Sure, today's big Motorola event was mostly about the Moto X line, but the company's more budget-minded Moto G also got its time to shine. In fact, much of the internationally simulcast event was help in Brazil, where early additions of the phone have already caught on like gang busters.
Starting at $180 here in the States, the handset's far more budget conscious than the Moto X Style and Play, though the company promises that it hasn't cut any corners. Of course, having just spent some time with the Style, there are some almost immediately noticable physical distinctions.
The Moto G is chunkier than the Style and the build quality doesn't feel nearly as premium after handling it for a bit. The display, not surprisingly, is a fair bit smaller and lower-res, coming in at five-inches even, at 720p.
That's a 1280 x 720 resolution with a 294 PPI pixel density. That's a considerable drop from the Style's Quad HD, but will likely prove plenty good enough for users who don't spend to much of their movie watching time on their mobile device.
The rear shell is a touchy plastickey, compared to other devices, but Motorola's offered a good deal of customization on that front, with a wide array of different accents and swappable shells. Customization through the MotoMaker store also means further personalization through things like engraving.
The upside of the somewhat chunky design is added durability. The latest version of the Moto G is designed to take a licking. It also has a solid waterproofing rating of IPX7, which means it can be dunked in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. Suffice it to say, we can't wait to take that particular feature for a spin.
In keeping with Motorola's focus, the G also packs solid battery life, thanks to a 2470 mh battery. Again, not quite as large as the Moto X Style's but it should give you a day's worth of life of a charge.
Also of note are the 1.4 GHz quad-core processor and 13-megapixel rear-facing camera. Good news for those who can't wait, the Moto G is available in 60 countries as of today, starting at $180 for the 8GB version.
