
Google’s $179 Moto G puts every single cheap Android phone to shame - jseliger
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/12/review-googles-179-moto-g-puts-every-single-cheap-android-phone-to-shame/
======
justin66
If Google's plan is to leave the high-end of smartphones to its Android
"partners" and stake out the low end with Motorola, that seems pretty smart.
Its partners get to keep the high-margin hardware business that Google doesn't
need anyway, Google puts a floor on how bad the low-end phones can be and
still make it to market. And yeah, Google isn't in the position of competing
with companies that it needs.

~~~
cabbeer
The divide between "High end" and "Low end" devices is beginning to blur. The
improvements to high end devices are providing diminishing returns, while all
the "essentials" have trickled down to low end devices.

~~~
glesica
This is actually why I've got a Moto G on order. This will be my first smart
phone. Before I heard about the Moto G I always assumed my first smart phone
would be a Nexus device, because I refuse to sign a carrier contract and I
would rather have a dumb phone than carry around something that cost $600 in
my pocket every day.

But with the Moto G, I get a cheap-ish device with all the features that
actually matter to me (high res screen, good camera, reasonably fast
processor, decent amount of RAM) and it doesn't come with a contract or a
crazy price tag.

I saved $150 over buying a Nexus 5, and I doubt I'll even notice the
difference (if anything, I'll like it better because, IIRC, the Moto G is a
bit smaller than the Nexus).

~~~
gcb1
hope you don't plan to travel. nexus 5 would work on most network. also get
ready to be disappointed with the camera. even the motoX gets owned by old
nokia phones.

the sad thing about google/moto only churning out low end phones, is that we
now will have to give in to weird rooting/unlocking if we want basic features,
like a simple sd card or removable battery.

i dread the day i have to abandon my old nexus and start fiddling with Odin
and whatnot to unlock a high end phone. (odin is code you have to use to
unlock samsung phones. nobody has the source, and it is allegedly stolen
property from samsung... shady stuff, and that is what will update you phone
bootloader. no thanks)

anyway, really wanted to have a high-end option that was free as the nexus
claim to be (claim because the radio, camera driver, etc are never open
source. but thats the best we can get, well, could.)

~~~
sliverstorm
The fantastically inexpensive motoX has two flaws, and you're already down on
it. Wonderful.

It's good to know we should be unsatisfied by budget devices that don't have
_every single feature_ of a flagship device. After all, what kind of _slob_
would be satisfied by a phone that doesn't do _everything_?

~~~
coldtea
Seems like you are confused. This is a tech site in which we're discussing
technology, pros/cons of devices, etc.

Not some religious forum promoting humbleness and gratitude.

~~~
girvo
Yes, but GP's comparison is moot, IMO: I'm sure the GGP _knows_ that his $179
phone isn't going to blow anyone away in terms of camera potential. It came
across as exactly like that typical "my phone is better than your phone" crap,
even if it might not have been.

Also, I don't get his point about travel. It's got Quad-band HSDPA...
honestly, that covers pretty much anywhere most people travel, or at least
anywhere I've ever wanted to go. No-one uses 1700mhz for HSDPA apart from,
what, T-Mobile in the US?

*shrugs

~~~
maxsilver
And the North American version of the Moto G actually does support '1700mhz'
AWS HSPA+ too (so it's 100% T-Mobile USA compatible everywhere they offer
HSPA+)

------
martinald
This is getting really interesting. Between this, the Nexus 5 and the various
Lumia's a $649 iPhone is starting to look very, very expensive.

Smartphones at the moment seem to have got 'good enough'.

~~~
superuser2
iPhones are not intended to be purchased for $649 except by the very impatient
(or people who break/lose their uninsured phones). If you wait your 2 years,
it's $100 or $200 on-contract.

