Knowledgeable’s Score
Professionals
- Good 120Hz show
- Good efficiency
- Strong all-day battery
- Recharges shortly
Cons
- Clunky digital camera software program
- Rear cowl is a mud magnet
Our Verdict
The Motorola G84 5G gives wonderful battery life, good efficiency, and improves on final 12 months’s Moto G62 mannequin. It’s let down by the so-so cameras. Common cameras plague numerous finances telephones, so it’s not an enormous strike in opposition to the Moto G84, however, for £100-£150 extra, you may get a cellphone that takes actually good images.
The Motorola G84 5G is a brand new finances Android cellphone priced on the very aggressive £250.
Basically an improve to final 12 months’s Motorola Moto G62, the Motorola G84 5G is geared toward consumers who wish to purchase a cellphone outright (or get a cellphone on a really low-cost contract) and get the absolute best worth for cash with out having to spend an iPhone 15 amount of money.
So what does the Moto G84 5G have to supply? Other than 5G assist, you get a giant 120Hz show, a battery that guarantees to final you a few days, a 50Mp fundamental digital camera, 256GB of storage, and 12GB of RAM. That’s rather a lot for £250.
Within the context of finances telephones, the Moto G84 5G is roughly £50 dearer than the Motorola Moto G23, which we’ve already scored extremely, and about £40-80 dearer than the Samsung Galaxy A14, our present finest finances cellphone on the time of writing. It’s cheap then, to count on the G84 to supply higher efficiency than each of those.
I highway examined the G84 5G to see whether or not it’s deserving of an area in our greatest finances cellphone round-up, and deserving of an area in your pocket.
Design & Construct
- Slim and light-weight
- Accessible in three colors
- 87.2% screen-to-body ratio
The Motorola Moto G84 5G is a reasonably tall cellphone, nevertheless it’s slim, light-weight, and never unwieldy. It’s simply 7.3mm and underneath 170g.
It is available in two variations, two with a vegan leather-based again. One is white however often called Marshmallow Blue and the opposite is Viva Magenta providing a vibrant pink hue.
The choice is a PMMA acrylic glass coating in Midnight Blue and that is the sku on take a look at right here. Whereas very nice to the contact, the rear coating tends to select up pocket fluff, which spoils the look considerably. You’ll positively wish to purchase a protecting case for this.
By way of connections, you get each a Sort-C USB 2.0 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack, each of that are discovered on the bottom of the cellphone, subsequent to a noise cancelling mic gap, and the primary exterior speaker.
![A wide shot of the Motorola Moto G84 5G's rear cover, with the camera module and 'M' logo clearly visible](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Motorola_Moto_G84_5G_review_rear_view_angle.jpg?resize=788%2C443&ssl=1)
Thomas Newton / Foundry
The digital camera module rises up from the physique of the cellphone, which might in any other case be flush to no matter floor you’re resting it on.
The same old Motorola ‘M’ brand sits within the centre, the place a fingerprint scanner could be, had Motorola not determined to construct one into the Moto G84’s show. The fingerprint scanner itself is excellent, working first time 9 out of ten instances, unlocking nearly immediately.
The Moto G84’s 6.5in show may be the very best factor about it
Display & Audio system
- 6.5in Full HD+
- pOLED
- As much as 120Hz
- Stereo audio system
The Moto G84’s 6.5in show may be the very best factor about it. It’s definitely essentially the most attention-grabbing – it’s huge, vibrant, detailed, and has a refresh fee of as much as 120Hz, which means video games and movies look additional clean. That’s not far off what you get with the Google Pixel 8 Professional, which is about 4 instances as costly.
In lay phrases, all of which means images, video content material and video games look fairly sensational. Because it’s an OLED-type show, distinction is superb, with darkish areas trying marvellously inky, and vibrant areas not ever trying blown out.
Brightness is greater than adequate to punch by way of glare from the solar. With auto-brightness turned off, I recorded a most brightness of 1453 nits, which for a finances cellphone, is unimaginable. Examine that with the Motorola G62 5G from final 12 months, which managed a max brightness of simply 438 nits.
On the damaging aspect, the show is maybe a hair too delicate – when holding the cellphone in panorama mode, I discovered all of it too simple to by chance set off the Dwelling and Latest Apps buttons, and destroy a photograph alternative.
![A wide shot of the Motorola Moto G84 5G viewed from the front, with the home screen](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Motorola_Moto_G84_5G_review_front_view_angle.jpg?resize=788%2C443&ssl=1)
Thomas Newton / Foundry
All in all, it’s a wonderful show, one which may have you going ‘I can’t imagine this cellphone is so low-cost!’
The Moto G84’s stereo audio system are completely advantageous for placing calls on loudspeaker, listening again to voice notes, and taking part in acoustic singer songwriter stuff, however they’re not very bassy, so if you wish to play tunes with loud guitars, heavy bass, drums, and for every little thing to not sound squashed, ensure that to select up a Bluetooth speaker.
