At a time when Brand Motorola is under the pump, literally or figuratively, what keeps their product line floating in India are two products - the Moto E and the Moto G. They are like twin brothers with one, the G, being superior to the other in terms of features. What seems like a 20-25K product on paper, Motorola has been able to whittle it all together and find a price:performance ratio that is, for once, affordable. This is a tribute to the average Indian who couldn’t afford an Apple or even a Nexus. And thankfully, nothing beats the Moto G in terms of value for money. It’s that rare product which satisfies two core needs of a smartphone user - affordability and functionality - without having to compromise on style and class. Let’s analyze it further in terms of its features.
Style and Look
This is no selling point of Moto G as Motorola have compromised on an ersatz nigh understated look. The G is certainly not an attention grabber but, hey! That wouldn’t stop you from buying this phone. Remember the Motorola flip phones of old? They look great, performs ordinarily. The phone is about 11 mm thick and weighs 140g and is rather holdable, despite its bulky size.
DISPLAY
At 720 P resolution and boasting a stunning 326-inch pixel density, the Moto G’s display even matches the retina display of Apple. This perhaps is the main selling point for Motorola. The controls are placed appropriately. There’s a 3.5 mm audio jack on top and a front facing camera, alongside the obligatory proximity and light sensors. At the bottom, there’s the mic and a Micro USB port which enables you to connect the phone to an external device - Mouse, Keyboard or an amplifier. On the back, there’s the 5 MP snapper with flash support, as usual.
BATTERY
2070 mah battery would last well over a couple of days if the usage is only moderate. Motorola hasn’t promised anything in its package but that is what I got on an average, after 2 weeks of purchase.
Android Jelly Bean
Jelly Bean is the 4.3 version of Android whereas the latest version is Android 4.4 known as the KitKat Android. Google have named them on alphabetical order starting with the letter C alluding them with the names of confectionaries - starting with Cupcake, which was followed by Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, KitKat, Lollipop and the latest Marshmallow(Android 6.0). What’s next in store? ANDROID NOUGAT!
Since I purchased from an old stock, I got stock android. Once you unlock the system you get the regular home screen widgets of ICS. For unlocking the screen one can choose from multiple patterns like the Simple slide, Pin or Password, Face Unlock or the commonly encountered swipe pattern.
Unfortunately, you cannot see the clock and notifications icons on the screen even when the phone is in standby which is a bit of a blemish from the UI point of view. There’s the customizable screen widgets, quick toggles on top for wifi, 3g and bluetooth as well. Google’s Daydream screen screensaver is amazingly fluid even while the phone is on the dock or idle mode. In fact, one can even display their name and photo after logging in to Google+ or after manually feeding them to the phone!
The stock android doesn’t slow down the system one bit and the phone doesn’t get heated up quickly either. All the apps provided are pretty much the same as in Android ICS. On the whole, this is fluid android experience coming straight out of google’s coffer.
Chrome Browsing
Chrome is running on the WebKit rendering engine so beneath the simplistic UI, it’s pretty much the same as in all Android stock browsers. One of Chrome’s strengths is its ability to synchronize with its desktop version with the help of your Google account. Although the downfall is the lack of flash support in its browser since Adobe withdrew its contractual tie-ups with Google. The telephony is great, the phonebook is standard, the connectivity is standard minus LTE and NFC support. The audio, video, camera, gallery, organizer, maps, google docs, google play etc., runs smoothly in the quad-core processor and 1 GB RAM. What else? It supports graphic intensive games like Temple Run, Commando etc. Since I’m no game geek I’m yet to try out the high-end games such as Asphalt 8 and/or Clash Of Clans. The phone comes with 8 gb and 16 GB variants inbuilt with the difference in price being a mere 1500 odd. I’d suggest you to go for the 16 GB variant since Android would eat up a certain percentage internal storage space, by default. Thankfully not a lot because this is stock andoird, virtually bloatware-free. Anything that isn’t stock is full of bloatware, so beware!
If there’s anything that you might wanna be vary of regarding this phone - it’s the availability of spare parts and servicing. Since the Motorola Brand is not visibly present in the market, you might have to travel a long a way and wait for long periods if the phone requires servicing. Check out for service centers in metros. Just don’t expect the service to dominate in the rural areas.
So that’s a wrap then on my Moto G review. I’d be back soon with the 7000 variant i.e., the Moto E. With these two launches its given that the Brand Motorola is back and would progress further! The phone was launched initially at the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona and has gained a cult following ever since. Now its the imitator’s turn to dub Motorla. Can Micromax, Karbonn, Lava or even Samsung trump what Motorola achieved here? One doubts that is possible. There is a heresay in the cyberspace where people allude Moto G as poor man’s nexus. Well, folks. Just don’t call it a poor man’s nexus or a truncated Apple. There’s more to this little gem of a phone. Obviously, there is!