Motorola Moto G62 review

Lots of Motorola’s telephones nowadays hover someplace across the £200 candy spot, however the Moto G62 5G hits that pricing goal dead-on (effectively, you’ll get 1p change). It’s going to be within the combine for lots of people searching for a good 5G-ready handset at a finances worth.

With a fluid 120Hz show, a 50Mp digital camera, strong design, 5G connectivity and the model’s super-clean software program, it’s the type of low-cost telephone that ticks plenty of bins. However does it handle to tell apart itself in a aggressive discipline, and is the inevitable 5G tax value paying?

Design & Construct

• Strong, clear plastic physique
• USB-C, 3.5mm headphones jack, stereo audio system
• Fingerprint sensor in side-mounted energy button

Motorola is the grasp at constructing reasonably priced units that fail to make a robust impression, for higher and for worse. The Moto G62 has a reasonably nondescript, generic design, however residing with it day after day is fairly frictionless.

Just like the telephone’s worth, its design hits that Goldilocks candy spot. At 161.8 x 74 x 8.6mm, and with a weight of 184g, it’s not going to face out for being impressively compact, however neither is it excessively awkward to wield both.

The texture of the telephone is as reassuring as it’s forgettable, with a strong, undemonstrative plastic physique, and a gently curved rear panel with a pleasingly easy end.

My evaluation mannequin is available in a vivid but moderately tasteful Frosted Blue, whereas there’s additionally a darker Midnight Gray possibility. Judging from this take a look at mannequin, neither is more likely to put on sweaty fingerprints notably calmly. The telephone’s physique is what Motorola refers to as “water-repellent”, which suggests it’ll maintain off the odd splash of rain, however with out the expensive reassurance of a correct IP ranking.

There’s a fairly dependable fingerprint sensor on the right-hand edge, stashed beneath the facility button, although it’s not what you’d name quick. In the meantime, the underside of the telephone homes a 3.5mm jack, a USB-C port, and one of many two audio system that present a correct stereo sound profile in panorama viewing.

Taken all collectively, the Moto G62 design is quintessentially Motorola – strong, secure, and reassuringly boring. Exactly what most individuals are after for £200, in different phrases.

Display

• 6.5in FHD+ LCD
• 120Hz refresh fee
• Strong color accuracy

Motorola has developed the undesirable behavior of equipping a few of its extra reasonably priced telephones with puny 720p shows in recent times, so I’m happy to report that the Moto G62’s 6.5in display will get the Full HD+ (1080 x 2400) remedy. It actually does make a world of distinction to the telephone’s usability.

It’s nonetheless solely an IPS LCD, so colors aren’t particularly punchy, whereas blacks are fairly gray in tone in comparison with even entry-level OLEDs. But it surely’s pretty pleasing on the attention when you crank it as much as full brightness, which I recorded at an unremarkable 438 nits with auto-brightness turned off.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Motorola has carried out a full 120Hz refresh fee, so scrolling by way of menus and net content material is good and fluid. Or at the very least it may be, when the telephone’s restricted processor and RAM aren’t inflicting micro-hitches (extra on that beneath).

When it comes to color accuracy, the default Saturated show mode outputs a barely exaggerated profile that’s higher suited to the extra saturated DCI P3 color house. Switching to the choice Pure mode produces one thing that’s extra correct within the extra established sRGB house, with a gamut protection of 97.1%, a gamut quantity of 99.1%, and a robust common Delta E rating of 1.19.

In different phrases, the Moto G62 display may not be massively vivid or vibrant, however it’s fairly correct.

Specs & Efficiency

• Snapdragon 480+ 5G processor
• 4GB of RAM
• 5G connectivity

Motorola has geared up the Moto G62 with a humble Snapdragon 480+ 5G processor. That is successfully the identical entry-level processor that runs the Nokia XR20 and the Oppo A54 5G, albeit with a few overclocked cores.

Neither of these telephones had been precisely famend for his or her speedy efficiency, and the Moto G62 follows swimsuit – particularly with a scant 4GB of RAM backing it up.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

A Geekbench multi-core rating of 1712 pips the aforementioned rivals, in addition to the Poco M4 Professional 5G with its MediaTek Dimensity 810. It’s roughly equal to the Redmi Observe 11 with its Snapdragon 680.

It’s somewhat extra spectacular in GPU phrases, the place the Moto G62 scores persistently barely increased than the Poco M4 Professional 5G, and far increased than the Redmi Observe 11 throughout every of the GFXBench checks I put it by way of.

Elsewhere, the Moto G62 provides a moderately underwhelming storage capability of 64GB, although there’s at the very least a microSDXC slot must you want to develop it.

One other noteworthy spec for the Moto G62 is 5G connectivity. Cramming super-fast community connectivity right into a sub-£200 isn’t remarkable, however I haven’t seen it paired with a 120Hz show and that marginally improved Snapdragon 480+ chip earlier than.

In fact, I’d argue that forcing expensive 5G into such an reasonably priced telephone is to unnecessarily hamper its efficiency elsewhere. However when you insist on prime notch community speeds to your £200 funding, you’ll do effectively to search out higher.

Cameras

• 50Mp large digital camera
• 8Mp ultra-wide
• Pointless 2Mp macro sensor

Motorola has geared up the Moto G62 with a reasonably run-of-the mill 50Mp most important digital camera, which packs a 1/2.76″ sensor and no OIS.

That is backed by a modest 8Mp ultra-wide and a superfluous 2Mp macro. There’s a 16Mp sensor across the entrance for selfies.

