Motorola Moto G Review
by Brian Klug on December 18, 2013 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Motorola
- Mobile
- *VA
- Cortex A7
- snapdragon 400
- Moto G
Battery onboard mobile devices remains one of the biggest concerns for shoppers, and even in a mass market device like the Moto G it’s an important axis. Although Moto G has a removable back door, the battery isn’t designed to be user accessible and is sealed inside, there’s a sticker which pretty much explains the situation.
Inside, the Moto G has a 2070 mAh, 3.8V battery for a capacity of 7.9 watt hours. It loses the stacked 3D structure that was a highlight feature of the Moto X, but still is a relatively large battery for a device with a 4.5 inch LCD display.
To evaluate battery life we turn to our battery life testing suite, which we run over WiFi and all the cellular interfaces appropriate for the device. Here we see a good combination of regular spikes in CPU usage with idle time, hopefully simulating constant, reasonably paced usage. As always the display is set to exactly 200 nits and configured the same way we always configure devices for maximum consistency.
The Moto G starts out with an impressive result on 3G. There’s no LTE on the Moto G so we’re only looking at the subset of devices that I’ve tested on 3G with the new battery life test. Still it’s impressive that the Moto G can crank out just over 7.5 hours on here, considerably more than Moto X forced onto 3G.
The WiFi test opens up considerable more comparison points, and here I’m really impressed by what the Moto G is able to crank out.
Cellular talk time is self explanatory, and again the Moto G winds up with an impressive result. I remember when Motorola seemed to somehow always be able to dominate the call test, Moto G definitely reminds me of those days.
Compared to the Moto X, the WiFi and 3G battery life tests really wind up being a story of the power consumption tradeoffs between LCD and AMOLED that remain to this day. The display size to battery capacity ratio is pretty big with the Moto G, and of course there are further improvements to overall efficiency with the latest Qualcomm silicon and modem block inside.
I mentioned that the Moto G doesn’t come with a charger in the box, a choice which cuts down on cost and is starting to make a lot of sense give the ubiquity of cheap USB chargers.
Thankfully Moto G seems to be good about its charge signaling, as it can pull up to 2 amps on appropriate chargers. The Moto G seems to be compliant with BC 1.2, and seems well behaved with drawing whatever is appropriate from other chargers as well.
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Taracta - Thursday, December 19, 2013 - link
"Moto G arrives without LTE and instead offers up to single carrier HSPA+ with 64QAM, for up to 21 Mbps on the downlink. Although MSM8x26 itself has a modem block capable of up to dual carrier HSPA+ and category 4 LTE, it seems as though Motorola went for single carrier HSPA+ in the Moto G for time to market reasons, with the LTE and dual-carrier HSPA+ enabled software tree likely slotting in a quarter later than the initial code drop with single carrier HSPA+."Does this means that the Moto G will have LTE in the near future? This would put my only major reservation about this phone to rest!
Mogster - Thursday, December 19, 2013 - link
I'm wondering that as well. Even if it's not officially supported, could the phone be hacked to use LTE or dual-carrier HSPA+? Guess I'll check XDA Developers, maybe they have some info on it.Also, any idea if the CPU can be overclocked?
orenc17 - Thursday, December 19, 2013 - link
now that the kitkat update began seeding will you update the reviewto see if kitkat actually improved anything?
smarty69 - Friday, December 20, 2013 - link
As I knew Tesco were cheaper than phones 4 U for the moto g phones 4 U were selling it 16GB for £149.99 + £10 top up any network (so they are unlocked!)& had them in stock :)
Phones 4 U will if you ask customer services nicely price match :-)
& if you've ordered online you have 7 days change of mind policy .....so I said I don't want to return it but Tesco is cheaper than you! so they refunded me back the difference! .... & their deal was an unlocked moto g with free white phone back case & a £10 top up & entry into their Christmas giveaway draw (I got a scratch card sent to me with a code entered it online ) & won 25% off all accessories!
I got these as well :0)
& only paid the same as Tesco £129!!!!!
Hope this helps grab a bargain....loving my Moto g ;0)
Excellent Battery life BTW & Go online & read a few Android tips.... eg use auto brightness & stop apps running in background
Use power saving etc etc I get 23 hours out of my phone with 8 hours of actual on screen time omg! :0) that's amazing.....
Merry Christmas ppls X
bhima - Friday, December 20, 2013 - link
Really great review Brian. This is probably the most accurate review of this device on the internet. So far I'm really enjoying my Moto G, especially the battery life compared to my old Galaxy S1.metayoshi - Friday, December 20, 2013 - link
I've been reading this review in installments and finally got to the battery life section... Wow, that's impressive. It has got to be the best battery life on any smartphone in this class. And it has Android 4.4.2 as of the writing of this comment? Way to go Motorola. They have really stepped up their game.unconnectme - Saturday, December 21, 2013 - link
Moto G is a game changer for the consumer. Moto G + service from 35orless. Savings versus 2 year agrement over $1,000will2 - Sunday, December 22, 2013 - link
@Brian. Very good detailed review of most of it, but no mention of any means of getting the screen mirrored to TV, and if it plays at least 720p films smoothly. I read elsewhere it doesnt have any wired TV-out, but are you able to check if it supports Miracast ? ... and if it plays films smoothly ?blzd - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link
First Nexus 5 now the Moto G. Google are on a roll here for those price:performance sweet spots.Also 4.4 Kit Kat supports screen mirroring natively.
truminspiron - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link
Oh so good for see but not good for buy...