Of course it's different in emerging markets where contracts aren't the norm,
but smartphone prices in the US are pretty damn close in terms of 2-year TCO.

~~~
Negitivefrags
I don't understand why people in America are so keen to pay for expensive
monthly plans.

I pay $5-$10 dollars per month on average for my cellphone on prepay. It
doesn't make sense all to buy a phone on plan.

~~~
thaumasiotes
Your problem is that you believe sensible plans are offered in the American
market at all. Look at all the love people express for t-mobile's $30 / month
plan. That's because it is leaps and bounds ahead of anything else you can
get.

In China, I pay about US$15 every 3-4 months for a level of texting and voice
talk that would easily cost $30 / month by itself in the US. (I don't have a
data plan.)

I've tried going prepaid (also t-mobile) in the US. The economics worked out
as long as I never expected to use my phone at all; if I expected anything, it
was a money loss. And _even while I expected nothing_ , I had to keep paying
$10 / month so that all my paid credit wouldn't suddenly expire.

~~~
lostlogin
The irony of capitalism working better in China the the US is strong. What
failed in the US? Under or over regulated? Or is it the lobbyists thing?

~~~
thaumasiotes
The market for phone voice service isn't exactly the entirety of each country.
"What failed in the US", if we want to compare only the situation in the US
with that in China, could easily be that people in the US have so much more
money that phone service prices are nine times higher.

~~~
lostlogin
I didn't mean to imply entirety with my comment, but it does read that way,
apologies. Another issue could be the artificially low value of the Yaun?

------
TrainedMonkey
Google is making a big play on smartphone for everyone model. Now if they
could get carriers to agree to cheaper data model, their hand would be really
strong. To some extent this favors T-Mobile and other no-discount/cheaper
plans carriers.

~~~
skelsey
They don't need to. You can get an unlimited data + 100 minute no contract
plan from t-mobile for $30/month.

~~~
mortehu
Where's that? I can only find $50, $60 and $70 plans:

[http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-
plans/individual.html](http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-
plans/individual.html)

~~~
skelsey
Go here: [http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/sim-card](http://prepaid-
phones.t-mobile.com/sim-card). Check your device, and once you know which SIM
type you need, click the "Add to Cart" under "Phone".

I literally just did this, so the timing of this post is nice. Even more nice
is that they are waiving the $10 SIM card fee right now.

You buy the actual plan after you get the SIM and activate it. I don't know
what they charge for activation, if at all.

~~~
mortehu
So it's not available to current T-Mobile customers unless you want to change
your number, then?

~~~
hayksaakian
Move your number to Google voice

Then you can use your unlimited data for calls (if I'm not mistaken)

------
kunai
I'd extend this statement and say that the Moto G puts _every single_ cheap
phone to shame. Not just Android. It becomes very hard to justify a Lumia at
$400 or an iPhone 4S at a ludicrous $450 when we have a flagship Nexus at $350
and now the Moto G at $179.

Combine that with the defiant cries against consumerism and wastefulness with
Project Ara, and Google has really raised the bar by quite a bit for what a
mobile phone OEM is capable of. It will be interesting to see what happens 3,
4 years down the line when the market fully resaturates with more price-
friendly and DIY-friendly phones.

------
Zigurd
Moto G is a great balance of price and performance. It is also much more
sensible for a Google-owned OEM to pursue a distinctive niche in the market
than to compete with Google's partners across their whole product line.

BUT that's just one handset. Nobody knows what Motorola will do next. Is
Google shining it up to sell? That would be sensible.

Motorola is a huge addition to Google's headcount that produces far less than
the typical Google product group. Motorola competes with Google's partners.
Google would be better off with Motorola as an OEM partner than as a
subsidiary.

~~~
ForHackernews
My understanding is Google bought Motorola primarily for their patent
portfolio, so they'd have some weapons to aim at Apple and ward off lawsuits
through mutually-assured destruction.

Is it possible for them to sell off Motorola's hardware operations while
retaining their IP?

