Motorola has officially unveiled the successor to its budget-friendly Moto G, but the new iteration doesn't really boast many notable improvements over its predecessor.
The original Moto G turned out to be Motorola's most popular handset ever, enjoying great sales worldwide. The main selling point of the 2013 Moto G was that it offered good specifications at a dirt-cheap price point, appealing to budget shoppers.
The new-generation Moto G was expected to boast some notable improvements over its predecessor, but that doesn't really seem to be the case. The new model does sport a bigger display, but has the same HD resolution of the original Moto G, which automatically translates to a lower pixel density. The new Moto G also packs slightly better cameras and comes with microSD support for additional storage, but otherwise the rest of the specs remain virtually unchanged.
"Moto G now comes with a brilliant 5" HD display plus stereo sound to fully enjoy your videos and photos," Motorola touts in its press release. "With its all-day battery, quad-core speed, and the latest Android OS, plus the ability to customize your phone with Motorola Shells, Moto G keeps up with everything you do. And all of this starting at $179.99."
For a better understanding of what the new Moto G has to offer compared to its predecessor, here's a spec comparison between the two generations:
First of all, the new Moto G comes with a 5-inch IPS LCD display with an HD resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, i.e. the same resolution found on the original Moto G's 4.5-inch IPS LCD display. Due to the larger screen size, the new Moto G has a lower 294 ppi pixel resolution compared to its predecessor, which has 326 ppi.
Under the hood, the two Moto G generations are identical, packing the same quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.2GHz, paired with Adreno 305 graphics, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB or 16GB of internal storage capacity. The new Moto G, however, comes with microSD support, something the original model lacked at first. More specifically, the regular version of the original Moto G does not support expandable storage, but Motorola later launched the Moto G 4G LTE model with microSD support.
In the camera department, meanwhile, the new Moto G sports more notable improvements compared to the first-generation Moto G. The new iteration has an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front shooter, while its predecessor has a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front shooter. Both generations have LED flash for the rear camera.
Other aspects remain unchanged from the first-generation Moto G, as the new iteration comes with the same 2,070 mAh battery, the same connectivity options such as Bluetooth 4.0 LE and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and the same polycarbonate build.
In other words, it remains to be seen whether consumers will find the new Moto G's improvements notable enough as to warrant an upgrade. The new Moto G is already available unlocked and contract-free for $179.99 from Motorola's website, as well as retailers in the U.S. The handset is also set to go on sale in India, France, UK, Brazil, Spain and Germany on Friday, Sept. 5, and will hit more than a dozen countries through several carrier partners worldwide by the end of the year.
In the meantime, check out the video below to learn more about Motorola's new budget-friendly Moto G.
