
The $179 Moto G hits the US early - yapcguy
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57613701-94/moto-g-launches-in-us-on-motorola-site-ahead-of-schedule
======
programminggeek
$179 no contract android phone that doesn't suck is going to be very tempting,
especially now that Straight Talk, Net 10, Virgin Mobile, etc. are starting to
gain in popularity in the US.

~~~
gcb0
> are starting to gain in popularity in the US.

You know this is a joke, right?

they all have to lease band from the 2 big ones. The government does not allow
them to build a network even if they had the money.

The only reason they exist is to scrap the bottom end of the market. the
moment the market shifts to them, the 2 big ones will raise their network use
prices to the point it is cheaper to use them than the small ones.

~~~
gamblor956
The spectrum sales carried with them severe restrictions on the prices AT&T
and Verizon could charge to MVNOs, precisely to prevent that situation.

~~~
gcb0
they can't even protect us about overcharges on client accounts, what about
overseeing that they are providing a decent service to those rented networks?

not to mention the good old lowering of their price until they've killed
competition, again.

~~~
gamblor956
They do police overcharges and excess billing; both AT&T and Verizon have paid
massive fines for this in the past decade.

The agency is not responsible for policing quality of service--that is a
function left to the market. Nor does the agency simply get to decide that it
will police quality of service--it must be granted that authority by Congress.

------
untog
If you're looking for an even cheaper backup phone, take a look at the Nokia
Lumia 520 - recently cut in price from $99 to $69 _off-contract_ :

[http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-Lumia-520-GoPhone-
AT/dp/B00E4504...](http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-Lumia-520-GoPhone-
AT/dp/B00E45043A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1385492519&sr=8-2&keywords=nokia+520)

Yes, I know it's Windows Phone but it's staggeringly cheap for a perfectly
good phone.

~~~
dublinben
>Windows Phone

>perfectly good phone

You've lost me here.

~~~
lotso
Have you used Windows Phone or do you just Microsoft bash?

~~~
dublinben
I have. They're pretty lame. They don't work as well as a comparable iOS or
Android device, and the app ecosystem is miserable. I don't know why anyone
would buy one if they didn't work for Microsoft.

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wffurr
Spec for US GSM model doesn't list 2100 band, which makes the 1700 band kind
of useless. It's only needed for T-Mobile HSPA+ which is on 1700/2100 or
1900/2100 if you're in a re-farmed area.

I'm hoping that's an error, because otherwise this phone will be limited to 2G
speeds on T-Mobile.

~~~
pkulak
I thought T-Mobile was quickly moving LTE to AWS (1700/2100) and HSPA+ to PCS
(1900)? That would mean that this phone would work as fast as possible in any
"re-farmed" area, which I think is most of them at this point.

~~~
wffurr
They are, and the international version of the Moto G will have HSPA+ in
refarmed areas, and EDGE service elsewhere.

My Motorola Razr i has the same band support as the international Moto G, and
I get HSPA+ in a lot of places in Boston but not all. Whereas my wife's penta-
band Galaxy Nexus gets HSPA+ everywhere.

What's confusing is that the US GSM version has the 1700 band, but not the
2100 band, and T-Mobile to my knowledge requires 1700/2100 (everywhere) or
1900/2100 (areas that have been refarmed for iPhone support).

------
Pxtl
God dammit, just _once_ I thought we Canadians won. When I first heard the
news - Brazil, Canada, etc. not US? I was happy to hear we'd be getting it
first.

Now?

Now it's $200 freaking dollars to get a _locked_ Moto G from Koodo while the
Americans get the proper price _unlocked_.

Why do you hate Canada, Google?

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blisterpeanuts
From the article: _" Neither the Moto G nor Moto X are sold in China, a result
of the Chinese government's ban on Google services, which flow into its
phones."_

I don't understand this statement. All Android phones can have Google
services; just add your google account in the settings. Is this feature
disabled on Chinese Android phones?

It seems like China would be a natural market for such an inexpensive handset
from a well known maker.

~~~
Touche
Android phones in China use a fork of AOSP which doesn't have Google services.

~~~
yapcguy
This is a good thing, look at 4.4, it's horrible with Google+ and Hangouts
replacing SMS...

~~~
myko
You're free to download whatever MMS app you want from Google Play.

~~~
yapcguy
Are you free to delete the Google apps? No, they're protected by the system.
You have to be root to remove them.

~~~
deveshparekh
You're perfectly free to disable them, which accomplishes the same thing as
far as the user is concerned. The fact that the /system partition is mounted
read-only for security and ease of system updates means you can't really
delete them, but it also means you can't use that space anyway, so the ability
to delete wouldn't be useful.

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enscr
Marketing & publicity plays a huge role. Google doesn't push Nexus brands that
well outside US. Not sure how they'll handle Moto. At the price point, it
simply blows away phones that cost upto $500.

But, Google/Motorola needs to do a better job in educating people that they
are getting almost everything (especially in markets that lack 4G service).
There's little reason to look at other brands even if you are willing to spend
twice as much.

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tjbiddle
Wow, incredible price point. Well done, Motorola. I'm perfectly happy with my
Nexus4, but I almost want to buy a Moto G just because.

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znowi
Finally, a flagship-worthy phone that lasts for a day!

I think there's a major discrepancy between performance and battery abilities
in the current flagship market. Specs are being beefed up with little care for
power consumption.

Moto G cuts the crap and gives us a full day experience on a quite capable
hardware with great screen. I'll take two.

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IgorPartola
Not necessarily a surprise: holiday shopping is days away, and anyone looking
to upgrade ought to consider the Moto G.

~~~
dublinben
Not too many people get pre-paid smart phones. The plan choices are pretty
thin on the GSM side. You've basically got T-Mobile or Straight Talk,
depending on the network coverage in your area.

