Motorola gives LTE to its highly popular second-gen Moto G

[Scorpus]

Of all the phones released last year, the second-generation Moto G is the one I find myself recommending to people the most. It's an excellent budget smartphone with decent performance, a great display, stock Android, and a very attractive price point.

The one main issue I had with the Moto G was its lack of LTE support, which is a key feature now that 4G networks are found all around the globe. But there's good news! Motorola has just launched a version of the 2014 Moto G that supports LTE, and it won't break the bank.

The second-gen Moto G 4G will be available in the UK on March 16th from a selection of retailers, and it costs just £159, a mere £10 more than the 3G model. Motorola hasn't launched the 4G Moto G in the United States just yet, but when it does become available, it shouldn't cost too much more than the $180 3G variant.

While most of the hardware in the 4G model remains the same as the 3G model, Motorola has increased the size of the battery from 2,070 mAh to 2,390 mAh, which will help provide similar battery life when accessing the more power hungry LTE networks. The increased battery capacity also makes the Moto G 4G six grams heavier.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/60032-motorola-moto-g-now-lte.html

 

[VitalyT]

Is this not is kind of pointless? People who are concerned about getting faster internet are the ones going for more premium phones, IMO.

 

[Grabix]

Is this not is kind of pointless? People who are concerned about getting faster internet are the ones going for more premium phones, IMO.

But that is what is so nice about this version of the G. You don't have to spend the $600 or more for a premium phone if you are looking for a good phone with LTE.

 

[VitalyT]

Fair enough, a bit of a Prius with racing straps though

 

[Cryio]

Personally I don't get this whole LTE thing. What do you do with this much speed? I only have access to HSDPA+ and I my phone takes longer to render the page than load information. On Youtube I also have no problems with 1080p videos.

All the applications I download on WiFi and on the occasion I use my data, I still download with 2-3 MB/s which is perfectly fine by me.

 

[mctommy]

In some US markets and with some providers, your call or connection is really crappy unless you have LTE. Motorola should have released this device with LTE from the get-go... not sure what was the push against that.

 

[OcelotRex]

Personally I don't get this whole LTE thing. What do you do with this much speed? I only have access to HSDPA+ and I my phone takes longer to render the page than load information. On Youtube I also have no problems with 1080p videos.

All the applications I download on WiFi and on the occasion I use my data, I still download with 2-3 MB/s which is perfectly fine by me.

2-3 MBps is relatively fast. Most ISPs and phone companies advertise their speeds in Mbps; your experience would be about 20 Mbps on average (16-24 Mbps).

I agree with you that 20 Mbps is plenty fast for a mobile phone. Some areas though did not get upgrades from 3G to HSPA or another technology. Instead the cell phone companies went straight to 4G or LTE. If you're stuck at 3G (200 kbps) or HSPA (14 Mbps) and are paying the same as people with LTE I'd be peeved.

 

[p51d007]

You have to know that with the explosion of mid range devices globally, that the lack of support for the frequencies that support the LTE towers in the USA, something is going on. Either the FCC is blocking them, or the carriers, or a combination of the two. The USA market WANTS the higher end phones and keeps the "cheap" phones out, requiring that if you really really want the device, you'll pay $$$ for the contract version, which most people in the USA don't stop to realize that if you take that 24 month contract to it's conclusion, they will typically find it would have been cheaper in the long run, to buy the phone full price, and then just opt to use an MVNO and go month to month, but, at least in the USA, people have no idea what total cost of ownership is, or what it means, so they keep extending that stupid 2 year contract cycle, paying for overpriced hardware. As long as that works, the carriers will continue to offer it.

 

[darkzelda]

I was waiting for this version to come out to change my old Moto G. Here where I live 3G it's making phone call quality horrible, so I have to put the phone on 2G mode which is too slow. LTE at a cheap price, what else can you ask for?

 

[sadman3]

So cool phone.. I underestimated it before I bought it. cool now.