Motorola has gained a massive foothold in the smartphone space over the past year, and that’s in no small part due to a compelling selection of budget and mid-range devices, the latest of which is the $400 Moto G 5G. Armed with the decently powerful MediaTek Dimensity 700 and six gigs of ram, you’d be hard-pressed to find a smoother running device at the same price point. Although, Motorola's update guarantee is a bit anemic, and the display could be better. If you can swing another $50, there are better devices to be had. Unless you're looking to buy right now, because the Moto G 5G is on sale for the launch, and it's much harder to pass up at just $350.
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The Moto G 5G is a great example of why Motorola's budget devices sell so well. It's a well-executed phone that sits right in the middle of the budget and mid-range range. It has excellent battery life, smooth performance with a Dimensity 700 5G chipset, and a ton of built-in storage.
Specifications
- Brand: Motorola
- CPU: MediaTek Dimensity 700
- Display: 1600×720 IPS LCD @90Hz
- RAM: 6GB
- Storage: 256GB
- Battery: 5000mAh
- Operating System: Android 12
- Front camera: 13MP
- Rear camera: 50MP main, 2MP macro, 2MP depth sensor
- Dimensions: 165.4 x 75.8 x 9.44mm
- Colors: Moonlight Gray
- Weight: 204g
- Charging: 10W
- IP Rating: IP52
- Price: $400
- Micro SD card support: Up to 512GB
Pros
- Runs very smoothly
- Great battery life
- Runs Android 12 and will upgrade to 13
- Fast 5G connectivity
- Lots of built-in storage and has a Micro SD card slot
Cons
- Lackluster 720p display
- Only one speaker
- Super thick bezels
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Design, hardware, what’s in the box
As far as the looks go, all of Motorola’s current design conventions are on full display. While some things like the matte plastic shell, headphone jack, and thick body are exclusive to more affordable phones from the company, you’d be hard-pressed to pick the Moto G 5G out from a lineup of other G series phones. The back has a Motorola logo in the middle and a camera bump with three vertically aligned lenses and text identifying the 50MP main shooter. The right side has the volume rocker just above the power button with an integrated fingerprint reader. While Google is putting a fingerprint sensor under the screen of the upcoming Pixel 6A, the integrated fingerprint reader in the power button is at least fast and consistently gets good reads. The bottom has the charger port, as well as the headphone jack and the single speaker.
Moto G Stylus (2022), Motorola Edge+ (2022), and Moto G 5G
One stand-out issue is an apparent lack of durability—the back of the Moto G 5G is already scuffed just from being in my pocket and sitting on my desk, and the text on the camera bump is partially rubbed off. In fairness, this is an early review sample, and the final retail hardware may not degrade in the same way. We've reached out to Motrorola and will update if there's an official statement.
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The Moto G 5G also continues Motorola’s recent trend of using MediaTek chips in its lower-end devices. Unlike the Helio 88 found in the G Stylus refresh from just a few months ago, the Dimensity 700 under the hood of the Moto G is considerably newer and much more powerful. While benchmarks definitely aren’t everything, the numbers put up by the Dimensity 700 are barely behind the Snapdragon 695 found in the $500 Moto G Stylus 5G that also just came out. While I wouldn’t say this makes it punch above its price point, the Moto G 5G will definitely be an upgrade over even recent budget smartphones. This helps to make up for the lackluster display.
As much as it pains me to say, including a charger in the box isn’t a given anymore, but the 10w one that comes along with the Moto G 5G is the maximum charging supported speed by the device. While 10w is pretty slow by today’s standards, the longevity of the 5000mAh battery will ensure you don't have to plug in too often.
Display
One of the most important parts of any smartphone is the display. While it’s becoming common for budget-oriented phones to get high-refresh displays, resolution is still lacking. The Moto G 5G LCD clocks in at 720p like a lot of other 2022 budget phones, but Motorola sells a cheaper phone with a 1080p display (the G Stylus). It’s not a dealbreaker, but it definitely feels like an odd choice.
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The screen is bright enough to read outdoors, but it doesn't look good, and you might have to squint or angle the phone to make everything out. Compare that to something like the Pixel 5a, which has an OLED that's easy to read outside. At double the price of the Moto G 5G, Samsung's flagship phones have displays that look almost as incredible in direct sunlight as they do indoors.
Overall, the display is probably the biggest downside of the Moto G 5G. The bezels are thick, it has a massive chin and forehead, the blacks are far from black, and there’s some serious haloing in dark scenes. Drawbacks like these are to be expected from a budget device, and the display isn’t bad in that context, but these flaws definitely remind you this is not a flagship phone. It’s especially egregious when the Samsung Galaxy A53 at just $50 more has smaller bezels and a 1080p OLED display.
Software, performance, battery life
Moto’s current promise on updates is 3 years for security and a single android version update. While that felt like a bit of a letdown for the batch of Moto devices that launched with Android 11 earlier this year, the Moto G 5G has android 12 out of the box, so it will eventually get Android 13. Just like when I reviewed the Moto Edge+, one of my favorite things about the Moto G 5G is the extra customizability of Material You. When combined with Motorola’s great gesture controls, there’s a lot of ways to tailor your experience with this phone and how it looks. With the included Moto app wrangling all of these customizations into one easily navigable menu, it’s incredibly fast and easy to go from doing the initial setup to having the phone fine-tuned exactly how you want it.
