Motorola had quite the taste of success when they relaunched themselves in the Indian market with the Moto E, Moto G and Moto X phones.
Cut to 2015 and Motorola has just brought out the 3rd gen of their popular mid-budget android smartphone – the Moto G. And guess what – it looks just the same.
Priced at Rs 11,999 for the 8GB storage and 1GB RAM and Rs 12,999 for 16GB storage and 2GB RAM, this phone is exclusively available on Flipkart.
But the real question is whether it’s worth your money.
What’s Good?
Motorola has in its own special way mastered the art of giving users a stock android experience and the Moto G 3rd Gen holds true to the same promise. Its stock Android 5.1.1 operating system packs quite a punch.
Bonus points must be awarded for its IPX 7 water resistance feature – the phone can survive in fresh water that’s 3 feet deep for a good 30 minutes.
This means that when the inevitable happens – i.e., when you accidentally drop the phone into your commode – all you need to worry about are germs and what-have-you, because the phone will be able to survive the trial by water!
The build quality of the phone has also been enhanced and the new back panel adds a premium feel to the Moto G. But basically, it’s all plastic.
Camera lovers may rejoice: the Moto G 3rd Gen features a 13 megapixel rear camera and a 5 megapixel front camera with an f2.0 lens, a dual LED flash and HDR.
The quality specs are backed by just the right price. Low light photography has improved as well but not that drastically.
The 2470 mAh non-removable battery is as long lasting as the company claims it to be and can survive a good day and a half after full charge, for an average user.
The Moto G 3rd Gen is a dual-SIM smartphone, which also provides for 4G LTE connectivity on both the SIM slots.
What’s Bad?
Moto G 3rd gen comes loaded with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) Processor with 1.4 GHz Quad Core CPU, Adreno 306 with 400 MHz GPU. That’s hardly as promising as one would expect the next gen smartphone to be.
If you plan on playing some heavy duty graphic games on this phone forget about a lag free experience. This one’s average at best.
The 5 inch, 720p HD (1280 x 720), Corning Gorilla Glass 3 screen is also not that impressive and is highly reflective. Also, in that price range you now get full HD displays on modern smartphones, so why the company compromised with a 720p display is beyond us.
The 8GB version of the phone is a big sham for that kind of price. While it does have a memory card slot, but buying one micro SD card is an additional Rs 300 to Rs 1000 over the phone’s cost.
Why Buy it?
The Moto G 3rd Gen is a phone that you might definitely need, but don’t deserve. The company has cut a few corners with this one.
It competes with the likes of the Yu Yureka and the Lenovo K3 Note. Some budget phones, like the Xiaomi Redmi 2, provide a better experience over the Moto G 3rd Gen. But what the Moto G provides is a pure stock android experience which is good.
This one is a little overpriced for sure, and purely on usability and economy, the 2nd Gen Moto G still makes sense.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)