The Motorola Moto G is the hottest new Android smartphone for one simple reason – it offers tremendous value for money; mid-range performance at a low-end price. Why pay £500 or more for an Android smartphone with a quad-core processor, a big HD screen and the latest version of Android when you can buy the Moto G for £135?
Hardware
This phone is seriously good for its price. By comparison, it’s about as powerful as Google’s flagship phone last year, the Nexus 4, and way better than phones typically at this price range. It includes a new quad-core processor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, which resembles the Snapdragon 600 and 800 but at a slower speed. It’s got 1 GB of RAMtoo – another rarity for a low-end device. The best hardware feature might be the display, which is 4.5″ along the diagonal at a resolution of 1280×720 resolution – competitive with the best displays of last year. After years of 480 x 800 screens on low-end smartphones, the Moto G is a breath of fresh air.
The phone isn’t entirely comparable to the top of the line, but it makes its concessions is a very smart way, without impacting performance too much. Probably the biggest cost-cutting measure is the storage available – just 8 or 16 GB, and there’s no way to add more storage via microSD. The camera is also fairly bog-standard, at five megapixels, but still quite workable. There’s even a front-facing camera, not something you’d take for granted on previous low-end Android smartphones.
Software
It also has the advantage of running stock Android, without the bloat and confusion of manufacturer skins like TouchWiz or Sense. That’s important for a mobile with limited resources, and since Android 4.0 I’ve really started to think that stock Android is just better designed than what Sony, Samsung and LG are coming up with.
Design
In terms of design, the Moto G is surprisingly good. The overall look and feel is almost identical to the well regarded Moto X, but with a replaceable rear cover available in several colours. That’s not quite as cool as designing your own colour scheme with the Moto X, but it’s quite practical and allows you to change the look of your phone after you’ve bought it – not bad.
Accessories
There are quite a few accessories available for the Moto G, thanks to that replaceable back. You can pick up a bunch of Moto G cases that just replace the rear of the phone with a nicer colour, or pick up a flip cover that protects the screen of the phone as well. All of them add a lot of colour and sparkle to the device and they’re not expensive, so I’d definitely recommend picking up one or two if you do decide to grab the phone.
Motorola’s Hope
The Moto G is quite something. Traditional mid-range phones can match it on power, but cost two to three times as much. Low-end phones can match it on price, but have laughably weaker hardware. It’s a great combination, echoing what Google did with the Nexus 4 at a lower end of the market. Motorola have been waiting for a success story since Google acquired them, and it’s possible that the Moto G is the first phone in a long time that can fill that role.
Win or win a Moto G today
The Motorola Moto G is available now from Mobile Fun, sim-free and unlocked via the link below. We’re also running a giveaway, so sign up for a chance to win a Moto G and a replacement rear cover in the colour of your choice!