~~~
Zigurd
Many people assumed this is what would have happened by now. Maybe it's a
problem Google is avoiding: What if OEM + patents adds up to nowhere near
$12B? Google risks distracting management and annoying partners by dithering.

------
fidotron
I think questions need to begin to be asked about Google getting close to
giving the hardware away in return for user information. It gets dangerously
close to the kind of practices that got MS in trouble, especially the way it
ends up poisoning the market for anyone else.

The problem is competition is good, and if users want their privacy they
probably should be going to pay for it, but I'm profoundly uncomfortable with
essentially condemning those that can't afford it to having to surrender their
rights to privacy.

~~~
DCKing
"I'm profoundly uncomfortable with essentially condemning those that can't
afford it to having to surrender their rights to privacy."

You appear to be implying that you can get extra privacy by buying a more
expensive phone. However, the Moto G does not actually seem to be any more or
any less invading of privacy compared to any other Android phone out there
(and arguably not moreso even compared to Windows Phones and iPhones). Even if
those phones are much more expensive than it.

Furthermore, the inevitable popularity of the Moto G only means that you will
be able to load it with a custom ROM that gives you as much control as you
want, like Cyanogenmod/OmniROM without Google apps.

Google rightly gets flak for privacy issues, but I think you're going too far
by getting the privacy debate into hardware pricing as well.

~~~
fidotron
OK, I admit it's not a perfect viewpoint, but I don't think any is!

The problem here is these things should be private by default, with the option
to break from that, since installing things like Cyanogenmod have external
dependencies (like PCs) that cost money and people may not have access to.
Features such as weather forecast widgets should not break if you choose not
to share your location with Google, and right now many will.

Further, I think Google are monopolising areas such as push email to such a
degree they should be forced, MS in EU style, to give you a choice of accounts
you can use to access things on the device when first started up. For example,
there is no technical reason you couldn't use your twitter (or any OAuth)
account as your ID, even when accessing Google services like the Play Store,
but they are using all this to weasel Google+ in everywhere.

~~~
nl
_Features such as weather forecast widgets should not break if you choose not
to share your location with Google, and right now many will._

I (and I think most people) like their weather forecast to show where they
actually are?

Using geo-location makes it simpler for users, which I think is a good thing,
isn't it?

~~~
fidotron
Have you heard of GPS? It's pretty good.

~~~
nl
So many ways to answer that...

Have you heard of GPS to POI?

How do you think Google gets your location when you look up the weather (and
see later for a discussion of network location vs GPS location)?

Your GPS location is useful, but you need to convert it to a named location to
get the weather. There are some services that do that for you.. but then you
need to send your location - which seems to be what you want to avoid?

Of course, for most weather-type services, "network location" rather than GPS
location gives sufficient precision. With that you still need to convert that
to a POI, though.

~~~
acchow
> Your GPS location is useful, but you need to convert it to a named location
> to get the weather.

Why would any app need a named location? Seems trying to match a string is way
harder than finding the nearest weather data by coordinates...

~~~
nl
In those cases, doesn't querying by location sharing your location?

~~~
fidotron
Google aren't providing the weather APIs.

The problem is using Google Play Services for location instead of GPS (the
satellites).

~~~
nl
Google Play Location Services are backed with GPS and/or network location(!?)

It's just a wrapper that has some nice functionality around trying to preserve
battery use by sharing location requests between the multiple applications
that need it. See [1] for the details. Here is a useful quote:

 _Applications cannot specify the exact location sources, such as GPS, that
are used by the LocationClient. In fact, the system may have multiple location
sources (providers) running and may fuse the results from several sources into
a single Location object._

How do you think Google works out your location otherwise?

[1]
[https://developer.android.com/reference/com/google/android/g...](https://developer.android.com/reference/com/google/android/gms/location/LocationRequest.html)

------
nicholassmith
It looks great, but as I've mentioned here before, I have some concerns about
the cost. It's a great short term boon to consumers getting a device of this
high quality at this price point, but the margins have to be razor thing on
it, so how do they make money for R&D? What about Company X? What do they do,
slice prices to match to keep market share or hope they retain a profit share?
If they slash where do they get the R&D budget from?

The smartphone market is starting to get truly interesting, I just hope it
doesn't get dominated by the companies with the deepest pockets, it's a short
term gain for consumers (we all like things cheaper), but could long term
stagnate the market.

