Motorola is expanding its line of mid-range Moto G series smartphones with two new phones. The Moto G100 packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor, making it the first Moto G phone with an 800 series chip. It also has 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a 5,000 mAh battery, and a 90 Hz display.
While those are pretty nice specs for a mid-range phone, the Motorola G100 is the most expensive G series phone to date, with a starting price of €500.
But Motorola is also introducing a new Moto G50 that starts at €230 and which still has a 90Hz display and 5,000 mAh battery.
You do have to sacrifice a few features to get the cheaper phone – it has a less powerful processor, a lower-resolution camera, and a lower resolution screen. But it’s still nice to see features like high refresh rates trickling down to truly mid-range or budget phones.
Here are some of the key specs for Motorola’s latest G series phones:
| Moto G100 | Moto G50 | |
| Display | 6.7 inch 2520 x 1080 IPS LCD 90 Hz HDR 10 support | 6.5 inch 1600 x 720 IPS LCD 90 Hz |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 |
| RAM | 8GB LPDDR5 | 4GB |
| Storage | 128GB UFS 3.1 microSDXC (up to 1TB) | 64GB or 128GB microSDXC (up to 1TB) |
| Cameras | Rear:
Front:
| Rear:
Front:
|
| Battery | 5,000 mAh | 5,000 mAh |
| Charging | 20W fast wired charging | 10W wired |
| Security | Fingerprint reader (side) Face Unlock | Fingerprint reader (back) |
| Ports | USB 3.1 Type-C 3.5mm audio | USB 2.0 Type-C 3.5mm audio |
| Audio | Bottom-facing speaker 3 microphones Headset jack | Mono speaker 2 microphones Headset jack |
| Wireless | Snapdragon X55 5G WiFi 6 Bluetooth 5.1 NFC GPS/GLONASS | 5G WiFi 5 Bluetooth 5.0 GPS/GLONASS |
| Dimensions | 168.4 x 74 x 9.7mmm | 164.9 x 74.9 x 9mm |
| Weight | 207 grams | 192 grams |
| Price | €500 | €230 |
One other thing that sets the Moto G100 apart is that it supports Motorola’s new “Ready For” platform which lets you connect the phone to an external display to watch videos, play games, or use your Android apps in a desktop-like view. It’s a feature that Motorola first introduced in the United States last week for the Motorola Edge+ smartphone on Verizon, but now it’s making its way to an additional device and additional markets… but not to lower-cost phones like the Moto G50 apparently.
The Moto G100 is available in select countries in Europe and Latin America starting today, while the Moto G50 is headed to Europe in the coming weeks. And if the Moto G100 looks familiar, by the way, that’s probably because it appears to be nearly identical to the Motorola Edge S which launched in China in January. the only difference I can see is that the Chinese model has 6GB of RAM and a lower starting price of around $310 in that country.
Moto G100
Moto G50
