This is the first of the Moto G family to offer any weather resistance, and it goes all the way with IPx7 certification. That means you can dunk it in water up to 1m deep and leave it there for 30 minutes without having to leave it in a bag of rice afterwards, praying it’s not dead.
Look at the back cover and you’ll see that this is almost impossibly simple. A little border of rubber sits on certain parts of the backplate, sealing off slots that need protection.
What’s more impressive is that the sockets on the exposed parts of the Moto G don’t need this. I’m talking about the microUSB socket and the headphone jack. Like all the best waterproof phones, these are automatically designed not to let in water, and it takes all the pain out of water resistance.
Just a couple of years ago, even top-end phones like the Sony Xperia Z2 needed flaps to protect the ports you used on a daily basis. It got old pretty quick.
That the Moto G manages to side-step this annoyance, at this price, is commendable. And it’s going to make me come down pretty hard on any water resistant phones that don’t make the same moves in the future.