The Moto G3 makes for an automatic suggestion for those who seek the best value for a budget segment mobile phone.
Motorola Moto G3, the most awaited mobile phones of 2015 was finally released in India, and without any surprises, climbed the popularity charts just like its predecessors.
The latest in the Moto G series, the G3 has some good enhancement over its earlier avatar. It didn't exactly come out all guns blazing as was expected -- there are couple of niggles here and there which take off the sheen a bit. The phone still manages to hold its position strongly.
Let us dig a into the factors that make it an automatic recommendation, and where does the G3 make us feel wanting a bit more.
Design
The phone doesn't come any different from the last year's iteration, with the dimensions being the same at 5.59 x 2.85 x 0.46 inches.
The top part of the phone features the 3.5 mm headphone jack, and the right side sports the power/standby key and the volume rocker. The bottom part carries the Micro USB part. There are no keys at all on the left side . The microSD and micro SIM card slots are accessed after removing the back panel.
The top portion of the phone features the Moto X's design which makes Moto G3 resemble its cousin in terms of looks, but phone's overall quality very much justifies its price range.
Make no mistake, the phone still is pretty good and gets the job done.
One of the changes which strikes first up is that the chrome bars on the speaker and the microphone are gone, and one sees narrow slits. These will attract dust and hence user needs to be careful.
Another unsettling change is that there are no dual speakers at the front this time, as Lenovo decided to retain the only one situated below the LCD.
The design overall is again a to-the-point affair. The metal frame around and the metal strip at the back provides good aesthetics to mitigate allegations of doing nothing from last year's design.
Built
Lenovo has changed the smooth back panel to a textured one with the 2015 edition. The curve is still there, which makes the phone sit in the palm more ergonomically. The new back panel's textured pattern helps with a good grip.
One of the talking point of Moto G3 has been the fact that it happens to be the cheapest phone out there to provide IPX7 certification. This allows the phone to prevent any damaging effects of water at a depth of 1 metre for 30 minutes.
For the water proofing to remain effective, users will have to keep the back panel of the phone latched properly on.
Display
This is one area where the Moto G3 will attract some criticism. The expectations of the new handset boasting of a full HD display came to nought, as Lenovo decided to stick with previous specifications.
The 5-inch IPS display comes with the same 720 x 1280 pixel resolution and 294 ppi resume. As a token change, the brightness has been increased to 449 nits, as compared with 390 nits previously.
This change works, making sunlight viewing more easy on the eyes. The display is not stellar or class leading, but it gets the job done comfortably.
The colours are bright, text appears good unless looked closely, and viewing angles are impressive. For protection, display has been provided with Gorilla Glass 3.
Hardware
Moto G3 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chipset, comprising of a quad core 1.4 GHz Cortex A53 processor. The GPU accompanying this is Adreno 306. The configuration isn't state of the art, but proves to be capable enough to make the system perform more than satisfactorily.
Moto G3 comes in two flavours of RAM, and each variant has different onboard storage capacity. The 'high end' model is equipped with 2 GB of RAM, and comes with 16 GB of storage memory; the second variant carries 1 GB of RAM and has 8 GB of storage memory.
These two models are separated by a price difference of Rs 1000, and both support external Micro SD cards upto 32 GB of capacity.
Connectivity
Being a dual SIM device, the Moto G3 has been equipped with support for 4G connectivity on both the SIMs. This alone may prove for many to switch over from last year's model.
The other connectivity options present are Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth ver 4.0 (with A2DP). The navigation assistance is provided via AGPS and GLONASS. The presence of FM radio should bring smiles to many music lovers.
Software
The phone comes with Android Lollipop (ver 5.1.1) installed. The OS supplied isn't the stock Android, but thanks to the minimal tinkering done by Motorola, it provides a near pure Android experience.
The only other app to make note of are the likes of Moto Migrate, Moto Assist etc. These useful apps come handy for the users every now and then.
