Motorola Moto G: a £135 smartphone to boost the budget market

Low-cost handset offers a 4.5-inch screen with a 720p resolution and 8GB or 16GB of memory

(NELSON ALMEIDA)

After a series of leaks more closely resembling a flood, the Google-owned Motorola has officially unveiled its latest budget smartphone, the Moto G.

So what’s been confirmed that we already knew? Quite a lot. The Moto G is currently on sale in the UK from £135 off-contract and comes with a base-line of 8GB of memory. There is a 16GB model available too, although this version will set buyers back £159.

The Moto G also comes with a 4.5-inch 1280x720 HD screen, a 5-megapixel camera on the back and a 1.3-megapixel camera on the front.

Although the phone runs the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS, Motorola have pledged a “guaranteed upgrade” for some time in the future. Inside, there’s also a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor.

Furthermore, as was expected, the Moto G won’t be able to support 4G networks.

There were some things that were unveiled that we weren’t already aware of. Motorola are claiming that Moto G packs an “all-day battery”, and also announced that it will have 1GB of RAM. The dimensions of the phone are 65.9 x 129.9 x 11.6mm, and it will weigh 143g.

We already knew about the interchangeable coloured backs that would be available for the Moto G, but not what they would be called. As it turns out, they will be called “Shells”.

Ernest Doku, a telecoms expert at uSwitch.com, was impressed by the Moto G, and said that it “can’t be ignored”. He continued: “Against other phones in that price bracket, the Moto G seems to run rings around the competition.”

“Rather than having to wait for hand-me downs, a starting price of less than £135 could see the Moto G become a great choice as a stocking filler as well as a great option for those wanting a device that wows and doesn’t break the bank.”

Motorola, which was purchased by Google in a $12.5bn (£7.8bn) deal back in May 2012, will be hoping that the Moto G significantly outperforms its predecessor, the Moto X. After the Moto X’s release in August, its sales have been largely underwhelming, only shifting around 500,000 units, according to Strategy Analytics.