Test-driven: Motorola Moto G smartphone

Every now and then a new piece of technology comes along that actually lives up to its marketing hype. Motorola’s new Moto G smartphone is one of those products.

For price-conscious people like me who want all the functionality of a high-end smartphone but don’t want the $750-plus pricetag they come with – the $299 Moto G has to be the answer. The other options are to just buy a cheap, low-end phone with B-grade technology that will give you a less-than-satisfactory user experience, or go and buy an older version of the premium smartphones and put up with yesterday’s technology.

$299 is a pretty compelling RRP for a fully-featured smartphone – so the big question has to be, does it perform?

I can say that in a household that has long been iPhone and Galaxy territory, the Moto G is seen as a very worthy option – there appears to be very little difference in functionality or specifications. The overall user experience is much the same. One nice little feature I did discover is the voice-activated Google search function – very clever!

The review phone came with Android’s 4.3 Jellybean OS, but true to their promise, it has now been upgraded to Android 4.4 KitKat. The Moto G has a sharp 4.5-inch HD display (for which I’m still trying to track down a screen protector) and a slim, stylish design – not too dissimilar to its higher-priced competition.

Understandably the phone is very Google friendly – Google being the owner of Motorola until the recent sale to Lenovo. So access to the Google applications is a breeze.

The Moto G has Quad-Band 3G support – so it works on any local network. It also has a Dual SIM card capability which provides a degree of network flexibility as well.

Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi sell the Moto G, and it’s also available from 2Degrees stores.

Verdict: 9 out of 10 for a smartphone that performs right up there with the premium competition, but at a fraction of the price.