Verdict
The Moto G54 5 gram is a surprisingly capable budget - sharpen phone that offers better performance than I ask . Its photographic camera could be better and more fully - featured , and the LCD display is unsatisfying in this twenty-four hours and long time , but for £ 179/$200 , it ’s one of the intimately - looking phones in its price angle bracket and offers near - stock Android 13 too .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
There comes a time in every telephone reviewer ’s lifetime when it ’s tough to get excited about , well , brush up earpiece .
A pile of them are pretty homogenised , and while I ’m not saying the Moto G54 5 G has warmed this old cynic ’s meat , it ’s the firstbudget - focused5 GB handset I ’ve tested in a farsighted , long clip that feel as though it can be a squat of pretty much any deal without sacrificing its soul for 5G.
The best part is that the Moto G54 5 G comes in at just £ 179/$200 , and offers a larger , penetrating display than manyslightly more expensive phones , more consistent carrying into action across passably much everything , and a better camera .
I ’ll get into each of those point in this review , but it really is a very whole buy for the same toll as a fourth part of aniPhone 15 – and theAndroid 13experience is pleasingly debris - free , too .
Of course , there are downsides – the LCD panel here is incisive but not brighter than a lot of its rivals , and the television camera , ripe than it is , still feels damned with faint congratulations thanks to a lack of options .
But I ’d also argue it ’s a great - see telephone , something comparatively unheard of in this price range .
Design
That brings us nicely to the design , and the Moto G54 5 G just looks silklike . It ’s still pretty plasticky , notably on the sides , but the back has a matte grain that , while it does n’t avoid fingerprints , for sure feels nice to the touch .
Sticking with the back , there are just two photographic camera sensors heap vertically here , with the photographic camera encounter itself so trifling that in the correct lightness , you ’d swear the earpiece ’s back was entirely flat .
The phone ’s curve on the face and back end make the 6.5 - column inch phone easy to hold , though at 8.9 millimeter thick and 192 g , it ’s not exactly the most lightweight phone around – even with that for the most part plastic anatomy .
On the left side you ’ll rule a SIM tray near the top , and on the right , there ’s a volume rocker and a ability clitoris that hold a hidden fingerprint reader . The top is clear , aside from the Dolby Atmos logotype , and the other end has a USB - C port , speaker grille , and headphone jack ( retrieve those ? ) .
In case you ’re wondering , this critical review unit is the Midnight drab colourway , but there are Indigo blue and Glacier profane options , too . If racy is n’t your colour , there ’s mint green , too , though not in all territory .
Screen
When it comes to the display , I ’m more than a little thwarted to recount you it ’s an LCD control panel , so do n’t expect brilliant colours and inscrutable blacks you may find from an OLED , but it ’ll still do for most smartphone tasks .
Still , after testing theTCL 40R 5Gnot long ago and being put off by its 720p ‘ HD+ ’ declaration , I ’m relieve that the Moto G54 5 G superintend to hit a 2400×1080 resolution , with a noted brittleness to text and images you do n’t often discover on truly budget phones .
That would credibly have been enough , but Motorola even managed to get a120Hzrefresh rate in there , too , meaning scrolling is unruffled . After testing a few90Hzdisplays , the difference has never been more apparent . It does meditate a lot , though , with the below - average 560nits peak brightness make it trickier to use in direct sun .
As with many devices in this terms range , bezels are unvarying throughout , aside from a slightly bigger Kuki along the bottom , and there ’s a hole - puncher photographic camera in the centre of the top of the exhibit , too .
Cameras
There are two camera options on the Moto G54 5 grand , and while that ’s down from the trio offered by many of its competitors , the primary one is really jolly salutary here – although I ’m still surprised that Motorola paired its 50MP primary sensing element with a 2MP macro instruction rather than any ultrawide option .
You ’re not endure to get flagship - quality snaps , but you will find that it does a better business with coloration than many of its contemporaries . Many speech sound in this price range can leave behind coloring , particularly in subtle details , feeling wash out .
mark out the model here with Batman , though – if anything , it ’s a little brighter than it was in substantial life on the yellow , and mayhap a little too lighter on the grey areas . Still , there ’s plenty of detail .
Things are much more consistent out-of-doors , too , capture phantom and dark areas and not doing what so many do and just constitute the whole matter brighter . That applies to exposure at night , too , with the Night Vision do doing a good job of softening harsh street lamp . It ’s noPixel 7a , but it ’ll do for simple Nox shots .
