The Moto G was the only product that kept Motorola from losing mindshare, yet they didn't update the SoC and turned it just into just another generic 5" low-range phone like all the chinese smartphones that are flooding the market. The big difference being that the chinese phones all use the much faster MT6592 or at least the 1.6GHz version of S400.. and many of these might be updated to the MT6752 from now on.
IMO Motorola just dwarfed its best smartphone to date.
Yeah, MT6592 isn't really that much faster (apart from benchmarks and apps, that can take advantage of 8 cores). Also, MTKs support really sux and you're lucky if you get one update from the manufacturer.
I think this is a pretty decent phone (Just like original motoG was) if priced right.
Of course the MT6592 is a lot faster faster than the 1.2GHz S400 even in single-threaded applications. One is clocked 42% higher than the other, and both use the same Cortex A7 cores. GPU is almost 2x faster too. Mediatek's support is as good as any other nowadays. There are lots of mediatek devices shipping with android 4.4.
Sure, this Moto G is a pretty decent phone. And so are tons of others from Xiaomi, Huawei, THL, Cubot, Newman, UMI, etc. etc. All of these brands have had, for half a year, cheaper 5" smartphones with a better SoC than this new Moto G, 1080p IPS screen with OGS, ~2500mAh batteries, 13MP iMX214 sensor from Sony and 16GB of mass storage.
Motorola is just offering an inferior product at a later date. As I said, they dwarfed it.
Are you living in some bizzaro world where people buy Chinese smartphones, that dont live in China, or arent well, poor?
I would never even consider a smartphone from any of the brands you mention because they just all scream "junk". They aren't even covered by phone media either.
Motorola on the other hand is well known respectable brand with quality products.
I guess it's like the difference between buying say, an LG TV, even a cheap one, or a "Sceptre" Or "Insignia" Or "TCL" or some brand like that model. Like a Huawei phone, it might get you by, but you're going to want something better if possible.
"I would never even consider a smartphone from any of the brands you mention because they just all scream "junk". They aren't even covered by phone media either."
Sorry to break it for you, but if you're buying a $200 phone - whatever the brand - then you're probably "poor" either way.
The only reason you'd never consider buying a smartphone from any of the brands I mentioned is because you wouldn't know any better. Thankfully, lots of people are much better informed than you since Huawei beats Motorola in global sales outside China.
Or you're buying a sub $200 phone because you recognize that, for your purposes, said phone can do everything that a flagship smartphone can at a fraction of the price. And in that case yes, quality of construction/reliability matter far more than the petty differences in specifications. Of course you can get quality construction and good reliability from some of the Chinese brands as well, it's still just more hit and miss.
The problem with Chinese market products isn't do much the hardware as the software. As noted in a comment above, you're lucky to get a single update of the OS, and you're really lucky if it works properly. The software that comes on Chinese market products is usually quite bad by western standards, and even if the initial release is good, the updates are often either terrible or non-existent.
With western market products, software support is usually quite good, and because of market share they are usually supported by third party roms like Cyanogenmod and members of XDA. For example, I'm running a fully functional Android 4.3 on a Samsung Skyrocket, which is a 4 year old phone.
In short, Chinese market products become junk in my opinion a year after you buy them because of outdated software that can't be feasibly updated.
"In short, Chinese market products become junk in my opinion a year after you buy them because of outdated software that can't be feasibly updated."
You're then supposed to buy the next-generation of outdated dreck they release in order to replace it.
Don't forget the subpar battery life, lousy cameras, lack of build quality, no inspection/certification so you're rolling the dice on whether or not it will decide to stop charging entirely or just melt, no 3rd-party ROM support, noncompliance with OSS/GPL ...
And what version of Android are those phones running? MediaTek has been a complete _joke_ on the software side. Many devices are still stuck on 4.2 because of their SOC choice. The Moto G gets updates almost as fast as my Nexus 5. MediaTek literally isn't even an option for any company that wants their phone to stay current with updates.
Moto G was a lifesaver for Motorola in India. Micromax recently outsold SMSG in July and August. Would not be surprised if MM would do what Xiomi did in China to SMSG.
