Say hi to the low cost, quad-core Motorola Moto G!

Yash GargNovember 13, 2013

Although we haven’t really spoken much about the Moto G here, we did know it was coming, and now it is here. With the concerned price point, the device aims to dethrone Chinese phones are the value-for-money kings!

The MotorolaMoto G was launched earlier today at an event held in Sao Paolo, Brazil. As speculated prior to launch, the phone does not intend to be a chart-topper. It is in a way, a modest and affordable alternative to more expensive options like the Moto X and Google Nexus 5. Like the Moto X that came in earlier this year, the Moto G too emphasizes on the betterment of the user experience than boasting an overwhelming specs sheet.

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The device features a 4.5-inch 329ppi 720p screen with Gorilla Glass 3, 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8/16GB of ROM and a modest 5 mega-pixel rear and 1.3 mega-pixel front camera set, all powered by a user-replaceable 2070mAh ‘all day’ battery. What’s interesting is that Motorola have thrown in a water-resistant nano coating on the internals, thus bringing the phone’s value up a notch. The phone will initially ship with Android v4.3 Jelly Bean, but Motorola have guaranteed an upgrade to v4.4 KitKat by January next year.

The MotorolaMoto G is priced $179 and $199 for the 8GB and 16GB variants respectively.

[ Motorola]

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About the author

Yash Garg
Yash is a blogger by profession, builder of things by passion and foodie by birth. You'll usually find him talking about technology, music, travel and the game of cricket on the streets of Pune when not busy writing or speeding his way through the country! Read more on retro handheld gaming on RETRO91
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Rayan Vahia
November 13, 2013
Damn, price is 199 for international market, i bet it’s going to be like 400 dollars in Brazil.
Oh BTW, it’s not Sao Paolo, it’s São Paulo!
- November 13, 2013
  In China too. I was hoping to pick something like this up or a Nexus but the prices are pretty high once outside of China. Also, thanks for the catching the mistake 😉
  - yapel
    November 13, 2013
- Porscheproletos
  November 16, 2013
  Nope its not. As long as we all dont write Portuguese it is right. point. Unless u want also we use for the following city’s this way to write: 北京 , Санкт-Петербург, 東京 and Երեւան.

Airyl
November 13, 2013
Hmmm…. Nah, I’d take the Hongmi any day.
Guest
November 14, 2013

- Stef
  November 14, 2013
  I’m not so sure. Meet Jiayu G5: Metal clad (not plastic), 32 gigs of storage (not 16gb), 2 gigs of ram instead of 1 (that’s actually important to day-to-day performance), bit worse soc but the differences are rather small day-to-day almost non visible, so it doesn’t matter. And the most important, full 4.5 inches (no software buttons), in a smaller body all the while packing an up to 50% better battery. Oh and the cameras are better.
  So yeah I don’t see many Chinese buying the american phone given how similarly priced the two are all the while it’s absolutely massacred in everything from the Chinese brand… Good attempt Motorola, but not enough.
  - no name
    November 14, 2013
    Jiayu is only beautiful look phone
    but have more bugs and screen problem than a regular chinese phone
    Moto G is a Chinese killer!!
    - Stef
      November 14, 2013
      G4 had no issues for me, very sturdy and long lasting battery. I’m not sure about g5 though – indeed.
      - November 14, 2013
        The G5 is my new (current) fave of all MTK phones this year. Great quality, design and specification. The only downside is the camera isn’t as good as I hoped it would, but using Focal App has improved things. Comparing the Moto G and Chinese phones isn’t really fair. The Moto G is only this cheap in the USA and vice versa for Chinese phone in China.

Allanitomwesh
November 14, 2013
It is soso,at least for me.
John Doufu
November 14, 2013
What makes this a great alternative to Chinese smartphones is the fact that motorola are famous for good build quality unlike many Chinese phones. They are owned by Google and will guarantee regular software updates unlike many Chinese phones. They chose a smaller 720p 4.5″ screen unlike most Chinese counterparts who choose a battery-draining full HD 5″ screen. Better support from a bigger community. Also, I’d choose a snapdragon over a mediatek any day, even if it’s a low end snapdragon (snapdragon has better GPS, accelerometer, network support and less power consuming). Correct me if I’m wrong.
- Stef
  November 14, 2013
  About power I’m not sure, cortex A7 cores (that mediatek uses) are the king of low power consumption but in everything else you’re right, Qualcomm chips are quality and IMO it is the only good thing going on about this phone.
  In everything else it’s a bit meh, sure you can find worse handiwork than Motorola’s in Chinese brands but you can also find equal or even better built quality as well, oppo, xiaomi, meizu, jiayu comes to mind…
  - John Doufu
    November 14, 2013
    the sd 400 uses the same a7 cortex cores. any information if and when this phone is available in china? I want to buy it
- Airyl
  November 14, 2013
  Say hello to the JiaYu G4. Steel frame, 4.7″ HD display w/ IPS and OGS technology, a good amount of community support (see needrom.com), a 13MP rear camera, a HUGE 3000mAh battery, and a similarly powered processor. The Snapdragon 400 and MTK6589T are similar in speed and power consumption, since both are running on Cortex A7 cores. Even the GPUs aren’t that different in power. The only thing the G has going for it is the better GPS and power consumption.