Unlocked Motorola Moto G Finally Hits U.S. at $179

By Kevin Parrish
published

The GSM version of the Motorola Moto G is now available, with the CDMA version following soon.

The Motorola blog reports that the GSM version of the Moto G is available in the United States unlocked starting today. The CDMA version of the Moto G will be available in the U.S. in January through carriers, as previously announced. The Moto G is also currently on sale in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Peru, UK, Germany, France, and Canada and is coming soon to other countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia.

"We’re giving people plenty of mobile goodness to gobble up this holiday season. Starting today, people in the US can purchase Moto G (GSM version) on Motorola.com with no contract, no SIM lock and an unlockable bootloader for $179 with 8 GB of storage or $199 for 16 GB," the blog states.

According to the specs, the phone features a 4.5 inch screen with a 1280 x 720 resolution and a 326 ppi pixel density. This screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and backed by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chip clocked at 1.2 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, and Google's Android 4.3 "Jelly Bean". Motorola promises an upgrade to Android 4.4 “KitKat” in 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,” the blog states.

The specs also include 8 GB or 16 GB of internal storage (no microSD card slot), a 1.3MP camera on the front and a 5MP camera on the back. Other features include an FM radio, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, a compass, Wireless N and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, a microUSB 2.0 port, GPS and more. All of this is powered by a 2070 mAh battery promising up to 24 hours of talk time.

The new Moto G will be in more than 30 countries with 60 partners by early 2014.

Check out all our Moto G coverage, video and hands on below:

For more:

Motorola Announces the $179 Moto G

Moto G Video Hands-on

Nexus 5, Nexus 4, Moto G: Off-contract Android Heaven

Kevin Parrish
8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • phatboe
    I just cracked the screen on my SGSIII and the estimate to replace the screen was $200. Instead I am going to wait for the CDMA moto G and get that for $179 and not have to deal with another 2 year contract from Verizon.
    Reply
  • jkhoward
    This is quite the phone for the price. I wouldn't mind having one of these as a mini tablet for basic network troubleshooting and for some applications. This is pretty much an iTouch that can be a phone if desired.
    Reply
  • gussy2000
    Excellent pricing on those specs. What a great back up device or "in a clinch" replacement phone. Nice job Googorola.
    Reply
  • Tc17
    No CDMA? It figures. I was planning on using this with Tracfones BYOP deal which only works with CDMA. Its typical Verizon again trying to prevent anyone but themselves from having it.
    Reply
  • catfishtx
    That's a lot of phone for the money. These are going to be very popular with us who don't want to extend our contract but need a new phone.
    Reply
  • sykozis
    12036959 said:
    No CDMA? It figures. I was planning on using this with Tracfones BYOP deal which only works with CDMA. Its typical Verizon again trying to prevent anyone but themselves from having it.

    Read the article. CDMA version is coming in January....but you'll likely have to buy from one of the CDMA carriers (Verizon or Sprint in the US) since they have to be approved by each carrier for their networks.
    Reply
  • MorkS
    I've had mine for a few days now. It is awesome!
    Reply
  • blackened144
    12036287 said:
    I just cracked the screen on my SGSIII and the estimate to replace the screen was $200. Instead I am going to wait for the CDMA moto G and get that for $179 and not have to deal with another 2 year contract from Verizon.
    It doesnt cost that much to fix. I just replaced the screen on my GS3 myself. The replacement was $20 on Amazon and it was very easy to fix since I already had all the tools the replacement+repair kit didnt include.. The only real downside is that since I didnt replace the LOCA, the touch response isnt as good as before and since there is a gap between the lens and the AMOLED screen there is a hollow feel to it, but the new screen looks perfect.. I would replace it a second time for $20 plus the $10 for new LOCA before I bought a new phone.
    Reply