If you're currently in the market for the best smartphone going around, the Samsung Galaxy S6 should be close to, if not at the top of your shopping list. Unfortunately it's not exactly the most budget friendly device; at ~$550 unlocked and off-contract, it'southward the sort of product that'due south restricted to people with a fair chunk of disposable income.

On the other finish of the spectrum sits the 2022 Moto Due east, an entry-level handset from Motorola that can readily be institute for under $100. It may not have all the bells and whistles of the Galaxy S6, but information technology costs a fraction of the price and promises to be a capable performer for day to solar day tasks. And, when you look at the smartphone market as a whole, information technology'due south devices in this toll category that make up the bulk of sales worldwide.

So what does a $100 smartphone go you in comparing to an expensive flagship? Is the 2022 Moto East just as usable in mean solar day to 24-hour interval activities as the Galaxy S6, or is the extra cost of Samsung'due south leading smartphone more than than justified? In this commodity, we're going to detect out.

Allow's start with the hardware. The 2022 Moto E comes with a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SoC, 1 GB of RAM, viii GB of internal storage, a 5-megapixel photographic camera, and a four.5-inch 960p display. In stark contrast, the much more expensive Milky way S6 comes with an octa-cadre Exynos 7420 SoC, 3 GB of RAM, at to the lowest degree 32 GB of storage, a 16-megapixel camera, and a five.i-inch 1440p brandish. A full outline of the differences can be seen in the table below.

Specs Samsung Galaxy S6 Motorola Moto E (2015)
SoC Exynos seven Octa 7420 Snapdragon 410
CPU 4x ARM Cortex-A57 @ two.1 GHz + 4x ARM Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz 4x ARM Cortex-A53 @ one.4 GHz
GPU Mali-T760 MP8 Adreno 405
Memory three GB dual-channel
LPDDR4 @ 24.9 GB/s		 one GB single-channel
LPDDR3 @ 4.two GB/s
Storage 32/64/128 GB internal 8 GB internal + microSD
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/due north/ac 802.11 b/m/n
Bluetooth four.ane iv.0
LTE Category half dozen Category 4
Other NFC, Infrared LED, MHL, DLNA, GPS+GLONASS, HSPA+, 2G GPS+GLONASS, HSPA, 2G
Display v.1" 1440p Super AMOLED 4.5" 960p IPS LCD
Bombardment 9.eight Wh (2,550 mAh)
Non-removable		 9.1 Wh (two,390 mAh)
Non-removable
Camera 16 MP 1/two.half-dozen" sensor with f/1.ix lens and OIS 5 MP 1/five" sensor with f/two.2 lens

You really get a remarkable number of features with the Moto E for simply $100, including things not seen on the previous generation such equally an autofocusing rear photographic camera, LTE connectivity, a front-facing camera, and a quad-core CPU. Only every bit you might look, there are still some notable omissions when the Moto E goes head to head with the Galaxy S6.

  • No NFC. This means the Moto East cannot be used for mobile payments.
  • No dual-ring Wi-Fi (or 802.11ac), which could impact Wi-Fi performance in crowded areas
  • No fingerprint reader for enhanced security
  • No heart charge per unit monitor or fitness features in general
  • LTE connectivity is capped at 150 Mbps down, whereas the Galaxy S6 can theoretically download over LTE at 300 Mbps
  • No wireless or quick charging
  • No support for 4K or HEVC encoding or decoding

Looking down the listing, there isn't any feature from the Moto E that could be classified equally a critical omission. Every extra feature included with the Galaxy S6 is essentially a luxury feature, and isn't necessary for basic or even typical smartphone usage. Some of the features only a small fraction of users would apply anyway, such as making mobile payments, watching 4K videos, monitoring your heart rate, or wireless charging. Other things the Galaxy S6 supports aren't even in widespread use today, similar Category 6 LTE connections and HEVC videos.

On the other manus, the Moto E actually sports some functionality the Galaxy S6 lacks, almost notably a microSD card slot for cheaply expanding upon the internal storage. It also comes with stock Android, which could exist appealing for people who don't similar Samsung'south (actually acceptable) TouchWiz skin.

While the Moto E does pack all the basic hardware someone would want in a smartphone, there are some clear cases where the Galaxy S6 provides a vastly superior feel.

The display, while perfectly usable on the Moto Eastward – in fact it's pretty good for a $100 device – is outclassed by the Galaxy S6. Not only is the S6's brandish larger, but it is higher resolution, has better color reproduction and outdoor visibility, and has a more than responsive touchscreen.

Storage capacity peculiarly stood out. Yes, the Moto Eastward has expandable storage, but 8 GB of internal NAND is a flake slim for storing apps, particularly large games that yous might want to download from the Play Shop. You tin move some apps to the microSD carte du jour, but it'south not an elegant solution. Meanwhile, I never had an event with the Galaxy S6's 32 GB of internal storage, even though the device doesn't support microSD cards.

Evidently, the design of the Galaxy S6 is also a lot nicer than the 2022 Moto East. I was impressed with the Moto E's durability and rugged design, merely of grade I preferred the slim, sleek, metal body of the Milky way S6. That'south okay though, because design is one of the reasons you'd choose to fork out an extra $450 for the Galaxy S6 over the budget-friendly Moto East. It's nice to accept a good design, a adept display, and lots of internal storage, merely these features arguably aren't disquisitional to everyday smartphone functioning.

The photographic camera is another feature where the more you pay, the amend the quality gets. The Galaxy S6 absolutely smokes the Moto E 2022 by offer a significantly higher resolution sensor with optical stabilization, a wider lens aperture that leads to ameliorate low calorie-free performance, and 4K video recording. However, the 2nd-gen Moto Eastward's camera is significantly better than its predecessor and most other phones in this toll range, and generally I believe it will practice 'just fine' for taking the occasional photo.

None of the above results volition really surprise anyone who's looked at the massive toll and specification difference betwixt the Moto East and the Galaxy S6. Only what may surprise is the difference in performance, which we'll explore on the following folio.