In somewhat of a bizarre announcement, Google just made the Moto G Google Play edition available in the US and several other countries’ Play Stores. Unfortunately, it says “not available in your country” for India, so we might have to wait a bit longer to get the Moto G here. But here’s the thing, Google has just announced a Play Edition of a device that already got fast updates and has a stock interface. From our understanding, the Moto G Google Play Edition will not carry any of Motorola’s additions(which are few already) and will get updates at the same time as other Play Edition devices. These are the only two things that are possibly different with the Google Play Edition of the super “value for money” Moto G. It is available for order on the Play Store for a price of $179, unlocked and the 16GB version costs $199.
Like all the other Play Edition devices, the Moto G Google Play Edition comes with the latest Android update, which is based on the AOSP build of Android. The phone will get faster updates and will have no skinning, while the hardware, in terms of specifications remains the same. Here is a quick recap of the Moto G’s specs –
- 4.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) edge-to-edge display at 329 ppi with Corning Gorilla Glass protection
- 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with Adreno 305 GPU
- Android 4.4 (KitKat)
- 5MP rear camera with LED flash, 720p HD video recording at 30fps
- 1.3MP front-facing camera
- 6.0-11.6 mm thick (curve) and weighs 143 grams
- 3.5mm audio jack
- 720p HD video playback
- 1GB RAM, 8GB/16GB internal memory
- 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, GLONASS
- 2070 mAh battery
We had reviewed the Moto G a while back and found it to be really awesome for the price it comes at. So, if you are still waiting and are deciding on whether to go for it, or want to see what all Motorola has added in terms of software, read our full review.
With this Play Store addition, we might see Google launch the dual SIM Moto G in India, using the same distribution model(like the Nexus 5 and the Nexus 7 here), but we are not sure if that would be a Google Play Edition device or otherwise. Only time can tell, so hang on until that elusive announcement happens, we’ll be the first to report to you if it does. Meanwhile, let us know what you think of this announcement, in the comment section below.
Source Google Play