Motorola almost single handedly reinvented the low cost, but perfectly usable, Android smartphone in 2013 with the release of the Motorola Moto G. Instead of spending the budget on a complicated and overly fussy user interface to sit on top of Android, Google-owned Motorola adopted the stock Android 4.3 Jelly Bean interface. The Moto G was based around a 720p resolution display and a quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, and was available with either 8 GB or 16 GB capacities with unlocked prices starting around the $170 point. Since the original Moto G, Motorola released the Moto E, an even less expensive Android smartphone based around a qHD, 4.3-imch display (that’s 540 by 960 pixels) and a dual core processor. We’ve since seen Motorola sold to Lenovo but a number of Moto devices have been sold, including a Moto G model with LTE and a MicroSD card slot, a second generation Moto G with a larger screen and more recently a second generation Moto E with an upgraded processor, screen and onboard LTE.
Today’s report is regarding a new Motorola device but rather than a third generation Moto G, which we are supposing will be released in the fourth quarter, is instead a third generation Moto E device likely to be released early next year. A Motorola smartphone with the model designation XT1565 had appeared at the Bluetooth SIG, Special Interests Group, passing through the inspection. Unfortunately, we know very little about the new Moto device. We can see that it was running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and includes Bluetooth v4.1 plus a number of supported Bluetooth profiles.
Motorola increased the screen size of their three Moto smartphones between the first and second generations and made prudent upgrades to the individual models: the Moto E received a front facing camera and new System-on-Chip in line with the upgraded mobile network to include LTE. However, at this point it’s difficult to speculate what may be upgraded for the new device or even if this is the Moto E or Moto G; we did see a rumored third generation Moto G a few days ago, which perhaps lends credit to this being the third generation Moto E but it is too early and we don’t have enough information to be able to tell. Whatever this new device is, the software is going to be very early as Motorola have a habit of keeping their devices very much up to date: if the third generation Motorola Moto E is released early next year, I expect it to be running Android M.