There is a new Moto smartphone that's turning heads, and it's not in the premium Edge series. The Moto G54 is creating a lot of buzz with its eye-catching looks, smooth performance, and all-day battery, all on a budget.
Despite a dip in sales, the $100-200 smartphone segment remains massive, making up 44% of the market, as per IDC. Recognizing this opportunity, Motorola is challenging brands like Samsung and Xiaomi with new launches like the G54 and G84.
The Moto G54 starts at Rs 14,999 and is available in India on Flipkart.com and Motorola's offline retail partner stores.
Design
Moto G54 manages to pack a hefty 6,000 mAh battery without feeling bulky. Its compact, lightweight design (192g) and silky matte finish on the back make it easy to grip with one hand. In addition to the classic black finish, the handset also comes in stunning mint green and cool pearl blue colors. It also packs in a 3.5mm audio jack and a side-facing fingerprint sensor.
Display
The 6.5-inch LCD display is big enough for reading, browsing the web, and watching YouTube videos. It offers peak brightness of up to 560 Nits and screen resolution of 1,920x1,080p. The screen-to-body ratio is 85% with slightly wide bezels below the screen.
While the Moto G54's display delivers decent visuals, it has some quirks. Colors and details are adequate for casual browsing and watching YouTube or Instagram Reels. However, gamers might find the color reproduction a bit too punchy, with colors appearing a bit oversaturated.
Performance
The Moto G54 runs on MediaTek’s 6nm Dimensity 7020 processor, which matches the Snapdragon 695 in CPU benchmarks, gaming smoothness, and battery performance. Whether it is multitasking or running demanding apps, Moto G54’s 8GB RAM + 2GB RAM boost delivers consistently reliable performance.
This phone feels incredibly responsive thanks to its 120Hz display. Even demanding games like Asphalt 9 run smoothly. However, keep in mind that it is not cut out for gaming and you can feel that in games such as eFootball 24 that have not been optimized for budget phones.
With 128GB of internal storage and the option to expand it to up to 1TB with a microSD card, the Moto G54 offers ample space for data hoarders. However, the shared SIM/microSD slot forces you to choose between using two SIM cards or expanding storage. Like most smartphones these days, even at this price point, the Moto G54 offers 5G connectivity. According to IDC, 52% of the 5G smartphone shipped in Q3 2023 were in $100-200 price segment.
Battery
The phone’s 6,000mAh battery comfortably goes beyond a full day with moderate to heavy use, including gaming (Asphalt 9), watching YouTube videos, and scrolling through Instagram reels. Though many phones under 20k offer fast charging, the Moto G54 sticks with 33W. But its massive battery lasts a full day, so fast charging is not that big a miss.
While some users mention overheating concerns with gaming and camera use, my experience with this particular unit has been positive. I haven't noticed any excessive heat during gaming or charging, and even extended use as a Wi-Fi hotspot went smoothly.
The phone's battery life was evaluated using a 4G SIM card. Keep in mind that 5G networks generally drain battery faster, so your experience may differ if you primarily use 5G.
Camera
This phone's 50MP camera falls short in a few key areas. First, the resolution options are confusing, lacking specific details about megapixels. While the camera app boasts features like clicking selfies with gesture and smile, AI scene detection, a pro mode, and even a macro mode, its capabilities are limited. The low-resolution 2MP macro sensor, in particular, struggles with blurry and washed-out results. Despite the variety of modes, image quality ultimately holds this camera back.
Even in good lighting, this phone's high-resolution photos look washed out and lacking in detail. Background blur can also be inconsistent, making objects appear muddy at times. If you prioritize camera quality, consider brands like Samsung or Xiaomi instead. The 16MP front camera is average but can muster adequate detail in selfies for posting on social media.
Software
The Moto G54 stands out with a pure stock Android experience, free from bloatware and irrelevant apps. It runs on Android 13 out of the box and is expected to get Android 14 update along with 3 years of security updates.
While Motorola includes some essential system and security apps, they seem useful.
For instance, the Moto Secure app has an inbuilt antivirus that runs regular scans, offers device encryption, blocks connecting the phone to a PC using USB debugging mode to minimize the risk of compromise.
Also, it can detect root privileges and any attempt at unauthorized modification of software. Most Android phones barring Samsung don't offer in-built security tools like this. There is also a Secure Folder app for keeping sensitive data and files locked away to prevent unauthorized access.
Verdict
The Moto G54 shines with long battery life, smooth performance, clean software, and sleek design, but the camera falls short compared to other options in the $100-200 segment.
For slightly more (Rs 17,999), the Redmi Note 13 offers a superior 200MP camera with 3x optical zoom, a bigger 6.67-inch AMOLED display with Gorilla glass 5 protection and 93% screen-to-body ratio. It also weighs just 173g. There is also Samsung Galaxy M34 (Rs 15,999), which packs a 6,000mAh battery, 6.5-inch AMOLED screen with Gorilla glass 5, and promises four major Android updates on top of Android 13.