All the above 3 are heavy MediaTek clients. With Google One blessing, the various MediaTek SOCs will definitely be priced to be far more economical than Moto G. Not the same smooth sailing this time...
Really liked original. Didn't want a larger screen/phone. Did want newer faster hardware. Shows motorola don't have a clue what made the moto g so successful.
Do you really think motorola just went ahead and upped the screen size just because they can ? No. They did their homework and upgraded the stuff, that people requested.
And even though it has a bigger screen, the device itself isn't actually all that bigger than the old model (~1cm taller and .5cm wider).
Source? Those figures don't sound right (especially considering the new G now has front facing speakers) 129.9 x 65.9 x 11.6 mm Moto G 141.5 x 70.7 x 11.0 mm Moto G 2014 http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=5831...
This is a bit disappointing, I'm after a new phone and had been ready to get the Moto G 4G but thought I'd wait for this to be announced. I'll go for the 4G over this as the screen size is better for me.
"The new Moto G effectively is a minor refresh" "While this is a mostly incremental release"
Don't think so. The original Moto G was a smartphone and this new handset is now a phablet. 5" is too big for one handed use. They should have just updated the SoC to Snapdragon 410 and made the battery removable (Qi would have been nice as well).
Ah well, fingers crossed that Samsung come to their senses and price the S5 mini appropriately (SoC slower than Snapdragon 400, yet 2.5x the cost of a midrange phone)
If you have really tiny hands, then yes, it coul be an issues. But then again, original motog wasn't small either (don't let the small screen foul you). Its all about overall size of the phone, not just the screen size. You can have a big screen with a very tiny benzel and the thing won't look gigantic and vise versa.
The new Moto G is bigger apart from thickness (I prefer thicker phones as I think it helps get a better grip) 129.9 x 65.9 x 11.6 mm Moto G 141.5 x 70.7 x 11.0 mm Moto G 2014 http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=5831...
Its bigger, but then again, if you're after smaller phones, there is always moto g LTE, which i pretty sure its gonna stay, until its replacement arrives
Even 5.5 inch is not a phablet anymore. A device has to be too big to be called a phone to become a phablet. 5 to 5.5 inch is normal, sizes have been going up for years now and it's normal for Moto to keep up. The device is targeted at developing markets where fewer users buy both a phone and a tablet so the phone gets heavy usage for internet and video and bigger the better. That's not to say that there shouldn't be smaller phones but they only have a handful of handsets and they are addressing the mainstream market not a niche. The first one was small to keep costs low ,screens are the most costly part in a phone, that's the only reason the first one was 4.5 not bigger.At 5 inch they'll sell a hell of a lot more. Coupled with the better cam and the microSD they are likely to get at least 30% higher volume , before more people start looking for a better SoC.. Moto did well here , except the SoC and the price is great for the an old guard phone maker. Sure in China you can get the specs for under 100$ ( like the Huawei Honor 3c Play) but few are used to buy phones from China ,nobody tells them about it , tech sites got left behind and they are stuck covering 15 models form a handful of dieing phone makers.
Just 5 years ago there were no phones that big. Human hands have not evolved in that space of time. 5" is a phablet still (this is the grey area between a phone and a tablet). What has changed is users' acceptance of using phablets instead of smartphones.
I don't have a problem with big phones but it is bothering me that big phones are squeezing out the regular size handsets. Last month we saw the LG G3 Beat (mini) come in at 5". Now it is the Moto G. The Galaxy S minis have also been growing in size as well. Soon there will be no choice other than to buy phones from a year ago or older if you want something below 5".
I returned Nexus 5 and got Moto G simply because it was too cumbersome to use the former one-handed. Looks like I might want to hold on to the original Moto G a while longer.
They fixed the main problems (SD and cam) but the SoC is the weak spot now that A53 is here.If they had the 410 it would be so much better. In the end it is a big upgrade ,going from 4.5 inch to 5 inch and fixing some problems while keeping the price is a big deal considering the target audience. They also should keep selling the G1 since many bought it for wives and girlfriends due to it's smaller size.