~~~
Brakenshire
You can see this with Jolla- interesting new entrant, aims to provide a less
monolithic, more hackable device, built on the Nokia N9, which was widely
acclaimed. But it's double the price of the Moto G, with equivalent or even
slightly worse specs.

If Google is selling its handsets at or near cost, and relying on the long-
term value of advertising and data, then it will be almost impossible for
anyone without the same revenue streams to engage in serious competition.

~~~
dageshi
I guess if you're google, you might worry that someone could come along and do
this to you. Someone say for instance Amazon decides to sell a very good
quality phone at near cost and starts to capture marketshare. From Google's
perspective, better for them to preemptively do that if that's where the
market is heading anyway.

------
pedrocr
_> It's tempting to think of the Moto G as some kind of "Nexus Jr.," a cheaper
way to buy into the clean UI and quick software updates that Google's
reference phones have always received. However, Google is making no promises
about versions of Android beyond version 4.4, and speculating about whether
Android 4.5 or 5.0 or whatever will roll out to the Moto phones as quickly as
KitKat is a pointless exercise._

Again shooting themselves in the foot.

~~~
stusmall
How so? The quick software updates is a selling point to devs but not so much
to consumers. We aren't their target market. It seems like a good place to cut
costs since you don't have the huge reaccuring engineering costs and there is
much more freedom on part selection

~~~
pedrocr
Google is interested in building Android as a platform. Having 80% of your
install base stuck 4 versions behind[1] is a crappy way of doing it. Even
after they've moved more and more of the platform into the Play frameworks
you're still leaving users without a bunch of improvements to the core
platform, not to mention security fixes. iOS is miles ahead on this front
exactly because it controls the hardware. That Google doesn't do the same now
that it also controls the hardware seems short-sighted.

Building a 150$ great phone would allow them to set a feature/quality floor
for the market. If they forced their suppliers so the hardware in these phones
is properly supported upstream, targeting new versions of Android should be
pretty easy. When Ubuntu launches a new version it doesn't need to go and
retrofit it to the thousand different types of laptop out there. The state of
Android though is that the GPU/Camera/whatever drivers are binary blobs locked
in to a specific kernel version.

[1]
[https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html](https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html)

~~~
mgkimsal
and they could/should have done this 4 years ago, minus the hardware, simply
by tightening the licensing model. you want to say you're "android" and use
our software? You have conform to these minimums.

 _most_ people could predict from a mile away that when there's no
restrictions on it, the carriers and manufacturers will generally race to the
bottom in terms of quality and support. _ESPECIALLY_ when the google name is
tangentially attached to something, why would they bother making a good
hardware model or updating it regularly? laypeople - who they are targeting -
will blame google before they blame a handset maker or carrier.

~~~
cbr
Four years ago Android was well behind iOS, RIM was still around, OEMs were
still considering having their own smartphone OSes, and Google had minimal
leverage. There's a good chance the OEMs would have refused to go with an
Android with a tighter licensing model.

------
vidarh
That price point is now full of phones with 1920x1080 5" screens; 1280x720 is
very much "last year". The camera specs are beaten roundly by my year old $200
phone. The physical design is almost identical to said year old phone (which
is to say it looks pretty much like the Galaxy SIII).

And said phone also has removable battery, _dual_ SIMs, and support for a 32GB
SD card.

This might put ever single "cheap" Android phone of a brand _well known_ in
Europe and the US to shame, but from the specs given it's middle of the pack
fo cheap Android phones overall (it's likely to be a bit faster and with
better graphics performance than most low end Android phones, but lower
resolution and lacking camera and storage e.g.)

