Review: Motorola Moto G

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

The Moto G is the most disruptive handset in the market right now. Priced like an entry level feature phone, it has the key features and performance of a flagship Android device and outstanding build quality. Designed to offer comparative features to devices costing three times as much, it is a revelation in mobile strategy. 

Coming exclusively to TELUS in Canada in a few weeks, the Moto G will cost $200 off contract for an 8GB version. This is for a surprisingly well-built smartphone that looks and feels identical to the more premium Moto X.

The Moto G will not have LTE connectivity, it has none of the Moto X's motion and voice inputs as well as the smart notifications. It won't have NFC (which no one really uses) and it wont even ship with a wall charger (all you get is a microUSB cable, ok?).

What you do get is a great-looking 4.5-inch LCD screen, a quad-core  Snapdragon 400 processor and great graphics capability, 1GB of RAM, a fairly decent 5-megapixel rear camera, a true all-day battery, a built-in FM radio, the ability to change the look of the device using a plethora of removable backplates and cases plus outstanding build-quality and great voice functionality.

The Moto G also runs a pretty stock version of Android 4.3 with guaranteed upgrade to 4.4 KitKat in January. This puts it on par with many Android flagship devices and future proofs it for a longer period than many non-Google specified devices.

I've used the Moto G as my primary device for a number of days and while the 8GB storage limit (only 5GB of which is really usable) kind of bugged me at first, I experienced nothing but smooth operation in almost every other aspect of the device.

HSPA + 3G connectivity on TELUS was generally good (although uploading a video on Instagram took around 10 minutes, making me miss LTE speeds). Moto G ran all my preferred apps butter smooth and without any lagginess. 

Running side by side with my unlocked (AT&T) Moto X, the Moto G performed most tasks almost just as quickly and even rendered some complex webpages faster over WiFi.

There was never a point that the Moto G felt slow or inferior than any of the top tier Android smartphones in the market today. Its more compact size, curved design and rounded profile felt better in the hand than many larger Android devices.

Battery life is what really blew me away with the Moto G. It provided me with 27-hours of use on a single charge. I credit this to great software optimization from Motorola, its superb-battery technology as well as the fact that this is not a 4G-LTE device and also because it has a lower-resolution 720p HD screen.

Camera quality on the Moto G is decent although a little slow to focus and shoot. Most users will be happy with the results for photos and for HD video (720p) as well. It does inherit the Moto X's sweet camera control software but without the shake to shoot function, which was rather awkward to begin with.

Designed for emerging markets and for the entry-level of the market, the Moto G is a game changer in terms of positioning. It is cheaper but doesn't compromise on the features that matter most to users and even surprises us by really going head-to-head with flagship devices that have more powerful specs but may be mired by third party bloatware.

I find a smartphone like the Moto G far more intriguing than powerful flagship device like the Nexus 5 simply because it offers so much value that's unexpected for a device in this price segment. Through Motorola, Google has fired a shot across the bow to its OEM's producing bloated and sub-standard entry-level Android devices. The Moto G looks well poised to take over that market, if nothing better or cheaper comes along.

What would have made this device even better is microSD memory expansion (or availability of 16GB variants from the get go). Google gives 50 GB of additional free Drive storage to make up for this omission.

Set to be available in over 30 countries (and more next year), the Moto G is the most important smartphone to come out of Google and Motorola. It is an even bigger deal than the Nexus 5 because it's pricing and availability will appeal to a more global market. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5