Motorola Moto G Power (2021) review

The Motorola Moto G Power is a $ 200 phone that does exactly what it says – provides power for several days of use – but don’t expect any more rings or whistles.

The battery is the problem with this phone. Its 5,000 mAh battery is almost as big as it is now; it’s the same capacity you’ll find on top of the line devices like the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Instead of making a more complete phone, Motorola reduced resources here and there – a low resolution screen, a slower processor – and moved all-in on its main feature. Cheaper components allow Motorola to sell a $ 200 version of this phone, and they also consume less power, making the most of this huge battery.

This device has the same name as its predecessor from last year, but differs in some important ways. Instead of offering a model, this year G Power is offered in the aforementioned $ 200 variant, with 3 GB of RAM and a meager 32 GB of storage. There is also an option of 4 GB of RAM / 64 GB of storage available for $ 250 (I tested the 32 GB version). This year’s models abandon the ultra-wide camera and get a slightly larger screen – 6.6 inches compared to 6.4 inches – with 720p resolution lower than last year’s 1080p.

If you decide to buy the Moto G Power, it will play its part in the bargain. The question is whether you can live with the significant sacrifices Motorola has made to make the largest battery possible in the most affordable phone possible.

Moto G Power screen and performance

The Moto G Power has a 6.6 inch LCD with 720p resolution. It’s not much of a resolution to stretch on a fairly large screen, and it shows. The images are not as sharp as they could be and the screen in general looks a little dark and faded to me. The phone itself is large, although I find it slightly more comfortable to use with one hand than the slightly larger 6.7-inch Motorola One 5G Ace.

The G Power uses a Snapdragon 662 processor, and I felt the difference between it and the performance of a 700 series step-up chipset. It’s an extra slow beat to switch between applications and open the camera. It requires more time to capture and process images in Portrait and Night Vision modes than Ace with the same main camera sensor. And heavier tasks, like getting in and out of Google Maps navigation, show a noticeable stutter. That said, you will have a hard time finding substantially better performance in the $ 200 price range.

In short, Power handles day-to-day tasks, plays videos and navigates properly. I simply noticed the delays while using the phone, which, over the course of a day, was an unsatisfactory experience. But for a $ 200 phone, he gets the job done.

G Power offers expandable storage through a microSD card slot, which seems necessary here. In the 32 GB version I tested, 14 GB of that storage is already occupied by Android 10 files. This is simply not enough in 2021. You can pay $ 50 more for the 64 GB model, but it also seems to spend a lot to get very little. If you buy this phone, make a quote for a microSD card.

Motorola will offer an upgrade to Android 11 and says it will provide security updates for the G Power by January 2023. Until then, years of updates are likely to slow down the phone.

Moto G Power battery

Moto G Power offers in its main feature. I started on Monday with a fully charged battery. I watched an episode of Bridgerton, you know, to test. I sailed through the city and came back. I was on Instagram … a lot. E-mail, web browsing, rinse and repeat; on the third day of moderate use, it dropped to just 40%.

Even after a trip out of the house with lots of pictures, I go to the fourth day with a 26% battery and just under six hours of screen on. I charged my personal phone at least three times during that time. We have already gone through about 12 news cycles. I myself have aged at least two years. But the Moto G Power continues.

Undoubtedly, the slightly slower processor and low-power display help to increase these numbers. I left the screen with the standard brightness while testing it, which is a little darker than I prefer. It certainly doesn’t seem overly bright at its maximum setting, so an additional impact on battery life is something to consider if you like a bright screen.

Remember that I spent a lot of that time at home using Wi-Fi, which is easier with the battery. In times without a pandemic, I would have spent more time away from home with cell data. And six hours of viewing doesn’t exactly make me an advanced user.

If you spend more time on data and do more energy-consuming tasks, like watching a lot of videos, you would probably look at more than two full days. In any case, Motorola’s claim of up to three days of battery life is entirely reasonable and you can do even better than spending most of your time on Wi-Fi.

Moto G Power Camera

G Power offers a 48-megapixel main camera that produces 12-megapixel images, a 2-megapixel macro camera and a depth sensor to help create photos in portrait mode. There is also an 8 megapixel selfie camera.

The G Power uses the same main camera as the One 5G Ace and, likewise, takes good pictures with good lighting. He evaluates the exposure well and captures many details, especially with close subjects. When your AI recognizes a scene as a landscape, the colors look appropriately vibrant, but on the other hand, they tend to be flat, faded colors. In less suitable lighting conditions, things get a little more complicated, where noise reduction stains many details. In high contrast scenes where the camera has lighter shadows, there is a good deal of noise and / or visible noise reduction.

As with Ace, Night Vision tends to produce a faded-looking image and, in this case, requires you and the subject to stand still for several seconds. There is some noticeable shutter lag in all photo modes – enough to make you wonder for a fraction of a second whether you actually touched the shutter button – and the screen is slow to rotate in portrait mode.

This camera is good, and that’s good for a $ 200 phone. The Moto G Power lacks the processing power to produce more sophisticated HDR or low-light photography – for that, you need to upgrade to the $ 4 Pixel 4A 350. He also won’t be able to keep up with fast subjects, or even slow subjects in low light, but this is usually a struggle for phones priced well over $ 200.

If you have a limited budget and a long battery life is a must, look no further than Moto G Power. However, I hesitate to recommend it to someone who does not fit that description. You’ll be making sacrifices to get that $ 200 price and a multi-day battery. Basic storage is very anemic and the speed is noticeably pokey.

If you have some flexibility in your budget, the $ 300 OnePlus N10 5G is a great upgrade choice with a better processor and camera. A little more than that would give you a Pixel 4A with an excellent camera and a well-supported device with greater longevity.

If $ 200 is the limit of your budget, G Power is a good choice – especially since there are few other options at that price. In addition to its multi-day battery, it has a better processor than its $ 100-150 competitors and you are unlikely to find a substantially better screen or camera for that price. Be aware of your limitations and have a little patience.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge