Over All Rating 4/5
Price Starts From ₹ 9,999
PROS 👍
- 120Hz display
- Respectable performance
- Exquisite design
CONS 👎
- Low outdoor visibility
- Weak low-light camera performance
It’s been a busy year for those at Motorola. The Edge series has created a loud buzz in the mid-range smartphone market, and the Razr series has yet again returned high rewards. But the G series is definitely not one to be forgotten, having given the company some of its most popular handsets in the country over the years. At first glance, the G45 5G looks like a neat package. Given its price, it’s hard to believe that a 120Hz display and a Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 chip have been crammed into such an affordable offering. The Rs 9,999 starting price has helped it grab headlines and eyeballs alike, but can it convert all that hype into a decent user experience? Can it become the only handset you’d recommend to anyone looking for a phone under Rs 10,000? Let’s find out in this in-depth review.
Moto G45 5G: In-depth Review
Design
Motorola phones have been praised a lot for their vegan leather backs, and I’m happy to report that the G45 5G has gone the same route. It’s surprising how soft and natural the surface feels despite using synthetic material. It won’t be farfetched to say that it’s got the best rear surface in the sub-Rs 10,000 price bracket. This finish even extends to the camera cluster that’s housed inside a minor bump. The phone’s metallic frame blends effortlessly with the rest of the device, and so do the power and volume buttons.
One caveat though, is that both the volume rocker and the power button are placed on the right-hand side, leaving the former completely out of reach during one-handed use. But the power button is easy to reach and doubles up as a pretty fast fingerprint reader. On the bottom, a USB Type-C port occupies space, along with a 3.5mm jack and a speaker grille. On the front is a punch-hole that the interface nicely hides most of the time, and a humble chin that doesn’t bother the eyes much. There’s grace in this phone’s design and that definitely creates a lasting impression.
Display and sound
A number of phones priced cheaper than the Moto G45 5G are offering FHD+ displays, which is why it’s a pity that it has opted for an HD+ panel. The lack of more pixels severely limits your entertainment experience, whether it’s games you’re playing or YouTube videos you’re watching. However, when it comes to merely navigating the interface, this flaw is inconspicuous. Most of the credit for this goes to the fact that this panel bears a 120Hz refresh rate. This is one area where the Moto G45 5G is definitely thumping its main rivals. Having such plush smoothness and snappiness on your side definitely translates into a satisfying user experience. That said, a big downside of this panel is its low overall brightness, which limits outdoor visibility a good deal.
The Moto G45 5G has unsurprisingly opted for dual stereo speakers that have Dolby Atmos support. While watching movies on loudspeaker, they do make up for some of the sheen that’s lost due to the low-resolution display. Overall, consuming content on this phone is a mixed bag if you’re someone who demands certain standards of immersiveness. If you aren’t one of them, you should be just fine.
Performance and battery life
The 6nm Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 chip at the heart of this phone sounds like an admirable choice at this price point, but looking at its specs tells you it’s just old wine in a new bottle. It’s a slightly evolved version of the much-admired Snapdragon 695 chip from back in the day. Six Cortex-A55 cores clocked at up to 2GHz handle the low-performance tasks, while dual Cortex-A78 cores take care of intensive workloads. It’s these high-performance cores that have received a minor bump in their clock speeds to warrant a name change for the Qualcomm SoC – they’re now clocked at 2.3GHz instead of 2.2GHz. What you need to know about this phone’s performance is that the user interface doesn’t lag one bit and the apps open and close open in a snap.
The gaming performance can be described as respectable. I was able to go through entire sessions of BGMI – on HD graphics settings – without noticing any significant graphical issues. But while playing the more demanding Asphalt Legends: Unite, the experience was different. The game would load but completely crash when run on its default graphics settings, forcing me to switch to the performance mode. This finally allowed me to play it but with severely curtailed graphics that made it look like an arcade game from the 1990s, taking away all the fun. One never expects a sub-Rs 10,000 phone to run such games anyway. What one does expect them to run are casual games and I’m happy to report that the likes of Subway Surfers, Candy Crush Saga, Monument Valley 2, and more have absolutely no problem offering a smooth gaming experience.
