Motorola’s new E-series offering, the Moto E13 Turns out to be one of the most basic smartphones of 2023 yet. It boots Android 13 (Go Edition) and sports a single rear-facing camera, 5MP selfie camera, and 10W charging solution. That said, the phone targets budget buyers who want the smartphone experience without spending big bucks. Moto E13 can be yours for Rs 6,999, but is it worth the money? We answer that in this Moto E13 review. read on.
Decision
The Moto E13 could be worth considering for those looking for a stock Android smartphone in the budget segment. The handset doesn’t check all the boxes but still manages to get the job done. It’s a good design to begin with, followed by strong battery life and a serviceable display. The performance and cameras could have been better, but can’t really complain considering its budget price. ,
low
- The Moto E13 doesn’t have a flashy or flashy design, but it’s to my liking. Motorola has kept things nice and simple with its acrylic glass PMMA body which has a matte finish. The handset comes in three colours: Cosmic Black, Aurora Green and Creamy White. I was sent the Aurora Green variant, which looks subtle and changes its color occasionally with the light hitting the surface. The phone is a magnet for fingerprint smudges, but not as much as smartphones with glass backs. Furthermore, the Moto E13 sports flat edges for an excellent grip and a smaller rear camera housing, which sits flush with the phone’s chassis. This ensures a wobbling-free typing experience on a flat surface. There is also a Motorola logo on the rear panel.
- The toggles for power and volume are on the right side of the phone. While the power toggle button was within reach of my thumb, I had to resort to finger gymnastics several times to press the volume rocker. It would have been nice if the buttons were placed a little lower. Moving on, the phone ships with a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer on the bottom edge along with the speaker grille and microphone. The top edge comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the left edge, the Moto E13 sports a SIM ejector tray, which houses a dedicated slot for a microSD card. The handset is also IP52-rated to protect it from minor splashes and dust.
- On the front, the Moto E13 sports a 6.5-inch display that comes with HD+ resolution and 60Hz refresh rate. Motorola has opted for an LCD panel with a waterdrop notch. It’s a typical budget smartphone display, with decent colors and good outdoor visibility. That said, the viewing angles and 720p resolution are sub-par. Details may not appear clear enough in some situations. The display has panda glass protection and chunky bezels. Despite this, the phone offers 89.47 percent screen-to-body ratio which provides a decent viewing experience indoors. The phone is lightweight – tipping the scales at 179.5 grams – and is comfortable to hold for hours watching web series/movies. That said, the device is Widevine L3 certified and can only stream SD content from Netflix and other streaming platforms.
- Now coming to the performance and software of Moto E13. The handset is powered by 1.6GHz octa-core Unisoc T606 SoC paired with 2GB/4GB of RAM and 64GB of user-expandable (up to 1TB) storage. The performance of the device is average at best and will suit a regular smartphone user. The chipset can handle some light multi-tasking with basic games like Subway Surfer and a few apps running in the background, but not without hiccups. The handset stuttered and took time to load apps under moderate to heavy load. While 4GB RAM sounds good for a smartphone, I wish there was a 6GB RAM variant as well. It caters well to the needs of the power users in the budget segment. Whatever the case, the Moto E13 offers a near-stock Android experience. The handset runs Android 13 (Go edition) out of the box, with a light custom skin running on top. The skin hardly customizes the OS or adds any bloatware. Additionally, you have the option to enable/disable push notifications. As for Android 13 (Go edition), it comes with the same Material UI design, customization options and features such as notification permissions, app language preferences, and more as the regular version of the OS.
- As far as the cameras are concerned, the Moto E13 packs a 13MP AI-powered sensor on the back with LED flash, while on the front, it packs a 5MP snapper for selfies and video calling. The picture quality is almost fine in daylight. Details look good, and colors look good too, as long as there aren’t any shadows falling on the subject. Dynamic range also looks decent with HDR on. Having said that, as is the case with most budget smartphones, sometimes the images can be over-exposed. Also, the pictures clicked in low and artificial light look blurry and hazy. They have a lot of noise and color inaccuracy. Motorola has given Night Mode some justice to the E13’s low-light performance, but it’s simplifying the details. Considering the price, this is the most you can get from a smartphone. Moving on, the handset comes with a Portrait Mode, which offers an artificial Bokeh effect that is fully adjustable as per your liking. However, edge detection can go for a toss at times.
- Keeping the lights on of the Moto E13 is a 5,000mAh battery, which is rated to last up to 36 days on a single charge. Considering that the phone will not be used for heavy gaming, the claimed battery life seems believable. I was consistently getting more than a day of battery life between charges on moderate to heavy usage. That said, my usage did not involve binge watching movies/web series for hours. On the PC Mark Battery 3.0 test, the handset returned with an impressive score of 17 hours and 55 minutes. What’s not so impressive; However, there is charging of the phone. The Moto E13 comes with a 10W charger, which takes around 3 hours to juice up a dead battery to 100 percent.
- In terms of connectivity, the Moto E13 features dual-band Wi-Fi that supports both 2.4GHz reach and 5GHz high-speed channels. It also has Bluetooth v5.0 and dual SIM support. The handset comes with 4G LTE connectivity, which worked fine for me. For audio, the phone has a Dolby Atmos-enabled speaker at the bottom, which delivers decent sound quality at 60-70 percent volume.
final call
Moto E13 price in India is set at Rs 6,999 for the 2GB RAM variant, while the 4GB option costs Rs 7,999. Considering that the two variants are priced closely, going with 4GB of RAM would be a wiser choice here. Motorola has cut a few corners to keep the price of the smartphone on the affordable side. The Moto E13’s performance is around average, while the cameras struggle in most scenarios. The phone is also slow in charging, but you can let that go as all other smartphones in the segment offer similar charging speeds.
The good thing though is that the handset comes with a bloat-free software experience, long battery life and a decent display. If those things matter most to you, then the Moto E13 will be a smart buy.
Editor’s rating: 3.5 / 5
pros
- well made
- Clean and Bloat-Free OS
- good battery life
Shortcoming
- great performance
- slow charging speed
- cameras need improvement
