Motorola Moto G Vs Everything Else: There's No Competition, This Is The Number One Smartphone

Moto G 2014 (image: Ewan Spence)

Sitting down to do a feature on Motorola’s latest budget handset, the Motorola Moto G (2014), I find myself in a quandary. Is there a handset out there that matches or exceeded the Moto G in value for money, flexibility, and ease of use? Is there a handset that can step into a ring and go for twelve rounds of smartphone slugging against it? Or is the Moto G that most elusive of handsets? Is Motoroloa’s pocket rocket the number one choice for smartphone buyers in today’s market?

Yes it is.

If you are looking for the MVP of smartphones, may I suggest you go and find a Moto G and put an end to your quest.

I’m not saying that the Moto G Second Generation 2014 Edition (let’s go with Moto G for the rest of this article) is the perfect smartphone – too many people have their own favourite feature, so that’s an almost impossible target to hit. Neither am I saying that the Moto G will win in every single round of ‘specification Top Trumps’ because there are clearly phones with hardware numbers that are larger than the Moto G.

As an all-round handset, as the handset that is going to be rated as ‘above average’ and ‘exceeds expectations’ in almost every area, I cannot look past the Moto G in the current crop of smartphones.

That’s why I’m calling it the number one smartphone for 2014.

Moto G 2014 (image: Ewan Spence)

The issue was Motorola sticking to the same chipset and battery, but I need not have worried. The Moto G still flies thanks to stock Android and the battery life is superb, outlasting any flagship phone I’ve used in 2014 due to efficiencies in 4.4 KitKat and smart Motorola battery saving modes. With these concerns quelled, the improvements come to the forefront. Motorola has upgraded the Moto G’s biggest selling points – the display, camera, external speaker and storage – while still keeping the price down… for now the new Moto G is once more the budget handset to beat.

Let me put out two of the limiting factors on the Moto G. The first is that the handset is not 4G enabled – this follows the pattern of the original Moto G which launched with 3G as the fastest cellular option (4G LTE variants were available later in the product’s life cycle). 4G is only now sneaking into mid-range handsets by default, and naturally requires network support. Right now a handset that is designed to have global appeal, especially in the BRIC countries, does not need 4G, although it is a nice option. Ultimate speed fans will pass over the Moto G (possibly for the new Moto X) but for the vast majority of the customer base, 4G is an added expense they either do not want in their billing, or it is not an option on their network.

And if Motorola follow last year’s playbook, the 4G version for the US and European markets should be along soon enough.

The other area is the camera. While the Moto G is in no way looking to go head to head with some of the more advanced imaging solutions from the likes of Microsoft/Nokia, Apple, and arguably Sony’s Xperia handsets, having a solid and dependable camera on your smartphone is a given for 2014. The camera in the original Moto G from 2013 was passable at best (and only in adequate lighting). The 2014 edition improves on the camera performance both with a higher resolution, but also an improved lens that moves from f/2.0 to f/2.4.

The Moto G in 2013 became Motorola’s best-selling smartphone of all time. Now the Moto G is improved, and it’s even better value for money.

Moto G 2014 (image: Ewan Spence)

It’s when I sat down with the Moto G to look at it against itss peers in the marketplace that I realise that this handset has trumped them. It can also squeak a points victory against more expensive handsets, and has managed to balance all of the compromises required in designing a mobile phone with panache.

Take the price. Putting aside the distortion of subsidised 24 month contracts, with a SIM free retail price of $180 (£150) there’s nothing in the price range that matches all of the specifications of the handset (arguably the Moto G from 2013 comes close, but that’s a blue-on-blue comparison that I’m not going to address here). To find other handsets in this price bracket means something else has to give, be it screen size, processor capability, or imaging.

The biggest win for the Moto G is the 5 inch screen. The IPS screen is a full 720p (1280 x 720 resolution) and while the larger screen drops the pixel density slightly, the increased physical size gives the Moto G an advantage in-store and in comparisons. What’s not to love about having a larger screen? Anyone with perfect vision might be able to see the pixels, but I doubt that the majority of consumers will be in that group

Even when you go further up the portfolios of the competition, you find devices that struggle to leave behind the 4.7 inch screen barrier. Some of those may be down to deliberate targeting (such as the Xperia Z3 Compact) but the larger-screened devices are generally more expensive.

On paper, Motorola’s decision to stay with the Snapdragon 400 series processor (partnered with 1 GB of RAM) should limit the performance, but Motorola has an advantage. By going with stock Android as far as possible, Motorola has taken advantage of Google’s extensive work on the user interface and the project to get everything ‘buttery smooth’. Most budget handsets struggle with incredibly complicated games, and the Moto G is in the same boat here as everyone else. With the built-in applications and normal usage, the Moto G is smooth to use, and I’ve not missed having a Snapdragon 800 series in the handset.

Does the Moto G have the best processor? No. Does the Moto G do the best with what it has? Yes. Is that better than the competition? I would argue that it does, and running the handset next to other 400 (and 800) powered handsets and you can see a far smoother experience in the UI

Available in 8 GB and 16 GB models, the Moto G doesn’t outpace storage in other models, but the inclusion of MicroSD support ensures that it maintains parity and offers expansion.

Moto G 2014 (image: Ewan Spence)

And then there is the battery life. The Snapdragon 400 series might not have as much power-saving code as the 800 series, but the ability to run at a slower clock speed means the energy in the battery will last for a longer period. Motorola (and Android as a whole, especially in version 4.4 used here) has a lot of experience running on the 400 series and that results in more efficient code to get the most out of the available power.

Even with a 2200 mAh battery, the Moto G’s life on a single charge is impressive. It will easily last for two days and with moderate to light usage you should be able to squeeze four days out of the handset. That’s phenomenal no matter where your handset is in the portfolio. High-end handsets might have more capability, but they still need power to run, even if most of the time you only run the basics. In those circumstances, the Moto G outlasts the competition, and nearly trounces the more expensive handsets.

The five-inch screen does mean the Moto G is going to be a large phone, but it’s not as expansive as you might thing. Motorola has worked to reduce the size of the bezels and ensure as much of the frontal surface area is screen and not plastic. There’s no changing the physical size, but I would note that the sculpted curves on the back plate of the Motorola sits wonderfully in the hand and the recessed dimple is well placed for my index finger to have more purchase when holding the Moto G.

At 149 g it still feels a light handset for a device of this size, mostly because of the plastic construction. It feels good in the hand, there are no awkward edges, and the package still works from a tactile point of view.

The 2014 edition of the Moto G is more than the best budget handset on the market. It’s in the running for the best handset of the year. Yes there are handsets with more functionality (not least the Moto X), with faster data connections, more processor capability and higher resolution screens. There are handsets that fit in smaller pockets, are more fashionable, and have higher specifications. But none of them capture the balance required to produce a smartphone that just works as well as the Moto G manages.

In the UK and US, 4G may well be a deal-breaker for some, but that’s not going to be a universal problem. The Moto G does everything that is asked of it, and then it does everything else that a smartphone needs to do well. Nothing in the sub-$200 handsets comes close to competing with the Moto G in real life situations, and the handset will happily stand up to handsets that are three times the cost and still come out mostly on top.

This is how you iterate on a best-selling handset. You make everything a bit better, and you pull substantively away from the competition. This is the handset to beat in today’s smartphone market.