In late November, Motorola unveiled at low-end version of their flagship device the Moto X w/ the cheaper Moto G. Some of the specs are slightly downgraded as some select features are gone as well. While its not poised to compete with its bigger brother but the low-end/mid-range market to rethink the cheaper smartphone. The Moto G is slightly smaller display, lower resolution camera lens, and a smaller battery.
Does the lack of LTE stop Motorola from crafting the best low-end smartphone? Can the price tag make the Moto G a great buy for pre-paid users? Our answers and more lie below.
Display
A 4.5inch 720p LCD display doesn’t sound like something you would desire in this day and age. It reads off more like a flagship device from 2 years ago. But on a device this size, it still holds well against the test of time (technology-wise anyways). Only a 0.2 inch difference than on the Moto X. Going w/ an LCD panel offers bright, accurate colors while keeping the pixels at good count of 329 ppi. Ideal for viewing everything you would on a device that costs more.
Budget phone w/ premium specs.
Performance/Battery Life
The internals are a bit more updated so you have no reason to pout. The Moto G is powered Qualcomm’s more recent CPU: a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor instead of the dual-core 1.7GHz dual-core S4 Pro CPU. Accompanied by 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage (more like 5.52GB) is enough to get you started – but keep you going without lag. If physical storage is an issue for you, they provide you w/ 50GB of free Google Drive cloud storage for 2 years. Great specs to offer superb performance.
Keeping the Moto G juiced up is a 2070 mAh battery and suggests a 24-hours of mixed usage. On a more heavier day of usage i was able to get through most out of an 8-hour day w/ still 25% of battery left. Easily capable of handling what you can throw at it. Job well-done.
Camera
On the rear, we have a 5MP shooter + the standard LED flash on the rear. Motorola isn’t known for having the best optics but the quality is enough for this package. It offers decent results of slightly grainy images at times w/ a desire of more clarity. Other situations, its not as bad. HDR mode saves plenty of what would be not-so-great photos. Everything is pretty much the same on the video side of things too.
“Motorola isn’t known for having the best optics but the quality is enough for this package.”
Motorola packed the same camera tools as in the Moto X – minus Quick Capture of course. You can touch to focus/capture, Slo-Mo video, Panorama mode, and as previously mentioned HDR mode. Other than that, post processing handles the rendering of the final product. Leaving the shooter as nothing special.
Software
The Moto G runs Android 4.3 out of the box but w/ my time w/ it, I received the update to 4.4 OTA shortly after having it. Essentially you get all of the same stock Kit Kat that was covered in our Nexus 5 review but w/ a few Motorola bonuses. They did trim down on the flash for the more budget device but you still have Motorola Assist and Migrate at your disposal.
Don’t look for Quick Capture & Active Notifications as they aren’t here, only on the Moto X.
With Motorola Assist you can add automation (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, automatic music playback, etc.) for Sleeping, Driving, and for when in Meetings. We went more in-depth with it in our Droid Ultra review. Motorola Migrate is a service that helps you bring over all of your info (photos, contacts, music, videos, call history) from your previous phone to your new Motorola device. They made sure to keep the core services to be beneficial for you.
“Motorola created the answer to the question of can you have a great pre-paid smartphone experience. Yes you can.”
TG 2 Cents
The Moto G is hands down one of the best budget phone experiences in the market w/o a huge amount of sacrifice. Motorola created the answer to the question of can you have a great pre-paid smartphone experience. Yes you can. While the Moto G won’t be a complete fit for all as some may want that LTE connection or a better camera. As far as the competition, you are going to get a more watered-down device running a more dated version for Android while the G is current. Despite now being a Lenovo company and everyone is now all-eyes-on Motorola’s future, job well-done.
To Buy Or Not To Buy
The Moto G is the ideal smartphone for those using pre-paid or simply just your 1st smartphone. Depending on which carrier you go with, the pricing ranges from $99 to $179 for the 8GB model and $199 for the 16GB one. On Boost Mobile, they’re offering you the Moto G for $130. You can also take advantage of the carrier’s $55 monthly unlimited plan. Make 6 on-time payments and you bill shrinks by $5 – you can get it as low as $40 monthly. An ideal choice for those in the pre-paid market or just in need of a cheap burner phone too.
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