Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “How did the Moto G go this WRONG? (Moto G 5G, Play, Power 2024 REVIEW)”.
All right, Motorola we’ve got a talk. The Moto G Series has a special place in my heart, but I’m starting to think it’s lost its way. After all, models like the Moto power and the Moto G play were some of my first reviews for Android authority. Long before 5G was ever a consideration for the affordable Android Market. At the time I fell in love with the light fast software.
The relatively interesting use of plastic bodies and features that were rapidly disappearing, like headphone, Jacks and expandable storage. Now the Moto G Series still has some of those same features, but they haven’t really advanced in the last couple years, while many of Motorola’s competitors have leaned much heavier into the affordable, Android race, more premium materials, more flexible cameras and much longer software commitments are common Place where they used to be reserved exclusively for the flagships and that’s just kind of leaving Motorola further and further behind. So let’s take a look at where one of the longest standing Android series stands today. Typically, the Moto G Series includes four models: the play, the power, the Moto g5g and the Moto G stylus, each with its own specific purpose.
So far, we’ve seen 2024 updates to the first of those three leaving only the stylus toing fablet waiting for its turn. As with previous generations, the Moto G play is a strip down 4G, only entry point to the series offering a rock bottom price and basic specs just to get people in the door. The Moto g5g now slots in above it adding of course, 5G speeds to the mix, but also picking up a secondary rear camera. A smoother display and long awaited.
Nfc support, Motorola’s third update for 2024. The new Moto G power takes all of that and kicks it up a little bit further, adding 30 W wired charging bringing wireless charging to the mix for the first time and swapping its dedicated macro sensor for an 8 megapixel Ultra wide that has software-based macro vision And all of it sounds pretty good on paper, especially when you consider that even the topend Moto G power only cost $ 300 at full price. But before we come up with a recommendation, let’s take a look at how the motoi series actually fares in day-to-day life. Up first Motorola still deserves a little bit of credit for keeping its designs interesting, although you won’t find premium materials like aluminum or any kind of Gorilla Glass vicus on any of the Moto G models. Different materials like faux leather and textured backs help to keep things a little more interesting than many of Motorola’s smooth slippery competitors. The headphone jack still lives on taking up residence somewhere around the plastic frames.
And, honestly, I really don’t mind motorol as use of plastic. They’Ve been around the locket time or two, so they figured out a way to make plastic feel a bit more premium, not having any real Flex or give to it. As you use the phones from dayto day Motorola’s.
Most affordable models also offer decently High refresh rates across the board, which is nice to see when you consider their price point. The Moto G play offers a 90 HZ refresh rate, while the two 5G ready models. The g5g and the Moto G power offer a full 120 HZ.
Of course, it’s not a variable refresh rate you’re, either locked in at 120 HZ or 60z Hertz, but it’s still a starting point. What’S not so much of a starting point is kind of the rest of the display options. Motorola is still using lower quality LCD panels for its Moto G Series, and I’ve got to admit they don’t really seem ready for the spotlight even with brighter sharper displays the Moto G power and the Moto g5g struggle mightily in bright sunlight, making it almost impossible to Look at them from any angle other than straight on.
It could be nice to keep prying eyes off of your display, but it’s also going to make life a little more difficult if you’re at a party – and you just want to glance at a notification quickly. You’Re pretty much going to have to bring it up right in front of your face. Switching to the cameras, Motorola finally adopted a standard 50 megapixel primary sensor for all of its Moto G models, which is fine.
I mean you get what you pay for it’s decent and good lighting, but the size of the sensor itself tends to struggle in lower light and more difficult situations. Honestly, the bigger issue with motorolas Moto G cameras is The Supporting Cast or in some cases the lack thereof. The Moto G play, for example, has no other rear camera. You only have the 50 megapixel sensor to work with, including the limited flexibility that it offers.
