Motorola Moto G Turbo Edition first impressions: One big, brave step for Moto G-kind

Motorola just announced an upgraded version of its Moto G smartphone called the Moto G Turbo Edition. The smartphone is a mid-range device and is priced at Rs 14,499 and goes on sale on Flipkart starting from 10 December.

The Moto G Turbo Edition is supposed to be a budget smartphone, however, its hardware specifications place it a notch over the currently available Moto G (2015) smartphone and eerily close to its elder sibling Moto X Play that is priced at Rs 19,999. Still then, the smartphone will find plenty of takers and these will be upgraders who want to step up from the budget Moto G with a few new features.

So without delay, here are our first impressions of the Motorola Moto G Turbo Edition:

Design and Build

As with every other Motorola smartphone that has launched this year, the design is again pretty similar to its predecessors. But the Moto G Turbo Edition does feel a bit special and you will notice this once you pick up the phone. It certainly does not feel cheap and nothing like the Moto G models of the past.

This one feels heavy and premium and the frame that is designed in a typical Motorola fashion is actually made of plastic. On the front we have a Gorilla Glass 3 panel protecting the HD display beneath which has the earpiece on the top and a loudspeaker below.

On the top side of the Moto G Turbo, you will find the 3.5 mm headphone jack accompanied by the secondary mic.

On the bottom bit of the frame is your standard microUSB port for charging and data transfers. While the left side of the smartphone is barren, the right side sports a conveniently placed power or unlock button and volume buttons.

At the back is a grippy fingerprint like texture that lets you grip the smartphone very easily, no matter how you are holding it. The back panel can be removed to reveal the dual SIM set up and the slot for the microSD card. Also visible on the back is the capsule like layout for the Motorola logo (with the typical dimple for support) and camera set up that includes a dual LED flash.

All of the above is tightly packed into a construction that is dust and water resistant with an IP67 rating.

Display

The 5-inch TFT LCD display is indeed a sharp one. Motorola has packed in an HD (1280 x 720 pixels) screen that delivers a pixel density of 294 ppi. While the display seemed perfect for the hardware at first glance we did notice the pentile matrix pattern in the areas that lit up in white. Still then, it is a great display that is bright enough both indoors and outdoors.

Chipset, RAM, Storage

As I said earlier the hardware selection by Motorola is indeed what makes the Moto G Turbo special. And at an asking price of Rs 14,499, the only smartphone that seems to one up the Turbo is the Obi SF1 Worldphone. In addition, you do have better value for money with plenty of upgrades when compared to your typical Moto G. There is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset with an Adreno 403 GPU that is coupled with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage. As mentioned earlier Motorola has added its now standard microSD card slot that supports cards up to 32GB, which seems a bit limited.

Motorola indeed seems to know its way with software as the Snapdragon seems to show no signs of stutter or lag while opening closing or switching between apps.

OS, Connectivity

Motorola’s standard recipe of stock Android mixed with a few Moto specific features seems to work well even for its E series of devices. And the same tradition has been carried over with the Moto G Turbo that appears almost stock with a few customisations that never get in your way nor seem to slow down the system. You get just the basics with the Moto login app and the Moto Migrate app that will get you up and running in no time. Also available is the handy flick to launch the Camera gesture (Quick Capture) that we got used to pretty quickly (more so because the grippy back gave us the confidence to do it).

In terms of connectivity, Motorola has left no stone unturned. The smartphone packs in everything under the sun with 4G, 3G radios with a dual SIM set up, 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 LE and the usual GPS, AGPS, GLONASS.

Camera

The Moto G Turbo Edition packs in a 13MP, AF, f/2.0 primary camera with a 76 degree field of view (FOV) and also packs in a dual tone, dual-LED flash. The camera supports 4X digital zoom, and is capable of shooting 1080p Full HD video at 30 fps, slow motion video, iHDR Video, Auto HDR and even offers video stabilisation. A 5MP Fixed Focus unit sits on the front that sports an f/2.2 aperture with a 72 degree FOV. Our initial tests showed above average image quality on a cloudy day so we will hold back our view for the full review.

Battery

Given the price tag, you pretty much get a bang for your buck when it comes to battery life. The device packs in a 2470mAh battery and the smartphone supports Motorola’s TurboPower charging tech that delivers up to 6 hours of use from just 15 minutes charging. Motorola claims that the battery is designed to last a full day, but we will have to test that out to come to a conclusion.

Bottom line

We would like to think of the Motorola Moto G Turbo Edition as the first smartphone to step out of the G series. With the plastiky Moto G still on sale, we are pretty sure, Moto fans may want to upgrade given the better specs and the snappy new processor. So far we like what we see, a premium looking device with plenty of heft and horsepower that comes very close to its true mid-range sibling the Moto X Play. Still then we would suggest that you hold on to your purchase until our full review arrives.