Verdict
Motorola has turned out a sublime low-cost telephone within the Moto G84 5G, although middling efficiency, just one assured main software program replace, and its shut proximity to the excellent Motorola Edge 40 Neo make it really feel like an excellent purchase somewhat than an awesome one.
Execs
- Recent vegan leather-based design
- Two day battery life
- Respectable essential digicam
Cons
- Middling efficiency
- Just one Android replace
- Motorola Edge 40 Neo solely £50 extra
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Elegant vegan leather-based designThe Moto G84 5G elevates an in any other case abnormal design with a vegan leather-based again and a few shiny color choices. -
Two-day battery lifeThe Moto G84 5G’s 5000mAh battery can maintain two days of reasonable utilization. -
Massive 50MP 1/1.5″ digicam sensorYou get an atypically massive, OIS-assisted essential digicam sensor with the Moto G84 5G.
Introduction
Motorola makes glorious finances telephones. That is a longtime reality. Lately, nonetheless, it’s additionally made an terrible lot of finances telephones, to the purpose the place it’s a battle to maintain monitor of all of them.
The Moto G84 5G is the corporate’s new flagship finances telephone, if that isn’t an excessive amount of of a contradiction in phrases. For £249.99 you’re getting the most effective G-series telephone that Motorola makes earlier than you begin moving into swankier territory with the Motorola Edge 40 Neo.
For this cash you’re getting a 120Hz OLED show, a comparatively massive OIS-backed 50MP essential digicam sensor, and a fetching vegan leather-based end. However is that sufficient?
Design and display
- Interesting vegan leather-based again
- Slim and lightweight
- IP54 mud and water resistance
The Moto G84 5G is among the most hanging telephones I’ve dealt with this 12 months – at the least from the again. My mannequin is available in a superb ‘Viva Magenta’ shade that manifests because the deepest pink conceivable, contrasted with a scarlet metallic body and digicam module.
As a part of Motorola’s ongoing partnership with Pantone, you may also specify the G84 in Marshmallow Blue or Midnight Blue. No matter shade you select, all include a vegan leather-covered rear panel. This provides the G84 a pleasant grippiness, and it typically feels extra premium than the standard greasy plastic. It additionally appears to fend off fingerprints fairly nicely.
The Pantone brand (which incorporates the identify of the customized shade) and the shiny Motorola brand end issues off properly. For an inexpensive telephone, the Moto G84 5G is one elegant buyer.
From each different angle, the Moto G84 5G is very like earlier telephones within the vary. You will have a flat rim and a flat entrance, with a comparatively thick bezel working across the latter. It’s all very practical and inoffensive, which is all you’ll be able to ask for this far south of £300.
That extends to the Moto G84’s dimensions. At simply 7.6mm thick, and with a weight of 167g, it passes the denims pocket check with flying colors. That is one easy-to-live-with telephone.
You solely get an IP54 score right here, although. You’ll have to pay £50 extra for the aforementioned Motorola Edge 40 Neo if you’d like full IP68 water and mud resistance. That is considered one of a number of events the place I used to be compelled to think about simply how rather more telephone get for an additional £50.
Display
- Respectable 6.5-inch FHD+ pOLED
- 120Hz refresh fee
- 1300nits peak brightness
Motorola has fitted its top-budget mannequin with an honest show. It’s a properly sized 6.5-inch FHD+ pOLED display with a fluid 120Hz refresh fee. Brightness tops out at a stable 1300 nits in HDR situations. As soon as I had dropped the color mode down from Saturated to Pure, it produced a pleasant balanced output.
The Moto G84 5G’s display can be flanked by stereo audio system, which get good and clear and loud, although they predictably lack just a little low-end oomph. Nonetheless, they’re right here, which is much from a given at this finish of the market.
Digicam
- Massive 50MP 1/1.5″ essential sensor
- 8MP ultra-wide
- 16MP selfie cam
Motorola has saved issues blissfully easy within the digicam division, with an easy dual-lens set-up and no pointless depth or macro sensors in sight.
Many of the focus right here is on a 50MP 1/1.5″ essential sensor, which might seem like the OmniVision OV50E. That’s the identical sensor as you’ll discover in rather more costly telephones just like the Motorola Edge 30 Fusion and the Moto Razr 2022, which is spectacular stuff.
With this comparatively massive sensor, backed by OIS, the Moto G84 takes good photographs for the cash. No, it’s not a match for these aforementioned premium siblings – the Moto G84 packs a way more restricted picture processor – however I used to be nonetheless happy with a lot of the photographs I took with it.
Snaps are inclined to have good element and a pleasant pure heat to them, with out trying garish or overprocessed. I used to be additionally impressed at how nicely the primary digicam stood as much as difficult HDR situations.
There’s fairly a big drop in high quality for the ultra-wide digicam, with its measly 8MP sensor. I seen a sizeable dip intimately and distinction and a few blown-out highlights, nevertheless it’s nonetheless acceptable in good lighting.
Evening photographs aren’t fairly so spectacular, with the Moto G84’s restricted processor seemingly unable to get on high of all that noise. They’re completely satisfactory, however don’t anticipate the presence of OIS to mechanically end in super-sharp low gentle outcomes.
The 16MP selfie digicam appears fairly restricted too, producing, barely gentle, washed out fixed-focus photographs. Motorola supplies two focal lengths for normal and vast photographs, although provided that the previous is merely a crop of the latter, I’d advocate sticking with the pure wider angle to maximise sharpness.
Video is fairly restricted at 1080p 30/60fps, which is once more a results of that considerably restricted processor on the coronary heart of the Moto G84.
