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If you believe that 'no-compromise' and 'mid-range' are mutually exclusive words, Motorola Moto G is here to, happily, shatter your beliefs, writes Meenal Singh.
Google-owned Motorola finally took the sheets off this cheaper and slightly low-specced version of the flagship Moto X, the Moto G, at an event in Sao Paulo, Brazil which is expected to sell in at least 30 countries by 2014. As for the Indian market, the company confirmed that with Moto G it will make its most-awaited comeback by the end of January 2014.
To top it, the company is being even more generous by considering the Indian market as one of the selective markets to launch the dual-SIM variant of this mobile.
Dennis Woodside, Motorola's CEO, while announcing the Moto G, proudly contrasted this model with other super-expensive high-end phones and said, "Today, we're introducing Moto G, a smartphone that delivers a premium experience for a third of the price of current high-end phones." Such confidence is sure to strike hard on other competing brands.
Motorola Moto G is one of its kind as it intends to bring the best of any high-end smartphone at a very cheap price. You will certainly want to cross check the price after reading the specifications!
The Moto G starts at just $179 for the 8GB model and its 16GB model is tagged at $199, basically, a price tag for the mid-range smartphones. So when the Moto G offers all the stunning features of a high-end phone at this price, it becomes unbeatable.
The phone will be sold on Motorola's online store directly to consumers.
Design
The Moto G is 129.9mm in height, 65.9mm in width and 11.6mm in depth and weighs only 143 grams.
The dimensions clearly suggest that this model is much lighter to carry and handle and will not prove a burden on your wrists even after long continuous hours. Moto G features a removable rear panel that can be swapped out for plastic panels of different colours.
Not only this the Moto G also offers 19 customisation options, including interchangeable Motorola shells and flip shells. Further, this model also is blessed with water-resistant nano-coating on the inside and outside.
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Display and specifications
Moto G features a stunning 4.5-inch HD, 'edge-to-edge' screen delivering a screen resolution of 720x1280 pixels, a pixel density of 329ppi and a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 screen. Edge-to-edge screen provides a better touch experience and a sense of a wider workspace.
Moto G takes full care that you have comfortable watching, reading, playing or browsing time.
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Everything that you need to know about its camera!
At such an affordable price, you also get a 5MP rear camera with an LED flash to take life-like pictures. With its 1.3MP front camera, you can also enjoy clear and sharp video calling. Some features offered by the rear camera are 4X digital zoom, slow motion video, burst mode, auto HDR, panorama and tap to focus.
Both, front and the rear camera are capable of recording 720p HD video. Some video playback formats supported are MPEG4, H.263, H.264 and VP8 while it also supports audio playback formats like AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, PCM, FLAC, MIDI, QCELP, EVRC, OGG/Vorbis.
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Connectivity
The connectivity features offered by Moto G are Wi-Fi, GSM, GPRS, 3G, A-GPS, GLONASS, Bluetooth version 4.0, and Micro USB. To enhance the audio experience, it is provided with a 3.5mm audio jack so that you can enjoy your music via your headphones as well.
The Moto G offers its users FM radio, mostly absent in high-end phones. This clearly shows that Motorola studied the shortcomings of the market trend very closely and took the lead to correct them with this model.
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Something about the core of this model
Powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (Cortex-A7) processor and featuring Adreno 305 GPU, the Moto G has proven powerful enough to deliver a strong, seamless performance while running high end programmes and applications.
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Storage capacity
Capacity is not an issue with this model. It offers 1 GB of RAM, which in combination with the processor and the GPU, makes data processing better and faster.
This model is available in two variants, one with 8 GB internal storage and other with 16 GB internal storage. Make sure to choose your model wisely as micro SD slot is not provided in this model. This means you won't be able to expand the memory once it is fully occupied. But, perhaps, to cover this gap, the Moto G offers 50 GB extra storage free on Google Drive, on top of the standard 15 GB, for two years.
In all, there is more than enough space provided to store your photos, videos, music or other files.
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Battery life and OS
Fuelled by 2070 mAh built-in, rechargeable battery, you have your Moto G alive for almost 24 hours even after mixed usage. The company even claims that the model offers 30 per cent more talk time than Apple iPhone 5s. This way Moto G is smart when it comes to battery life.
What's more, the Motorola Moto G runs Android 4.3 out of the box and the company has guaranteed that this smartphone will be getting the Android 4.4 KitKat by January 2014.
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Some brownie points offered by this model
The software for Moto G is highly optimised and ensures that no duplicate apps are pre-installed with the Moto G. When comparison was made with the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Korean giant's current flagship, it was observed that in terms of speed of booting up, and in making or taking phone calls, the Moto G outperformed the S4.
Some other features hosted by the Motorola Moto G are Motorola Assist and Motorola Migrate.
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Conclusion
The Motorola Moto G will surely see a huge market demand on its launch for its rich features at an exceptional price. With this model, the company can expect not only to re-enter the race but also stay on top for a long period of time.
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