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Moto G Reviews ($179 Unlocked, 4.5" 720p IPS, quad-core Snapdragon 400, Android 4.4)

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In our continuous video playback test the Moto G lasted for an impressive nine hours and 12 minutes. That's almost two hours better than the high-end Nexus 5 (which we criticised on that point) and with few handsets scoring more than 10 hours in this test, it's a strong result.
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That is beyond impressive, if generally applicable. I wonder if Motorola has a better understanding about Adreno GPUs than other OEMs. I thought I saw a quad A7 (mediatek chip, I think) struggling at HD decoding. My understanding has been that A7s are great for lighter loads, but not so for tougher works such as videos. Maybe Motorola's secret is on the GPU side? (e.g. better drivers)
 
Guys, I have an LG Optimus L9 and have been looking to upgrade. 4.5" screen and decent resolution, but it's running out of storage, and the battery is dying and I don't want to replace the battery when I need storage anyway. I am looking for a smaller phone.

The Moto X is nice, but kind of hard to swallow at $499 when the Nexus 5 is $349. The Moto G is a great price. Kind of ugly, but good price (I've read mediocre camera though). I was absolutely going to get it when they announced it, but it won't come to US until January.

I jumped the gun and just ordered a gold iphone 5s haha. $649, and tax is about $705. I can return in 30 days no questions as long as I don't lost or break it. Most of my friends and family have iPhones. Features like iMessage, AirPlay, AirDrop, and exclusive apps make me jealous.

Honestly, I prefer the Android OS, having used my mom's iPhone extensively, but considering that Android has a limited choice of good smaller phones, plus iPhone has better apps, and neat features like AirDrop, I am going to test the water. And sell it on ebay for $800 if I don't like it or return it haha.

Another factor too in my choice of 5s is the depreciation of the iphone. I know the iphone value holds up well, you can even profit on it, at least for the next few months, so you aren't really losing money if you sell it soon. It would kill me to see my moto x's price getting slashed which I could see happening.
 
jhtrico1850 said:
Guys, I have an LG Optimus L9 and have been looking to upgrade. 4.5" screen and decent resolution, but it's running out of storage, and the battery is dying and I don't want to replace the battery when I need storage anyway. I am looking for a smaller phone.

The Moto X is nice, but kind of hard to swallow at $499 when the Nexus 5 is $349. The Moto G is a great price. Kind of ugly, but good price (I've read mediocre camera though). I was absolutely going to get it when they announced it, but it won't come to US until January.

I jumped the gun and just ordered a gold iphone 5s haha. $649, and tax is about $705. I can return in 30 days no questions as long as I don't lost or break it. Most of my friends and family have iPhones. Features like iMessage, AirPlay, AirDrop, and exclusive apps make me jealous.

Honestly, I prefer the Android OS, having used my mom's iPhone extensively, but considering that Android has a limited choice of good smaller phones, plus iPhone has better apps, and neat features like AirDrop, I am going to test the water. And sell it on ebay for $800 if I don't like it or return it haha.

Another factor too in my choice of 5s is the depreciation of the iphone. I know the iphone value holds up well, you can even profit on it, at least for the next few months, so you aren't really losing money if you sell it soon. It would kill me to see my moto x's price getting slashed which I could see happening.
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I personally would have probably just limped along on the L9 until January.
 
It's killing me, the battery is at 100% at night, used to drop to 80% when I wake up, twice recently, it's been near 5%. I even turned off wifi, it still drained low. I got Battery Doctor, which puts it in Airplane mode at night.. Kind of helps.

I want a no compromise phone. Galaxy S3/4 are too big. I tried S2 bought on ebay, terrible resolution, bad battery. 5c works fantastic, but it looks like a toy. Moto G is even uglier.

Moto X looks amazing. But if Google will sell Nexus 4/5 for really cheap, I could imagine they cut the price of it again. I know Apple won't cut but $100 next year. I would definitely buy and try the moto x if it got another $100 cut to $400. Everything I've read about it sounds wonderful, especially the battery life. I've read the moto g battery life is either mediocre or good.
 
jhtrico1850 said:
It's killing me, the battery is at 100% at night, used to drop to 80% when I wake up, twice recently, it's been near 5%. I even turned off wifi, it still drained low. I got Battery Doctor, which puts it in Airplane mode at night.. Kind of helps.

I want a no compromise phone. Galaxy S3/4 are too big. I tried S2 bought on ebay, terrible resolution, bad battery. 5c works fantastic, but it looks like a toy. Moto G is even uglier.

