Motorola Moto G54 5G review

The finances cellphone sector is full of underpowered handsets that may go away you feeling upset about what you simply purchased. Not so the Motorola Moto G54 5G. It’s not going to commerce blows with the most recent iPhones or Samsung Galaxys on the high of the rankings, however it additionally prices lower than £200.

Regardless of this worth, the G54 5G seems like one thing a bit costlier. It comes with an eight-core processor, 8GB of RAM, a beneficiant 256GB of storage and even a 120Hz refresh fee on the show.

There are laptops on the market that aren’t that effectively specced for extra money. There was some corner-cutting, notably within the display screen and cameras, however that is nonetheless a handsome cellphone at an inexpensive worth that’s not going to disappoint too many individuals.

It’s a youthful brother to the Moto G84 5G which simply squeezes into our finances class at £249.99.

Design & Construct

• Restrained design
• Slim digicam bulge
• Bit uninteresting, maybe

The Moto G54 5G is a particularly businesslike cellphone. It’s carrying a go well with of Midnight blue with little to interrupt its clear traces other than a briefcase-shaped digicam bulge (no flashy spherical digicam cluster as seen on the OnePlus 11 or a triangle just like the Fairphone 5’s right here) and a easy Motorola emblem on the again.

There’s a Dolby Atmos emblem on the highest of the machine, however you may hardly see it, and the opposite buttons and ports are both hidden away on the underside of the chassis or solely subtly raised.

Nothing stands out, nothing is vibrant (it’s additionally accessible in Indigo blue, Glacier blue and Mint inexperienced, which can change this, however they’re hardly rose gold) and nothing breaks the mould. The fingerprint scanner is built-in into the facility button, so there’s no vibrant spot on the display screen both.

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In consequence, it’s a classy trying cellphone, and one that may in all probability age effectively – although with three years of safety updates, you’ll be in search of a brand new one by 2027.

It’s noticeably mild within the hand, whereas the flattened sides provide grip in case you’re utilizing it and not using a case and the again resists fingerprints effectively (some colors have a textured again much like leather-based). On the again, the digicam bulge doesn’t stick out very a lot, barely elevating itself above its clean, flat environment.

It’d even be a bit uninteresting, simply one other matt and shiny rectangle with a digicam on all sides that you simply’re not going to have the ability to select from a crowd. Even so, the restrained nature of the design does give it a sure gravitas, and you may all the time use a case so as to add a contact of persona.

As with many Motos, there’s no correct IP mud and waterproofing however it does have a water-repellant design.

Display & Audio system

• Full HD+, 120Hz 
• Solely an LCD panel
• Tinny audio system

It’s going to be straightforward to look down on the G54’s display screen for what it’s not. It’s not an OLED or AMOLED, it’s not micro-LED backlit or any of the present display screen buzzwords. It’s a plain outdated IPS LCD, a know-how that’s been making completely good screens for a really very long time and isn’t accomplished but.

The display screen has a decision of 1080×2400 at 405 ppi, a most refresh fee of 120Hz (you may set it to 120Hz, 60Hz for higher energy utilization, and an auto mode that switches between), and a brightness of round 500 nits that’s greater than many laptops however nonetheless not up there with the very best cellphone screens, and it’s going to be a bit dim in vibrant daylight.

Slightly than attacking this finances cellphone for the issues it’s not, it must be celebrated for the issues it does proper. It’s crisp and sharp – small textual content isn’t any downside to learn, the interface is clean, the colors are effective and there’s a color mode setting in order for you a bit extra oomph. It seems a bit unnatural although, particularly in faces.

Ian Evenden / Foundry

The bezel that surrounds the display screen isn’t too thick, however the display screen’s major draw back is its reflectivity, particularly with mild sources close by. 

The speaker works. It’s unclear what the Dolby Atmos emblem on the highest of the cellphone truly means past the presence of an equalisation app that has little optimistic impact past making it growth a bit, however anybody utilizing the built-in audio system on any cellphone for listening to music or video is doing themselves a disservice – there’s a headphone socket and Bluetooth 5.3 for that.

The built-in stereo audio system are effective for a cellphone name, however a pair of first rate cans is a should. A wired pair if you wish to use the FM radio, which makes use of the headphone cable as its antenna.

Specs & Efficiency

• Eight-core chip
• Loads of RAM and storage

The spec record for the Motorola G54 5G is a pleasing shock. It’s, in any case, a £180 cellphone. So the eight core MediaTek Dimensity 7020 (two huge and 4 little) processor is sweet to see, as are the 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, the latter of which could be expanded with a microSD card. There’s Wi-Fi 5 as an alternative of the extra up-to-date Wi-Fi 6, which appears to be the one (minor) lower nook right here.

Within the Geekbench 6 benchmark, which stresses the processor in a set programme of exams after which spits out a quantity that may be in contrast throughout gadgets, a rating of 2335 within the multi-core take a look at places the G54 5G roughly stage with the Realme X2 Professional, a flagship cellphone from 2019.

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It’s behind the Google Pixel 4 (2019), Samsung Galaxy Be aware 10 (2019) and OnePlus 7 (additionally 2019) on this take a look at, and its rating is lower than half that of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely (2023). It’s a fifth of the worth of Samsung’s greatest and greatest, nonetheless, so maybe round 50% of the efficiency isn’t too unhealthy a consequence.

Nonetheless, it unlocks snappily, the display screen is responsive, and in Mighty Doom – a quick 2D sport – there was little signal of slowdown until there have been plenty of projectiles on display screen, when hitches within the framerate appeared.

Motorola provides a sport mode to the OS, known as Gametime, which blocks notifications, disables energetic brightness, and permits fullscreen apps to show across the digicam cutout. It’s good to have, however don’t purchase this as primarily a gaming cellphone.

