When we reviewed the Motorola Moto G, we were working on it having an off-contract price of around $180 for the 8GB model, making it a considerable bargain. Now, we may have to revise that statement, thanks to an announcement from Verizon. We’ll now call it a massive bargain, as Verizon will be charging just $100 for its prepay model.
For that small sum, you get a 4.5-inch, 720p display fitted to a phone powered by a 1.2Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor. There’s 1GB of RAM, a 5-megapixel camera, and perhaps most importantly, a clean install of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Oh, and that’ll be updated to Android 4.4 KitKat very soon.
That’s a good specification, and to have it for $100 is astonishing. There will be those out there who complain it’ll only connect to a 3G service, but they don’t get the point of the Moto G. If you want 4G at a low price, there’s the Moto X or the Nexus 5. For those who don’t need such high data speeds, the Moto G is hard to beat.
There is a small catch with the Verizon Moto G, and that’s the prepaid options. According to the announcement, the cheapest plan is $60 per month, which comes with unlimited minutes and messages, plus 2GB of data. For an additional $10 per month, the data allowance doubles to 4GB. The phone may be priced very competitively, but the monthly cost isn’t that special.
Verizon will put the Moto G on sale through its own online store from January 9, but it’ll take a few weeks longer before the phone makes it into stores. If you still want the Moto G, but would rather not go with Verizon, an unlocked 8GB GSM version can be purchased through Motorola’s website for $180. Alternatively, Boost Mobile will be selling a no-contract Moto G from January 14 for $130, with a $55 monthly plan.
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