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SpecEagle review · Motorola

Moto G (2014) review: The second-gen Moto G that added a bigger screen and front stereo speakers.

SpecEagle Editorial·Sep 2014·$180
Overall
47/100
Class rank
#1 of 2
Tier
Budget
Buy?
Look elsewhere
The verdict, up front

The Moto G that added speakers and microSD.

The 2014 Moto G refined the budget formula — front stereo speakers, a bigger screen and the return of microSD, with the same clean Motorola software. It kept the line's reputation as the value Android to beat.

01Display

60/100

At 60/100 this is one of the strongest display showings among budget phones of 2014 — 6 points above the cohort average.

TypeIPS LCD, 60 Hz
Size5.0 inches
Resolution1,280 × 720 px (HD)

02Camera

50/100

At 50/100 this is one of the strongest camera showings among budget phones of 2014 — 12 points above the cohort average.

Main8 MP, f/2.0
Selfie2 MP

03Performance

50/100

At 50/100 this is one of the strongest performance showings among budget phones of 2014 — 17 points above the cohort average.

ChipsetSnapdragon 400 (28 nm)
RAM1 GB
Storage8 / 16 GB · microSD

04Battery

56/100

At 56/100 this is one of the strongest battery showings among budget phones of 2014 — 8 points above the cohort average.

Capacity2,070 mAh
Wired5 W

05Build

58/100

58/100 puts it above the 53-point average for budget phones of 2014.

06Value

78/100

78/100 puts it above the 74-point average for budget phones of 2014.

What works
  • Front-facing stereo speakers — rare for budget.
  • microSD returned.
  • Near-stock Android, updated to 6.0.
  • Bigger 5" screen.
What doesn't
  • Still Snapdragon 400.
  • 3G only.
  • Thick 11 mm body.
  • 1 GB RAM.

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 2-phone cohort of budget devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .