Motorola wants to usher in a new era in the mobile world—one marked by affordability without compromise. At Mobile World Congress, now-COO Rick Osterloh predicted the end of the $650 smartphone, and recent phones like the OnePlus One are proving that outlook to be prescient. Now with the debut of the $129 Moto E, Motorola is putting feature phones on notice. This is an excellent deal and a testament to the commoditization of smartphones worldwide. To put this in perspective, consider that AT&T is still selling the Pantech Breeze IV, a pared down flip phone, for $209.99 off contract.

Like the Moto G before it, the Moto E has its shortcomings—namely a lack of LTE and somewhat sluggish performance—but for less than the price of some competing feature phones, you get a well-built, modern Android smartphone. The $299 OnePlus One remains our Editors' Choice for unlocked smartphones, representing an unbelievable value for high-end performance. It's also more than twice as expensive as the Moto E, though, so they're not really comparable. Stepping up to $179 gets you the original Moto G, along with a sharper 720p display and faster performance, but even that $50 difference represents over 30 percent of the total cost of the Moto E—at this price point that's pretty substantial. The Moto E is an impressive phone that punches above its weight and will make an excellent first smartphone for anyone on a tight budget.

Design, Features, and Call Quality

The shared lineage between the Moto family of devices is immediately obvious—the Moto E looks like a petite version of the Moto G, which itself looks a lot like the Moto X. At 4.91 by 2.55 by 0.48 inches (HWD) and 5.01 ounces, the E isn't especially thin or light. The soft-touch plastic back has a bit of lateral wiggle room, but doesn't yield much flex and everything feels solidly built. There are Power and Volume buttons along the right edge, both of which felt too mushy for my taste. The back peels off to reveal the non-removable 1,980mAh battery and microSD card slot. Motorola offers the Moto E in black or white base colors with swappable shells in a variety of playful hues.