Motorola unveils 3rd generation Moto G – still cheap, still capable!

Motorola's Moto G series is quite famous for packing pretty generous hardware in entry-level class devices, built with a “no compromise” philosophy. This is probably why the unveiling of each generation of the affordable handset is met with an unusual amount of excitement from the mobile tech community. Well, Motorola has just unveiled the Moto G (2015) – the third generation Moto G device – and, again, it did not disappoint.

The new entry-level handset from Motorola comes with a facelifted design, a couple of hardware upgrades, and some more cosmetic choices for the customers who like to personalize every aspect of their smartphone. It just becomes apparent that Motorola touches up just the right things to keep its affordable Moto G relevant – the new design and the color choices will definitely keep the device's third iteration from looking stale or boring, while the hardware bump will keep it relevant.

“What kind of hardware?” you may ask. Well, the Moto G (2015) still packs a 5” display with a 720 x 1280 resolution, giving it a 294 PPI density. This is crisp enough, especially for the class of device, and we are a bit relieved the Motorola didn't try to boost the resolution, which might've ended up overburdening the GPU and battery. The SoC under the hood is a quad-core Snapdragon 410 – Qualcomm's entry-level 64-bit solution, boosting the series out of the 32-bit era. Here's the interesting part now – the Moto G (2015) is the first of its line to come in two variants – one will have 8 GB of internal storage and 1 GB of RAM, while the other one will have 16 GB of storage and 2 GB of RAM – quite generous for a device of its class, but needed for future-proofing. Both variants' storage can be expanded via microSD card of up to 32 GB.

The Moto G (2015) doesn't bring a significant upgrade in the camera department – it still rocks a 13 MP / 5 MP combo for its back / front camera, which is definitely good enough in terms of resolution. The upgrade to the camera comes in the form of a dual-tone LED flash on the back of the device, which should allow for more balanced night shots (when flash is used). Additionally, Moto G (2015) gets the Quck Capture gestures from the Moto X – flicking the device quickly will launch the camera app, even if the phone is in standby. Another flick will switch from main to selfie cam.