Google took over Motorola for about $12.5 billion and recently sold it off to Lenovo for a mere $2.91 billion. While all this was strange, the development led to Motorola producing "Moto G" one of the most affordable Android smartphones; coming with specs almost as good as the Nexus 4. 

The Moto G, which has launched in India as we write, has been gaining a lot of attention due to the combination of speculated pricing and healthy specifications. The smartphone has officially been priced at Rs. 13,999 for the 16GB version and Rs.12,499 for the 8GB version. Let’s check, if the smartphone does give a bigger bang for the buck.

Moto G Specifications

The smartphone features a 4.5-inch 720p IPS display, a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB/16GB internal memory, a 5MP rear camera with an LED flash, a 1.3MP front camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, a 2070mAh battery and runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat.  

Design and build

The Moto G doesn’t have a flashy design but rather has a simple no-nonsense design and it looks a lot like its elder brother, the Moto X. The display on the smartphone is an IPS panel which measures 4.5 inches with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels. The quality of the display is quite good when compared to phones in the similar range. The glass on top of the display completely covers the front of the smartphone and it is prone to smudges and fingerprints.

On top of the display there is a 1.3MP camera, the earpiece and the usual sensors. The right edge has the lock/power key and volume control keys. Both have a chrome finish. The top has the 3.5mm audio jack and the bottom has a microUSB port. At the back you can see the 5MP camera with an LED flash and a loudspeaker grill. The back panel is made of plastic which is removable. Removing the panel unveils the microSIM card slot and the 2070mAh battery (which is non-user replaceable). One can also choose from a variety of colored back panels available for the Moto G.

The back of the Moto G has a slight hump which gives it a nice curve making it fit well in the hand. However the smartphone seems a quite heavy considering its size. Overall we are very pleased with the design and Motorola has done a good job with the Moto G.

Also read: Motorola Moto G: Overview of design and build quality

OS and performance

We carried out some standard benchmark tests on the Moto G including Antutu, Quadrant, Smartbench and 3DMark. The results came out to be very good thanks to the Snapdragon 400 SoC powering the device.

Check out the results below:

 

Check out Moto G: Performance review and comparison

Everyday performance on the smartphone turned out to be pleasing as well; probably because it runs on stock Android 4.4.2 so there aren’t any custom UI’s or layers which we personally like. Scrolling through the menu and homescreen is smooth and multitasking didn’t slow down the smartphone at any point of time.

The camera on the Moto G has a 5MP sensor which obviously isn’t the best in class but works quite well. There isn’t a lot of shutter lag and the quality of pictures is very much acceptable. Under good lighting conditions, pictures turned out to be sharp and had decent details. Low light conditions made the pictures lose some details and you can see some amount of grain. The camera can record 720p videos which are fairly good and has a nice punch in audio.

You can check out some of the camera samples below:

    

    

Click on image to enlarge

 

A 2,070mAh battery juices up the Moto G which is ample enough as it doesn’t have a huge display. Our battery test revealed that on a full charge you can continuously run a full HD video for five and a half hours.

The Adreno 305 GPU proved to be slightly underpowered in the benchmark tests but as we have mentioned earlier, real life performance matters. Gaming was a sheer pleasure on the 4.5 inch display as the smartphone was able to run Asphalt 8 and FIFA 14 without any hiccups. The Moto G also managed to run almost every video format without any issues.

It is worth mentioning that the Moto G comes packed with a very loud speaker. It isn’t very crisp, but its loud enough to play music in a small room.

Conclusion

By far, this has been one of the best smartphones that one can buy on this budget. Simple looks, respectable specifications and a competitive price; Motorola has really done it right this time. But sadly, it is the only smartphone that the company has launched in India in the past one year and its already been called as the poor man’s Nexus.

However, if you are looking for good performance at low cost, then you should definitely go for the Moto G; especially the 16GB version which is available for Rs. 13,999. There are other smartphones that provide similar and even better specifications at the same price point but to be honest we think Moto G is truly the “no non-sense” budget Android smartphone.

Source: www.digit.in/mobile-phones/motorola-moto-g-review-18875.html#sthash.GapdbtVW.dpuf