Motorola Moto G (3rd gen) Review: Weighed, measured and found wanting

Motorola Moto G (3rd gen) detailed review

Before I get on with this follow-up, I must notify the lector that I ’ ve been a huge Motorola winnow for ages nowadays. One of my first base phones was a Moto Flip while I besides drooled endlessly over the Moto Razr. Up until very recently, my day by day driver was a Moto X ( 1st Gen ), and I still believe that the imprint factor of that device hasn ’ t been beaten since .

With that said, you would know what it means, when I say that Motorola ’ s argument about providing “ customer experience ” is fast failing. When the first Moto G was launched, it was the best performer in its segment. What presumably happened was that Motorola cut costs to a grade that it was comfortable with, hence providing the best performer at a low price point. It would have worked, but for a certain Xiaomi, and then others, cut them foster, selling exchangeable phones at 30 % lesser price. now, the age old veteran is in a dilemma. On the one hand, it can ’ thymine, or at least, doesn ’ thyroxine want to cut its margins further, while on the other, it needs to deal with the price medium market that India offers .
Hence, the ship’s company cooked up a market condition — customer feel. Motorola says customer experience is more crucial than benchmarks and octa-core processors, and we wholly agree. In fact, we agree so much that we went ahead and did n’t use any benchmarks for this Moto G ( 3rd Gen ) review. We did run them, but they played no separate in the review. indeed, here goes nothing !
Build and Design

If the Moto G ( 1st Gen ) had its merits in performance, the Moto G ( 3rd Gen ) is all about build and plan. Giving credit where it ’ south due, while this may not be the best looking telephone, it ’ s a very running design. besides, it ’ s not easy to make a earphone that is heavier and thicker than its predecessor, feel lighter and thin. Motorola has done this. How ? For one, while the older Moto Gs had fully curved backs, this one has a flattened bet on, with curves towards the edges. As a consequence, the call sits at the bed of your handle, making it feel thin than it actually is. Of course, it helps that the Moto G ( 3rd Gen ) is lone 0.6 millimeter blockheaded than the earlier translation. It is besides only six grams heavier .

here ’ s the thing though, while the Asus Zenfone 2 may not have as functional a human body, can anyone deny that it feels more premium ? even better, the Xiaomi Mi 4i is thinner, lighter and smaller, and may look more premium to many. Of course, premiumness and looks depends on personal preference, but at the very least there ’ mho not much separating the Moto G from the Xiaomi Mi 4i in terms of build timbre and looks .

What makes this call all about the build though is its body of water underground. Motorola has had a nano-coating on its phones for some time immediately, but it ’ second flaunting the IPX7 resistance this time. What this means is that the call can withstand three feet of water for 30 minutes. While we ’ ve frequently ignored the water-proofing that Sony offers on its phones, it makes a much bigger difference on a sub-15k smartphone. More importantly, it actually works, and here ’ s the proof .

To clarify, the X here means that the phone hasn ’ triiodothyronine been tested for dust electric resistance. notice that it may still be dust insubordinate, but hasn ’ thyroxine be tested for the like .

Display and UI
now this is where Motorola ’ s claims of customer experience depart falling apart. First, let ’ s sample and define customer have — it ’ s about how you feel when you ’ re using a device, whether you have to face issues, and whether your earphone feels premium or not. right ? Motorola wants us to overlook the 1080p resolution on competitors like the Asus Zenfone 2 and the Xiaomi Mi 4i, but is that truly fair ? While on the one hand, a 720p HD display on a 5 inch empanel is not bad, it equitable doesn ’ thymine belong in this generation .

furthermore, half the user experience on the Xiaomi Mi 4i is covered by its screen and design. The expose on that earphone is undimmed, colorful, and rich. Placing them side by side, it ’ second pretty easy to discern the difference between the Moto G ( 3rd Gen ), and the Xiaomi Mi 4i. even individually, the Mi 4i barely feels so much more premium, as does the Asus Zenfone 2 ’ second display. If that wasn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate enough, there are phones like the Yu Yureka Plus and Lenovo K3 Note, which have better displays at a lower price point .
What Motorola is basically telling you is that while the Moto G ’ sulfur expose is adequate, and you should choose this over competitors, even though they ’ rhenium better .
Performance

That last spot continues in the performance separate. You would have read a fortune of reviews by immediately that tell you how specification are over-rated today. Well, indeed they are. But hera ’ s the thing, if a rival can provide better specifications at the like or lesser price, while besides achieving better performance, then you ’ re just not living up to your promise of customer experience. Period .
I promised no benchmark on this one, and that ’ s what it ’ s going to be. Motorola ’ s saving deck here is that the Snapdragon 615 is no great shakes, but unfortunately, the Intel Z series processor on the Asus Zenfone 2 is, there ’ sulfur besides the formidable MediaTek MT6752 SoC. We ’ rhenium talking real world operation here, not numbers. Motorola ’ s controversy seems to be that the Snapdragon 410 is all the exponent you need, while everything else is just specs .

