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Motorola Moto G (3rd gen) Review

The Good: The Moto G features great, modern design. The phone is water resistant, which is a feature you wouldn't expect in this price range. It feels great in the hand and the battery lasts more than a day.

The Bad: If you try to do a lot of things at once, the phone will start lagging. The entry-level model features only 8GB of storage, which isn't a lot by today's standards.

The Verdict: With good build quality, water resistance, good battery life and decent camera, the Moto G is easily one of the best choices in its price range.

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Design and Build Quality

For such an affordable smartphone, the Moto G feels really nice to hold. Yes, it has a plastic design, but the build quality is beyond what you'd expect. Like we mentioned before, the Motorola's phone is water resistant, and should survive being submerged in water for up to 30 minutes. However, we still wouldn't recommend swimming with it.

The rear of the Moto G is removable and the shell can be swapped. The entire face of the device is covered in Gorilla Glass. The 5-inch display features a resolution of 1280x720, which isn't extremely impressive, but isn't bad either. For a budget phone, the display's colors looks pretty good.

Software and User Experience

The Motorola Moto G comes with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, and for the most part it runs pretty well. Unlike some other manufacturers, Motorola doesn't install a lot of its own apps, which means the experience is similar to what Google intended. 

Apps pop up very quickly, and the phone is generally snappy, unless you open up a lot of apps, which is when it reaches its limits.

Camera

The Moto G features a 13MP rear camera that's also capable of recording 1080p video at 30 fps. The pictures that come out of this camera are pretty decent, especially those taken outdoor and in good lighting. The autofocus system, however, isn't the best. Overall, Moto G features one of the best cameras you can find on a budget smartphone.

Technical Specifications:

  • Display: 5.0 inches (1280x720 pixels)
  • Processor: 1.4 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410
  • Memory: 1GB or 2GB of RAM
  • Storage: 8GB or 16GB (expendable via microSD)
  • Camera: 13MP
  • Battery: 2,470mAh
  • OS: Android OS, 5.1.1 (Lollipop)
  • Dimensions: 142.1 x 72.4 x 11.6 mm (5.59 x 2.85 x 0.46 in)

Conclusion

The Moto G 3rd Generation is a great phone. It trumps pretty much every other phone in its category, and it's even better than some pricier phones. If you're looking for a well-built phone that offers good user experience paired with good battery life and solid camera, then Moto G should be on top of your list.

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Motorola Moto G (3rd gen)