Motorola Mobility Announces ‘Premium’ £135 Moto G

Motorola Mobility has announced the Moto G, a new low-cost smartphone that promises to offer a premium experience, and will cost just £135 without a contract, when it is released in the UK.

“Our industry forces consumers to make a choice between two bad options,” said CEO Dennis Woodside at the launch event in Brazil, claiming that consumers who wanted a smartphone for less than $200 (£125) were forced to opt between accepting inferior technology or out of date models.

“We think the industry should deliver more value for the consumer’s dollar,” he declared, claiming that the Moto G would focus on delivering the latest hardware and applications coupled with good performance and battery life.

Moto G announcement

The Moto G has a 4.5 inch 720p display capable of producing 329 pixels per inch (ppi), and is protected with Gorilla Glass, while added durability comes in the form of waterproof coating to protect the handset from splashes.

It is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and 1GB of RAM, which Motorola claims delivers impressive performance while preserving battery life so the smartphone can be used for an entire day.

It runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and Motorola has promised it will receive an upgrade to 4.4 Kit Kat in January, while it runs a “pure” form of Google’s mobile operating system to allow users to make the most of Google services.

Google is targeting emerging markets with a dual-SIM variety of the handset, which is availabile from today in Brazil and certain European countries, and will rollout to 30 other territories, including the UK and US by January.

Competitively priced

The 8GB version will cost £135 without a contract in the UK, and $159 in the US, while the 16GB variety is $199 (£124), with no UK pricing confirmed. Analysts believe the feature set, coupled with the comparatively low price, represents an impressive offering.

“Against other phones in that price bracket, the Moto G seems to run rings around the competition,” says Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.

“Rather than having to wait for hand-me-downs, a starting price of less than £135 could see the Moto G become a great choice as a stocking filler as well as a great option for those wanting a device that wows and yet doesn’t break the bank.

“It boasts a nice set of features including a powerful quad-core processor and great 4.5-inch HD display – and all at a price point which is sure to shake up the mid-range market. The camera may be ‘only’ 5-megapixels, but that still makes it a big hitter in the class.

Moto X

The Moto G is the first handset to by Motorola Mobility under the Google banner outside the US. The American-assembled Moto X debuted in its homeland earlier this year and Woodside said that after 83 days on sale, the “reception to the phone has been absolutely fantastic.”

He claimed that the customisable handset was “changing the way people interact with their smartphone,” and promised that the Moto X would be upgraded to Android 4.4 Kit Kat within the next few weeks.

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