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
Making an affordable smartphone for the masses that aren’t willing to spend the dime on flagship-tier devices is a pitch I’ve heard a few times. Usually the device starts out great, but software support ends up being negligible from the start, or the device has serious caveats in actual practice. The number of mid to low end phones I’ve seen which promised to be halo devices of the mass market but are stuck running the same software they launched with could fill a few desk drawers.
I’ve been using Moto G as my daily driver since getting it, and absent a few features (camera, LTE, always on voice and display tuning), the device is surprisingly close to offering a similar kind of experience as the Moto X. Form factor is roughly equivalent, it’s like a Moto X that has put on a few pounds and a few millimeters around the edges. The physical differences aren't huge, and I'm glad that Motorola didn't sacrifice anything major by adding removable back shells.
On the display side I'd actually opt for an LCD over AMOLED to begin with for power reasons, although with emphasis on calibration. Resolution and contrast is excellent on the Moto G. I miss the camera activation flick gesture from the Moto X, and to a lesser extent the always on voice activation, but trading those off in favor of a lower price point makes a lot of sense given their reliance on extra dedicated silicon and more expensive display.
The previous generation of Snapdragon 400-based phones that I played with for some reason never really was fast enough to smooth over the demanding parts of Android 4.x. The four Cortex A7s and Adreno 305 in MSM8x26 seem competent enough to run Android at a decent clip without hesitation or dropped frames. I’d wager Motorola’s continued use of F2FS which started with the Moto X also helps the system feel speedy and storage I/O competitive. The storage sizes available are comparatively small at 8 and 16 GB, and given the small price delta between the two there's really no reason anyone should opt for the smaller of the two. I'm eager to see how much the Android 4.4 KitKat update improves memory occupancy on the Moto G, since occasional app suspension is my only usability complaint on Moto G.
The Moto G grew on me considerably in the time I've spent with it, just like Moto X did before it. The question is ultimately whether the Moto G delivers a good overall experience for the price – I'd argue it definitely does.
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darwinosx - Wednesday, December 18, 2013 - link
Motorola is a Google company now no matter how they try to pretend otherwise with the whole firewall between them nonsense. I'd see how they do now. Meanwhile Google payed an idiotic sum for Motorola to get a bunch of worthless patents and is left trying to save face by still producing phones.sprockkets - Wednesday, December 18, 2013 - link
O hai appletard! Nice to see you still have a brain, somewhere.Bob Todd - Thursday, December 19, 2013 - link
Just as a small update, 4.4.2 started rolling out for the Moto G today...InvaderC1 - Saturday, December 21, 2013 - link
Moto G already had 4.4.2 shipped, and Moto X was first non-nexus device with Kit Kat. Since being bought by Google, they have turned thing around, at least with this first wave.Hakuron - Saturday, December 21, 2013 - link
Well moto g already got 4.4.2 a couple days ago. http://www.xda-developers.com/android/android-4-4-...And it has been said by motorola that the RAZR HD will as well get 4.4 soon.
Besides, taking into count that motorola has already got 5 devices running on 4.4 (Moto x, moto g, Droid ultra, maxx and mini) while other manufacturers haven't got 4.4 not even in their flagship talks really, REALLY well of their new update policy.
P.s: Old Razr (xt910) released on 2011, worst time ever for motorola, still went from 2.3 to 4.0 and from there to 4.1. Just for you to keep it in mind :)
p.s.s: Yeah, i do know that the atrix family as well as milestone didn't have the same luck, but luckily for us, they seem to have changed, for good.
Hakuron - Saturday, December 21, 2013 - link
Well moto g already got 4.4.2 a couple days ago. http://www.xda-developers.com/android/android-4-4-...And it has been said by motorola that the RAZR HD will as well get 4.4 soon.
Besides, taking into count that motorola has already got 5 devices running on 4.4 (Moto x, moto g, Droid ultra, maxx and mini) while other manufacturers haven't got 4.4 not even in their flagship talks really, REALLY well of their new update policy.
P.s: Old Razr (xt910) released on 2011, worst time ever for motorola, still went from 2.3 to 4.0 and from there to 4.1. Just for you to keep it in mind :)
p.s.s: Yeah, i do know that the atrix family as well as milestone didn't have the same luck, but luckily for us, they seem to have changed, for good.
Gunbuster - Wednesday, December 18, 2013 - link
Thumbs up for not using the prefab line from what I must assume is a google/moto payoff presskit "Moto G, simply the best phone under $200"Thumbs down for no comparison with the Lumia 520/521 that have been dipping down into the $50 range off contract.
uhuznaa - Wednesday, December 18, 2013 - link
Damned good phone considering the price point. No, even compared to quite a few more expensive ones. Absolutely impressive battery life, a camera that doesn't suck and at least as fast as the last generation of top-end phones, all in a nice package and for very little money. Well done, Motorola.CatfishTX - Wednesday, December 18, 2013 - link
A lot of phone for the money. I bought a 16GB model and will be giving it to my daughter for Christmas. She wanted good battery life, good display, and stock Android if possible. I would say the Moto G delivers all three.apertotes - Wednesday, December 18, 2013 - link
"The Moto G’s goal is pretty simple – to deliver an affordable smartphone experience that doesn’t make any sacrifices"I'd say that a maximum of 16gb of memory is a pretty big compromise. Because of those, about 12 will be available to the user, and out of those 12, at least 1 or 2 will be gone in stupid gallery thumbnails hidden files. Add 3-4 gb of music, and 2 or 3 heavy games, and you are left with less than 2 gb of free space. If you want to record videos, capture photos, or download movies, you are really screwed. And this is not a poweruser scenario at all.