Is Google’s Moto G THE smartphone for Africa?

Brazil, UK and other parts of Europe got their hands on Motorola’s newest smartphone, the Moto G, today. At an utterly astonishing price of 179USD (1825NAD) with no SIM and NO contract, this true feature phone is set to shake up Samsung’s current vice grip on the African cellular market with it’s worldwide release this coming January.

 

Specs:

• 4.5-inch HD display – 329 pixels per inch that goes edge-to-edge so you can enjoy movies, photos, video chats and more.
• The newest Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 400 processor featuring a quad-core CPU for seamless multitasking and enjoying the web, videos and games, with all-day battery life.
• Android 4.3 Jellybean, the most up to date Android of any phone in its class, with a guaranteed upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat at the beginning of 2014. No skins to clutter or slow the experience, and great performance with Google’s unbeatable mobile services such as Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Chrome and Hangouts.
• Stylish design with a comfortable curved back and 19 customization options, including interchangeable Motorola Shells and Flip Shells in seven colors as well as Grip Shells in five colors.

Currently the tier of phone models available for this price range in most parts of Africa are usually associated with the  Samsung Galaxy and Nokia Lumia range. The Moto G not only beats anything Samsung or Nokia has to offer in terms of features in its price range but also rivals current high end models such as the Samsung S4. If Google manages to get mobile operators in Africa to ‘play nice’ and keep any sale markup to a minimum, which seems to be their ethos around the Moto G’s release, we can soon expect to see the Moto G make a whole lot of pockets around Africa its new home.

What it lacks in 4g connectivity it makes up for in nearly every other feature and not to mention the ridiculous price. We hope to finally see smartphone use around Africa become more of a true integrated web and social experience given that Motorola IS a Google company. Although Samsung had the reach with its marketing arm to target multiple African markets, it has nothing like a infrastructure in terms of social networking platforms like Google has, key word being social! Something Africa is positioning itself to take all kinds of advantage of. We hope this means less bulky bloatware and more usable social and connectivity/creativity tools!

Style, Vakwetu!

This phone is not only packed with the latest smartphone technology but it also LOOKS good! We’ve always had our issues with the Samsung’s cheap plastic looks which seems to extend even to their high end phones. This phone oozes robustness, style and comes in a variety of colours to reflect personality. It will go a long way in making the smartphone user in Africa really feel like they are carrying a piece of the latest and greatest.

We are eager to see what the spin off effects of this release are going to be, we predict they will be quite big when you consider Google’s current push with Plus and Hangouts. And just wait until this model goes on sale or special! Atatatata!