Moto G’s high quality and low price make it iPhone rival

While budget smartphones have their drawbacks, the Moto G has few niggles. Rather, it can do everything any other Android phone can – it’s just a lot cheaper.

The new low cost Moto G smartphone. Nelson Almeida / AFP

Apple is a religion. Its product launches resemble baroque ceremonies in which revealed truth is paraded before the faithful. A cult of personality long ago formed around Steve Jobs, tech hippie turned spiritual leader, whose pronouncements have become mystical, Kabbalistic texts. In death, he is mourned as icon, visionary and prophet.

I’ve always wondered whether the average buyer is paying for the privilege of owning products other folk cling irrationally to. Watching the masses clamour for gorilla glass, bevel-edged screens, and Siri, it’s hard to forget that such consumer fervour usually pushes up prices for everyone else.

Which is why I’m happy that the Moto G, a wonderful new smartphone from the Google-owned Motorola, Apple’s chief foe, has all the functionality of a high-end smartphone, but a price point aimed at regular mortals.

I got my Moto G from souq.com, where it was offered in two flavours – 8GB (Dh799) and 16GB (Dh899). The cheapest iPhone 5c retails on the site for just shy of Dh2,000.

The G’s screen resolution is 720 x 1280 – better than the iPhone 5c, which has resolution of 1136 x 640. This means the maximum resolution of videos is improved, along with the prettiness of day-to-day tasks. It also has a slightly larger screen, at 4.5 inches, compared with the 5c’s 4-inch screen. The upshot of this is simple: stuff on the Moto G looks a bit bigger and a bit nicer.

Now, Apple purists may well point out that, on most technical dimensions, the iPhone beats the Moto G. And they have a point – its camera, at 8 megapixels, easily outclasses the Moto G’s, while its hard drive, processor and memory are also more impressive.

The usual issue with budget smartphones is that they have drawbacks – badly designed user interfaces, poor battery life or they lock consumers out of certain features.

But the Moto G has no such problems. It can do everything any other Android phone can – it’s just a lot cheaper.

It dramatically narrows the gap between cheap phones and high-end phones.

And that’s why the Moto G is an iPhone killer.

Q&A

So how does the Moto G measure up against the iPhone 5C? Which is prettier?

Because I’m not a teenage girl, I don’t want a multicoloured plastic backing on my phone. So the minimalist black of the Moto G – an almost entirely indistinct black object, with a screen that disappears back into the phone’s surface, as though it was never there – wins on this front. It also has a bigger screen and better resolution, which means an all around nicer viewing experience.

The camera?

The 5C wins on this front. It has an 8 megapixel camera, while the Moto G has a 5 megapixel main camera. Both have selfie cameras, this being the result of a fundamental anthropological change in how humans interact.

Android or iOS?

Obviously both use their native operating systems – the Moto G offers Android KitKat, while the 5C boasts iO7. Personally, I think Sir Jonathan Ive’s latest version of Apple’s mobile OS looks like it’s designed for children – too many big, colourful buttons for my liking.

Anything else?

Battery life on the Moto G easily outclasses the iPhone 5C’s, though if you’re interested in 4G LTE internet speeds, the Moto G will not be able to provide these. The Moto G is also 11 grams heavier, and several cubic millimetres larger. I’ve unintentionally dropped it a few times without breaking it, meaty-handed klutz that I am.

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