Moto G is probably the best low-cost android device out there, it was developed by Motorola and was announced on 13th of November, 2013.
Before I write my personal review, you should know the phone is currently not available in Nigeria, I will try to mail few online stores to see how they can get this phone into Nigeria market.
The phone has been launched in many countries already but lately was India where it was launched on the 6th of February, 2014 via one of the biggest Indian online store flipkart.com and they remain the only company which has the device in India.
The budget android devices comes in 8GB and 16GB with just a small difference in the price, flipkart.com ran out of stock for the 16GB just 1 hour after the launch and recorded a sale of over 20,000 pieces of the 16GB with in that time frame.
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Key features of Moto G:
Moto G is a Dual SIM 4.5 inch 1280 x 720 HD, 329 ppi display device that runs on android 4.3 (jelly bean) with guaranteed upgrade via OTA to 4.4 (kit kat), comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU which is one of the latest, its comes with both 8GB and 16GB internal storage and with a 2 years 50GB storage free on Google drive, it has water repellent coating (You might want to deep it in water to confirm..lol ) and corning gorilla glass and a front camera of 1.3MP and 5MP for the rear camera and finally a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion, 2070 mAh with mixed usage up to 24 hours.
Full Specifications:
| General | |
| Release date | November 2013 |
| Form factor | Touchscreen |
| Dimensions (mm) | 129.90 x 65.90 x 11.60 |
| Weight (g) | 143.00 |
| Battery capacity (mAh) | 2070 |
| Removable battery | No |
| SAR value | NA |
| Display | |
| Screen size (inches) | 4.5 |
| Touchscreen | Yes |
| Touchscreen type | Capacitive |
| Resolution | 720×1280 pixels |
| Pixels per inch (PPI) | 329 |
| Colours | 16M |
| Hardware | |
| Processor | 1.2GHz quad-core |
| Processor make | Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 |
| RAM | 1GB |
| Internal storage | 8GB/16GB |
| Camera | |
| Rear camera | 5-megapixel |
| Flash | Yes |
| Front camera | 1.3-megapixel |
| Software | |
| Operating System | Android 4.3 (upgradable) |
| Java support | Yes |
| Browser supports Flash | No |
| Connectivity | |
| Wi-Fi | Yes |
| Wi-Fi standards supported | 802.11 b/ g/ n |
| GPS | Yes |
| Bluetooth | Yes, v 4.00 |
| NFC | No |
| Infrared | No |
| DLNA | No |
| Wi-Fi Direct | No |
| MHL Out | No |
| HDMI | No |
| Headphones | 3.5mm |
| FM | Yes |
| USB | Micro-USB |
| Charging via Micro-USB | Yes |
| USB OTG | Yes |
| Proprietary data connector | No |
| Number of SIMs | 2 |
| SIM 1 | |
| SIM Type | Micro-SIM |
| GSM/ CDMA | GSM |
| 2G frequencies supported | GSM 850/ 900/ 1800/ 1900 |
| 3G | Yes |
| 3G frequencies supported | 850, 900, 1900, 2100 |
| SIM 2 | |
| SIM Type | Micro-SIM |
| GSM/ CDMA | GSM |
| 2G frequencies supported | GSM 850/ 900/ 1800/ 1900 |
| 3G | Yes |
| 3G frequencies supported | 850, 900, 1900, 2100 |
| Sensors | |
| Compass/ Magnetometer | Yes |
| Proximity sensor | Yes |
| Accelerometer | Yes |
| Ambient light sensor | No |
| Gyroscope | No |
Personal Review
Unboxing:
When the device was launched in other countries the only thing in the box was just the user manual, a warranty document and a USB cable, but surprisingly the once shipped to India has a user manual, warranty document, an headset, a charger but no USB also the once lunched in other countries have a SIM slot while those in third world countries are dual SIM.