Efficiency
- Snapdragon 695 SoC
- 12GB of RAM, 256GB storage
- Clear Android 13 however just one main replace
As I simply alluded to, the Moto G84 5G runs on a comparatively restricted Snapdragon 695 SoC. That is maybe essentially the most disappointing element of the entire bundle, if solely as a result of it’s the very same chip that drove final 12 months’s Moto G82 5G.
Motorola isn’t the one producer to return to this ageing chip for its newest finances telephone – Sony has achieved the identical with the Xperia 10 V, to call one different latest instance. However what was a reasonably uninspiring provision with the category of 2022 proves even much less spectacular in late 2023. The Poco M5 5G is one other sub-£300 2023 telephone to make use of this chip, however that arrived proper close to the beginning of the 12 months, and it hardly wowed us in efficiency phrases again then.
On the plus facet, it’s fairly spectacular to see the Moto G84 coming with 12GB of RAM as commonplace. However, I can’t think about the Snapdragon 695 is greatest positioned to place all that reminiscence to good use.
Possibly knocking that RAM allotment right down to 8GB and lopping £20 or so off the ultimate worth would have been a better transfer right here. It could have put extra daylight between the Moto G84 and the uncomfortably shut (and actually fairly fabulous) Motorola Edge 40 Neo, on the very least.
Nonetheless, the Moto G84 is a succesful sufficient runner for the cash. I ran the telephone’s show at a compelled 120Hz on a regular basis, and whereas it lacks the snappiness of a real flagship (or perhaps a mid-ranger), it felt acceptably fluid all through my time with the telephone.
One other optimistic spec right here is the availability of 256GB of inner storage as commonplace, at the least on the UK mannequin. That’s double the capability that Apple, Google, and Samsung begin their respective flagship telephones at.
Software program
- Android 13
- Clear method to Android
- Some bloatware
Motorola’s tackle Android 13 is among the greatest available on the market, primarily as a result of it leaves nicely alone for essentially the most half. That is broadly as Google supposed, which suggests a pleasant clear UI and tasteful app icons. Going again to the Poco M5 5G by means of a comparability, whereas the 2 telephones have comparable specs, the Moto G84 feels rather more fluid.
The producer has made just a few additions, most notably by the pre-installed Moto app, which provides you entry to sensible gesture shortcuts, bolstered safety choices, and bespoke personalisation options. Motorola has its personal distinct fashion with this, however crucially, it appears to harmonise nicely with Google’s UI.
I did observe a small bug when attempting to use considered one of Motorola’s dynamic wallpapers. Having downloaded this animated background, I used to be introduced with a preview, however was supplied no means to use it.
There’s additionally just a little extra bloatware than I’d wish to see from Motorola, with a few dodgy video games, TikTok, Reserving.com, Fb, and a superfluous cellular recreation loyalty program known as Mistplay. They’re simply ignored or uninstalled, however I hope it doesn’t flip right into a pattern for the producer’s clear and crisp telephones.
Maybe the largest downside right here is that Motorola has solely promised one OS improve. As soon as Android 14 arrives – which shouldn’t be too lengthy – that’s your lot. Motorola has promised three years of safety updates, at the least.
Battery life
- 5000mAh battery
- Two-day potential
- 33W charger bundled in
The Moto G84 comes full of a 5000mAh battery, which is an honest measurement, if fairly regular for a telephone of this worth. Along with that recognized amount of a processor, it ends in excellent stamina certainly.
Even with the show compelled to a 120Hz refresh fee somewhat than the default Auto sensible optimisation mode, which switches between 60 and 120Hz as vital, I used to be in a position to get by a full day of reasonable utilization (nearly 4 hours of screen-on time), and was left with nicely over 50% of a cost. There’s the very actual potential for 2 days of battery life right here.
Heavy media utilization will drain the battery sooner, in fact. An hour of Netflix streaming sapped 9% of a cost, which isn’t the strongest end result we’ve seen – rivals such because the Poco M5 5G managed 6%. In the meantime, half-hour of sunshine gaming sapped 5%.
Recharging isn’t a super-speedy course of, however at the least you get an inexpensive 33W charger bundled into the field, which is much from a given today. It’ll get you to 59% in half-hour, whereas a full cost takes just a little over 75 minutes.
Newest offers
Do you have to purchase it?
You desire a little bit of sophistication out of your low-cost telephone
Low cost needn’t imply nasty, as this Moto G84’s vegan leather-based again in Viva Magenta goes to indicate.
You worth efficiency above all else
The Moto G84 isn’t actually any extra performant than its predecessor, the Moto G82.
Closing Ideas
The Motorola G84 5G gives a commendably elegant low-cost telephone, with a singular vegan leather-based end and a pleasant light-weight type issue. It additionally advantages from an honest pOLED display, whereas the primary digicam takes higher snaps than we’re used to from the Moto G vary.
Stamina, too, is superb, with the potential for a full two days of reasonable utilization earlier than it’s time to recharge. Motorola’s clear UI is a pleasure to make use of as all the time, although it’s a disgrace to notice that it’ll solely obtain one main software program replace.
Efficiency is a little bit of a downer, with the identical middling Snapdragon 695 as final 12 months’s mannequin.
All in all, the Moto G84 5G is a sublime, poised reasonably priced telephone, although with the fabulous Motorola Edge 40 Neo out there for simply £50 extra, it one way or the other doesn’t really feel like excellent worth.
How we check
We check each cell phone we overview completely. We use industry-standard checks to check options correctly and we use the telephone as our essential system over the overview interval. We’ll all the time let you know what we discover and we by no means, ever, settle for cash to overview a product.
Discover out extra about how we check in our ethics coverage.
Used as a essential telephone for the overview interval
Thorough digicam testing in quite a lot of situations
Examined and benchmarked utilizing revered {industry} checks and real-world knowledge
FAQs
Two weeks
6.5 inches
No
Android 13
September 8, 2023
