As was rumored, Motorola today officially announced its new Moto G smartphone. The device is low-cost and aimed squarely at the emerging markets (China, Brazil) where market watchers believe most of the growth in the smartphone industry will come in the next decade.
Motorola is positioning the Moto G as a smartphone for the masses, even going so far as to declare that high-end smartphone pricing has created a sub-class of technology users. The unlocked, no-contract needed device is priced at just $179 for the 8GB version and $199 for the 16GB version.
Motorola has stated that the Moto G will launch in at least 30 countries by 2014. It will launch first this week in Brazil and some parts of Europe. Motorola is promising a rollout to all of Europe, Latin America, Canada, and some parts of Asia in the coming weeks. Markets such as the U.S., India, the Middle East, and more Asian countries will get the Moto G sometime in January.
Though the lower price means that the Moto G’s hardware is a step down from the Moto X, the new smartphone is surprisingly solid for its price. The Moto G will have a 4.5-inch, 1280 x 720 display and a 1.2GHz quad-core processor. It has 1GB of RAM and a 2,070mAh battery. Its rear-facing camera is a modest 5MP, while the front-facing one is 1.3MP.
The Moto G will also come running a clean version Android 4.3 Jellybean without any manufacturer crapware installed. Being owned by Google, though, Motorola is guaranteeing a quick update to Android 4.4 KitKat sometime in early 2014. KitKat has reportedly been designed with lower-end smartphones in mind.
Though customers will not be able to customize their Moto G the way Motorola is offering with the Moto X, the device will have three different “shell” designs in a variety of colors.