Android By Russell Holly Dec. 3, 2013 3:59 pm
Budget phones, and particularly Android budget phones, have a nasty habit of being re-badged garbage from two years ago with a popular brand name attached. Motorola’s latest smartphone hopes to kick the trend and start a line of inexpensive phones that are actually enjoyable to use. I’ve just got my hands on the new Moto G, so lets take a quick look.
Most mobile gearheads looked at the Moto X after it was announced as though it was this underwhelming waste of space with a price point that made it completely laughable. After reality set in when the reviewers discovered it was easily one of the best smartphones of 2013, the tune changed just in time for Motorola to take the stage and show everyone what they thought a real budget phone should be like.
The Moto G is almost indistinguishable from the Moto X unless you know exactly what you’re looking for, and that’s what Motorola is hoping will really cause you to do a double take when you see the price tag.
Despite how similar they look, it doesn’t do a whole lot of good to compare the Moto G to the Moto X. They aren’t in the same class, and they aren’t supposed to be. Motorola built the G to take on the HTC One Mini, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and S3 Mini, and to deal with phones like the ZTE Source or the Cricket Engage MT. These are phones that show up on store shelves as the “free” option, or available off contract for seemingly very little.
What you get from these phones is so far beneath what you get from a premium phone experience that they can’t be compared to the Nexus 5 or the Oppo N1.
The Moto G’s 1.2GHz quad core processor and 4.5-inch 720p display won’t win any awards on paper, but combined you’ve got a snappy Android 4.3 phone that can load most apps just as fast as the premium phones. It handles high end gaming, video calling, and everything else I’ve thrown at it so far as gracefully as you could possibly expect from a device with these specs. It’s not perfect, the phone will occasionally stutter if you’re jumping between apps, but those stutters so far have been few and far between.
Motorola’s fun add-on with the G is replaceable backs. This isn’t a new trick by anyone’s standards, but it’s a nice touch. The standard backs aren’t the easiest thing in the world to remove, in fact I’ve already broken one in the process of swapping back and forth. Once you have the back off you can access the SIM slot, but the battery is not user serviceable. Motorola provided us with a flip cover along with this review unit, which acts very much like a Smart Cover in its ability to wake the display when you open the phone.
As first impressions go, the Moto G certainly has my attention. The lack of LTE, 5GHz WiFi, NFC, or wireless charging are all bummers in their own right, but clearly sacrifices were made in order to produce a superior base model phone.
I’ll be conducting a full review over the next week to really get to know this phone, but so far you can color me impressed.
Now read: KitKat only accounts for 1.1 percent of Android
More...
Most mobile gearheads looked at the Moto X after it was announced as though it was this underwhelming waste of space with a price point that made it completely laughable. After reality set in when the reviewers discovered it was easily one of the best smartphones of 2013, the tune changed just in time for Motorola to take the stage and show everyone what they thought a real budget phone should be like.
The Moto G is almost indistinguishable from the Moto X unless you know exactly what you’re looking for, and that’s what Motorola is hoping will really cause you to do a double take when you see the price tag.
Despite how similar they look, it doesn’t do a whole lot of good to compare the Moto G to the Moto X. They aren’t in the same class, and they aren’t supposed to be. Motorola built the G to take on the HTC One Mini, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and S3 Mini, and to deal with phones like the ZTE Source or the Cricket Engage MT. These are phones that show up on store shelves as the “free” option, or available off contract for seemingly very little.
What you get from these phones is so far beneath what you get from a premium phone experience that they can’t be compared to the Nexus 5 or the Oppo N1.
The Moto G’s 1.2GHz quad core processor and 4.5-inch 720p display won’t win any awards on paper, but combined you’ve got a snappy Android 4.3 phone that can load most apps just as fast as the premium phones. It handles high end gaming, video calling, and everything else I’ve thrown at it so far as gracefully as you could possibly expect from a device with these specs. It’s not perfect, the phone will occasionally stutter if you’re jumping between apps, but those stutters so far have been few and far between.
Motorola’s fun add-on with the G is replaceable backs. This isn’t a new trick by anyone’s standards, but it’s a nice touch. The standard backs aren’t the easiest thing in the world to remove, in fact I’ve already broken one in the process of swapping back and forth. Once you have the back off you can access the SIM slot, but the battery is not user serviceable. Motorola provided us with a flip cover along with this review unit, which acts very much like a Smart Cover in its ability to wake the display when you open the phone.
As first impressions go, the Moto G certainly has my attention. The lack of LTE, 5GHz WiFi, NFC, or wireless charging are all bummers in their own right, but clearly sacrifices were made in order to produce a superior base model phone.
I’ll be conducting a full review over the next week to really get to know this phone, but so far you can color me impressed.
Now read: KitKat only accounts for 1.1 percent of Android
More...