From what I can see, this is kind of the identical digital camera system because the cheaper Moto G22, although the latter additionally throws in a 2Mp macro sensor.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

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As we discovered with the Moto G22, the principle digital camera right here is able to capturing strong photographs with respectable element and respectable color copy – at the very least in good lighting. When that mild drops just a bit, reminiscent of indoors throughout the day, the element actually suffers and the noise creeps in.

Night time mode pictures are downright poor, with a lot of grain and a typically washed out tone. The mixture of a small sensor, no OIS, and restricted picture processing energy clearly doesn’t assist right here.

Additionally just like the Moto G22, the 8Mp ultra-wide is badly missing by way of element. Motorola does higher than many finances telephone makers in matching the tone of the principle sensor, however you actually gained’t wish to depend on this sensor an excessive amount of.

Selfie pictures with that 16Mp entrance digital camera aren’t massively spectacular both, with a typically fuzzy, vague look and a washed-out palette. Total, for usable social media posts in good mild, the G62 will suffice.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5000mAh battery
• Real two-day potential
• Very gradual 15W charging

The Moto G62 comes with a properly sized 5000mAh battery. Mixed with the telephone’s modest {hardware}, it’ll get you thru a day of intensive utilization with lots to spare.

I discovered that I used to be capable of get by way of an extended 16 hour day with 4 hours half-hour of display on time and nonetheless have simply over half a tank left to play with. That’s a robust outcome, particularly when you think about that this was with the 120Hz refresh fee continually lively. With the default auto mode lively, I believe you might undergo a full two days of intensive utilization pretty comfortably.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Sadly, I wasn’t capable of carry out the standard PCMark Work 3.0 battery take a look at, as it will persistently finish with an error message. Nevertheless, I did run a looping video take a look at with airplane mode lively, and it ran for 17 hours and 36 minutes earlier than operating dry.

That’s not the most effective outcome on the market, however it’s pretty aggressive with different reasonably priced telephones.

Motorola typically provides its cheaper telephones with gradual charging bricks, and that’s definitely the case with the Moto G62. Just like the Moto G22, you get a miserly 15W within the field, which solely obtained me to 21% in half-hour on cost. A full cost from empty took an excruciating 2 hours and 44 minutes.

Software program

• Android 12
• Refined but helpful gildings
• Solely impacted by gradual {hardware}

Software program is all the time a secure wager with a Motorola telephone, as a result of it has the great style and good sense to go away effectively alone.

That is Android 12 in near inventory kind, with solely a customized clock widget and a few tasteful home-brewed wallpapers instantly marking it out as a Motorola system. The corporate additionally implements a genuinely helpful always-on show, despite the fact that this isn’t an OLED panel.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

A lot of the significant tweaks are discretely stashed away within the Moto app, which supplies a helpful (and once more, tastefully dealt with) colour-coded hub for all of your personalisation wants, gesture-based shortcuts, lock-screen customisation, and game-enhancing instruments.

If I may select one Android UI to behave for example for all finances telephone makers to study from, it will most likely be Motorola’s.

As with Motorola’s different low-cost telephones, the largest disadvantage with the Moto G62’s interface is that it doesn’t reply very easily. That’s a {hardware} situation moderately than a software program situation, however it does negatively impression what would in any other case be an extremely slick and intuitive expertise.

Worth & Availability

The Moto G62 is obtainable within the UK for £199.99, and in Europe for €249.99. Within the UK, it’s accessible in simply the one 4/64GB variant, although it is available in two colors: Midnight Gray and Frosted Blue.

You should buy it from Motorola, Currys, Amazon Argos, John Lewis.and Laptops Direct. The telephone is just not accessible within the US the place you’ll have to purchase the $399 Moto G 5G to get, effectively, 5G.

This pricing places the Moto G62 up in opposition to a complete raft of reasonably priced telephones, together with the Realme 9i and the Redmi Observe 11. Nevertheless, if we’re speaking 5G-equipped £200(ish) telephones accessible within the UK, you’re wanting on the likes of the Oppo A54 5G and the Samsung Galaxy A22 5G, neither of that are spring chickens.

Certainly, when seen by way of a 5G lens, the Moto G62 has some fairly aggressive specs, particularly with that 120Hz show.

Discover extra choices in our greatest finances telephones chart and finest low-cost 5G telephones.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Verdict

It’d look like a reasonably bog-standard telephone, however go searching and also you would possibly battle to search out one other telephone that offers you precisely what the Moto G62 does.

Whereas it fails to face out in anyone explicit space, the mixture of a 120Hz show, a reasonably present Snapdragon 480+ processor, 5G connectivity, and a £200 price ticket is surprisingly troublesome to come back by. Its stamina is great, and Motorola’s light-touch UI continues to be the most effective on the reasonably priced telephone scene.

The key disadvantage here’s a acquainted one. With margins so tight at this finish of the market, 5G connectivity looks like a luxurious. It’s one which takes an inevitable toll on efficiency, storage, and charging speeds.

In order for you essentially the most telephone to your £200, look to the 4G-only options. However when you insist on 5G connectivity, the Moto G62 is considered one of your finest bets on the worth.

Specs

• Android 12
• 6.5in, FHD+, LCD, 120Hz, flat show
• Facet-mounted fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 480+ 5G
• 4GB LPDDR4 RAM
• 64GB storage
• 50Mp, f/1.8 most important digital camera
• 8Mp ultra-wide digital camera
• 2Mp macro
• As much as 1080p @ 60fps rear video
• 16Mp front-facing digital camera
• Stereo audio system
• Twin-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Bluetooth 5.1
• 5000mAh battery
• 15W charging
• 161.83 x 73.96 x 8.59 mm
• 184g
• Launch colors: Midnight Gray, Frosted Blue