# MOTO G Review..!!



## anky (Feb 11, 2014)

hello friends..
after waiting for about 2-3 months, finally ordered my moto g on the launch day..(was lucky enough to place my order at 12:06 am that day only)
ordered *16 GB* version along with *Red back cove*r on 6th feb and got my mobile on 10th feb (sunday).
Got all the offers of launch day. Total price = 14000 + 270 = 14270
it was first time i had ordered mobile though flipkart and packaging was brilliant with two bubble wraps packing the box.


box is so small...loved it..!!..and red back cover is just beautiful ..!!..
and when i opened the box...


it is absolutely stunning..!!...most beautiful mobile i have ever seen...really its beauty can't be seen truly from images..also the back side looks wonderful..

it just look beautiful...and it looks very premium device...looks like a very costly phone..!

Box included - 
Mobile (in built battery)
Charger (without detachable usb cable)
Earphones   

Moto g specs-



    5 MP Primary Camera and 1.3 MP Secondary Camera
    4.5-inch HD Display
    HD Recording
    Wi-Fi Enabled
    1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 Quad Core Processor and 1 GB RAM
    Dual SIM (GSM + GSM)
    16 GB Internal Memory
    Android v4.3 (Jelly Bean) OS


then i turned on the phone, even its boot animation is very nice..!..
**Now *kikkat OTA update is available *and i have upgraded to kikkat..
after quickly setting up my phone..


1.Absolutely no lags what so ever, i was downloading and updating apps from wifi and was also playing games after downloading, but no lags what so ever...feels really nice after using Xperia go which i previously owned.

2.Superb display...very crisp text..but personally i don't like those 3 buttons inside the screen itself, there is much space below the screen, they could have placed it there only..but again that is also a point which may have reduced the cost..Screen is though finger print magnet..but no scratch till now..looks just new after a wipe with cloth..
**after kikkat *- transparent status bar and three buttons on bottoms, that bar is also transparent which gives more portion of your screen visible.



3.Loud speaker quality is very good..very loud..good for playing music and u can hear ringtone in loud environment, and i got very nice call quality as well.No distortion.
**after kikkat* - Audio quality is even more better.In 4.3 there was a volume level bug (volume gets very close to inaudible at about 70-60% of volume bar), it has been resolved

4.Gaming performance - i downloaded games like subway surfers, angry birds go (racing game), death moot 2, tennis 3d and these all are running without any problem.Very smooth performance.Asphalt 8 airborne running smoothly at high settings..!!..amazing performance..!
**after kikkat* - not much noticeable difference, but yes it has become more smoother.will update more about this in next 2-3 days.

5.Multitasking -  Switching between apps is quick and fast, not so fast if many apps are opened but not so slow that it may seem like a problem. I was switching between  fb, whatsapp, game, playstore, messaging and settings without any problem.
**after kikkat *- it is very fast (i am not using ART), but still very fast and quick.

6. Camera - it was being said that camera is not upto the mark, but i found camera quality to be decent enough, it takes pictures fast and quickly.Some camera samples are (from auto expo, total artificial light)




*above pics are as it was taken by camera. not edited

Video recording is very nice, and u can click pictures while recording videos.I have not tried slow motion recording yet.

**after kitkat* - MAJOR increase in camera performance IMO.Specially auto focus has become real quick.Much faster than it was in 4.3, and image quality is also increased lil bit.Below are the pics clicked after 4.4 upgrade(low light is because of weather, cloudy weather)

*s3.postimg.org/x7s1ki18f/IMG_20140215_102912200.jpg

*s3.postimg.org/zb2gs611b/IMG_20140215_102928269.jpg

*s3.postimg.org/4w6hnghbz/IMG_20140215_102952671_HDR.jpg



7. Earphones provided are not so good, just okay for calling purpose only.I would recommend using other earphones for music. we are lucky that we got charger and earphones (which are not provide in some other countries) and price is still so low.

8.charging is slow, but i read somewhere that after some recharge cycles it will charge faster or it maybe the 550 mA charger.but its okay..u cant have everything best in this range..

