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New Moto G shows off its 4G LTE and microSD slot (pictures)

The brilliant Motorola Moto G has just got even better with the addition of 4G LTE and expandable storage.

Andrew Lanxon
Andrew is CNET's go-to guy for product coverage and lead photographer for Europe. When not testing the latest phones, he can normally be found with his camera in hand, behind his drums or eating his stash of home-cooked food. Sometimes all at once.
Andrew Lanxon
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The Moto G is already one of our favourite phones, thanks to its decent set of specs and extremely affordable price.

Motorola has given it a spit and polish for 2014, by adding 4G LTE and expandable storage.

It'll be hitting stores "globally" in late May (Moto wasn't able to confirm exactly which countries at the time of writing), although the UK will have to wait until 30 June.

It's had a small price rise, though, up to £149 in the UK and $219 in the US, unlocked and with 8GB of storage. Prices for other regions weren't available at the time of writing, but the US price converts to about AU$230.

Read our hands-on preview of the Moto G (4G LTE) here.

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A lack of 4G was one of my main points of criticism of the Moto G last year. It's great to finally see it on board.

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The other issue was no expandable storage -- again, taken care of with the addition of a microSD card slot. You'll get 8GB of storage on board, but you'll blow through that pretty quickly once you start installing apps, so make sure to grab a 32GB card for all your media.

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Also new is this white variation -- the Moto G was previously only available in black.

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It still has the removable, colourful back covers. There are over 20 colours and styles to choose from, including ruggedised cases and flip covers that protect the screen.

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Physically, the phone remains the same. There's a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for taking horrendous selfies or, more sensibly, video calling using Hangouts or Skype.

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It arrives with the latest version of Android on board -- 4.4.2 KitKat.

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Motorola has done very little to the Android interface. In fact, it's almost stock Android, meaning it's not only easy for existing 'Droiders to get to grips with, but it's easier for Motorola to add updates.

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Motorola has loaded its Assist tool though, which is able to do cool stuff such as automatically silencing the phone when you have meetings scheduled.

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It's not a super-skinny mobile by any means, but its rounded back makes it very comfortable to hold.

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There's a 5-megapixel camera on the back, which on the original Moto G took some good snaps for a low-end device.

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The 3.5mm headphone jacks sits on the top of the phone.

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Although the back panels are removable, the battery beneath isn't, so you won't be able to swap it out for a fully charged one in an emergency.

Read our hands-on preview of the Moto G (4G LTE) here.

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