MotoG (8GB) vs Octopus S520: Which is a smart buy in Kenya?

Remember the times Motorola was a global Mobile maker and that too a leader at it? Well, the times have changed. The smartphone market is now flooded with newbies that are giving competition to the veterans. Bought by Google, Motorola has been trying hard to stay in the competition with mid-level and high-end smartphones, and has done well in the mid range category. One of the newbie in the market, Obi Mobiles, co-founded by Ex-Apple and PepsiCo CEO, John Sculley, ventured into Africa in March this year where as Motorola has a presence since 2013. Therefore, we decided to compare two of the best models from each of the companies, i.e. Octopus S520 of Obi Mobiles and Moto G (8GB variant) of Motorola.

DESIGN AND BUILD: Motorola Moto G comes in the dimensions of 141.5X70.7X6.0mm and weighs 149g where as Obi Octopus comes in the dimensions of 145X75X8.4mm (Obi’s official site doesn’t offer the weight of Octopus). MotoG is round edged and fits easy in hand and comes in multiple colours. You also get customised back shells that are interchangeable if you are looking for more colours. Obi Octopus S520, on the other hand, is a bar shaped, curved at all ends device that comes in a beautiful silver metallic cover.

DISPLAY: Motorola MotoG has a LCD capacitive screen with a 4.5’’ HD display that gives you a screen resolution of 720X1280 pixels. On the other hand, Obi Octopus S520 comes with 5” TFT IPS screen that feels more fluidic, thus gives Octopus an added advantage of better viewing angles over MotoG.

OS & PROCESSOR: Motorola MotoG runs on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean that is upgradable to Kitkat, where as Obi Octopus S520 runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat, which gives Octopus a leg up. On the processor front, MotoG is packed with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 400 that clocks speed at 1.2 GHz supported by a quad-core CPU. Obi Octopus S520 is build with a MTk, MT6592 Octa-Core processor clocking speeds at 1.7 GHz. Moto G gets an edge over Octopus in terms of chipset.

RAM & STORAGE: Both, Motorola MotoG and Obi S520 have 1GB of RAM support and 8GB of internal storage that is expandable in Octopus upto 32GB via microSD card slot. MotoG misses on this feature that is important for people who like to store lots of music and pictures on their smartphones. However, the option of expandable memory is available for MotoG (16GB) variant.

CAMERA & BATTERY: It is the cameras where the Motorola MotoG takes the beating from Obi Octopus S520. MotoG sports a 8MP primary camera and a 2MP secondary to cater to your selfie needs where as Octopus S520 sports a 13MP primary camera built by Sony and a 5MP secondary camera for high quality selfies. On the battery front, while Motorola MotoG has battery capacity of 2070mAh that is embedded, Octopus S520 has a touch higher battery capacity of 2100mAh and is also removable.

CONNECTIVITY: On the Connectivity front, both Motorola MotoG and Obi Octopus S520 are 3G-enable devices with a WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and USB support.

  Comparison Chart 

Key Indicators	MotoG (8GB)	Octopus S520	Comparative Advantage
Battery Capacity	2070 mAh Embedded	2100 mAh Removable	Advantage Octopus
Display Screen Size	4.5’’	5’’	Advantage Octopus
OS	Android4.3Jelly Bean	KitKat 4.4.2	Advantage Octopus
Processor	Qualcomm  Snapdragon 400	MediaTek MT6592	Advantage MotoG
Expandable Memory	Not Available	32GB	Advantage Octopus
Camera	8MP- Primary 2MP- Secondary	13MP- Primary 5MP- Secondary	Advantage Octopus

PRICE: With decent specifications and nicely poised against one another, Motorola MotoG and Obi Octopus S520 are smartly priced too. Taking an indication from the Kenya market, MotoG is priced at KSh 22,499, where as Octopus S520 is priced at KSh 26,999 . Wondering why pay those extra bucks for Octopus? Because it beats MotoG on the camera, expandable memory, OS fronts and also has a lead over it when it comes to the display.  The choice is still yours.