9.Battery backup - i left at 6 am with 94 percent battery and used the phone for gaming(half an hour), movie(half an hour) internet (3-4 hrs) and clicked about 150 picturs and 4-5 videos recording and next day 5 am, it was 27 percent.So as of now, battery backup is excellent, it can easily last a day with medium to heavy usage..
**after kikkat* - Major increase in backup time. battery backup in my case has increased considerably.it was already very good in 4.3 but 4.4 increased it even more. 

10.Benchmarks - Done on jellybean(stock), antutu score is 16933, slightly more than nexus 4
**after kikkat* - antutu score is 17545.


So over all i am very happy with my phone..!!..it is just so beautiful!!..absolutely gorgeous ...Clearly the best phone under 15-16 thousand you can buy..!!.. 

pls note that this is my first review ever, and if anything is missing pls telll me ..i will update it ASAP..
thank you...fell free to ask anything..


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## snap (Feb 11, 2014)

good work  waiting for the update


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## prudhivisekhar (Feb 11, 2014)

The chic in 3rd photo is hot... .

Good review


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## coderunknown (Feb 11, 2014)

nicely written 



anky said:


> 2.Superb display...very crisp text..but personally i don't like those 3 buttons inside the screen itself, there is much space below the screen, they could have placed it there only..but again that is also a point which may have reduced the cost..



Immersive Mode to the rescue. Part of Android Kitkat.



anky said:


> *above pics are as it was taken by camera. not edited



read there is some enhancement settings (after clicking the pic). Have you tried that? Pic quality is not the best but under 15k can't expect more.



anky said:


> pls note that this is my first review ever, and if anything is missing pls telll me ..i will update it ASAP..



3rd pic has something missing. please update it if you can


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## anky (Feb 11, 2014)

sam said:


> nicely written


thanks..





sam said:


> read there is some enhancement settings (after clicking the pic). Have you tried that? Pic quality is not the best but under 15k can't expect more.


yeah i have tried that but that is means editing the pic..so i just wanted to show original picture quality.There is just hdr mode which slightly increases quality.





sam said:


> 3rd pic has something missing. please update it if you can


another pic added..


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## Superayush (Feb 11, 2014)

Nice review anky how was the call quality of the phone,did u face any heating issues while playing graphic intensive games? Have u dropped ur phone?if yea how did it fare?


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## toofan (Feb 11, 2014)

Congrats Anky. YOu are among the luck ones who ordered in time. I was sleeping that night and next morning It was a history. 




Superayush said:


> Nice review anky how was the call quality of the phone,did u face any heating issues while playing graphic intensive games? Have u dropped ur phone?if yea how did it fare?



Why you want his new phone to be dropped. ;D


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## anky (Feb 11, 2014)

Superayush said:


> Nice review anky how was the call quality of the phone,did u face any heating issues while playing graphic intensive games? Have u dropped ur phone?if yea how did it fare?


call quality of phone is very nice...but with full volume..voice shatters a lil bit..just a lil..just keep one point low volume for calls...and no i have not dropped my phone (at least for now )...but i have been using it without screen guard and not a single scratch/mark on the screen..and build quality is also very good..it fells solid..



toofan said:


> Congrats Anky. YOu are among the luck ones who ordered in time. I was sleeping that night and next morning It was a history.



thanks....i was so waiting for this phone..i did not want to take any chances..so i started trying before 12 and ordered..


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## coderunknown (Feb 14, 2014)

hey anky, update the review (or comparison) with kitkat performance in camera, audio, gaming performance, battery backup or anything that you find have changed. specially if you have camera images from around your place that you can compare for image quality.


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## anky (Feb 14, 2014)

okay..i just upgraded to kitkat...will update the review tomorrow..


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## satinder (Feb 15, 2014)

Immediate Review of Moto G is good ! 
Pics are good in lighting.


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## $hadow (Feb 15, 2014)

Nice waiting for KitKat performance feedback.


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## anky (Feb 15, 2014)

KITKAT performance review added..and pls ask me if u have any queries, i will be happy to help..


