Moto G is not a type of cell phone that jumps out at you, but it is a very safe handset. Some people feel that Moto G has plain and a little boring design. However, if you consider the price of the phone, it does not look cheap.
Size and design
Moto G, which has dimensions of 66x130x11.6 mm, is a slimmest handset. But, it with 143 g feels a bit heavy. The other advantage is that the bezels of the handset are small, which is fairly compact for a handset that has a 4.5 inch display. Moto G is available in different colours like black, white, cyan, dark blue, pink, red and fluorescent yellow.
Snap-on rear covers, which need additional cost, in seven colours complement the glass black front of the phone. The tough shell cases with the front flip covers stay shut with the help of magnets and turn automatically when you open it. The phone also has a grip shell with a rubber frame that gives additional grip and impact protection. There is textured plastic on the outside of the flip shells that are tough and there is a soft finish on the inside of the screen cover. The splash proof coating that survives anything short of a complete immersion in water and Gorilla 3 that protects its screen from scratches are the other features.
The 4.5 inch screen, which is helped by the narrower bezels all-round the device, gives Moto G a luxurious feel. As the sides of the handset are sloped away from the screen, the device gets a waist that is visibly wider when looking directly down on the screen. Moreover, the soft blown curves of the back of Moto G provide a pleasing shape and make it comfortable to handle.
Display
The Moto G comes with a 4.5 inch LCD screen that has 1280 x 720 display with a 329 ppi pixel density. As LCD needs constant blacklighting so the black is not as black as you might see on other screen display types, as it drops the contrast levels very slightly. However, Moto G has a well-engineered screen.
Camera
If any of the features of Moto G gives the device a budget phone look, it is nothing but its camera. It has a 5 MP rear camera that takes passable, but not particularly sharp or vivid photos. It takes a little more time to capture an image and chances are more to become the pictures noisy. Even though images suffered quality problems in low-light, you can take images that look soft using the flash. The photos taken in outdoors and in good lighting are also be good. However, the shots taken with this camera are fine, if you want them to use in social media. But, remember that Moto G is not a good choice for photography crazy people. The good news is that Motorola has shifted its camera interface from the Moto X to the Moto G. It also has a 1.3 MP front-facing shooter.
The thing is not different in case of video. Even though it looks good in 720p, lack of a sense of fluidity and color depth of better cameras are the drawbacks of video of Moto G. Even though the camera of Moto G is not a worse than anything else in its class, it is one feature that really signals that Moto G is an entry level phone.
Media
We have stock audio and video player for media playback. Instead, Motorola G possesses a ‘audio effects option in the settings menu, which can affects the speaker and the earphones as well. The separate settings for the earphones and speaker are another thoughtful addition in Moto G. The handset also provides FM radio on board. Moto G can support 1080nvideo playback, even though it does not record in it. The loudspeaker of Moto G is not of the best quality, but its audio quality is quite excellent when paired with good IEMs.
Hardware
Moto G does not support 4G LTE, so the mobile data transfer will be limited to 2G/3G. Even though 4G is nice to have, IM, email and web browsing are all still acceptable over 3G at the moment. The biggest limitation of Moto G is the absence of microSD expansion. It is available in 8 GB and 16 GB variants. Motorola also manages to pack a pretty decent punch in the power department of Moto G. The device is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and 1 GB of RAM. It has dual-SIM support with both SIM card slots being 3G-enabled.
Operating system
Moto G smartphone ships with a nearly stock version of Android. Even though the device comes out of the box running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, an update to Android 4.4.2 KitKat is rolling out now. While it is rare to see KitKat even in the high-end phone, getting it on a budget phone like Moto G is quite incredible.
Connectivity
There is not much to mention about the connectivity features of Moto G smartphone. The Moto G smartphone supports 3G as well as quad-band 2G. Moreover, it also provides Wi-Fi and Bluetooth v4.0, GLONASS and USB host. Even though the device does not have issues with signal quality, the earpiece sounds a bit muddy and is not much clear. However, it does not become a problem, while calling, though the clarity could have been better.
Battery life
Motorola provides a 2070 mAh non-removable battery in Moto G smartphone that easily lasts up to 8 hours. During real world usage, customers can manage to get more than a day’s worth of usage easily.
Price
In 2013, four out of 10 smartphones were sold at a price below Rs 12,500. Shocking as it may sound, not a single Android smartphone stands out in this price segment. Most smartphone vendors cut the corners and use inferior quality components to manage to hit this price point. As a result, people are expected to make compromises and they have been compelled to the notion that they can get only this much at this price. Here comes the importance of Moto G. The Moto G with 8 GB variant is available at a retail price of Rs 12,499 and at a price of 13,999 for 16 GB variant. So, this makes it the best and prise worthy device that is available at Rs 15, 000 and quite possibly under Rs 20,000 as well. Motorola claims that Moto G can provide the same experience of flagship smartphone at a third of the price.
Advantages of Moto G smartphone
- Moto G is available at a fantastic price
- It provides nice screen
- It offers good battery life.
Disadvantages of Moto G smartphone
- Moto G has a mediocre camera
- It does not have LTE
- The device lacks microSD expansion
- Its audio quality is not much satisfactory
Verdict
There is no logic in comparing Moto G with any other high-end and high-priced smartphones such as Moto X, Galaxy S4, iPhone 5s. But, Moto G is an ideal option for those who want a high-quality device at an affordable price. Moto G may not be the best smartphone, but it can achieve this goal admirably.