As a result, the OS comes across as very responsive and should get the updates faster in future as well. The material design is evident all over and this does makes one appreciate the option to lay hands on a cost effective 'Nexus like' experience.
The app drawer presents the apps listed alphabetically. The left side of the screen is meant for Google Now, which can also be initiated by swiping upwards from the on screen home key. Apart from this, the regular Lollipop features are present like card interface for recent apps, pull down menu for notification and further pulling down revealing toggles etc.
The quick gesture controls have created a little buzz. The camera can be activated by a double flick of the wrist, or the torch can be made to turn on or off similarly. The features are yet to be perfected by Lenovo as they can be a bit too eager to execute themselves, but these are very thoughtful features indeed.
The Moto Display feature allows the users to glean the information about notifications without turning the screen on fully. Moto Migrate allows for a swift migration of essential information while moving from another phone to Moto G3.
Moto Assist brings the ease of making the phone switch on custom actions depending on the location, like turning the mute function on or off, reading out the notifications in case the user is driving etc.
Performance
Even though the hardware supplied is not top of the line, the near stock OS flavour along with minimal bloat goes a long way in ensuring a smooth experience.
There was no visible stutter while using the phone. Be it transition effects, or heavy duty tasks like dealing with HD content of movies and games. Asphalt 8 delivered pleasing experience all along, and Moto G3 sailed through the tasks with aplomb.
The 2 GB RAM comes in handy if one has a habit of running multiple apps running at the same time. The increased RAM also helps in future proofing the handset. The 1 GB RAM model is by no means a bad performer, but with a price different of only Rs 1000, it makes more sense to grab the higher end model.
The additional 8 GB of storage memory sweetens the deal.
Camera
The camera is where the most significant enhancement seems to be. By including Sony IMX214 sensor, the one used by Nexus 6, Lenovo has given a huge boost to Motorola G3's profile. As a result, the images come out packing more details, and look better overall. There is no optical image stabilisation onboard.
The rear camera is a 13 MP affair, with dual tone flash. The front facing camera itself is 5 MP, which is bound to attract selfie enthusiast's attention.
Daylight photography is a treat. The pictures are captured with good details and vibrant colours. Details are picked even from areas which are in the shade. The results are strikingly good especially when compared with the 2014 model. HDR mode shines with its performance.
While the daylight photography is great, the same cannot be said about the pics clicked during evening or at night. The presence of noise is clearly evident, and this is true even for pictures taken inside. The dual tone flash comes to assist the user by obtaining a more natural tone of the subjects, the shortcomings of the camera doesn't go unnoticed.
Videography results were more than acceptable. The samples captured good details and colours looked natural as well. The phone captures videos at 1080p resolution at default, whereas 720 p for slow motion videos.
Front facing camera does a fine job with the selfies and while it does leaves room for improvement, the results are pretty fine for social media website sharing purposes.
Battery
As with the earlier models, Moto G3 also comes with a non-removable 2470 mAh battery of Li-Ion variant. The increased capacity was good to see.
Since the screen hasn't undergone a sea change, the battery pack proved to be quite capable. Users can easily expect more than a day's worth of juice supply to the phone on a medium to heavy usage pattern.
The absence of quick charging feature was disappointing. The phone will take about two hours to get completely charged from an absolutely drained state.
Verdict
Motorola once again has redefined how much feature packed a phone for this category can be. By bringing forward a device with subtle, yet critically important changes, Motorola G3 makes for a compelling case even for Moto G2 owners to take the plunge for an upgrade.
The lack of full HD screen won't go unnoticed, but the inclusion of 4G and water proofing feature provides an unmatched opportunity for the buyers to get a well rounded phone. Increased RAM, much improved camera, and enhanced battery pack means it has touched upon relevant and pending areas.
Priced at Rs 12,999 for the 2 GB RAM model, the Moto G3 makes for an automatic suggestion for those who seek the best bang for their buck for a budget segment mobile phone.