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## true_lies (Feb 15, 2014)

Nicely done
after KitKat upgrade..all the more reason to buy this phone


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## $hadow (Feb 15, 2014)

anky said:


> KITKAT performance review added..and pls ask me if u have any queries, i will be happy to help..



After the update what is the battery life like. And can you also tell me about the normal usage and screen time you got.


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## anky (Feb 15, 2014)

i used wifi for about 1 hr i guess and battery came down from 99 to 87 and after 6-7 hrs of sleep, it was 83, and i have read somewhere that after the upgrade of OS, battery requires 3-4 cycles to work fully functional so i will also post about detail battery usage in 1-2 days.


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## ashs1 (Feb 16, 2014)

Is OTG supported after the 4.4 Kitkat Update on MotoG ??


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## anky (Feb 17, 2014)

^ i haven't used OTG yet, but i have read it is supported..and there is option of usb disk in storage.so i think it is for that only.

- - - Updated - - -

*battery backup is amazing*, yesterday when i woke up (8-8:30) my battery level was about 95%, and i used wifi for about 12 hrs, calls for 1-2 hrs(with headphones) and gaming for about 10 mins, and at last at 3:am today my battery was 26%, even my friends are astonished by my phone, its performance and battery backup.


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## hawkeye321 (Feb 20, 2014)

did you face any apk error like the parse error when trying to install apk and any wifi connectivity problem?


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## tkin (Feb 20, 2014)

Very good review, so far it seems Moto G is a fantastic phone, specially with the fact that its a dual sim phone which is neither very costly(HTC One) or not total cr@p(Samsung Grand), looks the perfect price vs performance combo, the camera is not upto the mark but for 14k expecting that would be a crime, display is crisp, the CPU/GPU combo can keep up with day to day tasks, battery backup is good no doubt.

One question to all, now that Motorola belongs to lenovo will day one android upgrades still come to it?


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## anky (Feb 20, 2014)

hawkeye321 said:


> did you face any apk error like the parse error when trying to install apk and any wifi connectivity problem?


no no...everything is working fine..!!..feeling awesome with this superb phone..!


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## hawkeye321 (Feb 20, 2014)

anky said:


> no no...everything is working fine..!!..feeling awesome with this superb phone..!



so did you install any apk outside from the play store ie by copying the apk from pc to moto and installing? and did you clear cache after the kitkat update?


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## anky (Feb 20, 2014)

hawkeye321 said:


> so did you install any apk outside from the play store ie by copying the apk from pc to moto and installing? and did you clear cache after the kitkat update?


yeah did that, and i did not clear the cache before upgrading to kitkat...and i am using dalvik..(so if u r using ART, maybe thats why u are getting problems..


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## hawkeye321 (Feb 23, 2014)

anky said:


> yeah did that, and i did not clear the cache before upgrading to kitkat...and i am using dalvik..(so if u r using ART, maybe thats why u are getting problems..



till now i dont own a moto g...but planning to buy one...you cleared two of my doubt about the apk error and  thewifi..just want to know one more thing...otu of the 16gb we get around 12.92gb..so much memory is available for app and game installation?


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## anky (Feb 23, 2014)

hawkeye321 said:


> till now i dont own a moto g...but planning to buy one...you cleared two of my doubt about the apk error and  thewifi..just want to know one more thing...otu of the 16gb we get around 12.92gb..so much memory is available for app and game installation?


didn't get your point completely but yes u can use that space for anything u want.


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## onlytanmoy (Mar 1, 2014)

Nice review Anky...I ordered mine from Flipkart yesterday 
will surely contact you, should I have any queries on the phone, thank you.


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## ankush28 (Mar 1, 2014)

Nice review anky
checkout my review of Moto G Motorola Moto G review: The new definition of budget phone - Android bqbq

- - - Updated - - -



ashs1 said:


> Is OTG supported after the 4.4 Kitkat Update on MotoG ??



yes Its supported!! without rooting!! you can mount storage directly from settings


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## onlytanmoy (Mar 4, 2014)

@Anky>> finally received my phone...real nice one...glad i ordered it.
1 query-- is there any windows software like iTunes to manage apps, songs etc on the Moto G?


