Motorola Moto G revisited: 6 Months later is it still a great phone
It's time for: Motorola Moto G revisited..6 months later!
The Motorola Moto G is Motorola's best selling Smartphone. Everybody loves the Moto but after 6 months of use is it still an amazing phone?
At the end of November I sold my Lumia 820 and purchased the Motorola Moto G. The phone was a lovely surprise and a good way to come back to Android after almost 18 months between Blackberry, WebOS and Windows Phone. I had always had a lot of up’s and down’s with Android. Up’s because some Android phones are amazing, fast, beautiful and simply great. I had the Galaxy Note II and the Sony Xperia Z (for a little while) and loved them. But unfortunately I had a lot of down’s because after 6-8 months these amazing phones start to show some irritating lags (my Note II was slow and laggy after 5-6 months, and my wife’s Galaxy S3 mini is soooo slow after just few months of usage!). So when I received my Motorola Moto G I was over the moon. Great screen, great phone, fast processor, almost pure Android, all of this for such a low price. Six months (and a half) later it’s time to do a reality check. Is the Moto G still amazing and worth £130 after 6 months? Well almost, but certainly I have discovered a side of it that I don’t really like. Please note that this is my experience with my handset. Maybe I’m just unlucky and I have a wrong unit, however I have read other posts that go in the same direction. 6 months later what is happening with the Moto G?
1. Screen:
Still beautiful and probably one of the best features of the Moto G. Motorola is showing that you don’t need a full HD screen to be amazing. The 720p screen on my Motorola Moto G is fantastic. I still love it! But there is one problem - I’ve never scratched a smartphone screen before, and the Moto G has a Gorilla glass which should in theory be resistant. However, I managed to scratch the screen. Nothing noticeable, but I can see the scratch.
2. Build quality:
The Motorola Moto G is a nicely built phone. The plastic back is prone to scratch and it’s very noticeable when you have the original black cover case. I have noticed something with the headphone jack. If I touch the jack the music stops! I have to push the play again and try not to touch the jack. It’s a bit of a nightmare when I have the Moto G in my pocket and I’m listening to music while walking.
3. Camera:
With the latest software updates the camera has improved in some aspects and got worse in other. It still produces average photos, but sometimes it can be extremely slow to launch and to focus. Videos are good and the Motorola Moto G is perfectly capable for HD videos. There are weird things too, for example when I take a picture in landscape, sometimes the image is zoomed and flat and makes everything really FAT. Then in the gallery the pics are fine! This is happening since the last update.
4. Processor and performance:
Sorry Motorola, but 6 months later the Moto G Smartphone is not as strong a performer as it used to be. Suddenly my Moto G is slow and shows some weird behaviours. For example, sometimes the screen will go black, then I can push the on/off button and it won’t go back on. So I have to push the off button for 10 seconds and see the power off option to get the screen back on. Unfortunately this is happening more and more. Some apps crash more than before, especially Google apps. I also noticed that the launch of some apps can be slower. In general the Moto G feels more laggy than before and definitely not as snappy as it was. I’m really concerned to see how much longer my phone will last before I have to do a Factory reset.
So, what are my final thoughts on the Motorola Moto G?
The Moto G is still a good phone with a great screen, and for the price it is good value, but for me the hype has gone, and it starts to behave like most Android phones: lagging issues and a bit unreliable sometimes. I am a bit concerned about this Motorola Moto G being future proof. I don’t know if this is a problem with Android, or a problem with the phone, but yes I have some issues with it.
If you purchased your Motorola Moto G recently you won’t have any troubles and for sure you will enjoy good/very good performance. As I said before, maybe this is only my unit, but I would love to know what you think about it.
When did you purchase your Moto G? Have you experienced more lags recently? Let me know.