Motorola Moto G 5G (2024) Review (2024)

The 2024 Motorola Moto G 5G looks promising at a glance, with a large screen and good battery life for an affordable $199.99. However, its middling performance, below-average cameras, and limited software support put it firmly behind the competition. You'll be better served by the Samsung Galaxy A15 5G ($199.99), our Editors' Choice winner for affordable phones, which has a sharper display, superior cameras, stronger overall performance, and better software support for the same price.

A Pleather Back

The Motorola Moto G 5G measures 6.47 by 2.95 by 0.32 inches (HWD) and weighs 6.84 ounces, making it slightly smaller than the Galaxy A15 (6.30 by 3.02 by 0.33 inches, 7.09 ounces) as well as its more expensive sibling, the $299.99 Moto G Power 5G (6.58 by 3.01 by 0.33 inches, 7.09 ounces), but bigger and heavier than last year's model (6.45 by 2.95 by 0.32 inches, 6.67 ounces).

(Credit: Sarah Lord)

The 6.6-inch screen sits between the6.7-inch Moto G Power and the 6.5-inch Galaxy A15. It has a resolution of1,612 by 720 pixels, which is similar to that of last year's Moto G and the TCL 40X 5G ($179.99). The Galaxy A15 offers a more impressive resolution of 2,340 by 1,080 pixels while the Moto G Power is 2,400 by 1,080. Both the TCL 40X and the Galaxy A15 have 90Hz refresh rates, while the Moto 5G runs up to 120Hz for smoother scrolling.

(Credit: Sarah Lord)

I find the screen to be a little on the dark side; it only reaches 430 nits of brightness. The A15 can get significantly brighter at 800 nits. The colors of the Moto G screen are vivid enough for indoor use, but I struggle to read the screen outdoors under direct sunlight. Thin bezel wraps around the top and sides of the screen but thickens up a bit below the display. It's easy to spot the selfie camera, which is contained in a small hole at the top of the display.

(Credit: Sarah Lord)

Vegan leather adorns the rear panel. It only comes in a Sage Green finish and is smoother and less plush than the same material on the Moto G Power. Despite its slightly cheaper feel, I found it to stay cleaner. Dust, hair, and debris slide off the phone instead of sticking to its textured back as on the G Power. The material also adds just enough grip to make the phone feel secure and generally pleasant to hold. The raised camera module—also covered in vegan leather—is relatively modest in size and makes for a clean overall appearance.

(Credit: Sarah Lord)

The bottom edge of the phone includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port, and a single down-firing speaker. The power button and two separate volume keys sit along the right side. All three buttons make satisfying clicking sounds and feel firm when pressed. There’s also a combined tray for SIM and microSD cards tucked into the left edge. Both the Galaxy A15 and the 40X also have a headphone jack and expandable storage.

(Credit: Sarah Lord)

Biometric security is available via a fingerprint scanner built into the power button and facial recognition that relies on the front-facing camera. Both work well, though I prefer using the fingerprint reader for its stronger security.

Unlike many phones in this price range, the Moto G has an official IP52 rating, which protects the phone from accidental spills, splashes, sweat, and light rain. It cannot be submerged. Neither the A15 nor the 40X have an IP rating.

Uneven Performance

The Moto G comes with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, though you can expand the storage capacity up to 1TB with a microSD card. The phone uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 system on a chip (SoC), which is a small step up from the Snapdragon 480+ in last year’s Moto G. Navigating around the user interface is hit or miss. Sometimes I encountered a slight delay when opening apps or moving from page to page, especially when I had multiple apps open at once.

I used benchmarks to see how it compares with other phones. On the Geekbench 6 test, which evaluates CPU power, the Moto G scored 814 on the single-core test and 1,957 on the multi-core test. That’s just slightly better than the Galaxy A15, which scored 704 and 1,855 on the same tests with a MediaTek 6835 chip. Though, curiously, the Galaxy A15 feels much smoother in real-world usage.

(Credit: Geekbench 6.0)

The Moto G wasn't able to run the GFXBench Aztec Ruins test at all, which helps determine graphics performance. The app froze and crashed every time I attempted it. On GFXBench, the TCL 40X managed to reach 5.7 frames per second (fps), while the Galaxy A15 hit 8.6fps.Neither of these scores is that impressive, but at least the phones were able to run the test.

Unsurprisingly, I had a difficult time playing graphically intensive games such as Genshin Impact. The game quit in the middle of play multiple times, though I was sometimes able to get it to work for a little while. I had to run it on the lowest settings and even then it stuttered during combat. Moreover, the phone got somewhat warm during my thirty minutes of play, though it wasn't too hot to touch. Both the A15 and the 40X offer better gaming performance.

