Motorola's budget Moto G phone: Coming soon in three new flavors
Motorola's Android smartphone lineup used to be easy to understand. If you wanted the best at any price, you got the Moto X. If you wanted a mid-range phone with good-enough specs, you got a Moto G. And if you just wanted something dirt cheap, you got the Moto E.
But with Lenovo now in charge of Motorola, the Moto smartphones are getting messier. The dirt-cheap Moto G just got split into three different phones with different specs -- all under the new "Moto G4" brand.
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Targeted mainly at emerging markets, the new Moto G4 smartphones occupy still occupy the low end of the quality spectrum. Still, all of the new phones run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. And they're all water-repellent (not resistant).
The Moto G4 has a 5.5-inch full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution display, 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD card up to 128GB) and a 3,000 mAh battery.
On the back is a 13-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture and on the front is a 5-megapixel f/2.2 aperture selfie camera.
The Moto G4 Plus also has a 5.5-inch full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution display, 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor, 2GB or 4GB of RAM, 16/32/64GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD card up to 128GB) and a 3,000 mAh battery.
The front camera is the same 5-megapixel f/2.2 aperture camera as the Moto G4, but the back camera is a higher resolution 16-megapixel shooter with f/2.0 aperture, laser autofocus and phase detection autofocus.
The Moto G4 Plus is the only phone in the trio with a fingerprint sensor below the screen.
At the bottom of the deck is the Moto G4 Play. It's got a smaller 5-inch HD (1,280 x 720) resolution screen, slower 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD card up to 128GB) and a smaller 2,800 mAh battery.
On the back is a 8-megapixel camera with f/2.2 aperture, and on the front is a 5-megapixel f/2.2 selfie camera.
All three Moto G4 models come in black or white, but only the G4 and G4 Plus have swappable back covers for colorized personalization.
The Moto G4 and G4 Plus are available in Brazil immediately; India only gets the G4 Plus immediately.
The G4 and G4 Plus The Moto G4 will cost £169 (about $245) and the G4 Plus will cost £199 (about $288) when they come in the UK in June.
Pricing is still TBD for the G4 Play, but it should launch this summer.
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Raymond Wong is Mashable's Senior Tech Correspondent. He reviews gadgets and tech toys and analyzes the tech industry. Raymond's also a bit of a camera geek, gamer, and fine chocolate lover. Before arriving at Mashable, he was the Deputy Editor of NBC Universal's tech publication DVICE. His writing has appeared on G4TV, BGR, Yahoo and Ubergizmo, to name a few. You can follow Raymond on Twitter @raywongy or Instagram @sourlemons.
