[curiousjorge]

I stopped placing so much brand premium on "Made By Google", at the end of the day, you are at the mercy of the manufacturer.

My google nexus phone was clunky, slow, randomly freeze and restart during phone conversation. When you dropped it the battery and back lid would fall out or not fit properly. I nearly gave up on Android.

Then my asus nexus 7 screen shattered when I dropped it with replacement cost that made it unfeasible to replace it (warranty did not cover it).

Now I have a Moto G, and considering that I paid only 200 bucks for it, it runs extremely light, smooth and reliable, durable, no battery or back lid falling out. Lot of bang for your buck, faith restored in Android.

[icebraining]

What's funny is that your Nexus phone & tablet weren't made by Google, but the Moto G actually technically was (Motorola Mobility was their subsidiary at the time).

[gohrt]

That's a legal fiction though; Google had no effect on Motorola Mobility beyond shuffling finances and patents.

[currysausage]

Dennis Woodside, Motorola CEO during the Googlerola era, had been at Google since 2003. I can't imagine that Google had nothing to do with Motorola going (near-)Vanilla Android. Also, the "soft" (Googlish?) industrial design of the Moto line marks a rather distinct break from the very angular design of, say, the Droid.

[teh_klev]

I have a Moto G mark 2 (4G capable) as well, cost ~GBP100 and I agree, the bang per buck is high on this model. Previously I had a HTC Desire I bought in 2010 which eventually fell apart in 2014. I chucked it into my "man drawer" [0] and forgot about it. Then luckily one day I had occasion to dig it out to grab some files off of it. I was somewhat alarmed to discover that its battery had "bloated", it now lives outside until I get around to disposing of correctly.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgUpDGAIdds

[curiousjorge]

I don't have a man drawer so I just kick stuff under the bed when I don't like it (lol).

after reading your comment now I feel anxious and have moved it to another unused room's closet.

[microtonal]

The Moto X is also great. It's only $299 these days (Amazon or Moto maker), has flagship specs, near vanilla Android with some useful extensions (touchless control, active notifications), and I really like the build quality.

My wife and I both have one. The primary thing that I miss compared the Moto G (EU) and some other models is dual-SIM.