 You might think that the Moto X is Motorola's most important phone, but you'd be wrong. It's actually the Moto G, which has become Motorola's most successful smartphone ever, thanks to a killer combination of high quality features and a bargain price. Now, Motorola is refining the Moto G yet again for 2015, and the new version is just as impressive. The first thing you'll notice about the new Moto G is that Motorola isn't taking shortcuts on design anymore. This is a good looking phone, in fact it's basically a plastic version of the flagship Moto X. You can even customize its face, back, and accent colors to make something really flashy and fun. The backplate can also be swapped out later if you want to keep changing it up. I didn't choose this combination, but it's pretty nice for a toned down look. This year's Moto G is also water resistant, that means it should be able to survive splashes and spills into small puddles, or the toilet. You can actually use the phone when it's underwater, but you probably don't want to test that out any more than you have to. Now one real gripe about this year's design is that the Moto G's back is just a bit bulbous. A lot of people probably won't have a problem with that, but it makes the phone's 5 inch display harder to use one handed than on a phone with slim bezels and a flat back. The display is also one of the Moto G's weaker spots. Its 720p resolution is fine enough, but the display is set back just a bit from the glass and its colors can be a bit muted. The end result is that you often feel like there's an imperceptible haze between you and the screen. It's entirely usable, but it's clear that this is part of what it took to get the Moto G's price down. You'd think the same would be true of the phone's performance, but it actually does a great all around job. Whether I was browsing Chrome or playing games, pretty much everything launched quickly and ran smoothly. Its battery lasted me well through the day, too. But it's important to note that I've been using the upgraded model of the Moto G, which costs $40 more and has twice the amount of RAM, so I can't speak to performance on the entry model. The Moto G's solid performance is probably helped by the fact that Motorola doesn't bloat it up with weird software. The Moto G is basically running stock Android 5.1 with a few bonus Motorola features, like discrete notification popups when you turn the phone over. What I really loved was its gestures, especially one that lets you twist the phone to activate its camera. The camera starts fast as it is, so this made it incredibly quick to start shooting a photo. Unfortunately, the actual photos aren't quite as amazing. Photos look pretty good when you're zoomed out and they're filling up the screen, but once you zoom in they start to fall apart. Basically nothing is sharp and they look really digital. You'll get some solid Instagrams and snaps out of the Moto G's camera, but it's nothing that you'd want to print out. The final thing I want to mention is one of the biggest updates to this year's Moto G. Every model now comes with support for LTE. It might seem weird to praise that in 2015, but LTE hasn't really been present in low cost phones until recently. LTE was a huge help for me too, especially when the wifi in my apartment was having trouble. The Moto G starts at $179.99 for a model with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. For $219.99 you can double that to 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. The extra RAM is probably worth springing for, but in both cases you can always add more storage with a microSD card. That pricing is what makes this phone so impressive. At $600, these shortcomings would be a huge problem. At $200, it's surprising just how close the Moto G gets to all-around success. Motorola has been searching for a winning smartphone formula ever since the join button fizzled out. We all expected it to be something just as expensive and flashy, but we were all looking in the wrong place. While the new winner is inexpensive, it's unassuming.
 You might think that the Moto X is Motorola's most important phone, but you'd be wrong.
 It's actually the Moto G, which has become Motorola's most successful smartphone ever,
 thanks to a killer combination of high quality features and a bargain price.
 Now, Motorola is refining the Moto G yet again for 2015, and the new version is just as impressive.
 The first thing you'll notice about the new Moto G is that Motorola isn't taking shortcuts
 on design anymore.
 This is a good looking phone, in fact it's basically a plastic version of the flagship
 Moto X. You can even customize its face, back, and accent colors to make something really
 flashy and fun.
 The backplate can also be swapped out later if you want to keep changing it up.
 I didn't choose this combination, but it's pretty nice for a toned down look.
 This year's Moto G is also water resistant, that means it should be able to survive splashes
 and spills into small puddles, or the toilet.
 You can actually use the phone when it's underwater, but you probably don't want to test that out
 any more than you have to.
 Now one real gripe about this year's design is that the Moto G's back is just a bit bulbous.
 A lot of people probably won't have a problem with that, but it makes the phone's 5 inch
 display harder to use one handed than on a phone with slim bezels and a flat back.
 The display is also one of the Moto G's weaker spots.
 Its 720p resolution is fine enough, but the display is set back just a bit from the glass
 and its colors can be a bit muted.
 The end result is that you often feel like there's an imperceptible haze between you
 and the screen.
 It's entirely usable, but it's clear that this is part of what it took to get the Moto
 G's price down.
 You'd think the same would be true of the phone's performance, but it actually does
 a great all around job.
 Whether I was browsing Chrome or playing games, pretty much everything launched quickly and
 ran smoothly.
 Its battery lasted me well through the day, too.
 But it's important to note that I've been using the upgraded model of the Moto G, which
 costs $40 more and has twice the amount of RAM, so I can't speak to performance on the
 entry model.
 The Moto G's solid performance is probably helped by the fact that Motorola doesn't
 bloat it up with weird software.
 The Moto G is basically running stock Android 5.1 with a few bonus Motorola features, like
 discrete notification popups when you turn the phone over.
 What I really loved was its gestures, especially one that lets you twist the phone to activate
 its camera.
 The camera starts fast as it is, so this made it incredibly quick to start shooting a photo.
 Unfortunately, the actual photos aren't quite as amazing.
 Photos look pretty good when you're zoomed out and they're filling up the screen, but
 once you zoom in they start to fall apart.
 Basically nothing is sharp and they look really digital.
 You'll get some solid Instagrams and snaps out of the Moto G's camera, but it's nothing
 that you'd want to print out.
 The final thing I want to mention is one of the biggest updates to this year's Moto G.
 Every model now comes with support for LTE.
 It might seem weird to praise that in 2015, but LTE hasn't really been present in low
 cost phones until recently.
 LTE was a huge help for me too, especially when the wifi in my apartment was having trouble.
 The Moto G starts at $179.99 for a model with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage.
 For $219.99 you can double that to 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.
 The extra RAM is probably worth springing for, but in both cases you can always add
 more storage with a microSD card.
 That pricing is what makes this phone so impressive.
 At $600, these shortcomings would be a huge problem.
 At $200, it's surprising just how close the Moto G gets to all-around success.
 Motorola has been searching for a winning smartphone formula ever since the join button
 fizzled out.
 We all expected it to be something just as expensive and flashy, but we were all looking
 in the wrong place.
 While the new winner is inexpensive, it's unassuming.