Flashback: the Moto G was one of the best $200 smartphones you could buy in 2013

30 January 2022
A pure Android phone produced by a Google-owned Motorola with an impressive screen and some fun features.

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Kangal, 05 Feb 2022Yeah, the Kirin-9000 was great, but was like a paper-launch... moreDefinitely, the d9000 has amazing effiiciency on the mali gpu too, unlike the kirin 9000. But in the game test the dimensity actually had lower efficiency than a 8 gen 1 phone. Could just be not as optimized for mali.

    Mediatek sux, 05 Feb 2022he did explain his spec testing methodology once, its the s... moreYeah, the Kirin-9000 was great, but was like a paper-launch.

    Imagine if they released it with the latest Cortex-A78 CPU instead. And if it was available in 2020 (and after) in many different phone options. It would've been a worthwhile upgrade from the likes of the Kirin-980 and Snapdragon-855. Unlike the Exynos-2100 and Snapdragon-888, which would've been humiliated by it.

    I think the Dimensity-9000 from MediaTek is the "spiritual successor" to this model. And it will be superior option over the Exynos-2200 and the QC 8g1 chipsets. On a pocketable device, efficiency is usually a more desirable trait than performance.

      Mediatek sux, 05 Feb 2022he did explain his spec testing methodology once, its the s... moreYeah found the rog 3 video, 51 fps at 6.3w. but these arent as reliable to gauge the soc perf like spec tests.

        Kangal, 03 Feb 2022Golden Reviewer is definitely one of the better testers out... morehe did explain his spec testing methodology once, its the same as anandtech, so the other components shouldnt matter. Yeah, the 990 4g was on the same process as 980 i think. Thats indeed weird when the 980 is clocked lower and has worse efficiency.

        Considering the 865 is more efficient in his table compared to the 870 in big core, middle core and gpu, the 865 should be even more efficient in that game video. 865 was fine, its the + that made it worse, i remember anandtech mentioning this too. The mi 10t pro had the 865 and it got 55 fps with 6w in the same game, but its an older test. The 865+ is in that same test, and its more efficient, but its the note 20 ultra and throttles performance too much to only 46 fps.

        The kirin 9000 was impressive, but not surprising seeing how much of a difference tsmc 5nm makes like how their 4nm in the d9000 is so much better than 8 gen 1 - in their engineering sample anyway.

          Mediatek sux, 02 Feb 2022I guess the 650 was good for its time, my bad experience wi... moreGolden Reviewer is definitely one of the better testers out there.
          This comparison had all devices running Android11 on MIUI v12. But obviously differences in screen, battery, and other components. However, I do have some questions about his community posts, for instance, it puts the Kirin-990 at around x2 Double the efficiency of the QSD 780G. That needs to be investigated, because it's out of trend. Going back to the video,as I said, you can't use the QSD 870 to represent the QSD 865/865+. They're close, but not the same.

          I can't find the article where I read it, but it was that they were using the new (second-gen?) node of TSMC's N7P lithography. The QSD 865 was pretty hot, and the QSD 865+ basically hit the maximum limits (it was only +8% increase though) and it was unstable there. The new node is why the QSD 870 not only can clock even higher (+4%), but they can do so at a lower voltage than the QSD 865, which makes it more stable. And they can maintain their voltage much better in general. However, this efficiency boost was mostly for the CPU, as the GPU got negligible improvements. The problem is there's no QSD 865+ phones, to compare to the QSD 870. I mean you can try comparing the ASUS RoG 3 versus the Redmi Poco F3. But the ASUS is built better, with bigger cooling, active fan, and probably more optimised software. Comparing to the Original 865 would mostly be showing the overclock difference, and a slight efficiency improvement.

          That's why I labelled the QSD 870 as having a "Cortex-A77+" since that seems more apt. Just like the limited released Kirin-9000 chipset, also a Cortex-A77+, which runs circles around the original QSD 865, and even A78 chips like the QSD 888.

            Kangal, 01 Feb 2022I had the Redmi Note 3 as well, for it's price it was ... moreI guess the 650 was good for its time, my bad experience with it comes from pubgm where i oc'd the cpu and gpu, upped the thermal limit, and used gfxtool to get lowest settings and highest fps possible. It was still terrible, it could keep 40 fps for like 5 minutes. And theres asphalt 9, it was a low res mess on it. With sub 30 fps and random stutters. Only 2 years and it couldnt keep up with games on lowest settings.

            The 865 vs 855 though, while it did use more power, it was just a bit more for huge increase in perf all around. With gpu efficiency even higher than a15. Check golden reviewers latest post in youtube community tab. And, there you can see the 870 uses more power than 865 in big core and gpu, resulting in less efficiency overall.
            Same applies to gaming tests too, though i couldnt find a comparison of 855 vs 865 theres one of 860 vs 870, which should be close. https://youtu.be/18y3D9PleLc

            So the 870 was on a different node? Where did you read about it?

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              • jonbo33
              • qIc
              • 01 Feb 2022

              This phone, the original Moto G, remains one of my all-time favorite phones. It's still sitting on the shelf deactivated after a number of years as a backup phone on cheapo Sprint mvno plans e.g. Ringplus then Tello.