Strong Battery Life

I tested the Moto G's 5,000mAh battery by playing an HD YouTube video over Wi-Fi with the screen at full brightness. The phone lasted 12 hours and 9 minutes on a single charge. The Galaxy A15 and TCL 40X, which also have 5,000mAh batteries, lasted 14 hours and 3 minutes and 11 hours and 13 minutes, respectively, when tested in the same manner. While the Moto G comes in at the middle of the pack, all of these results are pretty good.

(Credit: Sarah Lord)

Both the Moto G and the TCL 40X support fast charging up to 18W, but neither can charge wirelessly. Wireless charging isn’t available on the Galaxy A15 either, but it does support up to 25W wired charging.

Motorola includes an 18W charger in the box. In testing, it took 1 hour and 50 minutes to fully recharge the phone. The Galaxy A15 took 1 hour and 30 minutes, while the TCL 40X took 2 hours and 25 minutes.

Average Connectivity

The Moto G 5G connects with most sub-6GHz 5G, including C-band. Like the Galaxy A15 and TCL 40X, it lacks access to the fastest mmWave 5G service. The phone supports eSIM, so you don’t need to have a physical SIM card to connect to a carrier.

(Credit: Sarah Lord)

I tested the phone on T-Mobile. Coverage in my area isn’t strong, but the phone pulled an average of 109.1Mbps down and pushed an average of 26.2Mbps up. In comparison, an iPhone 14 Pro averaged 126.4Mbps down and 36.59Mbps up when tested in the same location.

The Moto G supports Wi-Fi 5 and not the newer Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7. It performed poorly when I tested it on my home network, with download speeds of just 45.8Mbps and upload speeds of 22.3 Mbps. The iPhone 14 Pro (with Wi-Fi 6) grabbed 245Mbps down and 20.6Mbps up when tested in the same spot. Interestingly, the Moto's speeds were about the same when I moved to the edge of the Wi-Fi network, scoring 36.2Mbps down and 22.2Mbps up, while the iPhone 14 Pro could not connect at all.

(Credit: Sarah Lord)

Call quality is clear and the phone does a good job of blocking out background noise. The earpiece reaches up to 71.7dB, while the speakerphone gets up to 88.8dB. You should be able to hear the person on the other line no matter your environmental conditions.

The phone supports Dolby Atmos and does an admirable job of hitting the bass notes in our test track, "Silent Shout" by The Knife. You’ll have no problem filling a small room with sound from the phone. You can also listen to your music with headphones or speakers via Bluetooth 5.1, or through wired headphones via the 3.5mm jack.

NFC is also onboard for mobile payments.

Below-Average Cameras

The main camera has a 50MP sensor at f/1.8 that bins shots down to 12.5MP. It's paired with a 2MP macro camera at f/2.4 and a front-facing 8MP camera for selfies. The camera app only has two modes: standard and macro, denoted by a 1x and a flower icon in the viewfinder.

Main camera (Credit: Sarah Lord)

The main camera has a hard time capturing detail, even in bright light, and shots are generally noisy.

Main camera with digital zoom (Credit: Sarah Lord)

As you can see, the branches on the pine tree are fuzzy and pixelated, while pine cones appear washed out. Details are nonexistent. And colors look uneven and blotchy.

Macro camera (Credit: Sarah Lord)

The macro camera suffers from similar issues. The shots I took appear noisy and grainy even in bright light.

Selfie camera (Credit: Sarah Lord)

The selfie camera works surprisingly well. It did a decent job of capturing my dog even though I took this photo inside on a cloudy day.

The phone can record in full HD resolution at 30fps. Video quality is on par with still images, which is to say, it has poor color and plenty of noise. It’s fine for a quick recording to share with your friends, but that’s about it.

Too Much Bloatware

The Moto G runs Android 14 and will receive just one Android update along with three years of security updates. Samsung’s Galaxy A15 will receive four OS upgrades and five years of security updates, making it a better long-term investment.

(Credit:Sarah Lord)

Like the Moto G Power, the Moto G comes with far too many preinstalled apps, including Booking.com, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Walmart. The default home screen includes folders for Google and Motorola apps, along with folders for Entertainment and Shopping.These folders contain some bloatware, as well as a rotating carousel of suggested apps, deals, and ads that will display notifications if you're not careful where you click during setup. You can remove all of these apps and folders, but it would be preferable if they weren't there in the first place.

Affordable, But Not the Best Value

The Motorola Moto G 5G looks better on paper than it does in your hands. The specs are all seemingly there, but they don't quite add up to a phone we recommend without reservations. The 6.6-inch screen is sizable and fast, but its low resolution and lack of brightness take away from the experience. Performance leaves a lot to be desired, and the camera simply isn't very good. For the same price, you’re much better off with the Samsung Galaxy A15 5G, our Editors' Choice for affordable phones, which outperforms the Moto G in just about every category.