Published on November 21st, 2013 | by Guest

Moto G: budget price power

The smartphone market is a very dynamic entity. One moment a certain manufacturer will launch a device that is a revolution over the devices before it and the next moment we see the revolutionary device being trumped by something new. In recent months, the trumping has been originating from Google. It began with the Moto X a device that appeared inferior in terms of power but brought a massively optimized Android experience, which put many higher-powered Android devices to shame. Then came the Nexus 5, a device fitted with the power of a flagship but with a much lower price than many flagships. And now Google has done it again with their newly launched Moto G. The Moto G is aimed squarely at the budget-restrained consumer who is looking for a bang for every buck in his/her new purchase. But can the Moto G truly offer near-flagship levels of performance at a budget level price? Let’s find out.

Design and Display

With the design of the Moto G, Motorola have decided to go with a business-in-the-front and party-in-the-back approach. The front is home to the 4.5-inch LCD display with a resolution output of 1280×720 pixels and a pixel density of 326 ppi, which is higher than the more expensive iPhone 5S. While the display may not be a Full HD offering, the display won’t disappoint many during video playback or photo viewing sessions. Apart from the display, there is nothing else on the front as all the buttons are on the screen, offering a clean design on the front. The rear is what will catch the attention of people as Motorola have chosen to offer a variety of colors to compliment the device. There are 7 color options you can opt for which include the standard black and white along with dark blue, light blue, red, yellow, and purple.

Hardware

Whenever a company that has some brand value attached to it decides to create a more budget oriented device, the most obvious thing people assume is that the device will be extremely underpowered compared to other devices on the market. Fortunately, this is not the case with the Moto G as the device is far from being underpowered. A quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor powers the device with the Adreno 305 providing the graphics grunt. However, while Motorola have provided more than enough power at an affordable, the memory department is where the price cuts will be most visible. The device comes with 1GB of RAM as standard and comes in two variants of 8 and 16 GB internal memory units. The device may have enough memory but most people who go into buy a device at this price range will look at further memory expansion and unfortunately, Motorola have decided to not include an expandable memory slot. Instead, Motorola is offering 50GB of Google Drive space in its place, which should work out better in the long run. All of this is powered by a 2070mAh battery that will need some power management but should be able to see a day’s use go smoothly without going anywhere near the charger.

Camera

The camera department is another place where the price cuts are visible. The Moto G comes with a 5MP rear camera with LED flash and a 1.3MP front camera. The rear camera will be capable of taking photos at a resolution of 2592×1944 pixels and record video at 720p at 30fps. The front camera also promises similar video recording capabilities as the rear camera. While the 5MP camera is perfectly usable, the fact that a higher resolution camera could have been equipped seems like a missed opportunity.

Is it worth it?

Anybody would have noticed that while I mentioned that the Moto G would be available at an affordable price, I never actually mentioned the price. The Moto G will reported be sold for around $180 for the 8GB and $200 for the 16GB version. In the Indian market, prospective buyers can expect the device to come in at around Rs. 12000 for the 8GB version while the 16GB version could go up to around Rs. 18000. For the hardware that is included in the device, the Moto G is a definite purchase for anyone looking for the perfect compromise between power and price. On top of this, the Moto G will be the one of the first sub-20k device that will be upgraded to the new Android 4.4 KitKat, which is very good news for those who like to have the latest in their hands. So, if you are in the market for a new Android device or know someone who is, the Moto G should definitely be on the radar and should be a definite purchase.

This is a guest post by Kundan Srivastava from 91mobiles.

Tags: Android, kitkat, moto, moto g, motorola