Motorola’s back, and it’s kicking off its global smartphone revival with the keenly priced Moto G handset. A mid-range handset with a low-end price tag – okay Moto, we’re listening.
First things first: the Moto G price. You’ll be able to pick the handset up in two storage sizes – 8GB and 16GB. The former will set you back just £135/$175 (around £190), while the larger size is still a very palatable £159/$199 (around AU$215).
So where does this place the Moto G in the market? Well at that price it has the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Fame, Nokia Lumia 520 and LG Optimus L3 2 for company, but dive into the spec list and you’ll note the Moto G wipes the floor with them.
In terms of design the Moto G takes most of its cues from the firm’s first post-Google takeover handset, the US-only Moto X.
Weighing in at 143g the Moto G has a pleasing, well balanced presence in the hand without being overbearing, and while it may measure 11.6mm thick in the middle the tapered edges make it feel thinner than it is.
Couple that with a rubberized rear plate which slightly hugs the side of the handset too, and the Moto G fits comfortably in the palm, providing a decent amount of grip.
The smaller phone features a water repellent coating which means you’ll be able to whip it out in the rain without fear of a short circuit, but note it’s not waterproof, so no jumping in the pool with it while playing Real Racing 3.
You can even take the rear cover off and swap it for a different color, which Motorola is pushing as a big customizable feature of the phone. In reality it just reminds us of our Nokia 3310.
Sure changeable covers are fun for all of five minutes, but the novelty soon wears off. Not to mention the back cover is also pretty tricky to remove – you need to really dig your nails in at the base of the handset to get it free.
The left side of the Moto G is devoid of any features, while the top of the handset only sports a centralized headphone jack. Both the power/lock key and volume rocker switch are located on the right of the G – both of which are easy to reach and responsive to the press.
On the base is a microUSB port, while under the removable cover is a microSIM port – but no microSD slot. That means if you want to expand the onboard storage you’ll have to take to the cloud.
Thankfully, Motorola has struck a deal with parent company Google to offer Moto G users an additional 50GB of Google Drive storage on top of the 15GB already provided.
If we’ve done our math correctly that means you’ll get 65GB of cloud storage for free if you pick up a Moto G.
The Moto G comes with a 4.5-inch, 1280 x 720 display and can boast a 329ppi pixel density. To put that into perspective that’s a bigger, higher resolution and more defined display than the iPhone 5S – not bad for a handset which is a third of the price.
Everything looks bright, crisp and clear on the display and while it doesn’t match up to the full HD offerings you get on the top end phones, for a handset with such a low cost you’ll be more than happy – and it puts the competition to shame.
Of course a HD display isn’t the only key factor in a smartphone, but Motorola has managed to equip the Moto G with a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor and 1GB of RAM.
That power is in charge of running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, and while Android 4.4 KitKat may be creeping onto the market, it’s not coming to this Moto-created device at launch.
There is good news on upgrades though, with Motorola confirmed the Moto G will get a KitKat boost by January 2014.
Android purists will be pleased to learn that the Moto G is running the stock version of Jelly Bean, with Motorola opting against applying an overlay to the operating system – claiming instead it’s focused on things which add real benefit to users.
These include a faster boot up time and improved audio, data management, web speeds and general navigation.
We found that the Moto G did boot up quickly, but Motorola’s claims that it performs various tasks quicker than the Samsung Galaxy S4 will have to wait until our full review to be tested.
During our brief play with the Moto G general operation was fluid and smooth, and while it may not have been as lightning quick as the top end handsets, the quad-core chip is doing a good job – especially when you remember the price of the phone.
Chrome is the default browser on the Moto G, which isn’t a huge surprise, and on the strong Wi-Fi connection our handset saw web pages loaded up in good time.
The desktop version of TechRadar managed to render in an impressive five seconds, while the mobile site took just a couple of seconds – once again a strong showing from a phone which costs so little.
In terms of an input method you get the stock Android keyboard, which is a serviceable offering with word prediction and auto-correct, although we’d still recommend downloading a third party offering such as SwiftKey if you’re planning on doing a lot of typing.
The responsive 4.5-inch touchscreen aids typing speed, as well as general manipulation of the Android Jelly Bean operating system on the Moto G.
Motorola has done some work in the camera app, providing a minimalist interface which sees all the settings hidden from view and the whole screen made into a shutter key.
This makes snapping a photo easy as you don’t have to aim for a small shutter button on screen, while the settings are easily accessed by sliding from left to right.
There isn’t a great deal of options to play with, but the Moto G does offer HDR and panorama modes – just don’t expect a wealth of effects or technical tweaks.
Shutter speed is pretty quick, although we were less than impressed with the 5MP snapper on the Moto G which provided average quality photos during our quick test.
There’s a 2070mAh non-removable battery housed inside the Moto G, and Motorola claims that it will give you all day battery life. We were unable to test this during our brief hands on time with the handset, but we’ll see if it can live up to the claim in our full Moto G review.
Early verdict
On paper the Moto G looks like an awesome handset for the price, and in practice it appears to pretty much live up to its billing.
There’s a decent screen, the latest version of Android and a quad-core processor that keeps everything ticking along nicely. Overlook the dodgy rear camera and lack of expandable storage and the Moto G has the makings of a top notch, low cost smartphone.
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