In recent years, Motorola has been making a range of good smartphones that cover different price levels, from affordable to mid-range and even high-end models. The Motorola G84, which costs around 20,000 rupees in India or approximately 250 euros, is a pretty well-balanced phone for its price.
While there are a few trade-offs due to the lower price, it’s a great deal if you don’t play demanding games and if you plan to use the phone for a couple of years.
Also Read: Is Motorola Edge Plus Worth Buying in 2023?
Design and Build
The first thing that’s really impressive about this phone is how light it is – it only weighs 167 grams. Motorola has also included a generous 5000 milliamp-hour battery, and surprisingly, the phone doesn’t feel cheap. The weight is distributed evenly, and it’s comfortable to hold. The phone even has an IP54 rating, which means it’s resistant to dust and water, so it can handle minor water splashes and light rain.
I particularly like the soft and grippy leather finish on the back, and the Viva magenta color is the Pantone color of the Year 2023, although it would be better if they didn’t include that label. If you don’t like this color, you can choose from marshmallow blue and midnight blue options.
Overall, for a phone under 20,000 rupees, the G84 looks great and feels comfortable to use for long periods. The buttons are well-placed, and there’s a convenient fingerprint sensor for added security.
Also Read: Should You Buy Google Pixel 6A at 25K in 2023?
Motorola G84 Display
I’m also really impressed with the quality of this P-OLED display – it’s hands down the best display you can get at this price. The touch response is excellent, and the colors look fantastic, making it great for both interacting with the phone and watching videos.
Additionally, there are two color profiles to choose from: saturated and natural, along with a temperature slider for some extra adjustments. I’m using the default saturated mode, which gives vibrant and lively colors, but you can switch to the natural option for more accurate color representation.
Moreover, this display is quite bright for outdoor use and can be dimmed to a very low level for nighttime use.
Speakers
I also appreciate the audio quality of its stereo speakers. It may not be top-tier for music enthusiasts, but for watching movies and shows, it does the job.
On the downside, there’s a bit of a quirky story here: I’ve been using the Moto G84 for nearly two weeks, and one thing I really miss is a good vibration motor. The feedback feels buzzy and weak, which makes typing on it not a very pleasant experience.
Also Read: Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are Worth Upgrade?
Performance
Surprisingly, the day-to-day performance of this phone is better than I expected, thanks to the Snapdragon 695 processor and the 12 GB of RAM or the clean Moto user interface – I’m not entirely sure. If you’re not a heavy user, this phone should handle your daily needs well, like switching between a few apps, watching movies, and playing lightweight games.
It would have been even better if they could include a newer Snapdragon or MediaTek chipset, but I think Motorola wanted to offer that unique combination of 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage under 20,000 rupees.
On the gaming front, you can’t enjoy 60fps gaming here because popular titles like PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty run at around 30 FPS with occasional dips. GPU-intensive games like Genshin Impact and eFootball aren’t enjoyable, even at the lowest settings, due to frame rate drops. Additionally, the Snapdragon 695 chipset limits you from playing HD videos and recording videos in 4K.
The battery life has been consistently good on this phone, providing around six to six and a half hours of screen-on time. If you’re not heavily into gaming or recording videos (which this phone isn’t meant for), you can easily expect it to last from 6 AM to 10 PM on a single charge.
Charging is quite efficient too with the included 33-watt charger, taking about 2 hours to fully charge the phone.
Also Read: Is Samsung A13 5G Worth Buying in 2023?
Camera
I’ve found the photography on the Moto G84 to be quite decent. When I compared its 50-megapixel primary lens with the 108-megapixel lens of the Note 3 Lite, most of the time, the 50-megapixel camera produced sharper photos. The colors are a bit vibrant but not unpleasant.
For example, when I took a photo of my friend Darwin in low light, the G84 outperformed the Note 3 Lite because the Moto phone has optical image stabilization (OIS). The low-light photos generally have better exposure control. However, the portrait mode needs improvement – it has too much contrast, and the processing of facial shadows is not great. I hope Motorola addresses this with an update soon.
Lately, I’ve noticed a trend with mid-range phones where their cameras seem to degrade in quality after a few months following their launch. This has been the case with phones like the Note 3 Lite and some Redmi and Poco devices.
Software
First, it only receives one version of the OS update, which feels a bit limited. Motorola could have provided two years of OS updates for a better user experience. Additionally, there’s no protection for the display, or at least it’s not Gorilla Glass. As you can see, I managed to scratch the screen quite easily.
Conclusion
Overall, I believe the Moto G84 is a well-balanced mid-range phone. It boasts a bright display, good speakers, excellent battery life, smooth day-to-day performance, a clean user interface, and a comfortable design. It certainly deserves a recommendation in the under 20,000 rupees price range.
Alright, everyone, that’s my full review of the newly launched Motorola G84.