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If you need a phone that can go the distance, the Moto G 5G could be it. While it’s easy enough to just pop it on a charger before bed, knowing that it’s going to be fully juiced by morning, I found myself not even bothering with that unless the Moto G 5G was at less than 60%. Motorola is calling this a 2-day battery, and in my experience, that’s not an exaggeration. The 5000mAh battery is more than capable of making it to the end of the next day most of the time. Even on days when I dumped a couple hours into games, the battery percentage never got concerning. The only time I felt like I had to recharge the phone before it was on its second day, the screen had been at max brightness while using maps for a few hours, and I downloaded a bunch of apps over 5G. Even with all that, I only got the battery down to 45% by the end of the day.
With all that battery, the snappy Dimensity 700, and the smooth 90Hz display, the Moto G 5G is great any time you want to play some games. Playing Genshin, I could count on one hand the times I experienced dropped frames or jittering. Easier to run games like CSR2 (which has native support for up to 120fps) were seamless, and I didn't notice a single issue. The 720p resolution doesn’t look as good as 1080p or 1440p, but it’s not bad enough to be distracting in games, and few devices can run Genshin at those resolutions without bursting into flames.
Cameras
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The camera bump on the back may have three cameras, but one of them is the same 2MP depth sensor Motorola is dead-set on putting on everything, and another is a 2MP dedicated macro camera. While it’s still a bit of a drag to see those two on the back, the 50MP primary shooter is pretty good for a budget-friendly device. While I wouldn’t call it competitive with mid-range options from Samsung or Google, it’s at least much better than the main shooter of more affordable Moto devices like the G Stylus from earlier this year. While it’s still prone to the same grainy low-light issues and lackluster night mode, the daylight shots are much better, and it’s a bit more forgiving when it’s overcast. The dynamic range is also fairly good for a device this inexpensive. I had very few issues with brighter areas blowing out and losing details in the shadows. This isn’t a huge leap in quality for Moto, but it definitely made enough of a difference to save some shots that would have been pretty bad otherwise. The 2MP macro lens isn’t particularly good, but it’s still usable if you have plenty of light.
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Selfies aren’t half bad either. Because the main camera bins down to 12.5MP, the 13MP selfie camera produces the highest resolution shots by default, and just like the 50MP on the back, it shoots video in 1080p30. The colors of the selfie camera are pretty great, too. Flesh tones render accurately, and details are nice and sharp but not in an overly artificial way. It’s nice to see that much attention given to what is the most used camera for some folks. If you don’t want people to see your pores, though, you might want to leave the beauty filter on.
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Should you buy it?
If you’re in the market for a budget-friendly phone, maybe. If the most you’re willing to spend is $400, this is a great option. With Motorola’s promise of 3 years of support, 256 gigs of storage, and solid 5G support, this phone should serve you well for a few years. Although, we still think new phones should have longer update lifespans than this.
If you have the extra $50 to spend, you’d probably be much happier with something along the lines of a Samsung A53, Pixel 5A, or the Pixel 6A if you can wait for that to come out. Those phones all offer better cameras and longer update support for the added expense, although the Moto G 5G is still a great device for the money. If you are interested in the Moto G 5G, now may be the time to buy. Motorola is dropping the price to $350 ($50 off) for a limited time. How limited, we cannot say, but don't drag your feet—it's a steal at that price.
Buy it if…
- You want an easy-to-use phone with android 12
- Your max budget is $400
Don't buy it if…
- You can spend the extra $50 to get a Samsung A53, Pixel 5A, or the 6A when that comes out
FAQ
Q: How does the Moto G 5G compare to the Pixel 5a 5G?
The Pixel 5A is only $50 more, and that comes with the fantastic camera quality Pixel devices are known for, Google's second to none software support, and better build quality. The Moto G 5G has double the storage, a bigger battery, a faster refresh rate, and a higher resolution selfie camera. The Pixel 5A has a better IP rating, a faster processor, and faster charging with 18W USB power delivery.
Q: How does the Moto G 5G compare to the Samsung Galaxy A53?
The Moto G 5G is $50 less, and still manages to have twice the storage, the same battery size, and the same amount of ram. The A53 may be just a little more, but comes with a much better looking AMOLED display that clocks in at 1080p @ 120Hz. On top of that it has 25W fast charging, its main camera is higher resolution at 64MP compared to the 50MP of the Moto, has 5MP versions of the Moto's 2MP depth and macro cameras, boasts a 12MP ultrawide camera on top of that, and has a higher resolution selfie camera at 32MP to the Moto's 13MP.
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About The Author Connor Nolan (15 Articles Published)
Connor is 6'5", quite literally making him a massive nerd. His first Android was a Samsung Intercept he bought in 2010, and he's been a rabid Android fan ever since. When he's away from his keyboard, he's usually taking photos or working out.
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