Moto X looks amazing. But if Google will sell Nexus 4/5 for really cheap, I could imagine they cut the price of it again. I know Apple won't cut but $100 next year. I would definitely buy and try the moto x if it got another $100 cut to $400. Everything I've read about it sounds wonderful, especially the battery life. I've read the moto g battery life is either mediocre or good.
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Have you looked into the Nexus 4? Still a solid phone and fairly cheap. Also a decent upgrade over an l9
 
L9 was a struggle enough for me to get used to size wise, even though it's not that bigger than an iphone 5. Nexus 4 is too big.

S4 Mini, One Mini, Xperia 1ZS look interesting if they would come to T-Mobile (on ebay now, but international, no LTE)
 
jhtrico1850 said:
L9 was a struggle enough for me to get used to size wise, even though it's not that bigger than an iphone 5. Nexus 4 is too big.

S4 Mini, One Mini, Xperia 1ZS look interesting if they would come to T-Mobile (on ebay now, but international, no LTE)
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What's your budget?
 
Great price, don't mind the lesser screen or SOC at all. BUT no 4G kills the device for me. Maybe with the N4 it was an excuse as the first real budget high end phone... but its almost 2014. 4G shouldn't even be a question... it should be just as silly as asking if the phone has a camera.
 
Insomniator said:
Great price, don't mind the lesser screen or SOC at all. BUT no 4G kills the device for me. Maybe with the N4 it was an excuse as the first real budget high end phone... but its almost 2014. 4G shouldn't even be a question... it should be just as silly as asking if the phone has a camera.
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T-Mobile's HSPA+ is actually very fast. 5-10 Mbit is easily doable in many places. AT&T's, on the other hand, sucks 🙁
 
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Insomniator said:
Great price, don't mind the lesser screen or SOC at all. BUT no 4G kills the device for me. Maybe with the N4 it was an excuse as the first real budget high end phone... but its almost 2014. 4G shouldn't even be a question... it should be just as silly as asking if the phone has a camera.
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as usual, motorola has release another phone with two year old technology
 
mnewsham said:
weird, with my iphone 4s on AT&T I was getting 10-15Mbps down regularly, only like 2-3Mbps upload though.
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Yeah I don't think HSPA+ on AT&T is all that slow to be honest. In the times that I've used it on my old iPhone 5 or S4 I was very happy with it.

Moto G is a big deal IMO. A great choice if your carrier won't unlock your phone and you want to use a local SIM in Europe. Other than the camera and lack of expandable storage I don't see too many flaws here. Consumers *need* good options for unlocked phones under $400 off-contract.
 
mnewsham said:
weird, with my iphone 4s on AT&T I was getting 10-15Mbps down regularly, only like 2-3Mbps upload though.
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I think on average you won't see those speeds. I've seen 11mbps before and that was my record, but it typically hovered around 2-3 in most places on my Nexus 4, with a few places being 6-7.

It's plenty fast to watch videos and do stuff unlike with Verizon 3G where it's sub 1mbps in most places, and when you're in a crowded place? Forget about even loading your email!

With that said the issue I have with HSPA is that it's getting awfully congested. In the US it's actually not as bad because we have had LTE for some time and early adoption helped us (wow early adoption in the US???). With most of Asia and Europe though, HSPA was hell to use in 2012. It was congested a lot and speeds were terrible in big cities. Most countries have started to push LTE heavily now, so we should see hopefully much better speeds.

I know that everyone always points to HSPA speeds being enough, but those are sustained speeds. LTE has a latency advantage, and using the race to idle theory, battery life should be extended. Furthermore, HSPA spends a lot of time initiating a connection. It can sometimes be 1-2 seconds before any data starts flowing. LTE does not suffer from this issue it seems. Getting 50mbps is just the cherry on top.

BTW, where's openwheel? Doesn't he love optimized low end phones? I wanted to hear the cheering.
 
It looks like a galaxy nexus with a colored back. You can't find a better phone brand new unlocked off contract for this price spec wise. For the price its a good phone and I may buy one when they come out just to mess with if it stays up to date with updates
 
Bman123 said:
It looks like a galaxy nexus with a colored back. You can't find a better phone brand new unlocked off contract for this price spec wise. For the price its a good phone and I may buy one when they come out just to mess with if it stays up to date with updates
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in 2013/4 youd be satisfied with a 3g phone?
 
Yah with good modem and signal HSPA+ isn't that bad. I mean, its theoretical bandwidth goes up to 21/42 Mbps, doesn't it? The problem is that its more congested for now and will remain so for the next few years. But as long as your carrier coverages are strong, HSPA+ is nothing to scoff at.
 
I consistently get close to 20mbps download speed with my s3, that's more then fast enough considering all I do is browse forums on it
 
This is the perfect phone for first time smartphone owners like my Dad. Its target market is not enthusiasts.
 
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