Motorola Moto G Unveiled: Moto X Successor Follows Market-Driving Low-End Trend

Moto G Motorola Google — The Moto G from Motorola and Google will go on sale worldwide starting this week, for $179 (16G) to $199 (32GB). Motorola Mobility

Motorola Mobility on Wednesday announced the low-cost Moto G, an internationally-available successor to the Moto X for under $200. The Moto G will be offered in several colors, and feature switchable backplates in lieu of the permanent customization options offered with the Moto X on the Moto Maker website.

The follow-up to the moderately successful "Google phone" the Moto X, Moto G will sport a 4.5-inch 720p screen, a quad-core processor and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Motorola will offer the Moto G at $179 (USD) for 16 GB of storage, and $199 for 32GB.

Moto G will compete with other low-cost smartphones like the Nokia Lumia 521, a Windows Phone 8 device that costs $150.

Moto G Announcement Motorola Google — Motorola will offer the Moto G worldwide beginning this week, but U.S. customers will have to wait until January. Motorola Mobility

Moto G Release Date

Motorola says it will release the Moto G “this week” in Brazil and “parts of Europe,” and a “few weeks later” in Canada, Europe, Latin America and some Asian countries. Motorola will sell the Moto G to U.S. consumers on its official website at an undisclosed date in January, as well as through carriers, although it did not say which.

Motorola “guarantees” that the Moto G will be updated to Android 4.4 KitKat, however it did not give a timeline for the update. The recent Android 4.4 update is an attempt by Google to unify its OS across all devices, including low-end and older devices containing as little as 512MB of RAM. Most newer devices contain 2GB of RAM.

Moto G Cases — Instead of the one-time customization options of the Moto X, Motorola will sell the Moto G in black and then offer a multitude of colored cases and replacement backs. Motorola Mobility

Moto G Specs:

- 1.2 GHz quad-core processor (Qualcomm Snapdragon 400)

- 8 GB / 16 GB of RAM along with 50 GB of cloud storage through Google Drive

- 5-megapixel main camera (at 4:3 ratio, 3.8-megapixel at 16:9 ratio) using LED flash, also features slow motion video and the “tap to focus” camera app, first seen on the Moto X.

- 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera

- 720p, 30 frames-per-second video capture

- Bluetooth 4.0

- Dimensions: 129.9 x 65.9 x 11.6 mm

- Weight: 143 g

Motorola will sell its own line of cases for the Moto G. Motorola Shells, as they are called, include a snap-on hardshell case, a magnetic flip-style cover, and a rubberized grip that covers the top, bottom and sides of the Moto G, leaving the backside bare.

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