Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Just some quick first impressions. I really wanted the 2gb Ram/16gb model but it wasn't available and I was hoping to get a feel for the phone early on with some business travel coming up (review is based on the 1gb/8gb model). Packaging is clean - the device comes in slim packaging compared with previous Nexus 6/Moto E packaging, however is nicely protected. When unboxing and flipping the phone over the first thing I noticed is the instructions on the back panel of the phone on how to properly remove the cover/reseal it in order to get the best water resistance. I also ordered a blue cover from Motorola directly which should arrive next week. While the back cover is removable the battery is not user replaceable - this may be a factor for some but I carry an external battery when travelling for work. The device itself does not by any means feel like a budget smart phone. It's leaps and bounds better in terms of overall build quality compared to some recently released devices such as the Huawei P8 Lite or Alcatel Idol 3. It is also much more refined than last years G and this years Moto E. The US Model ships with a MicroSD card slot and a single sim card slot (XT1540). I really like the textured rear cover although the device may end up going into a case - I had never dropped cell phones in using them for 10 or so years until recently when I managed to drop them 2 or 3 times over the course of the past month. The display seems decent enough for a 720p offering, never for a moment did I look at it and feel it was a huge downgrade over something like the Idol 3 or iPhone 6 (PPI will be somewhat lower however it still offers a nice display and most likely a power savings driving a lower res display). Performance, while it does not seem to lag by any means is not quite up to par with the afformentioend devices however, as the Moto G - Gen 3 ships with a Snapdragon 410 instead of a 615 as many midrange devices now utilize. By no means did I feel performance was poor, but when benchmarking/gaming you will absolutely notice a performance delta between the Moto G and something utilizing a SD6xx/8xx. Performance actually seems better somehow (perhaps a better Android image or maybe because it ships with 5.1.1?) than the Moto E which I haven't tried with 5.1+ quite yet. I'll update later with experiences once I've had a chance to do so. Antutu turned a benchmark of 23,282 which is fairly respectable for a budget device - for comparison the 2nd generation Moto G using a SnapDragon 400 turned in a score of 17,000 so there is a significant enough performance boost with the new G - roughly a 27% performance improvement over its predecessor. Battery Life I really couldnt say quite yet as I have it on the charger right now and haven't had much of a chance to utilize the device operating off of its battery quite yet but I will update the review once I have a chance to further utilize. I will say the charge time seemed significant however. Conslusion: I'm really happy with the device so far and really don't regret purchasing the 1gb model at this point. I put a 32gb Micro SD card in to provide some additional storage and seemed to be able to move some apps to SD through application manager. I don't think anyone coming from a previous gen model would be dissatisfied with the changes made to the 2015 Moto G. I'll update as I have more of a chance to use the device.