Motorola Moto E vs Nokia X vs HTC Desire 210 vs Sony Xperia E1: Battle between MNC-Branded Budget Smartphones Intensifies

Motorola launched feature-rich budget phone Moto E in India earlier this week.

The new Motorola phone received an overwhelming response and is expected to shake up the highly competitive budget smartphone segment, which was dominated by local players like Micromax, Karbonn, Lava, which offer dirt cheap handsets with top-end specifications, giving a stiff fight to MNC brands.

This year, there has been a reversal of fortunes for international brands, especially Motorola and Sony (overtook Apple as the second biggest MNC brand in terms of value) to make a strong comeback by focusing on the burgeoning budget smartphone sector, with the launch of devices like Moto E (and Moto G) and Xperia E1.

The competition does not end there; Nokia and HTC also are vying for a big chunk in the Indian smartphone market. In their bid to attract first-time smartphone buyers, the companies have launched the affordable Nokia X (with forked Android OS) and Desire 210.

One of the main advantages of MNC-branded phones over domestic devices is that users can be assured of good after-sales services, except Motorola which is limited to tier-one cities. But going forward, the company is expected to establish more service centres in tier-2 cities, after getting acquired by Lenovo soon.

Prospective consumers, who are planning to migrate from feature phones to MNC smartphones without burning a hole in your pocket, Moto E, Nokia X, HTC Desire 210, and Sony Xperia E1 Dual are worth having a look at.

Here is a brief description of the standout features of Motorola Moto E, Nokia X, HTC Desire 210 and Sony Xperia E1 Dual:

Display:

First up, Moto E flaunts a 4.3-inch qHD (960x540p) screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 scratch resistant shield and has a pixel density of 256 ppi (pixels per inch).

[Note: Motorola phone also boasts splash resistant screen/body enabling users to take/answer calls even in rain. However, it cannot really be taken for dip in the pool]

Whereas the rest of the three rivals - Nokia X, HTC Desire 210 and Sony Xperia E Dual - all sport a 4.0-inch WVGA display with 480x800p resolutions having pixel density of around 233 ppi.

Processor, RAM, Storage capacity:

Motorola and Sony smartphones run on same 1.2GHz Snapdragon 200 series chipsets manufactured by the industry leader, Qualcomm. Nokia X ships too ships with the same branded processor, but with a slower 1.0GHz CPU.

HTC in its bid to keep the manufacturing costs under check, it has incorporated Taiwanese based MediaTek silicon chip - 1.3GHz Quad-core Cortex A7, similar to the ones we inside the low-cost domestic branded phones.

In terms of storage, all devices come with 4GB inbuilt storage with options of expansion up to 32GB.

However, Moto E owners will have slight advantage over the other rival devices thanks to 1GB RAM, which is more than enough play high-graphic games with less lag. No other smartphone under sub-₹7,000 price-tag boasts of this kind of sumptuous memory. Sony, Nokia and HTC phones ship with just 512MB RAM.

Mobile Operating System Software:

In this aspect, three smartphones Moto E, HTC Desire 210 and Sony Xperia E1 stand even as they run on the same ubiquitous Android platform; only difference among them is that they ship with different versions. User need not get deterred by this difference as they can still plays games and apps available in the market.

Nokia X runs on the tweaked version Google OS (Android Open Source Project), very different from conventional Android devices. It feature 'Tiles' like interface seen inside the Windows Phone OS powered devices. Instead of Google based maps and applications, people will find Nokia's Here maps service, Mix Radio (with more than 30 million songs), Nokia browser and more. On the bright side, users can side-load Android apps from third party app stores.

Camera:

Considering the price-tag of the devices, users cannot expect much in this department.

In terms of specifications, HTC smartphone holds the upper hand over the rivals, as it boasts two cameras – front and back, whereas the rivals come with only a single primary camera on the rear-side.

Desire 210 flaunts 5.0-megapixel camera (no LED flash) on the back-side and VGA camera on front for video chat.

Moto E too comes with 5.0-megapixel camera (no LED flash) on rear-side, but lacks front –camera.

On the other hand, Nokia X and Xperia E1 come with less-superior 3.0-megapixel camera.

Price:

Among the four rivals, ₹6,999 priced Moto E is cheapest. Motorola device is exclusively available only in Flipkart and as per latest report, the smartphone stocks have ran out in the e-store. Consumer can pre-book the device and expect it delivered in 10-15 business days depending on the residence location.

Nokia X made its debut in March for 8,599, but since then the price has been reduced to below ₹7,000 in some online stores.

Sony Xperia E1 (dual-SIM) and HTC Desire 210 are costliest among budget smartphones. Both can be purchased for around ₹8,200 in the market.

Key specifications of Motorola Moto G, Nokia X, HTC Desire 210 and Sony Xperia E1: