Is the moto g still the best budget smartphone ?

[Theas18]

Dh has a dying nexus 4

He is fairly techy and I think would use an iPhone to the full but won't pay iphone/ high end samsung prices Ashe doesn't believe he needs it....

Also he wants a phone size not tablet size device.

The big kids have and like moto g phones ( dds 1st gen one Is on its last legs though ) so I'm tempted to get this ( probably the 4gbnot the newer bigger one just out) as, at the price if he hates it thrn. It isn't too expensive to just hand on to dd1.

Nexus 5 declared too big.

What do you think?

I have recently bought a dual SIM Moto G (XT1068 from memory) via Ebay.

There are a pile of different 4G models though so worth doing a check on GSMarena.com - eg this comparison: *> Nexus 4 vs 4G 2015 Nexus 4 vs 4G 2014

Aha! I was going to start a thread on this. I think you mentioned this phone on another thread Theas?
I am looking to replace my museum piece Nokia with a grown up phone.
I'm on giff gaff and don't use phone much though I might if I could play HD on it.
From what I could find the latest MotoG is the xt1072 and gets good reviews apart from memory size. I am like your sister networkguy in that I have arthritis and can't manage a tiny key pad.
I know this might seem a stupid question but do phone providers charge more for data if your phone is 4G?
We live in a network blackspot so I am likely to use wifi at home or at best 2g.

Just started reading a piece on The Register (not really the best of sites - schoolboy humour, sexist to a degree, and sometimes most definitely NSFW) comparing 2014 and 2015 models...

LINK - Page title bears out what I say about NSFW:

Motorola's 5-incher finds the G-spot: Moto G 4G budget Android smartie

I haven't yet got to the 50 comments on there, but suspect some of those might be either rubbish (unrelated to the mobile) while others may have good tech insights... we shall see!

I see the reviewer also commented about only 1 GB RAM, but went on to have a bit of a moan about the internal storage being only 8 GB rather than 16 GB, and the microSD only up to 32 GB (where the Chinese 4G Dual SIM model can take a 64 GB card).

SecretSquirrels - "do phone providers charge more for data if your phone is 4G?"

Initially, EE did, but unless you spend lots of time using it (eg work in a city), there's only extra cost in getting the phone right now. I think some plans from EE (and possibly others like Voda) may be costly for 5 GB or more data, while The People's Operator £15 / month tariff offers unlimited calls and texts plus 3 GB of data.

Right now I am not fully up on which firms offer 4G data - I use Three and TPO. Three declared no surcharge on 4G data at the back end of 2013, so I know they charge you the same for 3G or 4G data. (PS I do hope you meant 3G not 2G in your last sentence - 2G data is very slow, and I don't even know if you could get web pages from MN, etc, via 2G because of the amount of graphics, etc)

Hot SIM only deals - here - may be worth a look, as the guy who built that site seems to keep on top of what 4G offers are available. Hope that helps.

Thanks for that NWG. I will probably not use much data but may as well go for that model (plus a memory card) as there is little difference in cost.

Theas18 - just curious to know what you decided in the end!

Picked up a bargain £85 4g moto g ( the one that's just been replaced - with the poorer camera ) in white from tesco. .

Awaiting the unlock code from ebay.

I think this will be ok for DH ( the bigger new one might be too big really fir him). If it isn't dd2 will get a bonus upgrade for her birthday next month. At this price I nearly got her one anyway !