Motorola Moto E7

What is it?

A budget Motorola smartphone. It runs off quite a basic processor – the MediaTek Helio G25 with 2GB of Ram.

Internal storage is limited to 32GB – with only a meagre 17GB free to use. This can be extended via the micro-SD card slot, though.

It has a large 6.5-inch LCD screen and it’s packed in a decent-sized 4,000mAh battery.

There are two cameras on the rear (a 48Mp wide and 2Mp macro lens) and one on the front (a 5Mp wide lens).

It’s missing near-field communication (NFC), so you won’t be able to use Google Pay. It does have a headphone jack and a fingerprint sensor to unlock the phone, though.

What’s it like to use?

It’s easy to set up thanks to the handy app and quick-start guide. The menu is simple to navigate, although due to the slow processor scrolling can drag and you might need to wait a while for apps to load. The touchscreen does respond well to your touch, though.

The display has several issues: there’s a blue tint, low resolution, restricted readability from the sides, low brightness and it shows up fingerprints easily.

There’s no face scanner, but the fingerprint sensor on the back does a decent job of unlocking the phone.

You can usually hear well on a phone call, but your voice gets distorted if you ring from a noisy environment.

How long does the battery last?

The battery lasts for an OK 31 hours. However, you’ll need to wait an age to recharge (three and a half hours to be exact) and only charging for 15 minutes gives you a pitiful two hours of run time before it goes flat.

How good are the cameras?

The rear lenses are OK. You can get a nice portrait where the subject is defined well against the background and the flash does a good job of retaining detail in your photos. Pictures can look tinted, though, and the zoom is dreadful as it completely blurs the image.

Selfies are worse, with unnatural and unbalanced colours, poor separation between your face and the background, and a lack of detail that verges on blurring.

Neither the rear nor front cameras have image stabilisation, so you can see lots of jerks and shakes in your clips. The rear lenses have better colours, though – front camera videos end up looking washed out and there are problems with the autofocus, too.

Is there anything I should watch out for?

The built-in speaker isn’t great for playing your favourite tracks out loud. You get a mono, sharp sound that makes music sound unbalanced.

Is there anything else I should know?

It’s quite a durable phone that shouldn’t scratch easily or stop working if you get caught in the rain.

Should I buy it?

Unfortunately, due to the age of this phone and the brand’s update policies, we suspect it will stop receiving important security updates in less than a year, so we can’t recommend that you buy. Find out more in our guide to mobile phone security.