are a Facebook addict or someone who is afraid of technology but are used to Facebook, this is definitely the phone for you. The INQ Cloud touch is easy peasy to use and a fantastic first smartphone. It is affordable, fashion conscious and powerful enough to last a while. I'll be sad to send the INQ Cloud Touch back.

Quick disclaimer: the INQ Cloud Touch I have been using is a review unit provided to me on loan by the friendly people at INQ. I received no payment for this review and remained as impartial as any INQ fan can when reviewing their products. Leo Laporte vs Mike Arrington moment averted...

Find out more about the INQ Cloud touch here.

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions. If you liked this review please Google +1.

HTC Wildfire vs HTC Wildfire S [photos]

Today I got a brand new HTC Wildfire S. I will be writing a full review of the device after I get back from holiday in a fortnight.


Here are a few snaps of my black HTC Wildfire S next to Candice's HTC Wildfire.
The HTC Wildfire S is slightly smaller than the older HTC Wildfire, but has a higher resolution screen (320 x 480 pixels vs 240x320 pixels). The camera and processor are the same, while the Android version is 2.3 Gingerbread vs 2.2 FroYo.


Feel free to ask any questions you would like answered in the full review.

Tesco Mobile Mojo Chat - Fail!

This is a handset that I was really excited about: the Tesco Mobile Mojo Chat...

On paper it looked really good: QWERTY keyboard, 1.3 MP camera, colour LCD screen, Facebook and Twitter and a memory card to use as storage for the inbuilt Mp3 player. I was expecting to have the holy grail of "feature phones" (or for the less politically correct: "dumbphones"). All this cheap awesomeness for £24.97 without having to buy a credit top-up (I was going to use my Tesco Mobile Pay Monthly SIM-card).

Sadly all my expectation that had been built up by the delayed release of the handset was deflated within minutes of turning the device on. The clickety keyboard I could have lived with, but the performance on the mobile web and the Java apps I wanted not working were so disappointing I almost went shopping at Iceland for a large tub of ice cream and torrented Field of Dreams. I felt like crying.

The user interface is not terrible at higher menu level, as long as all you want to do is make voice calls and send text messages. The camera is pretty intuitive to use as well, so not all is bad. Sadly the results with the camera are. Here's a sample of the snappers imaging capabilities:
It looks as if Wobbles (@fatoldgingercat) has been painted by an impressionist.
One of the most important things I wanted to do with the Tesco Mobile Mojo Chat was keep up to date with Twitter (and if possible Identi.ca too). I wish I hadn't wasted time trying to do that. The Twitter icon in the main menu raised what was left of my enthusiasm just enough to make me feel the disappointment even more.

Clicking on the Twitter icon in the main menu takes you to the mobile Twitter website on the phone's web browser. Once I had found the "Sign In" button on the terrible screen and clicked it, 3 times out of 5 I got an error message. The 2 times out of 5 I did get through to signing into Twitter I then got a message telling me that the website was not supported or that the connection had been interrupted by the host. This was the "deal breaker" for me. (thanks Liz Lemon!)

I tried to salvage the situation by installing Opera Mini on the Mojo Chat. It was simply not possible through the web browser on the device, so I tried loading the java file on the microSD and installing form there. As you can probably expect with the way this review is going, it was not possible.

I made a last effort and tried installing the GMail java application because the Mojo Chat seems not to have an email client. As with Opera Mini, getting GMail installed didn't work both through the browser and sideloading it through the microSD card.

I really wanted to like this device. I really, really did. I had hopes this device would be similar to the INQ Mini Chat. Sadly the Tesco Mobile Mojo Chat has disappointed me. In terms of usable functionality it is on a par with the Royal Wedding phone. When it makes an attempt at doing cleverer stuff it fails miserably. If you want a phone that just makes calls and you you use lots of texts, this may be an affordable option with a QWERTY keyboard. The Tesco Mobile Mojo Chat is not for me. Tomorrow morning it's being returned to the Tesco Phone Shop.

Feel free to leave comments and/or questions.