Moto G Pure focuses on the Android 11 essentials for $160

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Motorola has added another low-cost Android phone to its line-up, and as the name suggests, the Moto G Pure (2021) aims to deliver the essentials and skip what might add undue expense. As a result, the 6.5-inch smartphone comes in at an impressively low $159.99, before any carrier incentives.

If you do need a service plan, Verizon will throw in the Moto G Pure free of charge. T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile will also be offering the new phone in the coming months; switching to Metro will also net you a free handset.

Unsurprisingly, there are no strange flourishes or odd style decisions here. The front gets a 6.5-inch Max Vision IPS LCD display, running at HD+ (1600 x 720) resolution and with a 20:9 aspect ratio. Android 11 runs on a 2.0 GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio G25 chipset, with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.

There's a microSD slot – compatible with cards up to 512GB in size – and Motorola adds a fingerprint scanner along with a 4,000 mAh battery. The latter promises up to two days of battery life, and supports up to 10W charging.

IP52 water protection means the Moto G Pure is "water-repellant" rather than waterproof; best not to get anything worse than a splash on it. The body is plastic, tips the scales at 188g, and will be available in a single finish: Deep Indigo, a dusky sort of purple. There's a USB 2.0 Type-C port on the bottom.

As for photography, the rear gets a 13-megapixel f/2.2 camera that supports phase detection autofocus. Alongside it is a 2-megapixel f/2.4 sensor that Motorola is using to capture depth data. There's Full HD 30fps video capture support, portrait mode, HDR, and various different shooting modes.

On the front, there's a 5-megapixel selfie camera which also has portrait mode, along with auto smile capture, gesture capture, and live filters. It'll capture Full HD 30fps video too, along with Hyperlapse video.

The 3.5mm headphone jack is a welcome inclusion, given the trends of the phone world right now, and there's WiFi 802.11ac, 4G LTE – but no 5G, unsurprisingly – and Bluetooth 5.0. No NFC, either, and unlike some of Motorola's devices it's a single SIM model, not dual-SIM.

One of Motorola's big pitches with the Moto G Pure is how straightforward it should be to use. Rather than loading the phone down with extra apps and services, the company says it has left Android 11 relatively unmodified. Motorola My UX then adds in easier access to media, games, and device themes. ThinkShield for Mobile is also included. It's shipping from today.