Actually, I'm happy they kept the same SOC. I prefer the 4.5 size screen, and will not buy any 5" soon, so this means my current moto G will have the same "good enough" performance for some more time.
BTW, the first line on the article seems to be missing some words: "The new Moto G effectively is a minor refresh as the SoC, battery, RAM, WiFi, and most other features."
The device we are reviewing is Moto G best phone in the market. if you are looking for a phone with latest featutres and best performance and cheap in cost then this device is only for you. This device works on a 1.2 GHz Quad core processor so its super fast and can run any of the game available in the market. The device has a 720 X 1280 px resolutions hence it can play high definition videos easily.
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ToTTenTranz - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
The Moto G was the only product that kept Motorola from losing mindshare, yet they didn't update the SoC and turned it just into just another generic 5" low-range phone like all the chinese smartphones that are flooding the market. The big difference being that the chinese phones all use the much faster MT6592 or at least the 1.6GHz version of S400.. and many of these might be updated to the MT6752 from now on.IMO Motorola just dwarfed its best smartphone to date.
hojnikb - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Yeah, MT6592 isn't really that much faster (apart from benchmarks and apps, that can take advantage of 8 cores). Also, MTKs support really sux and you're lucky if you get one update from the manufacturer.I think this is a pretty decent phone (Just like original motoG was) if priced right.
ToTTenTranz - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Of course the MT6592 is a lot faster faster than the 1.2GHz S400 even in single-threaded applications. One is clocked 42% higher than the other, and both use the same Cortex A7 cores. GPU is almost 2x faster too.Mediatek's support is as good as any other nowadays. There are lots of mediatek devices shipping with android 4.4.
Sure, this Moto G is a pretty decent phone. And so are tons of others from Xiaomi, Huawei, THL, Cubot, Newman, UMI, etc. etc.
All of these brands have had, for half a year, cheaper 5" smartphones with a better SoC than this new Moto G, 1080p IPS screen with OGS, ~2500mAh batteries, 13MP iMX214 sensor from Sony and 16GB of mass storage.
Motorola is just offering an inferior product at a later date.
As I said, they dwarfed it.
bill5 - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Are you living in some bizzaro world where people buy Chinese smartphones, that dont live in China, or arent well, poor?I would never even consider a smartphone from any of the brands you mention because they just all scream "junk". They aren't even covered by phone media either.
Motorola on the other hand is well known respectable brand with quality products.
I guess it's like the difference between buying say, an LG TV, even a cheap one, or a "Sceptre" Or "Insignia" Or "TCL" or some brand like that model. Like a Huawei phone, it might get you by, but you're going to want something better if possible.
Stochastic - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
"I would never even consider a smartphone from any of the brands you mention because they just all scream "junk". They aren't even covered by phone media either."That's starting to change: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/08/xiaomi-mi4-...
ToTTenTranz - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Sorry to break it for you, but if you're buying a $200 phone - whatever the brand - then you're probably "poor" either way.The only reason you'd never consider buying a smartphone from any of the brands I mentioned is because you wouldn't know any better.
Thankfully, lots of people are much better informed than you since Huawei beats Motorola in global sales outside China.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-state-of-the-sm...
Khato - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Or you're buying a sub $200 phone because you recognize that, for your purposes, said phone can do everything that a flagship smartphone can at a fraction of the price. And in that case yes, quality of construction/reliability matter far more than the petty differences in specifications. Of course you can get quality construction and good reliability from some of the Chinese brands as well, it's still just more hit and miss.senEdCraft - Friday, September 26, 2014 - link
A new moto is fantastic news, however I think it will be hard to beat the HTC One M8. /Ed from http://www.consumertop.com/best-phone-guide/StormyParis - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Some people don't buy brands, they buy specs or capabilities. These people are called smart non-fashion-victims.barleyguy - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
The problem with Chinese market products isn't do much the hardware as the software. As noted in a comment above, you're lucky to get a single update of the OS, and you're really lucky if it works properly. The software that comes on Chinese market products is usually quite bad by western standards, and even if the initial release is good, the updates are often either terrible or non-existent.With western market products, software support is usually quite good, and because of market share they are usually supported by third party roms like Cyanogenmod and members of XDA. For example, I'm running a fully functional Android 4.3 on a Samsung Skyrocket, which is a 4 year old phone.
