Motorola Moto G23 review

Inexpensive smartphones have been Motorola’s hallmark for a few years. Each their high-end, mid-range and finances fashions have typically supplied extra worth for cash than lots of their opponents.

Now I’ve examined a cell phone on the cheaper finish of the value scale, the Moto G23 which prices £199.99, and it’s once more loads of cellular for its cash.

For that, you get a comparatively energetic little cellphone that appears and feels prefer it ought to value extra. It has an interesting design, with matt surfaces in a cool metal blue metallic end. All the things is plastic, and the body doesn’t really feel too troublesome to grip, however the machine sits comfortably in your hand so long as your palms aren’t too small.

On one lengthy facet are a few small quantity buttons and an on button that can also be a slender fingerprint scanner. It may be difficult to register an entire finger, however after a few makes an attempt, I’ve managed a fast and safe biometric unlock. On the other facet is only a SIM card slot, which holds two SIM playing cards and a separate micro SD card, in case the storage isn’t sufficient.

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Extra storage and graphics than anticipated

Nevertheless, you get a full 128GB of it, beneficiant on this worth vary the place the norm is 64GB, and a few supply as little as 32GB. You get 4GB RAM, which is sort of regular in finances telephones. With the Helio G85 system circuit from Mediatek, you get first rate however not excessive CPU efficiency.

It manages to keep away from being annoyingly gradual in all on a regular basis duties, akin to viewing net pages, operating electronic mail, messaging and occasional social apps, in addition to utilizing Google Maps and streaming movies. However loading a single app or waking the cellphone from standby mode can typically trigger some latency.

You additionally get considerably extra graphics energy than anticipated. Not solely does this provide you with a barely higher potential to play video games, nevertheless it additionally helps the efficiency of some apps and the 2D display screen replace within the interface. It’s undoubtedly not a gaming cellphone, you received’t need to hearth up Fortnite and run a match. However a sport of Sweet Crush goes effectively with out an excessive amount of choppiness.

There’s no 5G at this worth, however try to be OK with 4G.

Higher sound than image

The Moto G23 has a 6.5in 720p display screen of unspecified LCD sort, however I feel it’s a PLS panel. It appears to be like and behaves like one, with good color steadiness and distinction, however not nice color gamut and slender viewing angles. It has a 90Hz body charge which it robotically switches right down to 60Hz when excessive frequency isn’t wanted. 720p is sharp sufficient that I don’t thoughts pixelation, apart from advantageous textual content on some net pages.

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The brightness finally ends up at simply over 400 cd/m2 in my measurements. For the reason that display screen is acknowledged to be 400 nits, that is fairly good. It may be used exterior on a cloudy day, however robust daylight generally is a drawback, particularly for the reason that display screen has no efficient remedy towards reflections.

The color gamut isn’t nice, so watching motion pictures and TV reveals on the cellphone isn’t precisely vibrant. However Motorola compensates for this with sound. Right here you get stereo sound with wealthy midrange and bass, and distinct if not so detailed treble. There’s additionally Dolby Atmos help, each for the audio system and with headphones that may be linked each wirelessly and through a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Triple digicam

The Moto G23 has three cameras on the again. The principle 50MP digicam takes photographs with good dynamics and color steadiness, nevertheless it loses a few of its sharpness when I attempt to scale up pictures. The previous few p.c of autofocus precision doesn’t appear to be there. Attempting to digitally zoom within the app doesn’t prove very effectively both. In semi-dark environments, it’s good at lightening the sunshine, however in additional noticeable darkness, the digicam has focus issues and delivers flaky outcomes.

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A large-angle digicam with a 5Mp sensor and stuck focus is definitely barely sharper, nevertheless it doesn’t have the identical good color and lightweight copy as the principle digicam. And it’s downright depressing to take good photos with if the solar has gone down. Lastly, there’s a small two-megapixel macro digicam. Separate ones are by no means notably nice, nevertheless it does its job with out a lot hassle.

The most effective digicam on the cellphone is definitely the selfie digicam on the entrance, which just like the macro digicam doesn’t attempt to be something particular, and takes its 16-megapixel pictures with good sharpness, good gentle and color steadiness, and even manages darkish photographs higher than the opposite cameras.

Quick battery charging

The Moto G23, like most telephones in its class, has a hefty 5,000mAh battery, and will get a good however common battery life out of it. Streaming video at full brightness lasts eight to 11 hours relying on how a lot I push the quantity, and blended searching and emailing with dim indoor lighting lasts just a few extra hours.

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Motorola will get plus factors for quick battery charging. There’s no 100W tremendous quick charging right here like in some high mobiles, however its 30W USB-C charger is clearly quicker than most different finances mobiles have to supply. It takes about 20 minutes to cost the battery to half, after which one other 50 minutes to fill it as much as 100%.

The Moto G23 runs Android 13 with a properly plain consumer interface that’s not far off Google Pixel telephones, however with a few of its personal methods akin to movement controls and gestures to activate the digicam, change between apps, and extra. It’s additionally an interface that wishes to overwhelm you with pre-installed apps, nevertheless it’s solely as much as you to decide out on first boot. I didn’t, and instantly had dozens of pointless apps and video games on my cellphone.

I haven’t obtained a solution to my query about how lengthy the Moto G23 will obtain Android updates, however second-hand info on the net suggests one or two years. Android 14 is probably going, however after that you simply shouldn’t anticipate something extra. In different phrases, it’s typical finances stage at that time.

Specs

Product identify: Motorola Moto G23
Examined: August 2023
Circuitry: Mediatek Helio G85
Processor: 2pcs Cortex-A75 2 GHz + 6pcs Cortex-A55 1.8 GHz
Graphics: ARM Mali-G52 MC2
Reminiscence: 4GB
Storage: 128 GB, micro sd slot
Show: 6.5in LCD, 720×1600 pixels, 90 Hz
Cameras: 50 megapixel + 5 megapixel large angle + 2 megapixel macro with led rear, 16 megapixel entrance
Connections: Usb 2 sort c, 3.5mm headset
Communications: 2g, 3g, 4g, wifi 5, bluetooth 5.1, gps, galileo, nfc, fm radio
Working system: Android 13
Different: Twin sim, waterproof
Battery: 5,000 mAh, 11 hrs 20 min on-line video (wifi, excessive brightness), approx. 16 hrs blended use (4g, low brightness), approx. 33 hrs calls
Battery charging: 30 W usb c
Dimension: 16.27 x 7.47 x 0.82 cm
Weight: 184g

Efficiency

Antutu Benchmark: 280 500 factors
Geekbench 6: 1 436 factors
Geekbench 6 single core: 436 factors
3dmark Wild Life: 749 factors
Storage, learn: 308.7 MB/s
Storage, write: 259.7 MB/s