Redmi 2 vs Moto E 2nd Gen vs Lenovo A6000 – The entry level battle!

With the release of Xiaomi Redmi 2 in India, the battle ground for entry-level phones in India has now heated up! And boy we do love when this happens. So the closest contenders to Redmi 2 are the all new Moto E and the Lenovo A6000. Just going by the spec sheet, looks and price; Redmi 2 comes off as a better phone with stunning camera, 4G support on both SIMs and other features not to be found on either Moto E or Lenovo A6000. But it all boils down to one’s preferences and requirements about the OS and the design. We will hold off until we get to use the devices for a while before we comment on which device is good for what use cases and patterns. So lets put all the three in one chart to see how the phones pitch against each other!

Specifications Comparison -

	Redmi 2	Moto E (2015) 3G	Lenovo A6000
Display	4.7 inches IPS 720 x 1280 pixels (~312 ppi) AGC Dragontrail	4.5 inches IPS 540 x 960 pixels (~245 ppi) Gorilla Glass 3	5.0 inches IPS 720 x 1280 pixels (~294 ppi)
Form Factor	9.4 mm thick, 133 gms in weight	12.3 mm thick, 145 gms in weight	8.2 mm thick, 128gms in weight
Processor	1.2 GHz Quad-core 64-bit Snapdragon 410 Cortex-A53	1.2 GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 200 Cortex-A7	1.2 GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 410 Cortex-A53
OS	MIUI v6 on Android 4.4.4 Kitkat	Vanilla Android 5.0.2 Lollipop	Vibe UI Kitkat
RAM	1 GB	1GB	1GB
Memory	8GB + 32GB micro SD	8GB + 32GB micro SD	8GB + 32GB micro SD
Camera	8MP AF + 2MP	5MP AF + VGA	8MP AF + 2MP
Battery	2200mAh	2390mAh	2300mAh
Connectivity	4G LTE Cat4, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot	3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, hotspot	4G LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, hotspot
USB	microUSB v2.0, USB Host, USB OTG	microUSB v2.0	microUSB v2.0
FM Radio	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass	Accelerometer, proximity	Accelerometer, proximity
Colors	Black Gray, White, Yellow, Pink, Green	Black, White with color bands	Black
Price	Rs. 6,999	Rs. 6,999	Rs. 6,999

Advantages

Redmi 2:

• 4G supported on BOTH the SIMs
• AGC Dragontrail Glass for the display
• Stunning 8MP auto focus, wide-angle camera
• Quick Charge 1.0 for the Battery
• MIUI v6 though based on KitKat is one of the coolest OS we’ve seen
• Maximum sensors among the three phones
• OTG support
• Highest Pixel Density among the three

Moto E (2015):

• Vanilla Android
• Color Bands options
• Very good battery life (based on our Moto E usage and now stated to be better than that)
• Gorilla Glass 3 protection
• 2 years of Android updates
• Motorola’s ‘Quality’ Promise

Lenovo A6000:

• Highly improved Vibe UI
• Good battery life (based on our tests)
• Lightest among the three
• Bigger screen @ 5″

So is the Redmi 2 smoking out the other two? Before concluding we will wait for us to get a hands-on on the device. I have personally used the Moto E(2014) for a long time and since the last 2 months, been using the Lenovo A6000 fairly regular and I was pleasantly surprised as to how good the phone is. We would also like to ring your bell on the following infamous issues we all faced on the Redmi 1S which we will keep a look out for when we test the Redmi 2:

• Heating up - the 1s heated up like crazy even with normal usage
• Software issues – random boots and lags
• Software updates – 1s is yet to receive the MIUI v6. This being archived and also the entry level phone, Xiaomi which is always slow in software updates and poor in execution and more often than not failing to keep up promises our skepticism is high and justified
• Overall build quality is low when compared to the other phones – more plastiky
• Xiaomi service post sales – its still not where we all want to be