It’s a bargain, I thought, as I held the new Moto G in my hands.Finally, here is a phone that has all the features of an expensive smartphone and yet does not pinch your pocket.

Motorola, the company that practically invented the cellular phone, launched the Moto G exclusively on Flipkart earlier this month. Priced at Rs 12,499 for the 8 GB and Rs 13,999 for the 16 GB version, the phones were sold out within 15 minutes of the sale opening. Stocks will be replenished soon, says Flipkart. Even Snapdeal had a record pre-order booking in two hours and have now run out of stocks.

Moto G scores over the other Android phones because, as soon as you switch it on, it upgrades to the latest version of the operating system — version 4.4.2 KitKat. Now where will you get a phone running KitKat at this price? The benefits include an improved dialler that prioritises your contacts according to the people you talk to most. New photo editing options in the Gallery app dispenses with the need for third-party apps. You can now print documents and photos easily to Google Cloud Print or to HP ePrint enabled printers. There are lots of other benefits and bug fixes in the latest version of Android.

Most other phones running on Android cannot be updated to the latest version because manufacturers customise the Android to suit their needs. It, therefore, takes several months before these companies are ready to roll out an update for their phones. For the cheaper phones, updates are not even given because they lack the hardware.

Moto G runs on stock Android without any frills or gimmicks. It has the hardware to run the latest operating system and looks good too. It has a 4.5-inch high definition display and the colours are sharp and vibrant. Pictures and videos stretch from edge to edge and you don’t miss the need for a larger screen. The phone is small enough to be held comfortably in one hand. Typing can be done easily with the thumb.

You can multitask, chat, use WhatsApp and Hangouts, browse the Web and play games easily without feeling any lag because of the 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor. In most budget phones cellular signal is very poor. The Moto G can catch the signal even where it is very weak. But that should not surprise you because Motorola made history in 1969 when its radio transponder relayed the first words from the moon to the Earth. Motorola phones have always been good in wireless communication.

Lately the company has not been able to keep up with the likes of Apple and Samsung. Motorola Mobility was acquired by Google in 2012 and has recently been sold to Lenovo. This Chinese company has a good track record with PCs and hopes to turn Motorola Mobility into a serious contender within the Android ecosystem.

Like its more expensive counterparts, the Moto G has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to protect it from scratches. The back panel is made of a soft-touch polycarbonate and is comfortable to hold. The nano coating can repel water though this does not make it water resistant. The back cover is removable, but the battery cannot be replaced. With heavy usage the battery lasted 12 hours, which is pretty good.

One can grumble over the lack of expandable memory. But here is the icing on the cake. Google is offering 50 GB of free space on Google Drive for two years in addition to the standard 15 GB given to every Google account user. Cloud space is also available on Dropbox and Box. It is a good idea to keep your pictures, videos and songs in the cloud. There are apps that can play your music from these cloud accounts.

The Moto G has a 5 mega pixel rear camera and a 1.3 mega pixel front camera. In normal light the pictures are good enough. A bonus is the slow motion video, which obviously is not as good the Apple’s iPhone 5S, but it does an okay job.

If you do decide to buy the phone follow the wizard faithfully when you switch it on and set up your Google and Motorola Mobility accounts. You can use your Google account for Motorola Mobility.

Do not skip any steps. With your Motorola Mobility account you can secure your phone properly and even erase, track or ring it from the website of the company. You can also get any help that is required.

If you are into gaming and use a lot of apps make sure you pick up the 16 GB version of the phone. All in all, the phone gets the job done without you having to run to the service centre as you would with many other budget smartphones.

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