Testing Motorola's Moto G third-gen mobe: Is it still king of the hill?

Birthday treat

For its third birthday, Moto has given the 2015 G an excellent 5-inch 720x1280 display, 2470mAh battery which is plenty for a day. It's revved up the imaging from previous (feeble) efforts with a 13MP f/2.0 unit, and added waterproofing.

Survives a dunking if it doesn't last too long

Some might carp that this is inferior to the waterproofing (IP65 and IP68) in Sony’s Xperia range, but it’s pretty damn good: an IP7 rating means it should endure 30 minutes in a metre of static water. This is enough to survive the most frequent water accidents: falling into toilets, puddles and baths.

Add to the sturdy construction (no change here) and Gorilla Glass 3.0 coated display, and you’ve got a solid package here.

Just the stock Android, with no surprises on the Home screen or in the Notifications pull down

It might be easier to list what’s missing, since it isn’t a terribly long list, and there's only one omission that might be called daft or serious. As I've already mentioned, the £179 model has just 1GB of RAM. There’s no NFC. Wi-Fi doesn’t support the latest 802.11ac specs. There’s no wireless charging.

The phone runs basic stock Lollipop, which means no OEM bloatware, but is overall a step back for customisation from Android 4.4.

No surprises in the App drawer (left and centre), which is one of the barest around. This doesn't mean it's bug free, though (right)

Does anyone expect any of these features in a £200 phone? Probably not. NFC is needed for contactless payment, but the Google Wallet ecosystem is non-existent outside the US, five years after it was first shown. These are "nice to haves", rather than "must haves".