Motorola officially took the wraps off the Moto G earlier this week and revealed that it wouldn’t be long before the device would make the jump from the stage to consumers pockets; launches are already planned for this week in Brazil and parts of Europe. Unfortunately for US consumers jonesing for some G in their lives, the new Motorola handset isn’t slated to make its way stateside until sometime in January. According to a statement from a Motorola executive, though, that little extra wait time will all be worth it in the end.
Mark Randall, Motorola’s SVP of Supply Chain & Operations, has told Omio that the Moto G will ship to the US with Android 4.4 KitKat preinstalled. He explained that in the first wave of Moto G launches, the device will ship with Android 4.3 and then be upgraded to Android 4.4 in January. In its second wave of releases, which will go out after Christmas and include places like the US and Southeast Asia, Randall says that the Moto G “will start with KitKat.”
It may be disappointing to some that the Moto G is shipping with Android 4.3, especially considering that the Moto X is slated to begin receiving its KitKat update in the coming weeks, but at least Motorola is committed to quickly getting its low-cost onto Android 4.4. Of course, that’s something US consumers won’t need to worry about. We’ll have to wait until we can properly put the Moto G through its paces before making any final judgments, but with the combination of a 4.5-inch 720p display, quad-core processor and Android 4.4, the $179 Moto G could be a pretty compelling option for budget-conscious wireless shoppers when it finally lands in the US in January.