Motorola's G-series is known for being economical, cramming in everything you need and nothing you don't. But it looks like Moto is trying to expand its horizons. The new G100 is easily the most powerful, feature-packed phone ever to hit the series, including a high-end Snapdragon 870 chip and Motorola's new Ready For video out system. Even so, it's kept near the upper end of the mid-range price spectrum.

The G100 continues the trend of massive phones, with a 6.7-inch 1080p 90Hz LCD screen. All that space means it has plenty of juice with a 5000mAh battery and a maximum input of 45 watts, but no wireless charging option. That zippy Snapdragon 870 processor is paired to 8GB of RAM, still a rarity in this price range, with 128GB of storage plus a MicroSD card slot. Naturally it comes with 5G wireless compatibility and dual SIM slots, and as with most mid-range phones, Motorola kept the headphone jack intact.

MOTO G100

There's a side-mounted fingerprint reader, as seen on the latest Moto G Power, a phone which had a lot of the same specs but felt underpowered with its cheaper Snapdragon processor and lower RAM. The G100 gets no less than three rear cameras: a 64MP main shooter, 16MP ultrawide, and 2MP depth sensor. Around front there are two, 16MP primary and 8MP ultra-wide selfie, arranged in side-by-side holepunches at the upper left. Moto says the phone has a "water repellant design" on its plastic housing, but doesn't give a specific rating. At least there's genuine Gorilla Glass 3 on the front.

Motorola is really pushing the Ready For capability on the G100, featuring it prominently in promotional images and videos. The system can work as a low-power desktop computer when plugged into a monitor and connected with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, but it's also possible to plug it in to a TV to use it as a portable game console, complete with a Bluetooth controller. Exactly how practical any of that will be remains to be seen.

The G100 comes in three fetching finishes: a deep "Iridescent Ocean" blue, a more muted "Iridescent Sky" pale blue, and Slate Grey (to which they apparently couldn't find a way to apply "Iridescent"). The phone should be available directly from Motorola in at least some European and Latin American markets later today, with a price of €499.99 (about $590 USD). Wider availability was not announced.