Motorola Moto G review

The release of a budget-priced phone rarely sets techy hearts a-flutter. But the first new phone from Google-owned Motorola sets a very high bar for a very low price, and sees a clear bid for world domination. 

There's been a bit of a flurry around the lower end of the smartphone market recently, with devices like LG's Optimus L5 II and Acer Liquid Z3 packing in increasingly high specs without urging you to break the bank, but the Moto G might just be the best yet.

Design
It's a little on the chunky side as you might expect, at a sliver under 12mm thick but while it looks unremarkable, it feels sturdy and well built. Dominating the glossy shell (ours was black, but you can get replaceable backs in six different colours), the 4.5-inch screen offers a resolution of 1,280x720 pixels (329ppi -- 3ppi higher than you get with the iPhone 5S). That might not be up there with the full HD high-enders, but its standard 720p HD resolution still looks terrific -- bright, vibrant and sharp.

Android and processor
It's running a raw version of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (with a promised upgrade to 4.4 KitKat in January), which is fully up to date and the fact that it doesn't have any additions may go some way to explain its pace. Motorola hasn't stinted on the power, and this feels like a very fast handset indeed, whipping through apps at a pace worthy of some of the fastest devices we've tried, which will normally set you back £500+. Our AnTuTu benchmark test clocked it at 17,222, which puts it in the same region as the famously nippy Google Nexus 4.
The quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm processor backed by 1GB RAM is certainly a more powerful beast than we're used to seeing at this price point and it goes a long way towards making this feel like much more of a premium device than the price suggests.

Photography and features
The five-megapixel camera offers includes an LED flash and offers 4x digital zoom, slow motion video, burst mode, auto HDR, panorama and touch focus. That's a pretty good list of features, and fortunately it's backed up by the picture quality, which doesn't disappoint. Of course it's not up there with the best from Samsung and Sony, but it delivers decent quality snaps that won't embarrass you or your friends (unless you want them to). There's also a 1.3-megapixel model on the front for video calls.

Motorola Moto G test photo

Dave Oliver 

 

There's no 4G network capability, but since it's still early days for that technology, that's no deal breaker. The basic version comes with 8GB memory on board, which isn't a lot, especially since there's no option to add more via microSD card. However, there's also a 16GB version available for an extra £24. You also get two years of 50GB online storage with Google Drive and the battery stood up pretty well too, giving us almost two solid days of steady use.
The Motorola Migrate app makes it easy to switch all your info including messages, music, pics and contacts from your old Android phone to your shiny new Moto G. It's a useful feature but it would have been even better if it could copy your home screen with all your favourite shortcuts and widgets too.

Conclusion
The Moto G is essentially a pretty decent mid-spec phone but it's the budget price that makes it really special. Tech fans will want something a bit more distinctive, but for many (and Motorola is hoping very many), this spec is more than they really need, at a price that's less than they'd expect to pay. It's a copper-bottomed bargain, and sets a very high bar for its rivals.