Motorola Moto G15 review: Big battery, small price tag

Smartphones are costly, with even our present choose for the perfect price range smartphone costing greater than £200.

The worth proposition of your common handset is simple – this stuff just about run each side of our lives – however laying down lots of of kilos on something is a giant ask for many individuals. That’s the place telephones just like the Moto G15 are available in.

For just below £140, Motorola is providing you all of the fundamentals of smartphone possession: a big and suitably sharp show, an sufficient digicam, a big battery, and even a reassuringly elegant design.

Why would you wish to splash out for something extra? As ever with such cash saving propositions, the satan is within the element, and also you largely get what you pay for. Right here’s my full evaluate.

Design & Construct

• Stylish, trendy Motorola design
• Grippy faux-leather again
• IP54 certification

Motorola has extra expertise making prime quality low-cost telephones than anybody. Its Moto G collection has been a go- to call for dependable price range handsets for years now.

That’s why it’s able to making a cellphone just like the Moto G15 – a solidly constructed, elegant trying handset that appears (from sure angles) very very like telephones that promote for double the cash.

Motorola has used its modern-day design language right here. From the again the Moto G15 appears to be like precisely just like the Moto G85, and even the £600 Moto Edge 50 Professional.

You’ve gotten the identical gently bulging digicam module, and even a well-recognized faux-leather materials that aids grip and minimises paw prints. You received’t discover one other sub-£150 cellphone that feels this good.

My check mannequin is available in a sober shade of Gravity Gray, however you may specify one thing extra eye-catching within the type of Iguana Inexperienced and Dawn Orange.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

From the entrance, issues are barely much less spectacular, which large show bezels and a ginormous chin. Nonetheless, at the very least you get a correct gap punch notch, somewhat than the dated teardrop answer that some low-cost telephones stick with.

It’s not a small cellphone by any means, with dimensions of 165.67 x 75.98 x 8.17mm and a weight of 190g belying its all-plastic supplies. Positive sufficient, have to actually go some to make it flex or creak, and the availability of IP54 mud and water resistance is fairly good for the cash.

Display & Audio system

• 6.72-inch LCD show
• FHD+ decision
• Solely 60Hz refresh charge
• Stereo audio system with Dolby Atmos help

One of many first indicators that you simply’re coping with a really low-cost cellphone comes while you first boot the display screen up. Moreover the aforementioned chunky bezels, it quickly turns into obvious that you simply’re coping with an LCD panel, versus the OLED you’ll discover on the overwhelming majority of telephones over £200.

With out the colourful properties of OLED, media content material appears to be like considerably washed out right here, with murky greys taking the place of deep blacks, and a relative lack of distinction.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Motorola has commendably nonetheless been in a position to implement an ambient show of kinds, so you may see the time and any notification indicators while you faucet the display screen, however it’s achieved by making the show virtually unusably dim.

Whereas the Moto G15’s display screen is considerably hobbled from the off, it does get pleasure from being massive (6.72 inches) and sharp (1080 x 2400, FHD+), the latter of which isn’t a given while you’re spending lower than £150.

It additionally will get fairly vibrant, with an Additional Brightness choice lending much more on sunny days, do you have to want it.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

The one actual bum notice right here, contemplating the cash you’re paying, is the availability of a mere 60Hz refresh charge. Until you’re Apple, this seems like a specification from one other period fully.

Seen from one other perspective, nonetheless, I recommend that this can be a wise provision given the restricted nature of the Moto G15’s processor. What’s the purpose of a clean show if the cellphone is battling easy duties?

The Moto G15’s audio provision is surprisingly sturdy. You get correct stereo audio system, together with help for Dolby Atmos and a touch of Bass Increase. You’ll nonetheless wish to hook up a set of headphones (there’s an old style 3.5mm jack if that’s your desire) when potential, however there’s a good quantity of depth and separation for a cellphone of this worth.