Is all the workplace companies like Qualcomm, MediaTek. and Intel are putting into their processors fruitless then ? Or should you plainly settle for ‘ equitable all right ’ when you can get well ? The fact is, the Asus Zenfone 2 doesn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate show the lags that senior high school end games do on the Moto G ( 3rd Gen ). I can ’ t equitable ignore the fact that Injustice : Gods Among Us lags on this telephone, or that Marvel : contest of Champions shows jitters while running. You can play Subway Surfers though, love !
Yes, the lags on the Moto G aren ’ t exceptionally detrimental to using the earphone, but they ’ ra there, there ’ s no traverse that. Hence, even if we don ’ t take benchmarks, the ‘ customer feel ’ international relations and security network ’ t precisely the same, let alone better .
It ’ s actually curious how many reviewers didn ’ triiodothyronine find interim on this device. It ’ s most probable because their recapitulation devices never saw a SIM being inserted into them, or more than a few apps being downloaded, or possibly, they fair forgot to mention them. When using it as your casual driver, while the Moto G ( 3rd Gen ) does the job, it doesn ’ t do it arsenic well as its competitors. once again, if you want the ‘ just fine ’ customer experience that Motorola is providing, then go for the Moto G. The fact is, it ’ south competitors can do barely fine and then some .

‘Yes, specs do n’t matter, experience does, and experience depends on performance. Whether you can deliver the performance from 2 cores or 10, the customer is surely looking for performance. Apple needs just 2 cores to deliver better performance than phones with 8 or 10 cores. But, can we say the lapp about Motorola ? Nah ! Customer have is all approximately well performance and that ‘s where Motorola does kind of drop the ball, once you go past the pure Android feel and startle filling up the device with apps and games that you ‘d very want to enjoy on the device, the performance starts to take a dip, in comparison to similar phones in terms of price range. And, so does the ‘Customer Experience ‘. In fact, the foremost gen Moto X made some headroom in this management, using a dual-core SoC, but delivering performance at equality with its competitors, the lapp can ’ thymine be said here .
Camera
Moving on, it ’ s amusing how a ship’s company that shuns the spectacles rush, inactive chose to mention that the modern Moto G has a “ 13MP rear camera with the lapp detector as the Nexus 6. ” Like its predecessors, the television camera on the third generation Moto G is better than its previous models, but doesn ’ thymine compare to competition. possibly the only position where this television camera can give you respectable images is in undimmed sunlight, that is, the optimum conditions for visualize .
not merely is the Moto G ( 3rd Gen ) ’ south television camera sub-par, it ’ s quite slowly. Images taken lack coloring material depth, and are numb. The standard Android UI means that you will have few options in terms of what you can do with the camera vitamin a well. By default, you can fair touch to shoot, but you can besides change it to the touch-to-focus mode .
Battery
possibly the only sphere where the new Moto G is in truth potent is its battery. On a regular day ’ randomness custom, with quite a few calls, the phone breezes through easily. While gaming, the Moto G ( 3rd Gen ) drops about 7 % battery in half an hour. even with the screen turned to wax brightness, the Moto G can well last a full day, and I didn ’ t have to do a lot to get it to last longer either. For practical purposes, you ’ ll realize that if you charge the Moto G ( 3rd Gen ) before leaving from home, you can easily get through your exploit day and more. By about 11pm, the call was normally on 30-40 % charge .
Bottomline
therefore that ’ s it, the harangue of a disgruntled Motorola fan. I can not, will not, deny that the Moto G ( 3rd Gen ) is a properly smartphone, but I wouldn ’ triiodothyronine be caught absolutely buy it, plainly because there are better phones out there. Both Asus and Xiaomi offer doorsill service american samoa well, good like Motorola, and they have said about the exact lapp things that Motorola does about customer service. What I fail to understand is what ’ mho different nowadays. possibly the only thing Motorola can actually boast is the fact that it has more service centers that Xiaomi, but the market has proved time and again that this is becoming less important every day .
so, while buying a Moto G wouldn ’ thyroxine be a bad estimate, it wouldn ’ t be the best value for your money either. You would make a better bargain with both the Xiaomi Mi 4i and Asus Zenfone 2, or if you want to save some money, the Lenovo K3 Note and Yu Yureka Plus are besides better options. Oh, and in case you ’ re plan to buy the 8GB adaptation, don ’ metric ton .
Lastly…

After all that, if you ‘re still looking for the benchmarks, here they are .