Motorola Moto E (Gen 2) 4G India Launch Planned for May

Motorola, which was acquired by Chinese technology giant Lenovo from Google last year, sells its devices in India through e-commerce firm Flipkart.

"We expect to launch the 4G version of Moto E (Gen 2) in India in the next two months," Motorola India General Manager Amit Boni told PTI.

Two weeks ago, Motorola had announced the global launch of the 3G and 4G versions of the new Moto E in more than 50 countries in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

The unlocked 4G-enabled handset is available for $149.99 (about Rs 9,400) in the US, while the 3G version is priced at $119.99 (around Rs. 7,500). With the 3G variant now launched in India for Rs. 6,999, the 4G LTE variant is expected to be priced at Rs. 8,999 at launch.

(Also see:  Motorola Moto E (Gen 2) 4G vs Lenovo A6000 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G vs Yu Yureka)

On the pricing of the devices, Boni said: "We have not decided on the pricing, but my sense is that it will be sub-Rs. 10,000."

The 4G version of the device would compete with the likes of Lenovo's A6000 (Rs. 6,999), Yu's Yureka (Rs. 8,999) and Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G (Rs. 9,999).

According to CyberMedia Research, iPhone maker Apple was the largest 4G LTE smartphone vendor in India with a market share of 45 percent in October-December 2014 period.

With increasing usage of data services and telecom players gearing up to offer 4G services (which provides higher speed), handset makers are also lining up devices at affordable price points to tap the opportunity.

Both the Moto E (Gen 2) and Moto E (Gen 2) 4G run Android 5.0 Lollipop out-of-the-box. The single-SIM handsets are identical in terms of specifications, except that the 3G variant Moto E (Gen 2) packs a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 SoC (with Adreno 302) whereas the Moto E (Gen 2) 4G features a 64-bit quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SoC (with Adreno 306). Both feature 1GB of RAM.

The Motorola Moto E (Gen 2) and its 4G LTE variant feature a 4.5-inch qHD (540x960 pixel) display with a pixel density of 245ppi, and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection along with anti-smudge coating. Both variants pack a 5-megapixel rear camera, and this time Motorola has included the much-lamented front camera onboard, in the form of a VGA (0.3-megapixel) sensor. The 8GB of built-in storage on both Moto E (Gen 2) handsets can be expanded via microSD card (up to 32GB).

Connectivity options on the Moto E (Gen 2) include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0LE, GPS/ A-GPS, GLONASS, FM radio, and Micro-USB. The handset measures 129.9x66.8x12.3mm, and weighs 145 grams. It is backed by a 2390mAh battery.

Motorola also sells the Moto E, Moto G, Moto G (Gen 2), Moto X, Moto X (Gen 2) and Moto Turbo in India. It also introduced its smartwatch, Moto 360, in the country last year.

In January, Motorola said it crossed the three million device sales mark with the Moto E and Moto G making up almost 80 to 85 percent of the sales.

Written with inputs from PTI