In short, Chinese market products become junk in my opinion a year after you buy them because of outdated software that can't be feasibly updated.
Anonymous Blowhard - Monday, September 8, 2014 - link
"In short, Chinese market products become junk in my opinion a year after you buy them because of outdated software that can't be feasibly updated."You're then supposed to buy the next-generation of outdated dreck they release in order to replace it.
Don't forget the subpar battery life, lousy cameras, lack of build quality, no inspection/certification so you're rolling the dice on whether or not it will decide to stop charging entirely or just melt, no 3rd-party ROM support, noncompliance with OSS/GPL ...
Bob Todd - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
And what version of Android are those phones running? MediaTek has been a complete _joke_ on the software side. Many devices are still stuck on 4.2 because of their SOC choice. The Moto G gets updates almost as fast as my Nexus 5. MediaTek literally isn't even an option for any company that wants their phone to stay current with updates.rocketbuddha - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Another thing. In India Google has teamed up with Indian companies like Micromax (#1), Karbonn and Spice to launch low cost android Android phoneshttp://in.reuters.com/article/2014/09/03/google-in...
Moto G was a lifesaver for Motorola in India. Micromax recently outsold SMSG in July and August. Would not be surprised if MM would do what Xiomi did in China to SMSG.
All the above 3 are heavy MediaTek clients. With Google One blessing, the various MediaTek SOCs will definitely be priced to be far more economical than Moto G. Not the same smooth sailing this time...
rocketbuddha - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Yeah! If they have just the "3G" + HSPA model why not go with SOC manufacturers other than Qualcomm?The good news from IFA2014 is that finally QCOM is getting LTE baseband competition with both Mediatek as well as Huawei.
avinashK - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
This is complete disappointment ,,Over large screen ,, same battery ,,, same soc ,,same ram,, same old 720p ,, atleast they would have gone for 1080p and slightly priced to 200$ ,,,,,,
hojnikb - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
So basicly killing their higher end moto X ?Yeah i think not.
Dribble - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Really liked original. Didn't want a larger screen/phone. Did want newer faster hardware. Shows motorola don't have a clue what made the moto g so successful.hojnikb - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Price made the thing successful. No smaller screen.piroroadkill - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Wrong. I wouldn't buy a phone with a 5" screen, but would normally have recommended the G.hojnikb - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Do you really think motorola just went ahead and upped the screen size just because they can ?No. They did their homework and upgraded the stuff, that people requested.
And even though it has a bigger screen, the device itself isn't actually all that bigger than the old model (~1cm taller and .5cm wider).
semo - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Source? Those figures don't sound right (especially considering the new G now has front facing speakers)129.9 x 65.9 x 11.6 mm Moto G
141.5 x 70.7 x 11.0 mm Moto G 2014
http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=5831...
semo - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Never mind. Was thinking about something elsemkozakewich - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Sure. ~1 cm taller, and .5cm wider?141.5mm - 129.9mm = 1.16 cm taller
70.7mm - 65.9mm = 0.48 cm wider.
So... I don't get what you're saying by asking for sources and then supplying the exact data they quoted.
nitram_tpr - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
This is a bit disappointing, I'm after a new phone and had been ready to get the Moto G 4G but thought I'd wait for this to be announced. I'll go for the 4G over this as the screen size is better for me.semo - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
"The new Moto G effectively is a minor refresh""While this is a mostly incremental release"
Don't think so. The original Moto G was a smartphone and this new handset is now a phablet. 5" is too big for one handed use. They should have just updated the SoC to Snapdragon 410 and made the battery removable (Qi would have been nice as well).
