Moto G, the phone that boasts of exceptional price ($179 for an unlocked and contract-free 8GB handset), is up for pre-orders on its official website in US and will start shipping from December 2.

The smartphone was first announced on November 13 and it was made available the same day in Europe and Brazil.

With Moto G, Google is set to mark its aggressive entry in to the price-conscious emerging markets like China and India. The phone is selling at the one-third of the price of current high-end phones.

However, don't be fooled by the price as the specifications of Moto G can easily rival any high-end smartphone. Moto G is powered by 1.2GHz quad core Snapdragon 400 processor coupled with 1GB of RAM, 4.5-inch 720p display (the sharpest HD display in its class), 5-megapixel primary camera, and comes with Android 4.3 out of the box (with a guaranteed upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat by Google).

To put in perspective, in the same price segment, Samsung Galaxy Fame has 3.5 inch 480p display and runs on a single core 1 GHz processor.

Unlike Moto X's fully customizable exterior, Moto G only offers variety of colored options for back panels.

The only limitation with Moto G is its incompatibility with LTE networks and only supports GSM and 21 Mbps HSPA+ networks. For now, Moto G is unlocked and contract-free but expectations are that by early next year, carriers will also start selling it.

Moto G is currently available in Brazil (where it costs $280 because of high electronics duties), Mexico, Germany, France, Canada, Argentina, Peru, and UK. The company has assured that by early 2014 it will be available in more than 30 countries and 60 partners.