Should I buy Moto E or Galaxy S3?

[Icarus3000]

I'm looking for an inexpensive phone for my 12 year old daughter. I can get either the SIII (base 2012 model) or the Moto E (2015 model) for the same price. I realize the S3 was a higher end device in its day, but the Moto E is a newer model. From the specs, the S3 looks to be a better deal to me (better screen, better camera, flash). So... I am leaning towards the S3, but I would value opinions from the forum.

Is there a reason I should get a Moto E over an S3?

Many thanks!

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! The S3 was only updated to 4.3, while the Moto E should come with Lollipop (not sure if 5.0 or 5.1).

 

[Icarus3000]

Thanks for the reply! (as an aside, I can't believe this thread has had over 1,000 views and only 1 person has anything to say about my question .. :/ )

I was thinking more from a hardware perspective.

a) Can't the S-3 be rooted and modded to run latest OS? (I am comfortable doing so. I had a couple of old android tablets that I kept up to date that way until batteries died).
b) Even if I kept it at 4.3, my daughter would mostly use the device for talking, texting and taking photos. Even though Samsung doesn't support the S3 any longer, its specs appear higher than the Moto E. Am I wrong?

 

[B. Diddy]

You're right, the S3 specs are generally comparable or better than the Moto E. But bear in mind that age can affect hardware, especially the memory chips. So if you got a used S3 that's been much loved (i.e., used a lot), there may be a higher chance that the hardware will fail sooner than if you got a brand new Moto E. The S3 is a 3 year old phone, and my nonscientific educated guess (based on experience here) is that phones start to exhibit more problems when you hit the 2-3 year old mark.

Rooting and flashing a custom Lollipop ROM on the S3 is always an option, but remember also that these are not official, so it's not uncommon for certain features to be buggy or non-working (depending on the ROM you use).

In general, though, since your daughter will be using the phone for fairly basic functions, it won't be crucial for the phone to be on the very latest OS version--I mentioned it because some people can be very picky about this kind of thing. So the main concern I'd have would be the age of the hardware.

 

[Icarus3000]

Thanks. Upon further research I think I will stick with my initial thought of getting the S3. Even if I keep an old os, the hardware specs are what's guiding my decision.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[f2racer]

I just picked up a 2015 VZW Moto E LTE as a backup to my well used VZW S3.

Here are some pros for the Moto E LTE:

• Upgraded to almost the latest version of Android (5.1)
• Stock Android experience
• Modern quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor

Here are some cons for the Moto E LTE:

• Low resolution display (960x540)
• Low amount of internal storage (8GB with only about 3GB available for apps and data)
• Not currently rootable (at least permanent root) and in the case of Verizon's Moto E locked bootloader
• No NFC

Here are some pros for the S3:

• Higher resolution display (1280x720)
• Higher amount of internal storage (16GB)
• Relatively easy to root and good amount of development (although most of the devs have moved on)
• Has NFC

Here are some cons for the S3:

• Touchwiz
• At least with most S3's that are running stock Android 4.3 or higher, locked bootloader
• Unless unused, S3's AMOLED display susceptible to burn-in