Bargain Super-phone - the Motorola Moto G Gen 2

Updated: 5 July 2015

Buying a high end smartphone outright can be a very expensive step. When my Samsung Galaxy S2 failed (from very rapid battery drain with a very high case temperature) I looked around for a replacement. Having heard of Motorola's relatively cheap Moto E and G phones I checked on eBay to see what they go for, and discovered there was now a 2nd generation Moto G. With a 20% off special for selected vendors there was one going for about $A210 (Australian). That seemed remarkable, so I checked reviews and specs and was impressed:-

5 inch screen
quad-core 1.2GHz processor
good battery life
Gorilla glass screen
standard Android 5.0 (the newest, and not loaded with vendor bloat-ware)
8GB memory, and an Micro SD slot - I have a 32GB card inside it
dual SIM card slots for those who have the need
but only 3G, no 4G. Hasn't been an issue for me though. 3G speed is fine

I ordered it and could not be happier. I've had it about 3 months now. Here is a summary of my experience.

much snappier and faster than the old Galaxy S2
very good battery life - with normal use I get two days
very fast charging - near empty to full in 3 or 4 hours using the charger supplied
great camera, as good as the GS2's
built-in stereo speakers are good enough to listen to music, though of course the headphones are better
phone reception is a bit better than the GS2
built-in flashlight using the camera flash LED
works perfectly with a Bluetooth speaker system
great web performance using the built-in Chrome browser
remarkably good performance as a GPS navigation device, using the standard Google Maps app (our Tom Tom device failed on a recent trip, and I had the phone taking over within a couple of minutes, issuing fast and accurate voice instructions)
no problems using apps from Google Play
A couple of learning curve items, tricky at first, but no problem later.
Android 5.0 ("Lollipop") has a different look and feel from the earlier versions. Just google for a tutorial like I did, and it all quickly makes sense.
- in particular, the notifications area "roller blind" from the top has extra uses. Pull it down twice, or using two fingers together, and you get a menu that includes the radios, the flashlight app and the ability to cast the screen to a Chromecast TV device. It also has a handy shortcut to "settings".
The Moto G has no hardware "Home" button. Instead, to wake the phone up just tap the side mounted power button.
There are no dedicated soft buttons for "Back" or "Recently used apps". These appear in the screen, along with a soft "Home" button, as needed.

All up I reckon this must be the bargain phone of the year.

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