Motorola has officially launched its Moto G smartphone, with the goal of bringing high-end Android devices to new segments of the global market. The Moto G is not an LTE phone, but it does pack a quad-core processor, a high-end display and ample storage, all for $179 without a contract.
Google, of course, is the reason Motorola can offer so much phone for so little money. Google owns Motorola, but hardware is not the media giant’s core business. Google makes money (lots of it) by selling advertising and search results, and the company created the Android operating system to drive more eyeballs to its ads. Mobile devices are a logical extension of that strategy – more Android devices means more people using Android to interact with the world around them, and that is clearly in Google’s interest. The question is whether Google will eventually consolidate its two smartphone brands — Nexus and Moto. Nexus phones are still manufactured by LG, and are still first in line for Android operating system updates.
The Moto G is expected to get Android 4.4 by January, the same month the phone is set to launch in the United States. It is debuting in Brazil, and will also launch this fall in other Latin American countries and in several European countries. In the United States, the Motorola will target the prepaid market with the Moto G.
The Moto G has a 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 HD, 329 pixel-per-inch display. Motorola calls it the “sharpest 4.5-inch display in its class.” The processor is a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 running at 1.2GHz. The rechargeable lithium-ion, 2070 mAh battery promises 24 hours of “mixed use.”
Motorola is offering 8 GB ($179) and a 16 GB ($199) versions of the phone, as well as 50 gigabytes of free storage on Google Drive to Moto G owners. The phone has a 5 megapixel rear camera and a 1.3 megapixel front camera and both cameras support 720p HD video.