~~~
KVFinn
>That price point is now full of phones with 1920x1080 5" screens; 1280x720 is
very much "last year". The camera specs are beaten roundly by my year old $200
phone. The physical design is almost identical to said year old phone (which
is to say it looks pretty much like the Galaxy SIII).

I think you missed the fact that that's the non-contract no subsidy price...
Your $200 dollar phone was probably 500 or 600 off contract so this costs
about 1/3 as much.

~~~
vidarh
You are jumping to (wrong) conclusions. My $200 phone was without contract. .

Here's a few examples of current Chinese phones in the Moto G's price range or
below:

2GB RAM, Quad Core MTK CPU, 5" screen, 12.8 megapixel camera down to $121:
[http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Full-1-1-i9500-MTK6589-S4-Pho...](http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Full-1-1-i9500-MTK6589-S4-Phone-
Android-4-2-2-Quad-core-2GB-RAM-1/1494987491.html)

MTK based Galaxy S4 clone for <=$150:
[http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mtk6589t-S4-1-1-Perfect-
Galax...](http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mtk6589t-S4-1-1-Perfect-Galaxy-
Siv-I9500-2G-Ram-16GB-32GB-Rom-Quad-Core-1920x1080/1520496758.html)

Note 3 clone for ~$190: [http://www.aliexpress.com/item/3200mAh-battery-
Galaxy-N9000-...](http://www.aliexpress.com/item/3200mAh-battery-
Galaxy-N9000-N9002-Note-3-III-phone-Android-4-3-MTK6582-Quad-
core-5/1401325774.html)

Most of these phones are very good quality and the main "problem" to be aware
of is that the MTK SoC's are not the fastests alternative. Then again, neither
is the one in the Moto G.

~~~
pisarzp
The issue is that you don't get any support with this phones, while with Moto
G they will just replace your device with a new one If something happens. To
many average customers this factor is enough to deter them from buying phones
you mentioned.

~~~
vidarh
Sure you do - warranty replacements is no problem with the dealers I've dealt
with for these types of devices.

------
nnnnni
$179 is way too much for a phone that sends all of your login information for
different pages and services to Motorola's servers in plaintext...

~~~
ye
What are you talking about?

~~~
laureny
Just the regular "NSA/Google is evil/wake up people" troll.

Ignore and carry on.

~~~
ehPReth
Nah, this one is credible:
[http://www.beneaththewaves.net/Projects/Motorola_Is_Listenin...](http://www.beneaththewaves.net/Projects/Motorola_Is_Listening.html)

~~~
zobzu
default android phone sends your location to google, as well as your contacts,
app list, app usage, calendars, todo list and some other things.

You can disable a good part of it manually, thanksfully. Still, he sure has a
point.. its not like if that data wasn't sent. It fucking is.

~~~
kllrnohj
> default android phone sends your location to google, as well as your
> contacts, app list, app usage, calendars, todo list and some other things.

By default it does none of those things. You have to hit "yes" to enable the
location reporting which defaults to off but which you are asked to enable the
first time you add a Google account.

The rest isn't done at all unless you are using the Google services to sync
that data. Which is only an option if you've added a Google account.

~~~
throwaway2048
ever try to use an Android phone without a Google account?

know anybody that does?

~~~
kllrnohj
Sure, it's not that hard. Sideload Amazon Store or F-Droid to get your non-
Google app store fix, and the rest is pretty straightforward.

~~~
glogla
It's pretty nice, and as a bonus the apps from F-Droid don't do stuff like
"flashlight app that sends you contacts somewhere".

It sucks for some apps, like bank-specific mobile banking apps, that aren't
possible to get outside of Play store.

------
kombine
My Lenovo P780 was only $80 more expensive, but its battery has the highest
capacity on the market, 4000 mAh. The phone holds the charge for >2 days of
quite intensive use. I had Samsung Galaxy Note before this one, but now don't
understand why anyone would choose top end phones from the brands like Samsung
or Apple, if half of the cost of a phone goes to profit their shareholders.

