Motorola Unveils a Great New Moto G Lineup

When it comes to choosing an Android smart phone, I strongly advise you to consider crapware-free Nexus models. But Google isn’t the only company selling clean Android phones. And with this year’s Moto G lineup, you have now have more excellent options to consider.

The current-generation Moto G is an excellent handset, and you can buy unlocked versions on Amazon for about $220 (or less, depending on the storage). But with the next-generation Moto G, coming this summer, Motorola is expanding what I assume to be their best-selling handset to include three models.

The first, the Moto G Play, most closely resembles its predecessor. This device features a 5-inch HD display and a quad-core processor (in this case a Snapdragon 410), just like the 3rd generation Moto G, and it provides that pure Android experience we’re all looking for. It also features 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage (where the previous version had 8 GB of 16 GB, depending on which you purchased) and an 8 MP rear camera, down from the 13 MP unit previously.

The Moto G and Moto G Plus are a bit more interesting, however. Both boast 5.5-inch Full HD screens, Turbo Charging capabilities (as with the Moto X), octa-core Snapdragon 617 processors, and at least 2 GB of RAM (you can get 4 GB in one version of the Plus). The Moto G will be offered with 16 or 32 GB of internal storage, while the Plus will come with 16, 32, of 64 GB of storage.

The Moto G ships with a 13 MP rear camera, but the Moto G Plus has a 16 MP with laser-assisted auto-focus and some pro features that will look familiar to Lumia fans. And the Moto G Plus also has a front-facing fingerprint reader for simple authentication.

All of the new Moto G’s are universal and unlocked devices that should work fine across all GSM and CDMA (e.g. Verizon) carriers. And while the Moto G and Moto G Plus do not ship with pure Android per se, they feature Motorola’s minimalistic skin, which can easily be swapped out for the pure Google launcher.

Motorola hasn’t announced pricing yet, but given current pricing, I expect the devices to be very affordable. They will ship globally “later this summer,” Motorola says.