You get 12GB of RAM right here, which is beneficiant for a finances cellphone. Likewise, 256GB of storage may be very spectacular (double the most cost effective iPhone 15 and Pixel 8!)
Specs & Efficiency
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G
- 12GB RAM
- 256GB inside storage
Powering the Moto G84 5G is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 695 5G eight-core processor, which permits for issues like quick charging, quick photograph taking, and naturally, quick 5G.
You get 12GB of RAM right here, which is beneficiant for a finances cellphone. Likewise, 256GB of storage may be very spectacular (double the most cost effective iPhone 15 and Pixel 8!), but when that’s not sufficient room for you, you may have the choice to extend storage with a microSD card.
![A close up of the Motorola Moto G84 5G's SIM and microSD card tray on the phone's upper left-hand side](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Motorola_Moto_G84_5G_review_SIM_tray_detail.jpg?resize=788%2C443&ssl=1)
Thomas Newton / Foundry
Typically talking, the Moto G84 zips by way of most duties, a sense accentuated by the very slick 120Hz show. It’s not good although, it’s gradual to energy up, and whereas the digital camera is fast at taking images, the digital camera software program (extra on that shortly) struggles if you happen to attempt to do an excessive amount of directly, particularly if you happen to zoom out and in shortly.
Operating benchmarks, you possibly can see how effectively it compares with different telephones in its class, beating the Samsung Galaxy A14 in GFX Aztec Ruins OpenGL regular graphics take a look at and simply inching above the Motorola Moto G62 and Nokia G60 5G in the identical benchmark.
Motorola Moto G84 5G benchmarks
As we’ve not run the newer Geekbench 6 all-round benchmark on all of those telephones, it’s tougher to make a straight comparability, however now we have run it on the Moto G23, which gave us a mean multi-core rating of 1,436 – the Moto G84 gave us 2,049.
The hefty quantity of RAM you get right here means that you could have plenty of functions operating directly, and also you shouldn’t expertise a lot slowdown. I didn’t encounter a lot throughout testing, and will fortunately have music blaring away, whereas I jumped between emails, the browser, WhatsApp and social feeds. Solely on a few events did YouTube and Spotify lock up and crash.
Typically, the Moto G84 may be very fast on the draw – I didn’t encounter any shutter lag in any respect
Cameras
- Twin 50Mp+8Mp rear digital camera
- 16Mp front-facing digital camera
- A gradual hand (or a tripod) is required
The Motorola G84 5G’s fundamental digital camera is a twin lens arrange, consisting of a 50Mp sensor with f/1.88 aperture mixed with an 8Mp sensor with f/2.2 aperture, designed to allow you to take ultra-wide pictures and detailed macros.
Typically, the Moto G84 may be very fast on the draw – I didn’t encounter any shutter lag in any respect. Except I used to be taking images someplace darkish, by which case the cameras have been taking longer exposures, each photograph was taken just about immediately.
You may count on OK leads to daylight, or in well-lit areas, however you’ll want a gradual hand if you wish to seize something respectable.
![A close up of the Motorola Moto G84 5G's main camera lenses](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Motorola_Moto_G84_5G_review_camera_module_detail.jpg?resize=788%2C443&ssl=1)
Thomas Newton / Foundry
Offered that you could, you possibly can take some very detailed stills, as evidenced by the zoom in on the ‘Take Braveness’ signal within the gallery. The Moto G84 gives digital zoom as much as x8, though after x2, issues turn into markedly much less effectively outlined, as you may count on.
The macro mode isn’t good – it took a very long time to concentrate on something, and as soon as finished, colors tended to be exaggerated. Check out the images of the pink geranium above. The primary one within the gallery is taken with auto mode and the second, macro mode, each pictures of the identical topic, taken on the similar distance. The primary picture isn’t solely extra detailed, however the colors are additionally way more lifelike. Within the second picture, the colors are oversaturated, and the petals aren’t in focus.
At evening time, or in any location the place there’s not quite a lot of gentle, pure or synthetic, outcomes have a tendency to return out trying messy, even if you happen to take images with Night time Mode on. Pets, or certainly any topic that isn’t liable to sitting nonetheless, are particularly exhausting to take respectable snaps of.
Likewise, the 16Mp entrance digital camera takes respectable selfies, if you’re someplace well-lit. Should you’re not, then outcomes could differ. As there’s no entrance flash, the Moto G84 will simply flood the display’s edges with white gentle, making a pseudo-flash, which simply doesn’t end in nice snaps. The portrait mode as effectively tends to blur stray hairs, which can provide your head a bizarre halo-type impact.
The digital camera’s controls aren’t all the time as responsive as you’d like them to be. Making an attempt to zoom by pinching with two fingers is very irritating. All of this provides as much as a clumsy expertise. Hopefully the digital camera will be improved with future software program updates. The cellphone is clearly able to taking good images, it simply doesn’t make it simple for you.
Battery Life & Charging
- Two days use with adaptive brightness
- Over at some point with the show locked at 120Hz
- Costs to 90% in an hour with 30W adapter
The Moto G84 encompasses a 5000mAh battery, which is able to simply provide you with a days’ value of energy, possibly two, if you happen to push it.