Specs & Efficiency

• MediaTek Helio G81
• 4GB LPDDR4X RAM
• 128GB storage plus MicroSDXC enlargement

In lots of the ways in which depend, Motorola has labored its restricted price range efficiently to present you a strong approximation of a contemporary smartphone expertise. However it evidently had to attract the road when it got here to efficiency, and it finally proves the Moto G15’s undoing.

Chipsets contribute a good quantity to the invoice of supplies, so Motorola has been compelled to compromise with a humble MediaTek Helio G81. This creaky 12nm element merely isn’t as much as the duty of driving a contemporary cellphone fluidly, even with the show caught at a mere 60Hz. The availability of simply 4GB of RAM can’t assist right here.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Utilizing the Moto G15 will probably be a painful expertise for anybody used to one thing extra. And I’m not even speaking about flagship telephones right here, however somewhat something retailing for round £250.

The straightforward act of flitting between house screens and menus is accompanied by a noticeable quantity of chug and stutter; loading media-rich web sites takes an additional beat or two; and leaping into the digicam app utilizing Motorola’s double twist gesture appears to take an age.

Our benchmark exams again this up, with a Geekbench 6 multi-core consequence that falls 50% wanting even the standard Samsung Galaxy A16 5G – not a degree of efficiency that any cellphone would want to aspire to.

GPU efficiency is even worse, with the Moto G15 attaining round half the body charge of the Galaxy A16 5G (and certainly the older Galaxy A15 5G and A14 5G). It might probably’t even match the year-old Moto G04 with its sub-£100 RRP.

Motorola Moto G15 benchmarks

Cameras

• 50Mp primary digicam
• 5Mp ultrawide
• 8Mp selfie digicam

If Motorola has didn’t make a cellphone that punches above its weight in efficiency phrases, it has at the very least provided a digicam system that may produce acceptable outcomes for the cash.

It’s gratifying to see that the corporate has averted the pointless frippery of gimmicky additional sensors right here. You merely get a 50Mp f/1.8 primary sensor and a 5Mp ultra-wide, with no foolish stat-padding macro digicam or depth sensor in sight.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

The principle digicam received’t impress anybody who’s used a cellphone within the £200 or greater vary earlier than, however nor does it shame itself. In good lighting, the G15 produces acceptable – that’s, shareable – snaps that deal with publicity and implement auto-HDR adequately. The color tone is fairly pure, and I used to be fairly pleased with pores and skin tones and certainly a devoted portrait mode that separates the topic fairly nicely.

Meals photographs in a nicely lit restaurant produced tasty-looking, pure phots, however as quickly as the sunshine dropped additional issues quickly fell aside. Night time mode appears wholly insufficient right here. Whereas it compensates for the dearth of brightness, the noise ranges are excessive.

The 5Mp ultra-wide is a really poor performer, exhibiting a pronounced drop off intimately, evident indicators of overexposure, and a usually extra over-processed color tone.

The 8Mp selfie digicam isn’t as much as a lot both. The tone is on level, however I observed an disagreeable over-sharpened impact on my face.

Video seize, in the meantime, maxes out at a meagre 1080p and 30fps. The dearth of OIS proves troublesome, because it does with these evening photographs.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5200mAh battery
• 18W wired charging
• No charger in field

Motorola has gone slightly additional than normal with its battery provision, packing the Moto G15 out with a 5200mAh cell.

Along with such a humble 60Hz show and a low-power (if not massively environment friendly) processor, it’s sufficient to grant the Moto G15 two days of utilization with gentle to average utilization. Which, as we’ve mentioned, is probably going all you’ll wish to be subjecting the cellphone to.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

In a day of average utilization, with round 3 hours and 20 minutes of display screen on time, I discovered that I used to be left with between 50 and 60% left – greater than sufficient to maintain me by a complete second day.

Not that it’s all excellent news on the stamina entrance. Within the PCMark World 3.0 battery check, which simulates battery load below combined working atmosphere, the Moto G15 lasted simply 11 hours and 38 minutes. That’s slightly higher than the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G, however a number of hours lower than the CMF Telephone 1, and greater than an hour lower than the Poco X7.

