In June 2012, Motorola had drastically trimmed down its India operations and later shut down its India website. But the lure of the Indian market couldn't keep Motorola away for long and they are back with a bang with the budget Moto G.Earlier this month Motorola began selling the phone in India, as a Flipkart exclusive, and it did manage to rake up some excitement.Hype or real value for money? The verdict follows.
At the first glance, the Moto G to me appeared to be a constricted Nexus 4 but any hint of resemblance to the previous generation of Google's showcase Android phone disappears once you turn it around.
The Motorola Moto G is a compact phone with a screen-size of 4.5 inches. The phone easily snuggles into my palm and its rounded corners make it comfortable to hold and operate the phone. The rear of the phone has a slight ergonomic curve.
The back panel of this dual-SIM phone is removable for access to the SIM slots. There is no slot for a microSD card, so no memory expansion. The inbuilt storage is the only storage space that is available to store your data and install apps.
The Moto G comes in 8GB and 16GB variants with a difference of Rs 1500 in their price. While the 8GB model is priced at Rs 12,499, the 16GB costs Rs 13,999. Our review unit was 8GB and it offered around 5.5GB of user-accessible space, that in all likelihood, is unlikely to suffice for the needs of even a normal smartphone user. The suggestion is that spending that extra Rs 1.5K will be worth the extra space.
While almost all Android phones in this price bracket give you an option to expand memory via microSD card, the absence of the same on the Moto G may put many potential buyers off.
Its rubbery back with a matte finish not only gives it a handsome look, but also makes it non-slippery and scratch-resistant. To my surprise, the phone does not come with a modular charger, it, instead, comes with a basic charger with a non-detachable USB cable. This means you will need to buy a separate USB cable to connect your phone to a PC.
The phone has a quality display in terms of colour reproduction and touch responsiveness. The Moto G comes with an excellent display, which offers great viewing angles and is scratch resistant. Having used the phone for more than a week, there is not even a single scratch on the screen. From surfing the Internet to watching videos to reading ebooks on its 4.5-inch 720p display was a pleasant experience. The screen is readable under bright sunlight; I could comfortably reply to emails, check my Twitter, Facebook and browse through the phone while taking a stroll outside my workplace during the daytime.
The phone is engineered with a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor along with 1GB of RAM under the hood. It not only let me easily multitask, but also there was no lag in performing any function. Even 1080p videos played very smoothly on the Moto G.
Talking about the software, the phone runs the latest Android OS - Android 4.4.2 KitKat. While the review unit was running Android 4.3 out of the box, it was during the review period that the phone got an upgrade to Android 4.4. As promised, Motorola began pushing Android 4.4 KitKat update for the Moto G in India.
The Moto G does not run unadulterated Android; Motorola has installed a few Motorola-centric apps along with an FM radio - a feature not available on the phones running stock Android. Other such apps include Motorola Assist that recognizes when you shouldn't be disturbed. It checks your calendar for events and helps you avoid distractions during meetings. It also puts your phone on the silent mode during the hours you sleep. The Motorola Migrate app lets you move stuff including your text messages, music, photos, videos, SIM contacts, and call history, from your old phone - Android or iPhone - to your new Motorola phone.
Even tough the phone does not run stock Android, the minor tweaks that Motorola has made to the software in no way affects the look and feel of the OS. Minus those Motorola-specific apps, the phone is almost a pure Android device (Read our review of Android Kitkat).
The Moto G comes with a decent 5 megapixel camera (with an LED flash) that captures satisfactory photos in day-light and soft-light conditions, but in low-light conditions, the camera shows it clumsy side. Its1.3 megapixel front camera is fine for video calling, but it isn't the one you should be using to take selfies to share on Facebook.
One thing that I found missing, and somewhat unusual, on the Moto G is the inability to change the image size while taking photographs. Also, it doesn't let you set the video quality; the phone by default captures videos in 720p, so you are likely to run out of your limited storage space faster if you intend to shoot longer videos.
The Moto G is packed with a 2070mAh battery. The phone easily lasted for a day on normal usage. Given the price it comes at, I am impressed with its speaker which produces both loud and clear sound. Also with earphones plugged in, the sound is clear and pleasant sound.
Undoubtedly, Motorola has re-entered the Indian market with a device that combines the right mix of features and price. This budget phone is value for money and makes to our recommendation list.
Rating: 4/5
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