Motorola Moto G, a quad-core smartphone for $179 unlocked (pictures)

Unveiled today in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Motorola Moto G has a 4.5-inch, 720p display, a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, a colourful body and a 5-megapixel camera. That's a pretty impressive lineup of specs for a phone that starts at only $179, SIM-free, for 8GB of storage.

The 16GB model will cost $199 and both will be hitting Brazil and parts of Europe, including the UK, from today. The US and other regions will see the phone in January next year.

With its curving back panel and matte, soft-touch plastic, the Moto G looks very similar to the Motorola Moto X launched only for the US earlier this year.

The back of the phone is where you'll find the camera and speaker ports. Its subtle curve helps the make the phone feel very comfortable to hold and its 4.5-inch size shouldn't be too cumbersome for those of you with small hands who struggle with larger devices.

It has a 5-megapixel camera that includes functions such as HDR, burst shooting and panorama modes.

At its fattest point, the phone is around 10.5mm thick which isn't so big as to make it bulge out of your Levis. The buttons on the side seem comfortable to press.

A Micro-USB port for charging and data transfer is found on the bottom.

On the top is a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The phone will come in either 8GB or 16GB capacities. There's no microSD card support, so if you store a lot of music locally you should grab the larger size. Both phones come with 65GB of free Google Drive cloud storage for two years.

It's running on the, now slightly older, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, but Motorola promises it'll be updated to the latest 4.4 KitKat in January. The interface is stock Android, so there are no awkward, clunky skins to get used to.

The back panel is removable, allowing access to the battery, as well as letting you swap the panel for a different color.

There's a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, too, for video calls using Google Hangouts or Skype.

The Moto G is available in white...

In blue...

In a brilliant, hot pink...

In turquoise...

Or in black, if you don't much fancy a brightly-colored phone.

Optional accessories include a case with a flip cover.

And a sturdy, water-resistant case.