Motorola Moto G(2ND Generation) — Initial Impressions.
Motorola’s presence in India was withdrawn in 2012, after is was merged with Google, With Motorola Razr being the last smartphone. To the Tech-World’s shock, Motorola re-entered the abandoned Indian market with 3 phones Moto X, Moto G, and finally Moto E.
The second generation of Moto G was announced in the first week of September, and I find myself lucky enough to experience one for about 12 hours.
DISCLAIMER : I have personally used this device for 12 hours(6 hours on-screen) before post.
The Purchase
Normally a topic never covered. Motorola plans to sell Moto phones(all three of them) in partnership with flipkart. Not the best strategy to sell mid-range and low-range phone online, where the market is skeptical about online shopping. Motorola could have at least made these phones available offline through some other giants (like Croma or Reliance Digital). However if you plan to get one through flipkart, ‘fear not for thy shall’ inform you, there is a 30 day replacement warranty if you find a defective product. Moto G is available in White or Black, with options to change the back cover.
Unboxing
The box itself is not a huge package, traditional Motorola packaging. Informative, at the same time ‘minimalistic’. Warning for first time users, since the device casing is not sturdy. The device directly pops out of the box the second you open the lid. So if you are of the type who likes to live off the edge, somewhere on top of Mt.Everest, carelessness will probably end up with the world record for the world’s most rigorous drop-test.
Other than the device itself you get a charger, earphones(they look cheap, check these) and some literature which Indians don’t read. To cut the cost down, they didn’t keep that data-cable(micro-USB to USB).
Aesthetics
The look and feel of the Moto G remains nearly same. The buttons, back cover, camera placement, the much-loved Motorola dimple below the camera, etc stays. The enhancements being the footprint, speaker placement, and other sensors. The device fits perfect in the hand or pocket. It’s not portable like the previous version. The speakers receive a reallocation, that makes device look symmetric. I personally encountered many instances where I was unable to figure out which was the correct way up(I think the white version is more friendly), The dimple on the back solves that confusion.
Hardware
Under the hood moto G(2nd Gen.) hasn’t received a spec-bump if you compare it with its predecessor, the CPU/GPU remains the same. The display gets a 0.5 inch expansion to 5 inch display. Sadly at the same resolution (720p) the ppi comes down to 294. The camera department gets an upgrade to much respected 8MP which results to some decent shots (Some shots will be posted below). The ports 3.5 mm jack is on top (to which the earphones supplied with it aren’t angled) and the charging/sync port at the bottom.
Taking off the back cover reveals 2 micro sim slots and a memory card slot(which was absent in the previous version). The battery stays with the same rating and non-removable. Leaving the cards hot-swappable.
Software
Motorola does a great job is delivering a smart phone in the year 2014, with an operating system which was launched in 2014. They don’t fail with this device too, as it comes pre-installed with Android 4.4.4 (Hopefully will get an upgrade to Android L). It’s a vanilla Android experience with (some useful) bloatwares from Motorola. For it being new and shiny I cannot conclude how will it be in the long run. It was snappy with all regular app-launch, multitasking and gaming operations, thanks to the Snapdragon 400 chipset and Adreno 305 GPU.
Who should buy this phone?
Obviously if you are on a budget on 13–15k (INR) probably the best mid range device you could buy now.
Or if you are some one who wants a Vanilla android experience, and doesn’t care about the specifications under the hood.
May be if you have a high-end smartphone from some other platform and you don’t want to miss the latest and greatest of android.
Who shouldn’t buy this phone?
If you have moto G (1st generation) this device isn’t a complete upgrade. If the processor was upgraded to a future proof 64-bit powerhouse, the story would have been different.
Secondly those who hate low screen resolution. The display may look splashed if it were to be compared with a 1080p display.
Everything else
It’s nice to have front facing speakers but they give the whole phone the creaky feeling of it falling apart. With this i mean placement of speakers should not have any impact on other components. With that being said the speakers are loud(but not HTC M8 quality).
The only bits is dislike is the display resolution and availability of the product in the Indian market.
[Update(21st September, 2014): The volume buttons on the Moto G aren’t the best. Technically, most of the units I’ve noticed has a z-axis play, which makes it feel as if its gonna break]
I’ll surely keep in touch with this smartphone, and if possible will post a review too.
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Would like to know your opinion on the strategy what Motorola has adopted to sell these devices in the comment section below.
