Motorola Moto G 3rd Gen Review: A worthy deal for Rs 12k

Beating all the heat in the competitive mid-range market, the new Motorola Moto G 3rd Gen has been gloriously received by the Indian market. The improvised version of the last year's Moto G now touts the waterproof build and a mesmerizing design. The best part however, lies in the value composition of the device which is the primary cause of the device's ongoing popularity.

Priced at Rs. 12,000 in India, the Moto G 3rd Gen in a charmer. It must be said that the latest offering from Motorola is quite successful in maintaining the legacy of delivering exceptional value and performance.

PROS

• IPX7 water resistance
• Customizable hardware (Moto Maker)
• Above average battery life
• Latest software
• Best price
• 4G LTE support

CONS

• Poor camera performance under low light images
• Long recharge time
• Not impressive graphics processing

While its stay with GizBot, we found out several good and bad things about the device. Moreover, even leaving the specs out of the sight, the device has certain aspects that will win your attention while the other aspects might hurt you if you are over expecting from it. Anyway, let's dive in to the detailed review, spec by spec.

Design and Build quality

Firstly, the device in terms of design, has witnessed a drastic modification. Although the front face of the device has not changed a bit, the moment you rotate to see the rear panel of the device, you will be surprised to see the well-built design. This time around, the company has offered a rubbery back panel with a fine-lined design on it. Moreover, the latest addition to the device is also the water-proof build, which is why it is selling like hot cakes in India. Now that it comes with IPX7 certification, it apparently can survive submersion under 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes.

However, it's not premium, but neither can one say that it is a cheap device in any-which ways. The new Moto G demonstrates a few subtle aesthetic changes, such as a slightly larger overall body. Obviously, you will also find the iconic dimple on its back. Dimension-wise, the device measures 142.1 x 72.4 x 6.1-11.6mm and weighing in at 155grams, the Moto G 3rd Gen is not a heavy device at all.

Very much like the other Motorola device in the G and X series, the latest offering also is open to Moto Maker. With Moto Maker, you can literally personalize the front and rear casing colors, or accent color of the plate around the camera lens compartment on the rear side. Therefore, customizing and personalizing is not a hard job with the new Moto G.

As far as the buttons and placement of the camera are concerned, the Moto G 3rd Gen retains the traditional dual front-firing speakers design. However, only the bottom one is the speaker, the top one is the earpiece. The power and volume buttons occupy their ideal location i.e. on the right side of the phone and the bottom side houses a microUSB port and the top edge bears a headphone jack and noise cancellation mic around its trim.

Display

There are several things in this device that you might find identical to its predecessors but if notice the device, you will certainly find small improvements in almost all the aspects of the phone. Likewise, the display of the phone appears to be similar to its predecessor, but there is a minor change.

The Moto G 3rd Gen uses the same 5-inch 720 x 1280 HD display (IPS-LCD) with Corning's Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Talking about the difference, technically speaking, the new Moto G produces a more potent luminance of 449 nits, which makes it fairly reasonable to see under bright lighting conditions and better than its last year's sibling. As far as the color reproduction is concerned, it does a decent job with accurately reproducing all gradients in the sRGB color chart spectrum.

Power and Processor

Motorola's Moto G 3rd Gen still retains the prestige of the 2 previously launched G models. The 1.4GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) chipset, which is also based on 64-bit architecture makes the device more admirable technically speaking. Moreover, the way the 2GB RAM compliments the device is quite amazing. The combination makes the Moto G 3rd Gen one of the snappiest device with pretty appreciable speed.

As far as the graphic chip is concerned, the Adreno 306 GPU is not one of the best but does the work in average standard. Games do run with easy as far as it is not graphic intense. We tried our favorite Asphalt 8 Airborne game title, which is pretty graphic oriented and witnessed a couple of lags However, running other games and apps didn't disappoint us in any ways. The upgrade to 2GB of RAM has made the device very swift and the entire phone has improved its responsiveness.