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Galaxy Note 4 vs Moto Turbo: Brand value vs specifications

Samsung and Motorola are two global players in the smartphone market. If Motorola has made a great comeback after facing near defeat, Samsung has pioneered the big screen smartphone movement. It would be interesting how the recovered Motorola is living up to the challenges put up by Samsung. Therefore, in this comparative review we decided to pick up a model from each of these two companies for a spec to spec match. The two smartphone models are Samsung Galaxy Note 4 which is a consistent refinement over its predecessors and Motorola Moto Turbo which claims stellar set of specifications. 

Let us begin with the look and feel of the two devices. In general, both the smartphones are a bit chunky and can be evidently felt in the pocket. While there is significant difference in the overall dimensions of the two devices, i.e. Galaxy Note 4 (153.5x78.6x8.5mm) and Moto Turbo (143.5x73.3x11.2mm), both the devices weigh exactly the same, 176gm. The overall dimensions reflect in the display screen size, which is 5.7” in case of Galaxy Note 4 and 5.2” in case of Moto Turbo. Since both the devices have Quad HD (1440x2560 pixels) touch screens, the quality of visuals is the same. However, the larger display screen of Note 4 may slightly enhance the overall viewing experience, where as Moto Turbo may be easier to hold and to use by one hand only. 

Furthermore, the most notable design element in Galaxy Note 4 is the metal rim, which gives it a dignified and solid look, where as Moto Turbo has introduced a new material ballistic nylon which is essentially a thicker, tougher variant of synthetic nylon. The Moto Turbo is available only in a black colour, whereas the Galaxy Note 4 is available in black, white and copper.

On the performance front, both the devices are powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 2.7 GHz Quad-core processor which is among the fastest processors in the market and has 3GB RAM that allows for faster switching between various applications. However, the difference appears in the operating system (OS) and at the memory front. While Galaxy comes with Android v4.4.4 Kitkat OS which is upgradable to v5.0.1 Lollipop, Moto turbo runs on more advanced Android 5.0.2 Lollipop OS, which gives Moto a leg up over Galaxy. Also, Note 4 has an internal storage of 32 GB which is expandable to 128 GB via MicroSD, whereas Moto Turbo has a 64 GB internal storage, but without any MicroSD slot. 

Both Galaxy Note 4 and Moto Turbo boast of exceptionally powerful primary (rear) cameras. Samsung Galaxy comes with 16 MP primary (rear) camera that can record UHD 4K videos @ 30fps, where as Motorola Turbo can capture 21 MP in 4:3 screen modes and 15.5 MP in 16:9 screen modes and record UHD 4K videos @24fps with an additional feature of 720p slow motion video. However, Galaxy takes a clear lead with its secondary (front) camera of 3.7 MP which is only 2 MP in case of Moto, which means a clearer selfie with Galaxy.  

Moreover, both the devices have Wi-Fi capabilities (802.11 a/g/b/n/ac) and Bluetooth v4.0. Additionally, Note 4 comes with a single micro and Turbo with nano SIM slots. In terms of connectivity, both smartphones are available in 2G, 3G and 4G, depending on the market. However, one of the major differences between Samsung Galaxy and Motorola Turbo is in terms of battery capacity. While Galaxy Note 4 has an impressive 3220mAh battery, Moto Turbo simply outshines Note 4 with a 3900mAh battery capacity.

In conclusion, we note that both the smartphone models come with impressive specifications and have their design strengths. Besides having similar display technology, resolution and RAM, there are differences too. Galaxy Note 4 has a larger display screen, the option of expanding memory and superior secondary camera. On the other hand, Moto Turbo comes with more advanced OS, twice as large internal memory, superior primary camera and a higher battery capacity. 

Furthermore, we looked at the prices in the Indian market for the two devices, where Galaxy Note 4 is priced at around INR 58,000, whereas Moto Turbo is exclusively available on Flipkart at around INR 42,000. Moto Turbo does offer an impressive specification and price combo, unless one is willing to pay significantly more for a larger display screen and better selfie experience, besides the design and brand consideration, which are a matter of individual preference. 

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