Yearly, I get increasingly confused with Motorola’s Moto G collection of smartphones. The corporate has been churning out these funds telephones for a decade. Initially, there was a easy development system: The Moto G was adopted by a Moto G (2nd Gen), then by a Moto G (third Gen). Then the corporate began introducing variants, from a Moto G5 Plus to a Moto G6 Play, which was nonetheless logical.
Now, the 2023 lineup consists of 5 units: the Moto G Play, Moto G 5G, Moto G Stylus, and the Moto G Energy 5G. Oh, and do not confuse any of these with the 2022 fashions, lots of which have the identical title. I used to be in the midst of testing the brand new Moto G Energy 5G ($300) when the corporate introduced the brand new Moto G Stylus ($200) and Moto G 5G ($250), all launching this month. That places this handset towards the highest of the lineup. Whereas the Energy is kind of useful, there are some questionable decisions that make it arduous to wholeheartedly suggest, to not point out the opposite nice choices at this worth.
Energy Up
The number-one enchancment on this telephone over its predecessor is efficiency. As a result of a lackluster processor, the Moto G Energy 2022 bizarrely delivered a extra laggy expertise than the Energy that got here earlier than, however the firm has remedied this. The brand new Moto G Energy 5G 2023 has the MediaTek Dimensity 930 with 6 gigabytes of RAM, and my benchmark assessments present a leap—this is likely one of the best-performing Moto G telephones so far.
I’ve not had points utilizing this telephone for nearly all of my day by day duties, whether or not I am sending my associate a humorous meme from Reddit, attempting to keep up my Duolingo streak minutes earlier than midnight, or enjoying a fast recreation of Useless Cells on the practice. That is to not say you will not see stutters. They’re pretty widespread truly, however there isn’t any cripplingly irritating efficiency right here. It is solely when you have to rapidly juggle a number of apps that you simply may really feel a twinge of annoyance.
Arguably even higher is battery life. I used to be in a position to eke out two full days of common use with the 5,000-mAh cell, par for the course on most Moto G handsets, although it isn’t as nice because the three-day battery life on the 2020 mannequin. However hey, I will take something over a single day of juice.
{Photograph}: Motorola
There is a 6.5-inch LCD display screen right here, and my huge paws discover it largely OK to make use of with one hand, but it surely’s positively a two-hander for most individuals. I didn’t discover too many faults with the display screen. It is sharp (1080p), moderately colourful, and vivid sufficient to learn on sunny days (some squinting required). It will get a little bit dim when seen at an angle. Whereas it is good that there is a 120-Hz display screen refresh fee to make all interactions really feel fluid, the on a regular basis stutters you will see when scrolling apps like Reddit or Twitter kinda kill the impact.
I will fireplace off a number of perks, regardless that there is a good likelihood you won’t care about them in any respect. First, there is a headphone jack for the anti-wireless crowd. There’s sub-6 5G help, and I had no points connecting to AT&T’s service in New York. There’s 256 GB of inner storage—kudos to Motorola for truly growing this; most flagship telephones nonetheless begin at 128 gigs—and a microSD card slot in case you need to broaden it much more. There is a dependable capacitive fingerprint scanner embedded within the energy button, and this telephone runs the most recent Android 13 working system. Oh, and there is a charger included within the field.
Energy Down
The digicam is not a robust level on this telephone. There is a major 50-megapixel sensor you will use for all of your fundamental photographs. Through the day, it may well take some decently sharp photographs. Some photographs are oversaturated, and at different occasions, the sensor can wrestle with high-contrast scenes, just like the solar poking out behind a constructing. Low mild is satisfactory, even with Motorola’s Evening Imaginative and prescient mode. My associate’s pores and skin tone at a moody restaurant was a bizarre pinkish hue. I did handle to get an honest shot of my pup on his nighttime stroll. (Fortunately he stood nonetheless!)