The cellphone helps as much as 18W wired charging, however you’ll want to provide your individual energy brick. Utilizing an acceptable third celebration charger, it took a somewhat ponderous 45 minutes to get from empty previous the half manner mark, and simply shy of 1 hour 45 minutes for a full cost.

Software program & Options

• Android 15
• Near inventory UI
• Solely two years of software program updates

Motorola’s software program is famously light-weight and refined, and Android 15 is permitted to do its factor largely with out interference right here.

Menus and icons are all largely as Google supposed, although I’m not an enormous fan of the default font Motorola has gone with. It doesn’t present a lot visible differentiation between daring and common textual content, which makes the Gmail inbox powerful to navigate.

Sadly, there are some unwelcome indicators of intervention from Motorola as nicely. On the Moto G15, I used to be fairly irritated to have the New Apps service foisted upon me.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

The positioning of this service appears slightly disingenuous. “Attempt three apps which can be new to you, delivered month-to-month and with system updates” reads the blurb. Sounds positively useful, no?

What it truly quantities to is a thinly veiled additional income stream for Motorola. The primary three apps that I used to be furnished with below the initiative had been low-cost and cheerful procuring app Temu and two horrible video games – three apps that would scarcely be farther from what I might select for myself.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Motorola was annoyingly insistent with this too, bombarding me with notifications to strive the New Apps service instantly from set-up. Add this to a bunch of standard bloat – Reserving.com, Faceboook, Opera, extra unhealthy video games – and this isn’t fairly the super-clean UI we as soon as knew.

From what I’ve learn, Motorola’s replace plan isn’t too sizzling right here both. No additional Android variations are promised, together with solely two years of safety patches.

Motorola’s UI stays one of many nicest to make use of in your entire price range cellphone house, however it’s not fairly the out and out plus level it was.

Worth & Availability

The Moto G15 is obtainable instantly from the Motorola web site, in addition to third celebration retailers comparable to Amazon and Argos, for a worth of simply £139.99.

No UK networks are providing the machine on contract, so that you’ll should pair it with a SIM deal. And there’s no availability within the US in any way, except you’re keen to threat importing one.

Apparently, that outright worth doesn’t make it one of many very least expensive telephones in the marketplace. Motorola itself sells the Moto E15 for simply £70, for instance.

Nonetheless, that is nonetheless downright low-cost in our books, with most mainstream price range telephones tending to be launched across the £200 mark.

At this sub-£150 worth, the Moto G15 solely has a small choice of rivals, together with the Xiaomi Redmi 14C and the Oppo A40, each of which retail for £129. The 4G model of the Galaxy A16 can be price contemplating, although it’s £169.

Must you purchase the Moto G15?

The Moto G15 isn’t a very good cellphone, however it’s additionally not a very unhealthy sub-£150 cellphone. In truth, with its nice design, clear UI, respectable battery life, and massive sharp display screen, there’s so much to love.

However the efficiency is distinctly sub-par, the show isn’t fluid or OLED, and there are even a few annoying parts to Motorola’s normally well-judged software program – together with a poor replace promise. In the meantime, the digicam and battery life are completely sufficient, however actually nothing to write down house about.

If the Moto G15 signifies something, it’s that spending lower than £200 on a model new cellphone isn’t such good worth as it’d appear to be. You’re higher off spending the identical cash on an older however extra premium cellphone as an alternative.

Specs

• Android 15
• 6.72-inch, FHD+, LCD, 60Hz, flat show
• Facet-mounted fingerprint sensor
• MediaTek Helio G81
• 4GB LPDDR4X RAM
• 128GB storage
• 50Mp, f/1.8 primary digicam
• 5Mp, f/2.4 ultra-wide digicam
• As much as 1080p @ 30fps rear video
• 8Mp front-facing digicam
• Stereo audio system
• Twin-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Bluetooth 5.0
• 5200mAh battery
• 18W charging
• 165.67 x 75.98 x 8.17 mm
• 190g
• Launch colors: Gravity Gray, Iguana Inexperienced, Dawn Orange