Motorola Moto E6s Review

Even for a company like Motorola, one of the first names that come to mind when discussing inexpensive Android phones that deliver fair value by effectively combining low prices with respectable performance, the Moto E6s pushes the "budget" term about as far as it can go.

This phone can be purchased in the UK for less than �100, approximately $125 or AU$190. However, as of this writing, neither the US nor Australia has announced a launch date for the device. In other words, the Moto E6s costs a tenth of what a Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus starts at, while the extremely affordable iPhone SE 2020 costs four times as much.

Everything else in this evaluation must be considered because this is one of the most affordable smartphones available. Although there is greater competition at the lower end of the market, Motorola has continued to undercut practically everyone on pricing.

Review

Design:

• Screen bezels that are suitable.
• Peculiar speaker position.
• Has a headphone jack.

It's still fresh in your mind that this phone costs such a pittance. Considering that we'll be bringing it up repeatedly. The Moto E6s looks good for a smartphone with this low price tag, but you will be mistaken for thinking it looks like a high-end model immediately.

A fair compromise between being able to fit a lot on screen and handling this in one hand is achieved by the 6.1-inch display, which leads the pack. You receive a straightforward plastic case in the box, which you may use if you choose, as has become standard on the previous few Motorola phones we've tested.

The Moto E6s is respectably thin at 8.5mm (0.33 inches) and light at 160g (5.64 ounces), and we found it to be both pleasingly pleasant to grip and use. Although a lot of plastic is used here, the construction quality is still acceptable; it feels cheap without being overly so, and it is well put together.

The bezels (and teardrop notch) are noticeable but not unduly so, and the only bezel that can truly be described as thick is the one on the chin. It's important to note that the color of our review device is a pretty elegant light-to-navy blue gradient that Motorola, for some reason, refers to as "peacock blue." There is also a "sunrise red" option available.

The Moto E6s escapes with the placement of the single speaker, fingerprint scanner, and dual-lens camera on the back. While the use of a micro USB connector is unfortunate but to be expected, wired headphone users will be happy to discover that there is a 3.5mm audio jack present.

Even though the Moto E6s won't be recognized for its design this year, there have been worse-looking, more expensive smartphones in the past. It will make you seem good in front of others and doesn't feel cheap or fragile (it can withstand splashes and spills but not total immersion).

Screen:

• 6.1 inches, 720 x 1560 pixels.
• Suitable for watching films.
• The color temperature can be changed.

The Moto E6s' screen is adequate for the price (have we mentioned the price yet?). It features a 6.1-inch LCD with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 720 x 1560 pixels, which is both acceptable crisp and acceptable in size.

These days, there are phones with even larger screens, but they are more difficult to fit in a pocket.

The Moto E6s will be a good fit if you don't mind giving up some Netflix or Disney Plus screen real estate in exchange for extra functionality. A 6.1-inch screen would be ideal for many people, and we were still content viewing YouTube videos and browsing the web.

The LCD panel's brightness and crispness are more than acceptable, and you can change the screen's color temperature if necessary (we didn't). The software also includes adaptive brightness choices, allowing the screen to adjust its brightness according to the surrounding lighting.

It won't fool you into thinking it's a OnePlus, Samsung, or Apple display, but it will serve your needs. Although Motorola has not provided a refresh rate for the screen, it is most likely 60Hz. Scrolling occasionally seems janky and slow, but it's fine. This won't be hitting the 90Hz or 120Hz rates of the top phones in the market.

The screen on the Moto E6s will always be there whether you utilize it for regular phone use or more specialized uses like watching films. Although it would be unreasonable to anticipate a top-tier panel on a phone at this price range, you don't even come close to getting one; given its pricing, we only had a few significant issues.

Battery Power:

• 3,000mAh average battery.
• Lasts easily for a day.
• 5W maximum charging.

Improved battery life is one benefit of having a lower-resolution screen and less-powerful components, and the 3,000mAh battery inside this device does a good job of it. If you're using the phone sparingly with video, GPS, and other features, you should be able to use it for at least another day. Knowing this is comforting if you forget to charge your phone overnight.

Some days, we still had between 30 and 40 percent of the battery left when it was time for bed, which is a remarkable effort and could be another reason you would choose this device over a flagship model. But remember that brand-new batteries are included with every new phone, and you may anticipate them to degrade with time.

Although our customary 90-minute video test only reduced the battery level from 100% to 83%, which is acceptable, pushing the phone with games or films caused some significant energy dips. Over the same 90 minutes, performance decreases of about 25% may be experienced if the Moto E6s' processor is overworked.

To fully charge this phone from nothing, you'll need to wait three to four hours and charge it to its maximum capacity of 5W, currently the lowest possible level for phone charging. You can live with this compromise because it was made in the name of cost.

Motorola hasn't significantly compromised the Moto E6s' battery life; in reality, it's on par with, if not better, most modern smartphones. To avoid exceeding the performance limits, you must just be careful.

Camera:

• Dual-lens camera on the back.
• Tries to achieve the best bokeh.
• Low-light performance that is shaky.

The days of low-cost smartphone cameras producing pixel-art renditions of what they were seeing are thankfully long gone, and today even the most basic smartphones on the market can produce stunning images when users put in the time and effort.

Though cameras like the one on the Moto E6s require adequate lighting and a steady hand, noise and fuzziness may easily sag. The superior optics, including the additional lenses and faster processing that result in better photographs in most situations, are among the perks of paying top cash for a flagship phone.

A 13MP primary sensor with an f/2.2 aperture and a 2MP depth sensor are both found in the Moto E6s' back camera. With a quick shutter speed, we got several clear and crisp images on a bright and sunny day. A picture's darkest and lightest areas can be balanced out with the help of onboard HDR processing.