The Moto g5g adds a little bit of flexibility to the mix, picking up a 2 megapixel dedicated macro sensor. But if you’ve been around a while, you know exactly how we feel about those. It adds a little bit of flexibility, but not nearly enough resolution to really be useful when fine details are the point, if anything, Motorola probably could have learned a little bit more from its Moto G power setup, which finally ditches the dedicated macro sensor in favor of An 8 megap Ultra wide with software-based macro Vision. It adds a little bit more resolution to the mix, which goes a long way when you’re looking for the fine macro details, at least, if there’s one thing, we can’t complain about with any of the Moto G models. It’S their battery setups each of the Moto G play power and g5g comes with a full 5,000 mAh battery, which easily makes its way through 2 days of use between charges, but when you do eventually need to charge you’re right back to that mixed bag of results, The Moto G play is pretty Limited at just 15 wired charging, the Moto g5g bumps it up a little bit to 18 Watt and then the Moto G power is the most complete of the three adding a full 30 W wired charging and 15 W wireless charging. For the first time on the Moto G Series, unfortunately, we’ve also hit a point where motor roll is no longer including Chargers in all of the boxes.
So you’re probably going to have to head out to pick up another one just to get your phone back to full speed all told. If we had to make a Moto G recommendation purely based on Hardware, it would easily be for the Moto G power, but we still have some software quirks to talk about at first glance. Motorol is my ux. Skin still looks and feels a lot like stock Android, which I would call one of the better holdovers from when Google owned the company from 2012 to 2014.
It’S still light, it’s still smooth and it still defaults to Google’s versions of apps rather than installing. A second version and trying to pull away your attention like Samsung, often does. However, ads and bloatware have kind of Hit the Moto G Series, like a ton of bricks, where you used to be able to skate by with almost no extras right out of the box. Motorola now prompts you for apps, like booking.com, Snapchat and Tik Tok, which, if it were just those three I don’t think I’d mind very much.
But the company also has Partnerships that want you to download shopping, entertainment and gaming hubs, which are basically just ways to put extra ads on your phone. When you open these hubs, they look a lot like any other organizational folder, at least at the top they’ll pull in different apps that you already have on your phone. But then the bottom half of the folder comes up as a rotating list of ads, which are just apps that your phone thinks you might want. Thankfully, you can delete any one of these apps, but it’s kind of an opt out rather than opt-in situation, which isn’t great.
If you’re, just trying to set up your phone quickly or setting up a phone for a loved one. Motorola also found ways to work ads into both the lock screen and the weather app, which is not great. The lock screen ads come in the form of a partnership with glance which is supposed to revolutionize your lock screen, showing you up to the minute information and news throughout your day, but it really just comes across as a random selection of articles that may or may Not be catered to your interests, as for the weather, app, it’s largely the same story. Motor rolis partnership with one weather gives you an app that seems to struggle under its own load.
It puts apps one weather stories and other articles in the way of just getting through your forecast, and it seems like the more you try to scroll through the app the worse. The lag gets to the point where you find yourself jumping from the radar to the daily forecast. Thankfully, you can delete one weather as well, which, interestingly enough, takes the Moto G Series right back to the default acuweather app, which is much lighter and much smoother. And importantly, doesn’t have any ads, it’s an altogether baffling decision, but somehow not the worst one on the Moto G Series.
That title actually belongs to Motorola’s terrible update commitment and, yes, I’m going to call it terrible, because it’s only one major Android update and it tends to be 2 years of software patches these days, both Samsung and OnePlus are adding multiple years of Android versions, which means That you’ll be able to hang on to another phone much longer than a current Moto G model and sure the Moto G 5G and the Moto G power are currently up to date with Android 14 right out of the box. But they’ll fall behind almost immediately once Android 15 rolls around later this year, even after all of the hits and misses on both the hardware and software sides. I really want to like the Moto G Series.
I do. It still has a nostalgic place in my heart and I was genuinely excited to read through the Moto G power spec sheet and see NFC support faster charging and the smooth refresh rate finally make the cut the ad Laden experience and the short shelf life weigh down. All of the other benefits, and especially when combined with carrier promotions and discounts, make it much easier to reach for and recommend other affordable Android devices. .