Motorola bills the Moto G as the phone for the rest of us - the ones who can't afford $500 to $700 for a high-end smartphone. That's a big deal overseas, where carriers don't subsidize phones with two-year service contracts the way they do in the United States. But even in the U.S., more people are moving to contract-free plans and ones that offer frequent upgrades, meaning the full retail price is what's going to matter.
(Also see: Moto G budget smartphone goes official at $179, coming to India in January)
The Moto G started shipping in the U.S. this week, initially for the GSM networks used by AT&T and T-Mobile. I spent the past week testing the Moto G, comparing the phone primarily with its more expensive cousin, Motorola's $500 Moto X. I also put it up against another lower-cost phone, Google's $349 Nexus 5, as well as the premium, $649 iPhone 5s from Apple.
Where the Moto G fell short was in its camera, battery life and inability to access faster, 4G LTE cellular networks. For everything else I tested, the Moto G stood up well.
Motorola, which is owned by Google Inc., doesn't skimp in equipping the Moto G with a speedy processor. Apps launch almost as quickly as they do on the phone's pricier rivals. The Moto G runs a fairly recent version of Google's Android system, with a promised upgrade to the latest, Kit Kat, early next year.
(Also see: Moto G dual-SIM smartphone to land in India with Android 4.4 KitKat: Report)
The Moto G also has a decent screen. It's about as sharp as the Moto X's and the iPhone's, enough for 720p video, though the Nexus and various Samsung phones do better by offering full, 1080p high definition. The Moto G's screen measures 4.5 inches (11.4 centimeters) diagonally, which is larger than the iPhone's but small for Android. Colors aren't as rich as on the Moto X's display, but if I want a superb visual experience, I'd turn to a tablet, a TV or even a movie theater. For a phone, the Moto G's screen delivers video quite well.
As for the other shortcomings
Cellular access
The Moto G delivers 3G performance at best. Many parts of the world are moving to 4G, but Motorola points out that many of its target markets are still upgrading to 3G. Even in the U.S., many regions lack 4G. If I'm doing a lot of things requiring top-notch speeds, I'm better off finding a Wi-Fi network anyway.
Battery life
The Moto G has 6 percent less battery capacity than the Moto X. I got about up to eight hours of streaming video on Hulu with the Moto G, compared with nine to 10 hours on the Moto X. Although the Moto G has a removable plastic back, the battery can't be exchanged with a spare. That said, eight hours for streaming video is a lot, and you can stretch it to a full day with more moderate use.
The main camera has a resolution of 5 megapixels, less than the 8 megapixels on the iPhone and the Nexus and the 10 megapixels on the Moto X. There's more to a good camera than the pixel count, but the pictures I took with the Moto G weren't particularly good, especially in low light. They are passable for selfies and Facebook posts, but you'll want a better camera for keepsakes. Perhaps the money you save on the phone can go to a point-and-shoot camera that takes better pictures.
The Moto G is also short on frills. Part of that stems from Motorola's philosophy not to tinker with the Android operating system too much. Many rival phone makers do just that and wind up creating more chaos and confusion.
Instead, Motorola tries to limit what it adds. In the case of the Moto X, you can twist the phone to automatically launch the camera. You can initiate voice commands by saying, "OK, Google Now." The Moto X also offers unprecedented customization when you order; you can choose everything from the color of the power button to a personalized message on the back cover.
Be aware that the $179 price gets you 8 gigabytes of storage, half of what most phones offer. Given all the room your photos and video will need, pay the extra $20 for a 16 gigabyte model. Unfortunately, there's no slot for memory cards, as some Android phones offer.
Motorola sells the phone unlocked, meaning you can switch carriers as long as they use GSM. Verizon and Sprint are among the few carriers in the world using a different technology, CDMA. A Verizon version is coming early next year, while Sprint won't say whether it will have one.
Phone makers have been trying to set themselves apart by loading phones with more and more features, only some of which are useful. Motorola doesn't try to do that with the Moto G, apart from including an FM tuner. Instead, it's distinguishing itself through price. No one can question whether that's useful.
While it has already been confirmed that Motorola will be launching the dual-SIM version of the Moto G in India in early-January 2014, and that the smartphone would be receiving a 'guaranteed' Android 4.4 KitKat the same month, a new report says the model that will ship in India will come pre-loaded with Google's latest iteration of Android.
Omio News Blog in a report has revealed Motorola's plans for the rollout of Moto G with the latest Android iteration in various countries.
The report quotes Mark Randal, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain & Operations, Motorola who while replying about Android 4.4 KitKat rollout plans for Moto G said that the company will be shipping the smartphone with Android 4.4 KitKat after Christmas. Considering that in India, the Moto G will be launched next year, in early January, it is quite evident that the device will be running Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box.
Further, the report notes that the Motorola Moto G will release in two waves (as we confirmed during the press conference) , the first wave includes countries namely Brazil, France, Germany, Mexico and UK, while the second wave includes US, South East Asia and other countries. Randal also revealed that the Motorola Moto G will be launched with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean in first wave countries, though they will also receive the Android 4.4 KitKat update by the end of January.
On Thursday, a tweet by Guy Kawasaki confirmed that the Motorola Moto G dual-SIM variant would be making it to the Indian market, as well as Brazil. While Motorola has already confirmed that the Moto G will be arriving in India, it has yet to reveal the precise plans for the type of retail availability.
The Motorola Moto G features a 4.5-inch HD 'edge-to-edge' display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels (translating to a pixel density of 329ppi) and boasts a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 screen. Powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor coupled with an Adreno 305 GPU, the Moto G features 1GB of RAM. On the optics front, the Moto G sports a 5-megapixel rear camera along with an LED flash and also includes a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The rear camera supports HD (720p) video recording.
The Motorola Moto G also features water-resistant nano-coating on the inside and outside. The Moto G packs a 2070mAh battery, which Motorola claims can deliver up to 30 percent more talktime than the Apple iPhone 5s.