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## SaiyanGoku (Mar 4, 2014)

onlytanmoy said:


> @Anky>> finally received my phone...real nice one...glad i ordered it.
> 1 query-- is there any windows software like iTunes to manage apps, songs etc on the Moto G?



There is a better one than iTunes, the default copy-paste of windows explorer. For apps, just open the play store website.


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## onlytanmoy (Mar 4, 2014)

SaiyanGoku said:


> There is a better one than iTunes, the default copy-paste of windows explorer. For apps, just open the play store website.


thanks for your response.


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## gameranand (Mar 8, 2014)

Very nice review.


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## onlytanmoy (Mar 8, 2014)

Flashtransfer app is not working with my Moto G and my friends Galaxy S2, S3, HTC One X  Is there any similar kind of app?


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## ashs1 (Mar 8, 2014)

onlytanmoy said:


> Flashtransfer app is not working with my Moto G and my friends Galaxy S2, S3, HTC One X  Is there any similar kind of app?



Flash Transfer ? isn't that the app from Micromax? ( Lightning symbol in a Green box ?)

You can try Software Data Cable ..Works in the Same way & less buggy.  
( *play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.damiapp.softdatacable )


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## onlytanmoy (Mar 8, 2014)

@ashs1>> thank you for suggesting the better alternative- Software Data Cable..will try it out 

- - - Updated - - -

Please suggest me the below 2 apps-
1. App to hide apps on my device without rooting it..available ones in playstore require your device to be rooted
2. App to record voice calls...available ones in playstore cannot record the other party's voice


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## SaiyanGoku (Mar 8, 2014)

onlytanmoy said:


> @ashs1>> thank you for suggesting the better alternative- Software Data Cable..will try it out
> 
> - - - Updated - - -
> 
> ...



Try Superbeam also.

1. *play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thinkyeah.smartlockfree
2. RMC Record My call worked on my old Galaxy Y.


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## onlytanmoy (Mar 17, 2014)

[MENTION=145143]SaiyanGoku[/MENTION]>> thanks for your suggestion...will try them out.

Can you pls suggest an app which can manage the startup of other apps? something like ccleaner or msconfig via which you can control the start of apps at the boot of the phone.


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## anky (Mar 19, 2014)

onlytanmoy said:


> [MENTION=145143]SaiyanGoku[/MENTION]>> thanks for your suggestion...will try them out.
> 
> Can you pls suggest an app which can manage the startup of other apps? something like ccleaner or msconfig via which you can control the start of apps at the boot of the phone.



i dont think this type of app will run without rooting.


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## SaiyanGoku (Mar 20, 2014)

onlytanmoy said:


> [MENTION=145143]SaiyanGoku[/MENTION]>> thanks for your suggestion...will try them out.
> 
> Can you pls suggest an app which can manage the startup of other apps? something like ccleaner or msconfig via which you can control the start of apps at the boot of the phone.



ES taskmanager can do this. but i think it'll require root permissions for that.


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## moniker (Mar 20, 2014)

Even if the phone is rooted and the app is prevented from running at startup, it may still end up running stealthily in the background later thanks to android's crappy mechanism leading to unwanted wakelocks. It's better to just greenify such apps, even works without root now.


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## anky (Mar 20, 2014)

moniker said:


> Even if the phone is rooted and the app is prevented from running at startup, it may still end up running stealthily in the background later thanks to android's crappy mechanism leading to unwanted wakelocks. It's better to just greenify such apps, even works without root now.


wht does greebify actually does, it prevents the apps from using data(when not opened, i.e in background) or it stops the whole process of app itself and free its space from ram?
---updated---
i just found out what it does...
The best way to describe cpu wakelocks is like this, say you(cpu) are trying to sleep but your annoying roommate(bad apps) keeps making noise not allowing you to sleep. Either kick them out(uninstall) or put duct tape(Greenify) over their mouths to shut them up so you(cpu) can sleep peacefully. 
and greenify let us keep these app quite..but for non rooted phones, after screen wakes all greenified apps also wakes up, and then we manually have to force stop(greenify widget takes to that force stop location), so for non rooted phones, does greenify really works?


