That both generations of the G basically share a brain isn't necessarily a bad thing - we quite enjoyed the horsepower we squeezed out of it last year - but I couldn't help but hope Motorola would use a more powerful configuration this year. This year's model has the same quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 as its predecessor, along with the same 1GB of RAM. If you thought the Moto G's looks were more of the same, just wait until you see what's lurking inside. You might also notice a hint of slack between the removable back plate and the rest of the phone, but that's just me being nitpicky. Here, those edges are flat and substantial, and while they don't make the phone feel small, they do give your hands more surface area to grip - not a bad deal for any butterfingers reading this. That's a shame since Motorola did an outstanding job making the new Moto X feel slimmer than it is by tapering the sides. Your apps and emails have more room to stretch out and breathe, but this year's Moto G is also a little less comfortable to hold because of it. ![]() That's about it in terms of visual flair - the G in its default state is as subtle as ever, but you can trick it out with any number of Motorola's colorful backplates and cases.Īs it turns out, that bigger screen winds up being a blessing and a curse. You won't notice the tiny, white notification light next to the pinprick of a front-facing camera until someone shoots you an email or writes on your Facebook wall, though your eye will occasionally dart to the proximity sensor sitting below the topmost speaker (especially if your phone is white, like mine was). All of that taken together means this year's Moto G looks an awful lot like last year's batch of Motorola handsets with just a few notable differences.įor one, a more expansive, 5-inch 720p display fills the front - it's barely bounded by bezels on the left and right, while a shiny pair of front-facing speaker grilles above and below the screen helps the G pull off a convincing Moto E impersonation. Other details of the design are carryovers too, including the headphone jack centered along the phone's top edge, and the faintest hints of color circling the 8-megapixel rear camera. Motorola is still enamored with those curved backs, clean faces and dimpled logos. I don't mean to sound cynical here, but if you've seen one modern Motorola smartphone, you've just seen them all. Does this year's model clear the "good enough" bar once again? And just how far will $180 take you this year? If you took a quick peek at what it brings to the table, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Motorola wanted to play it safe the second time around - the new Moto G isn't a game changer, and it doesn't have to be. Here we are less than a year later, and we've got a sequel to play with (one with the same name, no less). Still, it was one of those gadgets that wound up being more than just "good enough" between the price and performance, the Moto G was one of the best cheap smartphones you could own, period. For $180 off-contract, it became awfully easy to forgive the thing for not being the quickest, the prettiest or the smartest. Let's be honest, though: The G's greatest asset was its small, small price tag. Sure, we knew Motorola wanted to reinvent the cheap smartphone experience, but the very first device in the company's cost crusade was even better than we expected. Last year's Moto G took us all by surprise.
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