Price:
I am starting with price because this is the sole reason why the device is highly demanded, you get more for your money, the 8GB costs $179.99 while the 16GB version cost $199.99 in India flipkart is giving it Rs. 12,499/- and Rs. 13,999/- for the 8GB and 16GB respectively. So if It gets to Nigeria we should expect a price of N35,000 and N38,000.
Design:
The design is very sleek and attractive, it looks solid (durable) when held, you can guess that right by the weight, if thrown as someone, then u might just be charged for murder, also has a curved back which can be open, but trust me you might struggle with it a bit to get the back cover opened (I almost broke mine while struggling to open it, there is a youtube video for this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnUjQXViF7k), this is one big design flaw also the battery is not removable.
It though comes with so many beautiful backs at extra cost, so you can change the back to any color you want.
Software:
The budget android phone which is available comes with android 4.3 although Motorola promised to make available android 4.4 (kit kat) just few days after the launch here in india, I keep checking and still no update made available yet, but a friend in the UK got update already.
Moto G runs on an almost stock android version though there are few Motorola apps preinstalled which are not bloatware and also add to functionality, it has an on-screen navigation control.
The OS is very smooth and so fast, I have not experienced any lagging at all, even while play some heavy games or multitasking.
The two preinstalled apps which I took note of are the assists and Moto care, the assist runs just same way iPhone’s Do Not Disturb works, which help how the phone alerts you during meetings or sleep etc, allows you to silence or auto reply to missed calls while you’re in a meeting or sleeping. You can choose exceptions for Favourite callers or when someone calls twice. The Moto care is just like the blackberry’s help app with tips, how to’s and shortcuts etc.
Display:
The display is just superb I must say, at first boot this was what got me wowed with very bright screen and good colour reproduction, Moto G comes with a 4.5-inch, 1280 x 720 with a 329ppi pixel density, that’s a more defined display than the iPhone 5s (iPhone fans wanna kill me now), this even beats Samsung and Nokia Lumias with its HD display, so game lovers this is your best bet and you don’t need a screen guard as it comes with a gorilla screen.
Camera:
Moto G comes with a 5MP primary camera and 1.3MP secondary camera, I expected an 8MP camera which most android devices of it kind comes with, though the camera still look very good when pictures are taken in daylight but awful in the night even with the flash light, if you want to use the phone camera as a torchlight just download droidlight by Motorola app. I noticed the front camera does a decent job anyways.
Storage:
The devices comes in two version, the 8GB and 16GB, the 8GB is the standard version, another bad side of this device is there is no space for external storage, just like your idevices, so if you want an android device with more than 16GB then hey look else where, also you should note when you get the 16Gb device you only get 12.5GB and I think around 5GB for the 8GB version but the good part I you get a free cloud storage of 50GB for 2 years on Google Drive.
Battery:
I am really impress with the battery, it come with a Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion, 2070 mAh which is half charged (50%) from factory which I used for 27hours before it ran down. First charge to 100% with lot of downloads, browsing, HD recording, playing of music it lasted me approximately 25hours, I think I am okay with this but too bad the battery is not removable, if you remove the back cover it looks like it can be removed but i haven’t been able to remove it and dont want to damage my baby yet, just me being inquisitive because its written boldly on the battery that it cant be removed.
Motorola Migrate:
Also if you already have an android device or an iPhone migrating from an old android just got better, Motorola Migrate will help migrate all your stuffs from the old device to this awesome baby, i mean all, medias, messages, emails, contacts, log, even SIm contacts, oh yea!!.
all you need do is install the app on both your old Android phone or iPhone and your new Moto G. Your new phone displays a QR code, and when you scan it with the old gadget, it automatically transfers all the information, easy.
Generally this is a device I will recommend to anybody, it’s a device where you get more for your money, I know of people here who dumped their S4, Lumias, Xperias etc for this baby. I don’t know what will happen to the phone now that Motorola has been acquired by Lenovo but I hope they don’t stop supporting the device.