Motorola unveiled the Moto G, its first UK smartphone since becoming a Google-owned company, in London today.

With a budget price tag from £135, the 4.5in high-definition screened Moto G has a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and runs Android 4.3 “Jelly Bean”, aiming to “bring the mobile internet and Google services to millions more users around the world, without compromising quality [...] a game-changing moment” according to Motorola.

Motorola promises a swift upgrade to the latest iteration of Android 4.4 Kitkat, released in October, which includes greater integration of Google’s intelligent digital assistant, Google Now.

‘Some disruptive thinking’

The Moto G is available in various bold colours. Photograph: Motorola

The Moto G, which is available from today in the UK, has 5-megapixel and 1.3-megapixel cameras, 8GB or 16GB of storage, but lacks support for 4G networks. It weighs 143g and measures 11.6mm at its thickest point, with bright and bold coloured plastic backs available in black, white, blue, red, yellow, turquoise and purple.

Motorola aims to target the “current, default model for smartphone design, production, procurement and delivery” through “some disruptive thinking" producing a "premium experience, with today's technology, with less than 1/3 of the price of the premium competition," said Charlie Tritschler, Moto G's product manager at Motorola. The Moto G follows Google’s other smartphone strategy with the Nexus line of phones, but targeting an even more budget conscious segment of the market.

The latest Motorola smartphone follows the American manufacturer’s first built-from-scratch smartphone since it became part of Google, the "first self-driving phone" the Moto X, which included an always-listening voice search, triggered by the keywords “OK Google”.

The Moto X, despite garnering praise from critics, sold just 500,000 in its first three months on sale, compared with 10m Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones sold in its first month of release, according to data from Strategy Analytics.

• In November, Google released the latest iteration of its own-brand phone, the Nexus 5, which scored 5 stars in the Guardian’s review