~~~
benhamner
_> don't understand why anyone would choose top end phones from the brands
like Samsung or Apple, if half of the cost of a phone goes to profit their
shareholders._

When consumers spend money to buy products, where the money goes (whether it's
costs of production or shareholder profit) almost never factors into the
purchase decision.

~~~
btian
Rightfully so. For instance, a new manufacturer comes in, and has high costs
due to inefficiencies and lack of economies of scale, how does that help me in
making decisions?

While low prices can make purchase more compelling, the lack of profits never
does.

------
msoad
I love watching race for enabling next billion people with cheap smartphone.
We will see double of people on Internet today just in five years.

------
alan_cx
Well, all I can say is that until last week I was still using my Nokia 6500c.
This Moto G is the fist smart phone that for me does enough to warrant the
price; UK £120, unlocked. So, I bought one.

~~~
bcraven
I am in the same boat. Had it for a few weeks now and loving it!

------
001sky
Is Moto-G now good enough to replace an iPod touch? for a no-contract
'smartphone' that doesn't need to be up on 4g all of the time (say w/good wi-
fi acesss)? Because it sure seems like a better deal in terms of
functionality. The main limitation/constraint IMHO is the memory [8 or 16 GB
NAND flash], which seems arbitrarily low. (ie, >5 years out of date).

~~~
blinkingled
Yeah barring the storage part - it is definitely a great iPod Touch
replacement. You might be able to live with the 16GB if you stream stuff
instead of playing it locally. There are many media player apps (Archos one
that I use is great - even the free version) that can play videos from SMB
shares etc.

~~~
av500
Archos developer here, glad that you like the app :)

~~~
blinkingled
Any plans for Chromecasting/AirPlay support? I know it's not that simple but
would not mind paying $4.99 if the paid version supported it. Thanks!

~~~
av500
Looking into it. I understand there might be legal issues around Airplay and
that Google did something to Chromecast to disallow "unofficial" use cases :(

------
linux_devil
Right move to target market in India and China , its way affordable than
Iphone 5C and comes with the brand name too.

~~~
aseembehl
Unfair to compare Iphone 5c with Moto G. Iphone 5c vs Moto X is a more
meaningful comparison.

~~~
linux_devil
Comparing only with respect to price and only with respect to articles which
referred Iphone 5c is targeting Asian markets especially India and China.

------
contingencies
Half price Firefox OS phones like the _ZTE Open_ are more impressive and
better for your freedom.

Google want your communications, thinking, location, habits... this is worse
than Mastercard or Xperian issuing you a phone. It's fundamentally evil,
regardless of how they dress it up.

Support Mozilla FirefoxOS and internet freedom.

~~~
glogla
While Firefox OS is indeed impressive and good for freedom, for someone used
to better screen the 320*480 screen of ZTE Open is pretty terrible to use.

I hope that soon we can get something like Moto G with FxOS.

------
sushidev
I've got good recommendations on Lenovo A820
([http://www.gsmarena.com/lenovo_a820-5462.php](http://www.gsmarena.com/lenovo_a820-5462.php))
which has about the same price but a little lower. What would you buy? A Moto
G or a Lenovo A820?