Ah well, fingers crossed that Samsung come to their senses and price the S5 mini appropriately (SoC slower than Snapdragon 400, yet 2.5x the cost of a midrange phone)
hojnikb - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
If you have really tiny hands, then yes, it coul be an issues. But then again, original motog wasn't small either (don't let the small screen foul you). Its all about overall size of the phone, not just the screen size. You can have a big screen with a very tiny benzel and the thing won't look gigantic and vise versa.semo - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
The new Moto G is bigger apart from thickness (I prefer thicker phones as I think it helps get a better grip)129.9 x 65.9 x 11.6 mm Moto G
141.5 x 70.7 x 11.0 mm Moto G 2014
http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=5831...
The Moto X was supposed to be the big phone.
hojnikb - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Its bigger, but then again, if you're after smaller phones, there is always moto g LTE, which i pretty sure its gonna stay, until its replacement arrivesjjj - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Even 5.5 inch is not a phablet anymore. A device has to be too big to be called a phone to become a phablet. 5 to 5.5 inch is normal, sizes have been going up for years now and it's normal for Moto to keep up.The device is targeted at developing markets where fewer users buy both a phone and a tablet so the phone gets heavy usage for internet and video and bigger the better.
That's not to say that there shouldn't be smaller phones but they only have a handful of handsets and they are addressing the mainstream market not a niche.
The first one was small to keep costs low ,screens are the most costly part in a phone, that's the only reason the first one was 4.5 not bigger.At 5 inch they'll sell a hell of a lot more. Coupled with the better cam and the microSD they are likely to get at least 30% higher volume , before more people start looking for a better SoC..
Moto did well here , except the SoC and the price is great for the an old guard phone maker. Sure in China you can get the specs for under 100$ ( like the Huawei Honor 3c Play) but few are used to buy phones from China ,nobody tells them about it , tech sites got left behind and they are stuck covering 15 models form a handful of dieing phone makers.
semo - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
Just 5 years ago there were no phones that big. Human hands have not evolved in that space of time. 5" is a phablet still (this is the grey area between a phone and a tablet). What has changed is users' acceptance of using phablets instead of smartphones.I don't have a problem with big phones but it is bothering me that big phones are squeezing out the regular size handsets. Last month we saw the LG G3 Beat (mini) come in at 5". Now it is the Moto G. The Galaxy S minis have also been growing in size as well. Soon there will be no choice other than to buy phones from a year ago or older if you want something below 5".
thevoiceofreason - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
I returned Nexus 5 and got Moto G simply because it was too cumbersome to use the former one-handed. Looks like I might want to hold on to the original Moto G a while longer.jjj - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
They fixed the main problems (SD and cam) but the SoC is the weak spot now that A53 is here.If they had the 410 it would be so much better.In the end it is a big upgrade ,going from 4.5 inch to 5 inch and fixing some problems while keeping the price is a big deal considering the target audience. They also should keep selling the G1 since many bought it for wives and girlfriends due to it's smaller size.
apertotes - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
This and the new Z3 Compact are the only exciting android phones nowadays.semo - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
One is huge but somewhat affordable and the other one is smaller but not so affordable. I spot a niche!teldar - Saturday, September 6, 2014 - link
Don't know that I agree. I bought the One Plus One and it is excellent.marc1000 - Monday, September 8, 2014 - link
Actually, I'm happy they kept the same SOC. I prefer the 4.5 size screen, and will not buy any 5" soon, so this means my current moto G will have the same "good enough" performance for some more time.BTW, the first line on the article seems to be missing some words: "The new Moto G effectively is a minor refresh as the SoC, battery, RAM, WiFi, and most other features."
mohsin1994 - Monday, September 8, 2014 - link
here is some good specs explained by someone i found on internet :)http://gadgetsalert.com/moto-g-second-generation-s...
ramanash - Saturday, October 4, 2014 - link
The device we are reviewing is Moto G best phone in the market.if you are looking for a phone with latest featutres and best performance and cheap
in cost then this device is only for you.
This device works on a 1.2 GHz Quad core processor so its super fast
and can run any of the game available in the market.
The device has a 720 X 1280 px resolutions hence it can play high definition videos easily.
Read More : http://www.anokhigames.in/2014/08/moto-g.html