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                • ASL
                • iIa
                • 01 Feb 2022

                true. I remember it. when Motorola was at it's best. unlike now

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                  • Anonymous
                  • 0vW
                  • 01 Feb 2022

                  True... I had it back in the day. Amazing device that did all I wanted it to do.

                    Mediatek sux, 31 Jan 2022Put the 865 and its variants at the top, those are most eff... moreI had the Redmi Note 3 as well, for it's price it was unbeatable. The QSD 650, 652, 653 those chips were not flagships. But they performed better than the previous flagship chips like the QSD 810, 808, 805. It was a huge improvement over Qualcomm's previous midrange chips. And compared to direct competitors, from MediaTek and Samsung, it was leaps ahead (Cortex-A53 only SoCs).

                    The QSD 855 was much better than the Exynos 9820 and 9825. However, the Kirin 980 was competitive. It was a huge improvement over the QSD 845 chipset, which hasn't seen much of an improvement since the original QSD 820. That's why it gets high marks. Now the jump to QSD 865 was actually small, especially when you realise that performance came at the need for higher electricity and heat. When it throttles, which it does, it falls below the QSD 855's performance which didn't quiet throttle. So compared to its older chips, it's not impressive. And now compare it to the competitors, which have either closed the gap Exynos 990, or otherwise surpassed it Kirin 9000 SoC.

                    The QSD 888 is even worse. And the latest QC 8g1 is even more worse.
                    However, I've only recently discovered the QSD 870 is actually a different chipset. It's using a new variant of the node, with a new process, and updated software stack. It isn't actually a rebadged QSD 865, like how the QSD 860 is the QSD 855. This is important to note and distinguish. That is why the QSD 870 actually uses less power than the QSD 865, but it runs faster than the QSD 865+ and on top of that it isn't subject to throttle. Actual improvements in real-world scenarios instead of chasing meaningless synthetic scores. Although I thinking about it, I think I would actually rate the QSD 870's competitiveness one notch down below the QSD 845. The QSD 835 is ranked one notch below that.

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                      • Anonymous
                      • 6wN
                      • 31 Jan 2022

                      Anonymous, 31 Jan 2022Samsung has always been brand for poor people. From their ... moreSamsung has phones for everyone. It makes cheap phones as well. It doesn't mean it is for poor people. Super expensive phones are there too.

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                        • Anonymous
                        • 35E
                        • 31 Jan 2022

                        Remember when I recommended the G 4G model to my GF of the time. I was amazed that this phone was half to a 3rd of the price of my flagship Note of the time, but it was as snappy and had everything needed.

                          G oogle
                          S amsung
                          M otorola

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                            My All-Time Favorite Phone OEMs
                            1. Motorola
                            2. Samsung
                            3. Google
                            4. LG
                            5. HTC
                            6. Xiaomi
                            7. Nokia
                            8. BlackBerry
                            9. Essential
                            10. Apple

                            Owned a Sony Ericsson T616 but never a Sony smartphone. Maybe I'll finally buy one like a Xperia ZR, Z3, or XZ1 Compact. Maybe even an Xperia Play since I've owned every PlayStation except the PSP Go and PS5. Samsung used to be way below but the Flip 3 and One UI have impressed me a lot that they moved way up.

                            Motorola only stays #1 because they're the OGs of cell phones, they make the best flip phones, they still operate like an American company, they're an underdog that Samsung isn't, and I believe I've owned the most phones from them at 5. I'm aware of Motorola's terrible software update policy but I don't care. I love Moto, the inventors of the cell phone.

                            Nokia and BlackBerry probably ranks higher for most old school phone users feeling nostalgic but they refused to use Android for years which was their undoing. I've probably owned like 15 to 20 different brands but my current top 3 are probably the only 3 I'll use moving forward.

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                              • Anonymous
                              • nYE
                              • 31 Jan 2022

                              kek, 31 Jan 2022It's increible how bad those old Android versions have... moreStrip the design, replace with current one and viola it looks like android as of today.

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                                • Jim
                                • I@H
                                • 31 Jan 2022

                                I wish the MOTO X just return... The most handy fone i ever had.

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                                  • Drod77
                                  • 0gB
                                  • 31 Jan 2022

                                  I bought a G7, both speakers busted....camera issues on replacement phone I was given....I spent $300 on a shitty phone that it's basic features don't work.

                                    • k
                                    • kek
                                    • GBh
                                    • 31 Jan 2022

                                    It's increible how bad those old Android versions have aged. They look so bad.

                                      Kangal, 31 Jan 2022Best/most competitive chipset: QSD 800 (Krait-400) Qcm S4... morePut the 865 and its variants at the top, those are most efficient flagships from qualcomm. Also, the 835, that was much more efficient than 820/1, though idk where i would place it exactly.

                                      Have you used phones with a 653? I had redmi note 3 with 650, it was really bad at sustained loads. An overclocked variant with 2 more big cores like the 653 seems like it'd be even worse.

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                                        • Anonymous
                                        • 6u7
                                        • 31 Jan 2022

                                        I still have it. Working very well. But if it had 4g, I could use it for a couple of years more.

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