~~~
TrainedMonkey
It looks like Moto G has slightly better screen, newer OS, and better
integration with Google services, while A820 has micro sd slot and better
camera. If none of that is critical for you - I would say get a feel for both
of them and go with one you like better. There is nothing fundamentally better
about specs on either phone.

~~~
coolnow
Keep in mind the A820 has an MTK SoC which could affect the timely adoption of
later firmware vs the Moto G's Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, which is well
supported by many ROM authors.

------
pandeiro
I've used this phone and the lack of dual-band wifi causes some issues with
wifi-connectivity. Its range is less than my Nexus 4 and it will sporadically
lose connectivity over wifi, more often than other Android devices I've used.

------
lnanek2
As someone in the US, I'm not really willing to buy a phone with no LTE in
this day and age, and carriers will loathe to put them in stores. I think even
HTC's Facebook phone from last year is a better attempt than this, goes for
free on contract, and could probably be obtained as cheaply off ebay. I doubt
this is really meant to sell in the US anyway, though.

------
yc-kjh
Battery NOT User-Removable. Phone NOT User-Buyable.

~~~
userbinator
To me this was a huge WTF? If they went to the trouble of making the back
easily detachable, why did they deliberately do that? Almost feels like
they're trolling the user: "Ha! Fooled you!"

Even more so when they officially refer to it as the "battery door" in the
documentation! [https://motorola-global-en-
roe.custhelp.com/app/answers/prod...](https://motorola-global-en-
roe.custhelp.com/app/answers/prod_answer_detail/a_id/97374/p/30,6720,9050/action/auth)

~~~
downer90
Seriously. I take major issue with devices that you can't cut the power to.

As far as I'm concerned, that renders it as an eavesdropping apparatus.

If I can't remove the battery, I'll never know when the microphone is truly
off. I'll never know whether it's logging GPS geolocation data or not.

------
auctiontheory
I don't get it. If you're using a smart phone for all the things that smart
phones do (audio, photo albums, video), 16GB just isn't enough. Even my 32GB
iPhone requires active file management to avoid hitting the limit.

~~~
fastest963
I have not had a phone with over 32GB for the past 2 years and yet I've never
had to perform "active file management" or delete any media from my phone. I
consume all my music through Grooveshark and Play Music and watch videos on
Netflix or YouTube.

~~~
auctiontheory
Do you only use your phone at home or when you have Wi-Fi access? (Do you live
in South Korea?) Most US cellular data plans don't allow very much streaming
audio, let alone video, before you hit a cap. Certainly not a month's worth.

Source: I've easily hit my cap when I mistakenly turned off Wi-Fi.

~~~
fixedd
Smart music services (such as Play) will use this radical new technology
called caching so that you don't have to stream everything you listen to if
you have things you listen to more often.

~~~
auctiontheory
Cool. Where are they "caching" the content if not on your device? In the
ether?

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dools
I hope someone at Motorola loves the Pro+ as much as I do and they bring out a
low end candy bar qwerty.

Every time a company releases a new touch screen keyboard, God kills a kitten.

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yachtintransit
I'm surprised they didn't mention more about the Bluetooth 4.0 (low energy)
support. I would take ble support over NFC . good writeup otherwise.

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quaffapint
I can't wait for a Verizon version (apparently 1Q 2014) to pare up with
PagePlus, so I can dump my VZ contract and only pay half of what I do now.

~~~
localuser
I bought 3 moto g's and on the day they arrived switched the entire family to
tmobile. I had enough of Verizon and now my bill is $100 a month. Can't beat
that.

~~~
mhb
I'd like to do that. Which plan?

~~~
dangrossman
There's only one family plan on the T-Mobile site now, called Simple Choice.
It's $80/mo for 2 lines with unlimited talk + text + web (500MB at 4G per
phone then slower speed), and $10/mo for each line after that. There's no
contract or credit check, and you either bring your phone or buy one from them
-- unsubsidized but payment plans available.

~~~
mhb
For $30 per month per line (no contract), there's also:

100 minutes talk, unlimited text, first 5 GB at up to 4G speeds.

Plan is only available for devices purchased from Wal-Mart or devices
activated on T-Mobile.com.

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dschiptsov
Why, it is Nexus 4 with half of RAM and cheap plastic case.

~~~
ye
Except you can't buy Nexus 4.

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therandomguy
This is what I though iPhone 5c would be.

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suchusername
I like my Nexus 4. They barely mention it.