You could be shopping for it for its mobile connectivity as a result of, because the title suggests, the cellphone helps 5G networks. It’s additionally Twin-SIM which might be very useful for some customers.

Cameras

• Good on vibrant days
• Restricted video choices
• Macro as an alternative of ultrawide

The recognition of the 2Mp macro digicam on telephones in 2023 is baffling. They serve little goal, particularly with Google’s Magnifier app on the market, and take the place of an ultrawide or tele lens that may be extra helpful. They do have one use – as depth sensors to allow the computational bokeh of portrait mode – however utilizing one as a promoting level appears a bit of outdated, even whether it is to cheaply bump the variety of cameras.

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Rant over and the 50Mp major sensor on the again of the Motorola G54 5G has picture stabilisation and produces 12.6Mp information by way of pixel binning, and the Motorola web site describes the cellphone as a ‘prime quality digicam cellphone’, so expectations have been excessive going into this evaluation.

The outcomes are… not unhealthy. Not nice, actually, however in case you feed the digicam sufficient mild there’s quite a bit to love about its photographs. Exit on an overcast day, or attempt to take footage in difficult lighting circumstances, and so they disintegrate in the identical method as loads of cellphone digicam photographs from low-cost gadgets.

The cellphone tries to spice up the colors an excessive amount of, oversharpening can creep in, there’s seen noise and the night time mode doesn’t add a lot, particularly in case your goal is shifting.

Makes an attempt to trick the cellphone into producing a silhouette by photographing a tree in opposition to a pale sky crushed element out of the shadows, however there was an inexpensive quantity of inexperienced within the picture. The primary digicam commonly surpassed expectations in good mild, although, exhibiting good element in images of a frosty automotive, even choosing up fingerprints left within the white layer.

Across the entrance, the selfie digicam punches via the display screen, and each its simple and portrait mode pictures come out pretty effectively, although as soon as once more they’re not a match for the flagship telephones’. There’s some smearing of element if the sunshine’s not vibrant, however in any other case it acquits itself effectively, particularly in video.

Video is capped at 1080p/30fps from each cameras, which is disappointing however in all probability ok for many conditions the cellphone will probably be utilized in – it’s not a cellphone for aspiring filmmakers, however will deal with social media clips or video calls effectively sufficient. High quality is completely first rate, as soon as once more, so long as you retain the lights on.

Battery Life & Charging

• Helpful battery life
• Charger in field
• 15W charging

At 12 hours and 24 minutes of fixed use, the Motorola G54 5G placed on present within the battery life exams, which leaves the display screen on and retains the processor busy with a wide range of media and workplace duties. This can translate to for much longer real-world utilization, because the cellphone can flip the display screen off and go into power-saving mode.

There’s a charger within the field, together with a removable USB-A to C cable. This adapter noticed the cellphone cost by 14% in quarter-hour, however hooking it as much as a 60W noticed the cellphone going right into a TurboPower mode that warns of the additional warmth prone to be generated. This didn’t cost it any faster than the equipped charger, including simply 15% in quarter-hour because the cellphone is restricted to 15W charging which isn’t precisely turbo pace.

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Software program & Apps

• Nearly inventory Android
• Just a few pointless apps
• Plenty of cupboard space

Motorola hasn’t strayed from the Android 13 template too far with the G54 5G, which implies there’s no graphics-heavy overlay to sluggish issues down. There’s a refreshing lack of preinstalled junk too, with solely Pinterest, TikTok, Reserving.com and a few video games current alongside the Google and Motorola apps.

With 256GB of storage to play with you’re not going to expire of house too rapidly until you fill it with video games and video information, so you may afford to experiment with apps and video games greater than you’d with a much less spacious cellphone. 

Finances telephones aren’t significantly long-lasting in relation to software program with only a primary three years of promised safety updates. We anticipate the G54 5G to get two years of OS updates taking you to Android 15 however this isn’t confirmed.

Worth & Availability

• Competitively priced
• Broadly accessible within the UK
• More durable to search out within the US

The Motorola G54 5G is extensively accessible from electronics retailers corresponding to Motorola, Lenovo, Very, Argos and Currys within the UK, in addition to Carphone Warehouse, Amazon and varied different web sites for £179.99.

Within the US, you’ll discover it on Newegg, Amazon, Kickmobiles and extra, however it’s typically shipped from the UK, which may push the worth up over the $200 RRP. Walmart sells the cellphone, however at over $400 it lacks the pricing benefit it enjoys within the UK.

On the UK RRP, this seems like a little bit of a discount, undercutting many rivals with the likes of Nokia and the (costlier) Samsung Galaxy A14 5G the primary rivals.

Try our chart of the very best finances telephones for extra choices.

Must you purchase the Motorola Moto G54 5G?

Anybody out there for a finances cellphone has loads of alternative in the mean time. Nokia, OnePlus, even Samsung have fashions accessible that pack loads of performance into a less expensive package deal.

Motorola has tried to one-up its rivals with the G54 5G, including 256GB of storage, 8GB of RAM, a 120Hz display screen, and the all-important 5G knowledge connection to a cellphone that prices underneath £200.

Whereas not all the tech within the cellphone is correct updated, and the digicam can’t match these on costlier fashions, it is a cellphone that ought to nonetheless be helpful by the point its three years of updates run out.

Specs

• Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 7020
• RAM: 8GB
• Storage: 256GB + microSD
• Display: 6.5in IPS LCD, 1080×2400 px, 120Hz
• Rear digicam: 50Mp vast, 2Mp macro
• Entrance digicam: 16Mp
• OS: Android 13 (three years of safety updates)
• Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi  USB-C (2.0), Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, headphone socket, FM radio
• Battery: 5000 mAh
• Dimensions: 74×161.5×7.9mm
• Weight: 177g