The smartphone feels reassuringly solid and sturdy to hold. This time around, the Moto G has a textured back that provides good grip. The designers have also added a metal insert around the camera that also houses the two-tone flash and the dimpled Motorola logo.
The front is dominated by the 5-inch 720p display, which is flanked by considerably thick bezels on the top and bottom. The bottom bezel houses the front-firing speaker. The edges are now inspired by the Moto X with its smooth curves and faux metal trimming. The Moto G ( third generation) might not be a show stopper but is quite a looker nevertheless.
Talking about the display, while it might not be full HD, I found it to be good enough with punchy colors and bright enough to be legible under direct sunlight. It comes with Gorilla Glass 3 protection. If I were to nitpick, the colors tend to distort at extreme viewing angles.
Like all Motorola smartphones, even the Moto G ( third generation) runs on stock Android with minor UI changes. This has multiple benefits. The first one is that Motorola has proved time and again is that about fast Android updates. In fact, Motorola has pushed out the latest Android updates to its phones even before Google could push them out for Nexus devices. Currently, it runs on Android 5.1.1, but I won’t be surprised if it is one of the first smartphones to get upgraded to Android M, whenever Google releases the final version.
The second big advantage is that it runs fluidly even on a Snapdragon 410 chipset. I had the 16GB variant for review, which comes with 2GB of RAM and I did not face any lags whatsoever. This cannot be said for most smartphones in this price range that come with their own UI skins on top, which lag and stutter even when they run on faster processors.
While there might be smartphones with better specifications at a lower price in the market, the Moto G ( third generation) beats all of them in terms of pure experience and features. If you are looking for a smartphone that won’t get obsolete quickly and would also last you for a long time, the Moto G ( third generation) should be in your shopping list.