Like most phones in its price bracket, the Moto G45 5G grabs a 5,000mAh battery. That’s a large enough capacity to provide a full day’s charge with this kind of hardware, but does it go beyond that? On most days, the answer was a ‘no’ for me. With my daily usage, I noticed that the battery consumption was pretty aggressive, and sometimes, I was left with only around 15 percent juice in the phone at the end of the day. My usage during these scenarios included half-hour gaming sessions twice a day and the daily mish-mash of WhatsApp messaging, Reel-scrolling, and email replying. Minus the gaming, though, the situation could be much different, but that depends on individual usage. The phone charges at 18W, and its included charger is rated at 20W. It usually took 96 minutes for it to go from 0 to 100 percent. Video viewing on YouTube is surprisingly well-optimised, though. During our video test, the phone only lost 4 percent of its power in 30 minutes.
Camera
One way to describe the camera of the Moto G45 5G is that it does its job. Most of the time, anyway. The 50MP sensor might have a high resolution, but its tiny 1/2.76-inch size prevents it from working any magic the moment the light decreases ever so slightly. In low-light shots, noise levels are quite high, and details get sacrificed. In daytime shots, the camera holds its own in terms of details and sharpness. An easy availability of filters lets you tweak the look of your shots on the fly. I experienced no issues in focusing, but one might be slightly irked by the delay felt after tapping the shutter button. As for the videos, don’t expect extravagance here, either. The camera captures standard 1080p clips at 30fps that are just enough for creating memories. Apart from the main camera, the Moto G45 5G even ships with an 8MP macro unit. It does its job well but misses out on the focus sometimes.
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- Selfie shot
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- Main camera shot
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- Macro mode shot
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- Main camera shot
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- Low light selfie shot
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- Macro mode shot
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- Low light shot
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- Low light shot
I have to say; I was pleasantly surprised by the selfie performance of this phone. But again, this applies only to daytime shots in well-lit environments. They come out bearing slick details and admirable clarity. Beautification settings exist but they don’t get too aggressive. The focus here is more on skin smoothening than anything else. One weird little issue I noticed in the Camera app is that once you switch to the no beautification option, you just cannot switch back to any other option. Closing the app and launching it again is the only way to use the feature again. Satisfactory would be the most appropriate word to describe the entire camera experience of the Moto G45 5G.
Software
Motorola’s legacy of providing bloat-free Android is far behind it, but the bloat in the Moto G45 5G’s software is nowhere near how intrusive it is on some of its competitors. So, with the right steps, you can still ensure an uninterrupted Android experience. This would include uninstalling the folder apps that bunch Entertainment apps, Games, and Shopping apps into separate folders, that take an eternity to open. The Motohub widget, powered by Glance, is also worth removing right away. Something that you shouldn’t remove is the set of Moto’s very own apps, as they guide you to some useful features included in the software. Among them is the Moto Secure app that allows you to lock sensitive data and even apps behind a passcode. At the base of it all is Android 14 with Motorola’s My UX skin. From accent colours to fonts and icon shapes, everything can be customised to your liking, so there’s no room for complaints in that department.
Verdict
There’s no denying the fact that there’s tremendous value for money in the Moto G45 5G. During the extensive testing that we conducted, we found it to be a solid device that serves every basic function of a smartphone. But the moment I started to expect a little bit of finesse from it, that’s when it disappointed me. Still, it’s all good since the price of the device is dizzyingly low compared to the kind of features it offers. I would definitely recommend it to those who want to purchase a solid daily driver under Rs 10,000.
Specification
| Display: | 6.5 inches IPS LCD |
| Camera: | 50MP primary sensor; 8MP macro sensor |
| RAM: | 8GB |
| Processor: | Qualcomm Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 (6 nm) |
| Battery: | 5,000mAh |
| OS: | Android 14 |