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## onlytanmoy (Mar 20, 2014)

thanks a lot for your suggestion guys...will check out Greenify.
 [MENTION=147449]anky[/MENTION]>> thank you for explaining how 'greenify' actually works.


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## moniker (Mar 20, 2014)

anky said:


> wht does greebify actually does, it prevents the apps from using data(when not opened, i.e in background) or it stops the whole process of app itself and free its space from ram?
> ---updated---
> i just found out what it does...
> The best way to describe cpu wakelocks is like this, say you(cpu) are trying to sleep but your annoying roommate(bad apps) keeps making noise not allowing you to sleep. Either kick them out(uninstall) or put duct tape(Greenify) over their mouths to shut them up so you(cpu) can sleep peacefully.
> and greenify let us keep these app quite..but for non rooted phones, after screen wakes all greenified apps also wakes up, and then we manually have to force stop(greenify widget takes to that force stop location), so for non rooted phones, does greenify really works?



For non-rooted phones auto hibernation can be enabled by using Accessibility services.  Reading up the Greenify thread in XDA would be helpful to understand how to go about doing it.
[APP][4.0+] Greenify v2.2 build 10 (Updated on Mar.16) - xda-developers


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## sc3n3l0v3r (Mar 20, 2014)

well i too got my Moto G yesterday... I found an issue that my phone is lagging the very time I connect it via USB.
did u faced the similar issue.
Also the Moto G that are shipping now are coming pre-loaded with Android Kitkat OS.

I would say that the camera quality is average,not so great.
Rest is fine for a budget fone its suffices d all.

Great work has been put forward by Motorola


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## rickenjus (Mar 20, 2014)

^^ Earlier had the same problem, later figured out that it was caused by the motorola mobility software installed on the pc, check if you have the same installed. ??


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## anky (Mar 20, 2014)

sc3n3l0v3r said:


> well i too got my Moto G yesterday... I found an issue that my phone is lagging the very time I connect it via USB.
> did u faced the similar issue.
> Also the Moto G that are shipping now are coming pre-loaded with Android Kitkat OS.
> 
> ...



no...i didn't face this issue...


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## onlytanmoy (Mar 21, 2014)

moniker said:


> For non-rooted phones auto hibernation can be enabled by using Accessibility services.  Reading up the Greenify thread in XDA would be helpful to understand how to go about doing it.
> [APP][4.0+] Greenify v2.2 build 10 (Updated on Mar.16) - xda-developers



thank you..i will go through that thread in XDA.


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## onlytanmoy (Mar 25, 2014)

Is there an app which can act as a voice mail replacement? Say, someone calls my number...and if i do not entertain the call in 30 secs or so..the app will trigger and prompt the caller to record his/her voice msg..so that i can hear it later?

- - - Updated - - -

thank you guys for suggesting 'Greenify'...really awesome app...just wish i could use the experimental features like auto-hibernation without rooting my phone


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## Piyush (Mar 25, 2014)

rickenjus said:


> ^^ Earlier had the same problem, later figured out that it was caused by the motorola mobility software installed on the pc, check if you have the same installed. ??



Which software are you talking about? OR its name is "motorola mobility" only?.


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## onlytanmoy (Mar 25, 2014)

Also, can you please suggest me an app which can lock the folders that contain my other installed apps...say i have a folder on my home screen named 'My Apps' that houses some of my installed apps...so instead of individually locking the games, i intend to lock the folder all together, that possible?


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## guru_da_preet (Mar 25, 2014)

How can i synchronise my Facebook calendar with the google calendar. 

In the calendar settings i am not being shown an option how to synchronise my Facebook account.


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## rickenjus (Mar 26, 2014)

[MENTION=89186]Piyush[/MENTION]  sorry it was "Motorola Device Manager (Drivers)"  downloaded from  here


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## a2mn2002 (Mar 26, 2014)

Does MG heats up while playing games like GT Racing3 Dead Trigger3 etc. ?


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## The Conqueror (Mar 27, 2014)

I just received my phone today....It's really good...much better than expected...camera is decent...display resolution is really awesome...clear and crisp display...IPS


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