Motorola Moto G quick-read review: Good buy for average users, but take 16GB

Motorola Moto G 8GB is priced at Rs. 12,999 and the 16GB at Rs. 13,999

Summary

Motorola's comeback phone has got rave reviews as the best budget handset. But here is some detail.

You've probably heard about the Moto G already. Motorola's comeback phone has got rave reviews as the best budget handset. There are five negative points you should know before buying the Moto G, but despite those, is it still value for your money?

Design: There is a sturdiness and simplicity to the Moto G that is lacking in most handsets: no logos on the front, rounded edges, a rubber-finish matte back that won't attract fingerprints, and a straight line in the middle for the camera, flash, logo and headphone port. The phone also has water-repellant coating, but don't read too much into that—the ports are open, so it's not like you can use it in the rain. Drops don't affect the phone either. For most people, it's comfortable to hold it in one hand and use. But what bothers me are the large bezels. It's got a smaller screen than most phones at this price, but Motorola still insists on using virtual touchscreen buttons taking up valuable screen space while having a 1.5cm bezel under it that's just wasted space.

Screen: The bezel and virtual buttons mean that you aren't getting the full 4.5 inches of promised screen space. That said, the screen is sharp and reproduces true colours. It has Gorilla Glass 3 scratch protection, and while it's not clearly legible in direct sunlight, it's not bad either.

Performance: The Moto G can go toe-to-toe with any other smartphone in this price range. Most of its competitors use the Mediatek MT6589 quad-core processor, so we ran our usual performance tests on phones with that processor and the Moto G. In all tests, the Moto G was on par or better. The only place it struggles is with high-end gaming—you'll need to play games like FIFA 14 and Call Of Duty: Strike Team on Medium settings here, not High.

Moto G can be yours for Rs 12,499

Memory: The Moto G is available in either 8GB or 16GB capacities. If you aren't a gamer, this is going to be sufficient for most users—even with a few casual games. But as a gamer, the space will prove too little in a short time as many HD games are clocking in disk space requirements of 1.2-1.5GB now.

Connectivity: In continued…