Moto G Price Set for $99, Smartphone Release Date Announced for US Cellular

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Friday, February 07, 2014

The Moto G will be launching for U.S. Cellular on Feb. 10 and will be priced at $99.

This version of the device will be carrier locked and comes at a time when U.S. Cellular has introduced a new no-contract unlimited plan for $50. This plan includes unlimited talk, text and 500MB of high-speed data, with unlimited 2G speeds.

The Moto G Google Play Edition is now available in Google's online store.

Google Play is offering this new pure Android version of the device for $179 for the 8GB model and $199 for the 16GB version. Google and Motorola basically released the handset without any prior announcements or press releases.

The Moto G was launched last year and is similar to the Moto X. The device packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, a 5-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front shooter, Android 4.4, KitKat or Android 4.3 depending on the variant, a 4.5-inch LCD display with 720 x 1280 resolution at 329 ppi and 16GB of internal storage.

The Moto G received rave reviews and was even crowned Product of the Year at the 2013 TrustedReviews Awards. The smartphone is an extremely affordable SIM-free handset which makes it even more appealing to the average customer not looking to lock into a contract.

TheAndroid 4.4 KitKat update was made available for the device towards the end of last year

Motorola pushed out the upgrade for the latest version of the software which is Android 4.4.2. It includes enhancements such as a restyled status and navigation bars, a new full-screen mode, color emoji support, improved close captioning support, stronger security, smarter power use, and more tools and capabilities for better app development.

The phone dialer has been improved as it now has the ability to look up contacts directly from the dial pad. It can also see and tap frequent contacts and search corporate directories.