Motorola Moto E review: Have a break!

Simple phonebook

The phonebook is the stock Android app People, which hasn't been much changed since its major redesign last year with the introduction of Ice Cream Sandwich. It uses tabbed interface with Favorites, Contacts and Groups as separate tabs.

The People app

The contact list has a dedicated search filed plus it offers and an alphabetical scroll bar. Quick Contacts features is available too.

You can sync with multiple accounts, including Exchange and Facebook, and you can selectively show or hide contacts from some accounts (as well as filter specific groups in an account), or set the phonebook to display only contacts with phone numbers or only contacts that are online.

Contact options

Telephony

The in-call quality with the Moto E is decent, the earpiece is loud enough with clear voice.

Android 4.4 KitKat dialer app supports smart dial. Upon launch it brings you to its default dialing tab where you get a search field, the most recent dialed contact and a list of contacts you've dialed most often. You can bring up or hide the dialer by its dedicated shortcut at the bottom. It supports smart dialing both by name and phone numbers.

The Dialer app

Motorola Moto E is among the few phones to score an Excellent mark in our loudspeaker tests, meaning you won't be missing calls and notifications even in the noisiest of environments.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overal score
Nokia Lumia 625	65.3	64.8	68.8	Below Average
LG G2 mini	65.2	67.7	64.6	Below Average
HTC One mini 2	69.3	66.6	75.9	Below Average
Nokia Lumia 520	68.2	69.0	66.5	Average
Nokia X	67.8	66.2	75.8	Good
Nokia XL	66.7	65.2	76.7	Good
Nokia Asha 503	75.1	72.1	75.8	Very Good
Motorola Moto E	75.9	71.5	81.6	Excellent
Motorola Moto G	81.6	75.7	82.7	Excellent

Messaging and text input

Text messages and MMS use standard thread layout. Adding multimedia (photos, videos, sounds, etc.) will convert the message automatically into an MMS. Google's hangouts is also on board, it supports SMS too.

The messaging app • Adding multimedia turns it into an MMS

Naturally the Gmail client and the default Email apps are onboard. Gmail can sync only with (multiple) Google accounts, while the generic Email app can handle POP and IMAP and offers a Combined inbox.

Gmail and Email apps

Moto E relies on the default Google keyboard for text input. It supports Swype-like gesture input, personalized dictionary, auto-correction and lots of languages. You can use Google's voice input too.

Moto E's Google keyboard• Settings