Motorola Moto G Release Date Moved Up In US: Specs, Price

Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Motorola Mobility has revised the release date for the Moto G in the U.S. and is now offering sales of the smartphone for a release later this year. The company previously announced that the Moto G would see a U.S. release sometime in January.

Motorola originally said its Moto G release in the U.S. would follow an international rollout that began earlier this month in Brazil and parts of Europe. Smartphone users outside the country had criticized the manufacturer for offering the American-assembled Moto X only in the U.S. and Canada.

Motorola will sell the version of the Moto G capable of HSPA+ speeds for T-Mobile and AT&T customers in the U.S. Customers on Verizon Wireless, Sprint, MetroPCS, Cricket and U.S. Cellular will have to wait until January for Motorola to release the CDMA variant of the Moto G.

The Moto G is a low-cost follow-up to the Moto X, with Motorola charging only $179 for a model with 8GB of storage, and $199 for 16GB. Whereas the Moto X’s nonremovable rear cover could be customized on Motorola’s Moto Maker website along with the phone’s buttons and front faceplate, the Moto G will be offered only with a black rear shell.

Customization options are on the way for the Moto G, Motorola says. They will include a bevy of colorful backplates that can be swapped out and changed at will. Motorola will charge $14.99 for the backplates, which it calls “shells.”

In addition to standard backplates, or “color shells,” Motorola will offer cases with magnetic flip-screen covers (“flip shells”), as well as a “grip shell” featuring a rubberized frame that leaves the Moto G’s rear panel exposed.

The Moto G specs include a quad-core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz (Qualcomm Snapdragon 400), 1GB of RAM and a 5-megapixel rear camera. The Moto G also features a 4.5-inch 720p HD screen, a 2070 mAh battery, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.

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