There is even a bokeh or portrait mode, but we found that to be a little hit or miss. Although some trial and error are required, and the Moto E6s is prone to confusion about what it is looking at, you can achieve some background blurring behind a subject.

Budget phones typically perform poorly in low-light photography, and the Moto E6s are no exception. For example, when it's almost completely dark, the Moto E6s won't produce images close to the quality of devices like the Google Pixel 3a. This is different from the phone to take with you to capture a night out in dimly lit bars and clubs since details get lost, edges grow noisy, and image processing times run into seconds.

Will it be suitable for photographing the children and the animals, though? Absolutely. Again, everything needs to be weighed against the price you're paying, and given that this is one of the least expensive smartphones currently available, you can't complain about the camera quality. You might be pleasantly pleased by how nicely certain photos turn out.

The 5MP selfie camera on the front, which performs its job and nothing more, completes the image. Don't expect to film a movie with it, but the back camera's video recording can be done in FHD (1080 x 1920 at 30 frames per second), which was adequate.

Software:

• Has Android 9 installed.
• There is little bloatware.
• Not the Android One.

You won't find a lot of bloatware on the Moto E6s because Motorola is one of the better phone manufacturers when it comes to respecting what Google does with Android. There are only two Motorola programs?a Device Help app and an FM Radio utility?in addition to the Google apps, which are all beautifully organized and executed.

Motorola adds its flair to the home screen with unique wallpaper and the well-known Moto widget displaying the time and date, but you can easily alter that if you don't like it. Google Photos is built to take care of all your photo and video needs, and the standard Google feed is only a swipe to the right from the home screen.

Unfortunately, Android 9 is the operating system that the phone ships with, not Android 10. This means that while some gestures are supported (swipe up to see all of your apps), the system is not completely up to date, as there are still three software buttons at the bottom of the display. It's not a deal breaker, but it is something to consider.

In contrast to the Nokia line and devices like the Motorola One Action and Motorola One Vision, the Moto E6s is separate from the Android One program. Therefore you are not guaranteed two years of software upgrades and monthly security patches, which seems unfortunate. Please don't count on receiving Android 10 soon from Motorola, which is often quite consistent with its updates.

Overall, using the Moto E6s, you get a good, nearly-stock Android experience. We prefer it to some of the dressed-up, gimmick-heavy Android incarnations that Chinese phone manufacturers come up with, and there are a few third-party apps here that you need to stay away from.

Games, Music, and Movies:

• Acceptable for your videos.
• Rather thin noises.
• Some games have issues.

If you're checking into YouTube, Netflix, Disney Plus, or any other video service, you'll always have a respectable watching experience on the Moto E6s. You'll have to live with a small black cut-out in your video because the phone does nothing to cover the teardrop notch, but it's not too horrible for fast viewing bursts.

You must be careful not to cover the phone's single speaker with your hands when watching something because it is located around the back of the device. It performs as promised and can reach a respectable volume; however, when the volume is increased, it starts to sound distorted and tinny overall.

You can view films and television shows and listen to podcasts in the kitchen or bedroom, but you won't be able to enjoy your music with this speaker. It's available if you require it, and if you choose, you may also use the 3.5mm audio jack.

As you might anticipate, the MediaTek Helio P22 chipset and 2GB of RAM struggle to handle more demanding apps and games, so you'll have to get used to waiting a while for programs to load and some lag between menus and apps.

There will be a small amount of extra latency every time you try to do something, but the performance by no means renders it unplayable.

And once more, that's a concession that many will be ready to make to get a smartphone for less than �100 (about $125 or AU$190). You won't notice that this can't keep up with the mid-range and flagship smartphones out there until you're attempting to switch between screens and apps quickly and have many different apps open simultaneously.

Benchmarks and Performance:

• CPU model: Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22.
• Only 2GB of RAM.

The chipset and RAM inside the Moto E6s are about as low as you can get away with to run a smartphone if you're opting for a device this cheap, so that you won't get the best internal specs. Don't expect too much from it; it will take care of the necessities for you just fine.

The amount of RAM that can be used at any given time depends on how much of the 2GB onboard RAM is used up by the phone to keep it alive and functioning. Additionally, it implies that more difficult programs may have difficulties. Although you can extend it with a microSD card, 12.55GB of the 32GB storage is taken up before use.

Our standard Geekbench benchmarking apps can't be run on the phone due to its low processing capability. We didn't have any major complaints about the Moto E6s' performance on a day-to-day basis; we just had to dial back our usual frantic smartphone pace so the device could catch up. It's not unusable or painfully slow, but I had no trouble sending messages, streaming movies, or browsing the web.

Since this device is at the lower end of the market and lacks NFC, Google Pay is not an option; you won't be able to make contactless payments with it. It is not unexpected that no wireless charging is available and that the waterproofing rating only extends to "water-repellent".

One area where the Moto E6s doesn't truly punch above its weight is the specs and performance that results from them, but that's okay in general. You choose a more expensive model if you use your smartphone frequently. On the other hand, if all you need is the bare minimum, the Moto E6s will do.

Conclusion:

When comparing a smartphone that costs $100 to one that costs $1,000, there are many factors to consider. The more costly smartphone is superior in every way, but is it ten times better?

Because you must consider how much you are paying (or not spending in the case of the Moto E6s), it is only sometimes the case that the flagship phone receives five stars and the budget phone receives one star.

Given the Moto E6s's pricing, we could have been more impressed. It's a useful phone with minimal bloat that looks decent, shoots decent photos, and lasts long enough on a single charge. You can't ask for much more from one of the most affordable phones.

Although Motorola's marketing materials may exaggerate the super-responsive chipset and stunning camera performance, this is one of the finest entry-level phones available.