Gadgetory

even though the zenfone is one of the best budget-minded smartphones currently available the Moto G was the original Minh Ranger to beat and there's a new version in town to reclaim its throne I'm high out to Houston with pocket now and this is Motorola's 2015 moto G versus the assist zenfone 2 powerful specs great performance and a low price tag or the name of the game here and both phones offer tremendous value in these regards each phone starts at less than $200 but we've been testing the upgraded models with better specs and more internal storage our Moto G goes for to 1999 here in the States and ships with two gigabytes of RAM 16 gigabytes of internal storage expandable via microSD and a 1.4 gigahertz quad-core Snapdragon 410 SOC the zenfone 2 on the other hand will set you back a little more at 299 u.s. dollars but with those three Benjamins you're getting at whopping 4 gigabytes of RAM and expandable 64 gigabytes of storage and a 2.3 gigahertz quad-core z3580 chipset from Intel you get a 5 inch and a 5.5 inch display respectively and the hardware difference continues here the Moto G's 720p display looks fine but the zenfone is bumped at 1080p is pretty noticeable if you set the phone side-by-side then again neither display looks all that great viewing angles are poor on both and colors almost always look a little washed out a sacrifice made in the name of keeping things cheap another sacrifice is in build quality where both phones suffer from ever so creaky plastic builds that may annoy aluminum champions but here's the thing both thoughts feature removable backings that doesn't mean you can replace your battery in either phone but you can customize the looks of each phone through new covers the zenfone 2 comes in a few different color options but this is where the Moto G really shines in past generations moto G users could switch out the back cover to bring new color to their phones but with the inclusion of moto maker this year it's now more customizable than ever you can choose from 10 different colors for the backplate change the front of the device to black or white and even customize the metal stripe going down the back of the phone no matter what color configuration you order though both files still have quite a few differences in physical design and feel in hand the zenfone 2 feels much bigger than the Moto G thanks to its larger footprint and additional mass 170 grams which is 155 both phones have round it backs and the Moto G is actually a bit thicker than the zenfone 2 which is already a thicker phone meaning that they're both gonna feel pretty hefty but the Moto G is a much more comfortable size to hold and the sight mounted Hardware control is making a more convenient one-handed device the Zen phones rear mounted volume keys are nice but putting the power button on top of an already unwieldy phone makes it a frustrating one-handed experience also frustrating is the Zen phones rear firing speaker which puts out horribly soft and tinny audio compared to the Moto G's single front speaker that doesn't mean Motorola's blowing us away in the speaker department either its output is nothing remarkable but it does get fairly loud and the audio doesn't sound half bad the software on each phone reminds us the hardware specs aren't everything the zenfone 2 runs circles around the Moto G on paper the Motorola sneer stock build of Android 5.1.1 feels a lot more polished in daily use as Souza's offering is stuck on a skinned version of Android 5.0 and though it has its charms like extensive software theming and double tap to wake neither of which are available in the Moto G there's a massive list of bloatware that comes pre-installed on the zenfone and we're not really sure about its oozes update schedule motorola is usually one of the first to push new versions of android to its phones as they come giving it almost Nexus like experience you're also getting excellent features like moto display on the Moto G which shows notifications at a glance whenever the phone is lifted from a table or pulled out of a pocket some gestures offer quick shortcuts as well a double flick of the wrist will launch the Moto G's camera and a double chop will deploy the flashlight these sounds silly at first and they look hollow more ridiculous but man are they handy when you need either feature in a pinch speaking of cameras both phones are capable of putting out some pretty great shots given the right circumstances the Moto G carries over the same camera sensor for Motorola's and six and in daylight you can get some excellent shots especially if you enable HDR mode which makes a surprisingly big difference in dynamic range compared to most other phones the camera takes a turn for the worse in low-light which is to be expected for a phone around this price but it's really bad the Moto G struggles to focus on anything in dark areas and even if you manage to take a halfway decent photo it'll be drown in digital noise on the other hand the zenfone 2 actually does very well in low light with a long exposure mode that pulls in as much light as possible and really works just so long as you hold your hand in the subject still in brighter conditions is also an excellent camera with nice vivid colors and sharp detail you can even use the super resolution mode to gather more information into a 50 megapixel photo though thanks to the long processing time between shots you're probably not gonna want to use this mode very often in everyday use both felt it's far exceed what you might expect given their price tags but the zenfone 2 definitely has an edge in performance thanks to its 4 gigabytes of RAM doubling what Motorola offers in the Moto G you can run more apps in the background at once and switching between even demanding games gives the zenfone no trouble those games have a tendency to run down battery life pretty quickly though and while both phones have more than enough battery endurance to last most users through a full day the Moto G has outstanding standby time and can even make it through 2 days of moderate usage on a single charge then again the zenfone is the only one of the two with quick charging capabilities which is a pretty big deal at any price range it's also the only one with NFC meaning no mobile payments or quick bluetooth pairing on the Moto G one great advantage of the Moto G though is as ipx7 water resistance rated for up to 30 minutes in a meter of water which features are more important to you could be the deciding factor in getting one phone over the other so consider this before committing your wallet subjective as these comparisons can be I think the Moto G is the best option for most people considering either one of these two smartphones the lack of quick charging and NFC and 2015 is a huge letdown but the combination of Motorola's tendency for quick software updates extensive customization options and a clean version of android 5.1 with added features that actually improve the user interface make for an attractive smartphone that won't break the bank the power user who values Ross specs above all else may still want to stick with the zenfone 2 but it's clear why the Moto G has been Motorola's best selling smartphone ever for more on each phone be sure to check out our existing coverage both on youtube and at pocketnow.com and subscribe while you're here so you don't miss the next video for pocket now this has been hi out to Houston and until next time thanks for watching see you around