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Motorola says new Moto G outperforms iPhone 5s display at a third the price

Moto-G-iPhone-5s

Motorola is hosting a live stream as we speak to announce its new Moto G smartphone, which was rumored to be a slightly lower cost follow up to its flagship Moto X launched earlier this year. At just $179 for the 8GB model of the Moto G off contract, Motorola is strongly positioning the colorful device as a competitor to the iPhone 5c, and it made a point of comparing the devices during its presentation today. While mentioning several times that the Moto G is a third of the price of the iPhone, it also presented the slide above noting that the Moto G “outperforms the most popular smartphone” by beating out the iPhone 5s display in both screen size and resolution.

The other specs might not be anything to brag about, but with really aggressive pricing and colorful replaceable backplates, Motorola could have a serious iPhone 5c competitor on its hand.

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Comments

  1. Craig Riches - 10 years ago

    When on earth are Motorola going to start marketing a device to us here over in Europe. They promised exciting things to come and still we hear nothing??

  2. Thomas Thomaidis - 10 years ago

    If only I had a dollar every time I heard such claims I would be a millionaire by now…as if screen size and resolution are the only parameters that matter for a good screen.

  3. Drew (@gettysburg11s) - 10 years ago

    Moto can make any claims it wants. Apple may not have the highest resolution and ppi count, but their display has the best color saturation and brightness of any of the others. I seriously doubt a budget Moto smartphone is going to beat it.

    • Stu Lowe - 10 years ago

      Its an interesting point as to the other qualities but I have an iPhone 5c and a Galaxy Note 3 on the table in front of me. I can definitely say that the note 3 has the iphone beat on both saturation and brightness, as does my nexus 7 (tablet, I know). But the iphone screen is essentially 3 years old now (it just got a bit taller), it’s probably not going to be the best at anything anymore. It’s still good, but just not the best.

      • liquidwolverine1 - 10 years ago

        I tend to notice Samsung products in particular tend to have a blue hue after a while. Been notice it a lot on the public trans when people have their phones out next to me, I took to Google and found out that it is indeed a common problem.

      • Yes (@AMillah) - 10 years ago

        Actually, no it isn’t. The current iPhone display is technically only 1 year old. They didn’t just stretch the display last year. Its an entirely new display technology. They introduced In-cell touch, where the touch layer is integrated directly into the display. They also dramatically improved color quality and brightness last year.

        Saturation does not just mean the most saturated is better. Samsung likes to produce overly saturated displays, fooling people into thinking colors are better. Display performance is measured in color ACCURACY. The display technology Apple introduced last year in the iPhone had a full sRGB gamut. So it was then the most accurate display on the market, and still is one of the most accurate to this day. It did not need changing.

        Moto saying that they have the 5C display beat in size and pixel count is like saying I’ve got more coins in the piggybank, but if they’re all pennies then that doesn’t really mean much.

      • verizon2828 - 10 years ago

        @Yes…well said!

      • greenbelt2csp - 10 years ago

        I can only speak to what I’ve actually witnessed, being that I’ve never owned a Samsung Android phone, but my friend has the S4. We were in his car going somewhere and he had google maps guiding the way. The phone was basically in the middle of the console and the screen was facing directly back, I’m in the passenger seat and the phone is approximately at a 60 degree angle to me (smallish car). I’d guess my viewing angle was 120 based on “viewing angle” definition?? Anyway, I couldn’t make out the text or the turn arrows on his phone from that vantage, it was like the screen was polarized and it was all shadows. I had to move my head to put my face more in line with the screen just to read it. I finally just picked up the dang phone so I could have a dead-on view of the screen. My iPhone 4S’s screen is waaay more usable. It’s like a piece of paper. I can read text on it all the way to almost 170-175 degree viewing angles with no degradation in brightness or color. No shadows…ever.

        My point being, the S4 on paper has a “better” screen. But in reality even my 4S has a better user experience than the S4.

  4. rogifan - 10 years ago

    According to the Verge, Google only sold ~500K of the Moto X. Not sure how this will fare much better. At what point are people going to stand up and say Stop, we have enough gadgets on the market already! I mean it seems like every day someone is coming out with a new phone or tablet. It’s ridiculous.

  5. Avenged110 - 10 years ago

    I think Motorola needs a fact-check on what “display performance” means…

  6. greenbelt2csp - 10 years ago

    User experience, not specs…..when are these damn companies gonna get it. What good is a higher resolution screen if you’re using a fragmented and clunky OS? What good is a bigger screen if some apps will just stretch and lose resolution? I’m an idiot and I understand this!!

  7. bloggerblogg - 10 years ago

    First off, it’s weird how they’re comparing their Android device to a non-Android device.

    Second using the word “outperform” is kinda deceiving since it makes it seem like it’s faster, which it’s not.

    Thirdly, they claim “… beating out the iPhone 5s display in both screen size and resolution”
    – How do you beat another device by screen size? Larger isn’t better for everyone.
    – They may have a higher resolution display, but how is the color, and battery consumption?

    • verizon2828 - 10 years ago

      I agree. So what if the screen is bigger. That is NOT for everyone. And can anyone REALLY tell the difference in clarity past the ppi of the iPhone screen? And maybe that Moto screen is more colorful and vivid…so they jacked up the vibrance of the colors and because the reds are more red, that’s supposed to be better? Apple has always been about the user experience. It’s not about making the reddest reds and the blackest blacks. It’s about finding that balance of the right colors, output and battery life. I doubt that combination exists on the Moto.

  8. Chris Ko Hoffman - 10 years ago

    It’s all about that color balance. Over saturation is a common issue with droid devices.

  9. The Man (@nomas4447) - 10 years ago

    I have a 5s, 5c an Moto X. I dislike the display on the Moto X so much that it frequently is sitting on my desk charging and rarely used. They can use whatever terms they’d like but the 5c and 5s displays look better in direct sunlight whereas the Moto X is tougher to see. Even if the Moto X has a better display, in someones opinion, the iPhones are easier to use in the real world.

  10. Moto G is very good phone with such affordable price. This configuration with some premium features like Corning Gorilla Glass, waterproof nano-coating, 329 ppi could not be found anywhere with this low price. I am just waiting for this phone to be launched in India in January 2014.

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.