Motorola Moto G2 could be here in September, but with a high price tag

By Andy Boxall August 11, 2014

Motorola Moto G camera macro

Motorola’s sequel to the well-received Moto G may come out soon. According to a rumor published by GSMArena, the phone could go on sale near the beginning of September. Motorola launched the Moto G last November, so this would make it less than a year old should its replacement arrive as predicted. The original has also recently been updated to include 4G support.

The sequel is referred to as the Moto G2, and it could only get a small spec bump over the first phone. Apparently, the screen size could be increased to 5 inches, but the resolution will remain at 720p, which will have the knock-on effect of lowering the pixel density compared to the Moto G. The processor is expected to be another Snapdragon 400 running at 1.2GHz, along with 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal memory.

Recommended Videos

Related: Here’s what we liked about the original Moto G

Rumors indicate the camera will be improved, going up from 5 megapixels to 8 megapixels, and the front camera also increasing to 2 megapixels. Android 4.4.4 KitKat could be installed, which does suggest it’ll arrive before the introduction of Android L, but this may change at the last minute.

Although we’d have liked to see Motorola push the phone the limits on processing power, the specs are still great for a mid-range phone, but if the report’s sources are correct, the price may increase substantially. An estimate of 250 euros is given, which is 80 euros more than the Moto G. In the U.S. the Moto G was released with a price tag of $180. Convert over the rumored Moto G2 price and you get $335. The reason the Moto G was such as success was down to its highly competitive price tag. It’ll be a shame if Motorola can’t repeat that with the G2.

The report pegs the Moto G2’s launch date as September 10, so an announcement could come shortly before this, perhaps during the IFA 2014 tech show at the start of September.

Related: Everything you need to know about Android L

Topics

Senior Mobile Writer

Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…

Mobile

Moto G Stylus 2022 launches with better cameras and display

A person holding the Motorola Moto G Stylus 2022 in Metallic Rose gold color sitting on a table in a room with a window in the background.

Motorola has been trying to stave off bad times with the help of offbeat design elements. From magnetically attaching Moto mods to phones with nontraditional display sizes, action cameras, and more, Motorola has been experimenting with different features to keep its sales from drying up, especially in the U.S. In 2020, the company announced its first Android phone with a stylus, which mitigated the burden of buying a flagship Samsung phone for users who needed a stylus. The phone -- along with its successor from 2021 and another 5G model later in the year -- garnered reasonable attention. And now, Motorola is announcing the third phone in the series, the new Moto G Stylus (2022).

As seen in the previous leaks, the Moto G Stylus (2022) brings only a handful of external changes with Motorola focusing its energy on inward transformation. The phone comes with a 6.8-inch Full HD+ display that supports a 90Hz refresh rate, an update over the 2021 version of the smartphone. The phone comes in Twilight Blue and Metallic Rose colors.

Mobile

Leaked 2022 Moto G Stylus details indicate a largely unchanged phone

Leaked render of the Motorola Moto G Stylus (2022).

Until 2019, if you had to buy a smartphone with a stylus, you were pretty much stuck with the Samsung Galaxy Note series. This also meant you had to splurge flagship-level money to have the privilege of using a stylus. Sensing an opportunity here, Motorola came up with the $300 Moto G Stylus line in 2020 and followed that up with a revamped second-generation model in 2021. Encouraged by the success of these (relatively) affordable stylus-toting phones, Motorola seems to be readying the launch of the third-generation Moto G Stylus soon.

Late in December, popular tipster Onleaks -- in collaboration with Prepp -- posted the first-ever photos of what they claimed to be the Moto G Stylus 2022. Today, another leak from Nils Ahrensmeier, posted images that seem to be an authentic-looking spec sheet of this year’s Moto G Stylus.

Mobile

Your $1,000 flagship may not have faster 5G speeds than a budget phone

Moto Edge 20 Lite, OnePlus Nord 2, Oppo Find X3 Lite, and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3.

After spending over $1,000 on a flagship 5G phone, you might think you're getting the fastest network speeds possible. After all, isn't that what you're paying for? But our recent network testing shows that may very well not be the case, with 5G performance on flagship phones being minimally better than budget phones, and in some cases, actually worse.

To give you some context, earlier this year, we put the 5G-capable MediaTek Dimensity 700 against the Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 in a test to see which processor delivered the best 5G performance and had the best daily user experience. Six months on, we’re going to take a look at four new 5G phones with different chips to see how they compare to answer this question: Does paying more for a smartphone with a flagship processor inside give you the fastest network connection, or is it all pumped-up marketing?
Understanding 5G
Before going into the details, we received some very interesting feedback from MediaTek after our last test, which is also relevant to this one. MediaTek contacted Digital Trends to discuss the 5G speed test results, as the Dimensity 700-powered Realme 8 5G couldn’t match the Oppo A54 5G with a Qualcomm chip inside. The company then took its own test equipment to the area where I had tested the phones, and in conversations afterwards, it gave plenty of insight into how 5G varies across phones, networks, and location.