Moto E (USA-2020)

I needed a new phone. I don't need a cutting edge flag ship phone or to take out a loan to buy it. I'm a middle aged Man who is frugal. If I play games its on a real computer or console but this phone can play some games reasonably well but its not meant for gaming and if that is important to you look elsewhere. Same goes for the camera.....its a middle of the road camera. If you need to take a lot of pictures of everything or yourself and demand best quality well this isn't it. its a decent camera. You can play with settings or use third party apps and it improves the quality but if you are a picture/video snob this isn't the phone for you. This motorola moto G power phone is an EDC swiss army knife/leatherman tool of smart phones. It will do everything you need it to do decently to well but its not a flag ship phone but nobody is claiming it is one. You absolutely need a good case and screen protector too...otter box and quality tempered glass screen protection applied properlyI needed a reliable phone that gave me the options to use some moderate resource hungry apps when necessary . I can go days without actually looking at my phone. This phone ticks all the boxes for me. I wanted a headphone jack, I didn't want the NFC tech and this phone doesn't have it. I compromised and accepted the fingerprint reader but I don't use it. This phone is a GREAT COMPROMISE between hardware, software and price. For the price its a great all around smart phone. Its also an almost barebones vanilla Android phone which is good if that is what you want and if you are a little tech savvy you have a good stable base to update things with various settings and apps to your liking. If you are switching to this Phone and android version from another manufacturer there will be a learning curve especially in finding settings or which settings are doing things that annoy you(example: adaptive brightness kept turning down the screen brightness...drove me nuts till I figured it out and turned it off ).This phone does support wifi calling. Your service provider has to offer it and it has to be enabled in your service plan account if its not done by default by your provider. Sometimes you can do that your self by logging into your account or you might have to call and get customer service to turn it on for you if its an option. If your service has wifi calling and its not showing up in your phone you can try an app from google play store called "wifi calling" by widget7 to turn it on in your phone or you might need to manually set up your service network/APN setting in the phone(get those setting from your provider's website or customer service).I would also recommend that when you get the phone to set it up to access your wifi then manually do system updates and restart the phone till its fully updated. I had to update my phone, restart it and then update it again and restart it before it was completely current. After you do system updates I'd then do a hard factory reset and check for system updates again before you connect the phone to service or install apps. This will ensure the phone and android OS are as current as possible before you install apps or service. Instructions to do a hard factory reset are here: mobilereset99(dot)com/motorola-mobiles-reset/

Bueno

Personally I wasn't ready to buy a new smart phone. My 2016 Samsung J series phone as far as I was concerned continued to meet my needs as my basic everyday cell phone. However, my cell phone provider informed me that my older 3G version CDMA phone was no longer to be supported by T-Mobile/Sprint and I was left with no choice but to find a replacement. I use Tello which is an MVNO cell phone service . I pay around 12.00 a month for unlimited call/text service and 1 GB's of fast data. The rest of the data I get free via WIFI or Hotspots. Consequently, paying much more than $100.00 for an unlocked phone seemed out of the question for me. I'm so grateful that I selected this Moto E (2020) phone and I think you will too. This budget phone came the closest to meeting all of the objectives I laid out and still kept me within my overall $100 price range. Maybe off by just a little bit... LOL. As you will soon see I'm a researcher by profession. It literally took months for me to evaluate budget cell phones as I didn't want to switch my cell phone provider. However, If I did switch providers the Moto E (2020) gave me the most choices in choosing a new phone service versus any other budget phone sold out there in the market.. Basically I needed a phone that was VoLTE friendly and this phone is DUAL VoLTE friendly. I needed a phone that supported bands 66 and 71. Only this budget phone met that category in (GSM) and yet offered full (CDMA) compatibility as well. Budget phones for Samsung, One Plus, TCL , LG, Nokia, BLU, Oukitel etc... all of them failed miserably at the $100 price range let alone not offering the same number of frequency bands as the Moto E. Why then only 4 stars ? Sadly, this Moto E phone has an antiquated slow charging Micro USB adapter. ( SEE PIC ) This phone uses an LCD screen and the resolution display is adequate but not exceptional. Any senior whose used to pressing front and back arrows instead of swiping to change pages will find that difference annoying . Overall, it just takes some time getting used to it. However, on the positive side the phone is BIG. The screen is Easy to Read. It has a modern slim bezel more like an expensive upper scale smart phone. (SEE PIC) Although the phone is big , it's still easy to hold in your hand. I'd strongly recommend though getting a phone case because of all the plastic components comprised in it. (SEE PIC ) Most importantly, and I can't stress this enough is that the Moto E meets ALL the band requirements for GSM and CDMA compatibility when choosing most phone carriers. This includes all the Major Carriers - EXCEPT IN RARE INSTANCES MAYBE VERIZON AND THE MVNO's LINKED TO THEM. For instance, the Verizon website by entering the IMEI/MEID # cites compatibility by saying " it looks like your device the MOTO E Unlocked XT2052-1 is compatible." However, it also states in smaller print "some devices may not support all features and services." The Motorola corporate website confirms the Moto E (2020) is compatibility using Verizon including their MVNO's. My research has uncovered that the Moto E phone also does work with most low cost MVNO's including many cheaper upstarts out there like Red Pocket using only (GSM). Many of you out there I see like Cricket Wireless through AT&T. I put my IMEI # in with their checker tool and it came back with a Yes. Unfortunately Cricket thinks this device is a GIN Lite phone. Whatever that means? The Motorola corporate website states US Cellular which uses a CDMA network won't work but yet the US Cellular compatibility tool asking only for my IMEI # says YES. A similar scenario applies to BOOST Mobile. The Motorola site says NO but when I enter the requested IMEI # in the Boost checker tool it says YES. I agree very confusing. I did figure out that the " Pre Paid" plans are the only ones that seem to be the most restrictive when using the Moto E unlocked. This is likely the case for Boost which offers many Pre paid plan services. Such plans do differ from a "Pay as you Go" plan or an "MVNO." They also seem to be the plans with no phone compatibility checker to confirm BYOP. Most negative reviews you'll see here online center around services with these Prepaid plans. Lastly, make sure that any phone service you're considering supports a Nano SIM card for your phone to operate. Just know that If you're using an older cell phone with a Micro SIM card it will not fit. However, this alone shouldn't be a problem. Most carriers provide a free SIM card or a new one at a very nominal cost. My phone didn't come with a SIM tool so I easily used a paper clip to open the SIM door on the phone to enter mine. I know I threw a lot of information out there to digest in only a single review. However, I believe knowledge is the key in selecting the right phone and carrier service. I hate it when I make a wrong decision due to lack of information. I encourage all Seniors out there to ditch your flip phones and get yourself the Moto E (2020). It's overall user friendly especially with Google Assistant. It's 100 % compatible with MOST EVERY cell phone service carrier out there in the US. Soooo..... I guess if I go on any further I'm just beating a dead horse here... huh? LOL How can a Senior on a fixed budget go wrong with this purchase. It's top rated by PC Magazine and Digital Trends. Check out their great reviews online. Heck, even a tightwad and proud of it, like consumer warrior Clark Howard loves Motorola phones. What's that I hear ? Yes of course, AARP members can also take this phone to Consumer Cellular with no problem. That's about it friends. I hope everyone enjoys their new phone. No matter which one you choose to buy :)