After 12 hours of use – making calls, checking emails, looking, utilizing Google Maps and streaming Spotify playlists – even with the show locked to the 120Hz refresh fee and auto–brightness on, I might usually finish a day with round 46-48% left.
That’s good going, however what’s higher is the truth that utilizing the provided 30W Trubopower charger, you possibly can nearly recharge the battery from flat to full in an hour. After quarter-hour on the charger, I used to be at 31%, and after half an hour, I used to be at 55%. After an hour I used to be at 90% – it took one hour and 21 minutes to totally recharge the Moto G84 5G.
![A close up of the Motorola Moto G84 5G's bottom edge, detailing the external speaker, USB-C port, and 3.5mm headphone jack](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Motorola_Moto_G84_5G_review_ports_and_speaker.jpg?resize=788%2C443&ssl=1)
Thomas Newton / Foundry
Operating the PC Mark Work 3.0 battery life take a look at with the refresh fee set to 120Hz gave me a rating of 14h 30mins. That’s higher than what you get from the Samsung Galaxy A14 and the Realme C35’s batteries, that are 5000mAh models as effectively.
Curiously, the Nokia G60 5G, which has a 120Hz show however a barely smaller 4500mAh battery returned an identical rating. Whereas we couldn’t run the identical benchmark on final 12 months’s Motorola G62 (one other cellphone with a 120Hz show and 5000mAh battery) and due to this fact we will’t be as sure, battery efficiency seems to be roughly the identical right here.
Should you’ve used an Android cellphone earlier than, you’ll really feel proper at house
Software program & Apps
- Android 13 with MyUX
- Person interface is minimal and uncluttered
- The Moto app is a welcome addition
The Moto G84 5G comes with Android 13 with Motorola’s MyUX customized person interface stacked on high.
As customized UIs go, MyUX is excellent. Should you’ve used an Android cellphone earlier than, you’ll really feel proper at house, because it’s not wildly totally different to the expertise that you simply get with a Pixel cellphone.
![Screengrabs of the Motorola Moto G84 5G's user interface, Android 13 with Motorola's MyUX on top](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Motorola_Moto_G84_5G_review_software_and_apps_screengrabs.png?resize=788%2C437&ssl=1)
Thomas Newton / Foundry
Should you’ve by no means used an Android cellphone earlier than, then the pre-installed Moto app is value investigating. That is primarily a menu of shortcuts to a number of the cellphone’s settings, such because the lock display and the font fashion, offered in a really user-friendly method.
There’s nothing right here that may’t be discovered within the cellphone’s settings, however, it serves as a pleasant intro for anybody who’s not used an Android system earlier than.
It’s much less apparent why anybody would use Motorola Notifications – an app which helps you to join surveys, how enjoyable – and it’s a bit annoying that it could’t be eliminated, nevertheless it solely takes up 96.10MB, so not the worst instance of bloatware.
Value & Availability
You should purchase the Motorola G84 5G straight from Motorola UK now, for £249.99, in white or ‘marshmallow blue’ as Motorola calls it, midnight blue, or viva magenta.
Amazon UK additionally has it in inventory, presently on for £249.99 for the blue and magenta variations, with the white (Marshmallow Blue) model on for barely extra at £260.84.
Mobiles.co.uk additionally has each the midnight blue and magenta variations of the Moto G84 5G that can be purchased for £249.
The Motorola G84 5G isn’t presently listed on Motorola’s US website.
![A wide shot of the Motorola Moto G84 5G viewed from the front, display brightness on 50%, cutting through the glare of the morning sun](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Motorola_Moto_G84_5G_review_front_view_outside_brightness.jpg?resize=788%2C443&ssl=1)
Thomas Newton / Foundry
Must you purchase the Motorola Moto G84 5G?
The Motorola G84 5G is a wonderful cellphone providing consumers long-lasting battery life, strong efficiency and a very good show. The one uninteresting mark on an in any other case spotless rating sheet is the digital camera, which is a combined bag.
If you’d like a reasonable cellphone that can take good images, then the Nokia G60 5G could be a greater choice. Apart from that, you’re going to have to consider shelling out a bit extra. Take into account the OnePlus Nord 2T, or the Google Pixel 6a, that are about £100 and £150 extra, respectively, and have excellent cameras – or learn by way of our greatest mid-range telephones round-up.
Specs
- Android 13
- 6.5in Full HD+ (2400 x 1080) pOLED show
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G
- 12GB RAM
- 256GB inside storage
- 5000mAh battery
- 30W wired charging
- 50Mp f/1.88 fundamental digital camera
- 8Mp f/2.2 ultrawide digital camera
- 8x digital zoom
- 16Mp f/2.45 entrance digital camera
- 5G
- Wi-Fi 5
- Bluetooth 5.3
- 160 x 74.4 x 7.6mm
- 166.8g (plastic) / 168.3g (vegan leather-based)