People who believe in numbers, it managed to score 24933 points on AnTuTu Benchmark, which is quite interesting as it hits more numbers that the smartphones powered by the same chipset.

Software

Android users would probably know that the best Stock Android feel and experience cannot be provided by any other devices but Google Nexus and Motorola.

The Android Lollipop version 5.1.1 version is outstandingly simple and soothingly functional. However, the problem with the OS is that it is not designed for extreme multi-tasking purpose, hence this aspect might be hurtful to many extreme users. Moreover, needless to say that you get the best of what Android has to offer, including the apps that are integrated with the OS itself.

Storage and connectivity

Perhaps, to those who don't know it yet, the Motto G 3rd Gen comes in 2 variants. The 8GB model comes with 1GB RAM while the 16GB (which we are reviewing) features a 2GB RAM. Both units possess a MicroSD card slot, for memory expansion up to 32GB, which is placed beside a Micro SIM slot.

Connectivity options are also ample in this model. It is a dual SIM phone (GSM + LTE) with GSM - 850, 900, 1800; UMTS - 900, 2100; 4G - LTE (TD) (1, 3, 7, 8, 28) (40 TD2300) bands supported. Other connectivity options include 4G LTE / 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.

Camera

Imaging aspect is one of Moto G 3rd Gen's selling points. You wouold be surprised to know that this particular device uses the same camera sensors that is being used by the Google Nexus. To name it, it called Sony's IMX214. The device employs a 13MP primary snapper with an f/2.0 aperture value, a dual-tone LED flash for better low-light support. What has improved in this department is also the addition of the new IR filter that reduces glare in direct sunlight.

As always, the Motorola phones shoot outstanding images outdoors (not the first gen Moto E) in daylight. With ample lighting condition, the images appear to be crisp and the colors are admirably sharp. You can also use the HDR which can significantly offer the best image that the phone can offer. You can find a huge difference the images that are taken with HDR on and HDR off modes.

The touch focus and brightness control is one which impresses me a lot. It's pretty easy to use and offers an instant solution to the darkened places on the frame.

However, using a dual tone flash is bit annoying as it adds color accent to the images (distorts some colors like the skin). The low-light images are not the best but average and it struggles focus the subject at times. As far as the video is concerned, the phone can shoot them at 1080p and you will also get an average quality Slow motion video capturing benefit.

Coming to the front facing selfie shooter, the 5MP sensor (72-degree wide viewing angle) is quite enough to make video calls and take selfies in broad daylight but when the dusk arrives, you better use the rear one with the flash. The selfie camera often struggles to bring enough light into the scene and the images are grainy and with a lot of noise.

Battery life

Motorola Moto G 3rd Gen is blessed with a none-removable 2470 mAh battery, which is not one of the best that anyone would expect but performance-wise it is pleasing. Moreover, it can challenge the devices with even 3000 mAh capacity. The device's battery lasts for about one and a half day with a moderate usage and can last for complete 2 days if used minimally.

One of the problems in the battery department is that it takes quite a lot of time to recharge the battery. With the coming of the new devices with fast recharge options, the new Moto G might just be an outdated one in this regard.

Verdict

With the coming of several mid-range devices in the market with best of the specs, it is quite hard for the regular smartphone users to decide which one to buy from the lot. Anyway, Motorola's latest Moto G 3rd Gen is quite a charmer. It's got the brand name, the latest Android iteration, and the most importantly an incredible price tag of Rs. 11,999.

However, every smartphone comes with its own set of flaws. Motorola Moto G 3rd Gen is no exception to it. Despite its aggressive pricing, waterproof build and other awesome factors, the company would have at least offered a better graphic chipset. The processor is quite suited to average and standard users but to power users, this device might not be a great choice. Moreover, the phone takes quite a lot of time to recharge, this might just be an odd for the device which has all the goodness in it.

Competition-wise, the Moto G 3rd Gen will indefinitely rival with Asus's ZenFone 2, Alcatel One Touch Idol to the best.