A complete smartphone, also elegant, and for less than 250 euros? Trust me, it’s possible. And this makes our review of Motorola’s new budget gem, the motorcycle g84 5Gso easy that one sentence is enough: buy it, it’s worth it. With this new device, which we tested in the Viva Magenta colorthe Pantone color of the year, Motorola returns to securely take over the medium-low segment of the market.
So, the real question isn’t whether it’s worth its hard-to-beat price, but rather: What are you willing to give up to save money? Because although this device is great for a lot of users, a few reasons why moto g84 5G also costs more than a thousand euros less than a top of the range there must be. And there is, although this smartphone tries to defend itself on all fronts, with some success.
In this review, we try to give you a hand in understanding whether it is acceptable compromises – and we expect that this will be the case for the vast majority of users.
Our moto g84 5G review
As technology lovers, we can’t help but be passionate when we see top of the range models with impressive cameras, PC-like performance and lightning-fast charging. But even for those of us who test different smartphones throughout the year, there’s a particular joy in finding devices that we like moto g84 5G cost a fraction of the top of the range but, during the tests for the review, they don’t make us miss those very expensive smartphones.
Not only does this Motorola product perform well in everyday use, but it also comes with a more complete set of features than many luxury smartphones. We find a transparent plastic case, 33W power supply and USB-A/USB-C cable. All in an eco-friendly cardboard packaging.
Design with attention to detail (and with jack input)
The version of moto g64 5G that we tested for this review is in Viva Magenta, the Pantone color of the year, and like the Marshmallow Blue version it has a “vegan leather” back. Then there is the Midnight Blue variant, with a more traditional matte finish.
Once we picked up the smartphone, we appreciated the eco-leather finish, which does not retain fingerprints and gave us feeling of having a strong grip on the smartphone. The small size also helps in this 160 x 74,5 x 7,99 mm and the weight of 166 grams: compared to other products in this range it seems less cumbersome to hold in the hand.
You may like the coloring or not, but without a doubt it has personality. And we think Motorola did a great job with the matte “M” inserts in the center of the device and the camera areas at the top left. Which if it weren’t for the color it would be very common, for a cheap smartphone (as it actually is), but with this particular red it seems more elegant.
At the bottom we find, together with the speaker, microphone and USB-C input, also the always welcome one jack audio da 3,5mm (which we would like to see on any smartphone, but especially on the cheaper ones). On the left side we find the input for the dual SIM and on the right the power and volume keys.
moto g84 5G has certification IP54 which ensures protection from splashes of water and dust. And in general it has good construction solidity: you don’t hear creaks of any kind and it seems resistant (even if we haven’t carried out traumatic tests to prove it).
A display above expectations
Often the quality of the display is the first to suffer from compromises to launch a smartphone under 300 euros, but we must say that the moto g84 does very well in this department. It has a display 6.6-inch pOLED with Full HD+ resolution which has very well calibrated colors in the factory setting (which is “Intense Colors”), although they are not particularly bright. But they are quite faithful for this price range, with excellent contrast thanks to perfect blacks.
Il automatic refresh rate reaches up to 120Hz, excellent both for playing but also for web browsing and menus. There are smartphones worth over a thousand euros that are still stuck at 60Hz, so we’re really happy to see 120Hz in a phone that costs a quarter of the price.
The brightness seems very good to us, it reaches 1200 nits peak – but regardless of the number, it performed well even in direct sun. All this makes the display perfect for playing games and watching videos and films, with the double stereo speaker it has a good volume and reproduces sound well. Although the big advantage here is the jack, which allows you to connect any type of headphones (in addition to Bluetooth ones).
The only two annoyances we experienced during testing concern the tactile feedback that was a little too abrupt (but quite normal in this price range) and the unlocking with fingerprints (located under the screen), which we had some trouble with. We weren’t always able to unlock the device on the first touch, but only on one occasion did we have to enter the PIN to unlock it. We tried to reinsert the fingerprint and it seems that the situation has improved, so it could be a problem that doesn’t occur for everyone (and is solvable).
More than sufficient performance (also thanks to clean software)
He chips Snapdragon 695 by Qualcomm it is certainly not a champion of speed, but it is more than sufficient for daily use. Especially since Motorola has paired it with a whopping 12GB of RAM which makes it easy to switch between apps without any delay. Too bad about the UFS 2.2 storage, which is not the latest and slows down the loading times of heavy apps such as games.
In this regard: moto g84 is not a gaming smartphone. In titles with complex 3D graphics (we tested Genshin Impact, FIFA and Asphalt) you may lose a few frames. But we appreciated the fact that the device continues to maintain the same performance, not excellent but solid, long lasting and never getting hot – even when we tested it with games and benchmarks.
We think it helps a lot pretty much basic Android 13 software: you will find only a few Motorola apps, which are mainly used to personalize the experience (also with gestures and optimizations). But the interface is clean and clear, simple to use.
Moto g84 5G review: how the camera performs
Il 50MP main camera sensor it pairs with an 8MP wide angle, with a 16MP selfie sensor. On paper, quality hardware for the price.
In practice, the wide angle turns out to be unclear and difficult to use if the light conditions are not perfect. The 50MP main sensor, however, is much better collects a fair amount of light and provides good images, especially during the day. However, especially when the light decreases, the software tends to “overdo it” a bit. The night shots you find below have much brighter colors than what we saw with the naked eye, with the smartphone distorting the result a bit. But by adjusting the brightness a little you can get good shots even at night. Although it understandably struggles when there are multiple light sources.
The 16MP selfie camera does the job, even if the profiles of the subjects are a little too clear and the shades of the colors not very appreciable. But for video calls and selfies from social media it’s not bad.
Videos (up to 4K at 30fps) must be made in broad daylight, if there is no light the noise becomes a lot and the videos lose quality. But all in all it performs well for the price: if you want visibly better results you have to at least double the price.
The camera is perhaps the most difficult component to get right in the medium-low range of the market, because it requires a lot of effort from both a hardware and software perspective. To remedy this, perhaps moto g84 corrects the images a little too much, but all in all it seems to do a more than decent job. You can judge for yourself in the gallery below.
Photographic proof
Autonomy and charging
The battery measures 5000 mAh and, combined with a low-energy chip like the Snapdragon 695, it guarantees excellent autonomy. Even using it a lot during the tests for this review, we were unable to get the moto g84 5G below 30-35% in the evening. For many users, even two working days in a row will not be impossible.
Charging at 30W (which can easily be achieved with the included 33W charger) is perhaps not the record for this range, but it is better than that offered by many other smartphones. In just a few minutes you can have 50% battery to face the work day, and if you charge during your lunch break you can reach 100% without problems. There is better, but realistically it’s fine for most users.
Moto G84 5G review: is it worth it?
Motorola returns to aggressively take over the medium-low range smartphone market: moto g84 5G theoretically has a price of 299.90 euros, but on Amazon it already found at 249.90 euros. At this price you usually have to make important compromises: giving up the camera, performance or display altogether. This smartphone, however, offers good quality across the board, with good software and an attractive design so you don’t miss anything.
There are undoubtedly rivals: cheap smartphones are getting better and better. But few are alternatives as solid as this moto g84. If gaming and/or the creation of photographic and video content are priorities for you, you will have to raise your budget….