~~~
jeffasinger
AT&T also has an option, called AIO Wireless. There are many other smaller
players that are either T-Mobile or ATT MVNOs.

~~~
dublinben
The AIO Smart plan is $10 more per month than a better plan from Straight Talk
(on the same network).

~~~
what_ever
$5 in most places as tax is included in AIO.

Also, does Straight Talk offer LTE as well? I think AIO comes with LTE. I also
liked AIO's $70 plan as Straight Talk is limited to 2.5GB of 4G data on the
unlimited plan.

(I use Straight Talk but was thinking about getting Nexus 5 which comes with
LTE)

~~~
pa5tabear
Yes, people on r/nexus5 are saying they got LTE activated without much issue.

I'm planning to switch to ST when my AT&T contract expires.

------
breakyerself
I'd jump on this if it was LTE. I'm grandfathered into an unlimited plan on
verizon. I'm going to have to buy a phone outright to keep that going, but I'm
addicted to 4G. I've had it for 3 years and I can't go back. Hopefully a
revised edition isn't too far out.

~~~
w1ntermute
Check out the transfer upgrade trick. I used it to keep my grandfathered
unlimited data plan on Verizon while getting a new phone at the subsidized
price a month or two ago.

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drill_sarge
Huawei makes pretty good (Android) phones in that price range too, if you
spend ~250 you get a "high end" (spec wise) one. From what I can tell, their
build quality is good too.

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bruceb
I wonder if Republic Wireless will get on this since they offer the Moto X for
$300 which they subsidize a bit.

Seem that Moto G is better fit for them as they are going for the lower end of
the market.

~~~
jere
Agreed. Republic really raises the bar on _cheap_ plans. Though I'm kind of
pissed that they went from a super low end phone (with a 3 year old OS) as
their only offering, the Defy, to a moderately high end phone, the Moto X. Not
to mention the the plans are cheaper for the expensive phone. I was an idiot
and bought the cheap phone before I realized the Moto X was coming out.

------
bruceb
Good news for all the GSM based MVNOs. Being able to offer a phone sub $200
that is not quite cutting edge but near enough for most people give even more
reason to skip contracts.

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mrbill
Bought one just to have as a spare/beater/toy-around phone, even though I just
went from a N4 to an N5. This price point is what the US has been needing.

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seniorsassycat
I've never owned a smartphone before and I'm currently on an AT&T plan with no
data. Could I use a Moto G?

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shirtbot
I think they might be shooting themselves in the foot - I mean what's the
consumer benefit of upgrading to Moto X?

~~~
drzaiusapelord
LTE and better screen are two most obvious.

I cant imagine buying a non-LTE phone today. I currently have the HSPA N4 and
after playin with a couple LTE phones, its almost night and day. It feel more
like I'm on wifi than a cellular wan. HSPA in Chicago barely gets me 5mbps
with lots of latency and this weird 2-5 second lag where the request is made
but no data is sent.

LTE's responsiveness, even if its at the same 5mbps bandwidth, is something of
game changer.

With the nexus 5 at $350 right now, not sure why I would bother with either.

~~~
rayiner
> With the nexus 5 at $350 right now, not sure why I would bother with either.

The N5's apparently abysmal battery life?

~~~
eswat
I would have agreed about the abysmal battery life if I only have a day’s
worth of experience, playing around with it a lot more than I would usually,
which is what a lot of anecdotes on the battery life are.

Read reports from N5 users now and you’ll find the battery life is nowhere
near abysmal when tested against the conditions one would put with a phone
they use normally.

I was one of those that lambasted the battery life when I first got it. But
now at the end of the day my battery life barely dips below 50% and I use mine
a fair lot.

~~~
rayiner
You don't have to read reports, you can look at real tests:
[http://blog.gsmarena.com/nexus-5-grinds-through-our-
battery-...](http://blog.gsmarena.com/nexus-5-grinds-through-our-battery-test-
routine).

The nexus 5 gets 4:45 of LTE browsing. The Moto X is 8:17, and the Moto G is
supposed to be even better (though GSM Arena hasn't tested it yet).

~~~
drzaiusapelord
The G can't do LTE, so any comparison would make no sense.

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chintan39
I feel Moto G will look like an outdated phone in an year.

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lazyant
$200 in Canada

~~~
Pxtl
And I assume it's locked to Koodo.

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gcb0
Hear Hear:

google just entered the subsided device game!

just like microsoft tried to kill competition by taking a loss on xbox. google
via the acquired motorola mobility is probably taking a loss to sell you a
720p screen phone with NO SD CARD. the info site tells you in 7 different
places that you get 50GB of free google drive.

google wants your data pretty bad.

~~~
yapcguy
True but for any discerning techie, root it and you can have nandroid/titanium
backups, pushed to the cloud, or pulled via wireless adb, or even bittorrent
sync (in lieu of an open-source solution for now).

The Moto-G is nice except for the lack of LTE and micro-SD. Meanwhile the $150
Galaxy Light has both LTE and micro-SD but a low res screen. Trade-offs
hmmm....

~~~
gcb0
not having a SD card nowadays is crazy. Ask ANYONE who has the galaxy nexus S
(maybe i have the wrong model... the only nexus without SD slot)

you can't install swype, firefox, google voice and skype on the same phone!
and that is a 2 year old model.

~~~
tapoxi
You're referring to the Galaxy Nexus, the Galaxy S has an SD card slot. The
Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 also lack SD card slots.

As a Galaxy Nexus owner (it was my first Android phone) it was never an issue,
as it has 16 GB of internal storage. I could install plenty of apps (including
the four you mentioned) and cached a decent amount of music from Spotify.

I now own a Moto X, which doesn't have an SD card slot either.