Portrait modality , particularly when used on anything tight - incite ( like a four - year - honest-to-goodness or a very nervous cat ) , simply is n’t worth using on the back camera , but the front camera performs better .
Here , my biggest outcome is just the way in which it muddy up skin feeling , particularly indoors or anywhere miss in raw light . It does , however , do a enough task of applying bokeh around hair and ears .
manufacturer keep adding Macro camera , but aside from some spry focus , it ’s a disappointment here , as meet on this D20 which ends up just looking a bit muzzy and lack in point .
Video - wise , you get 1080p telecasting at 30- or 60fps , and either does a strong job of capture with the same caution of its still camera setup .
Performance
The Moto G54 5 yard is a singular case of offering mass of processing king but lacking in GPU power , feature a MediaTek Dimensity 7020 along with a salubrious dose of either 8- or 12 GB of RAM and 128- or 256 GB of storage depending on the variant you opt for .
Its Geekbench single and multi - core scads are far sound than similarly - priced phones , and multitasking is a delectation with the 120Hz refresh pace . It keeps thing move nicely when switching between apps and scroll through Instagram , with flowing animations and the like on Android 13 .
Gaming is another story , though , and while things can be suave ( notably where the frame charge per unit feels improved by the display ’s refresh pace ) , you ’ll need to rick some setting down to get things running reasonably well . More aboveboard titles like Marvel Snap are enceinte , but again , the reflective video display can make drear UI elements more challenging to see .
The mono speaker at the sound ’s stand is comely enough , but it unquestionably feels focused on lower to mids – voices sound low , and euphony is bassier , but for the most part , you ’re better off connecting earbuds instead .
Software
The Moto G54 5 G come escape the full translation of Android 13 out of the boxwood , something you do n’t always see at the budget end of the market .
As I mention earlier , the Moto G54 5 G ’s Android UI is fairly free of muddle – a nice variety compare to the busy and bustling tradition UIs you derive across , particularly at the budget last of the market place . It also comes with the ready to hand Moto Actions that allow you to twofold - chopper to activate the torch , double - twist to actuate the camera and more .
There are a few pre - installed lurker on the homepage , but outside of an euphemistic game of Solitaire and Bubble Rainbow , it ’s essentially just TikTok and Mistplay – and all that can be quickly deleted if you like .
It ’s easy to move through the O , too , thanks to the slick refresh rate , and Android 14 will be affirm , too – along with three years of security patches .
It ’s not exactly the multi - year documentation from more premium Android phone , but it ’s welcome to see on such a cheap smartphone that , just a couple of years ago , would ’ve in all likelihood not even catch a exclusive OS upgrade .
Battery life
Matching the TCL 40R 5 deoxyguanosine monophosphate with a 5,000 mAh battery , the Moto G54 5 G catch around the same day and a half of normal use . Naturally , more is always welcome , but if you ’re buying the Moto G54 5 G , you ’re in all likelihood doing so to take it to run and home again , before charging it at night .
With that in mind , it ’ll make for nicely and still have enough juice for some Marvel Snap on the power train menage , or final Google Docs adjustments on the way in .
In a surprisal twist , Motorola still includes an AC transcriber in the box , meaning your £ 179 phone issue forth with something a £ 1,249 speech sound does n’t . All jolly aside , there ’s 20W fast charging , and the adapter in the box just so happens to be 20W – meaning you could get a decent jumping start when your battery run flat .
Just do n’t expect to apply it to charge to full in a pinch – the Moto G54 5 G ask more than 2 hour to shoot to the full , so it ’ll by all odds be one you need to leave overnight .
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Should you buy it?
The Moto G54 5 GB is great for multitasking , and while it ’s not really curve out for gambling , everything else runs nicely .
An OLED display would ’ve taken the Moto G54 5 G to the next tier , but the LCD board is too dumb and pensive .
Final Thoughts
If you ’re looking for bang for your sawbuck in thebudget phonearena , the Moto G54 5 G has it in spade . You wo n’t be getting the best screen or camera , and gaming performance is limited , but everything else feel responsive and count capital .
It ’s also backed up by a sleek outer invention and that all - important 5 G connectivity , tick most boxes for a budget - focused buyer .
Trusted Score
How we test
We examine every wandering telephone set we review thoroughly . We employ industry - standard tests to equate features decent and we expend the phone as our chief gimmick over the review period . We ’ll always severalize you what we find and we never , ever , go for money to refresh a product .
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FAQs
Yes , you ’ll get a 20W charge brick in the boxful .
There ’s no official dust or water resistance , but Motorola claim that it ’s “ water resistant ” .
Test Data
Full Specs
