Moto G Power (2022) review: A step back for Motorola's long-lasting phone

Our Verdict

The Moto Yard Power (2022) lasts a long time on a charge and the 64GB model costs less than last year's version. Just an under-powered processor leads to laggy app launches, and you may be better off with the 2021 version if yous want a long-lasting device without the sluggishness.

For

• Bombardment lasts all twenty-four hour period and so some
• 6.5-inch screen is a pleasure to look at
• Helpful gesture back up
• More storage in base model

Confronting

• Noticeable lags when launching apps
• Camera struggles with lighting
• Dim brandish
• Only ane Android update

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Moto G Ability (2022) lasts a long time on a charge and the 64GB model costs less than terminal twelvemonth'south version. Merely an nether-powered processor leads to laggy app launches, and you may be meliorate off with the 2021 version if you want a long-lasting device without the sluggishness.

Pros

• +

  Battery lasts all day and then some

• +

  6.5-inch screen is a pleasure to look at

• +

  Helpful gesture support

• +

  More than storage in base of operations model

Cons

• -

  Noticeable lags when launching apps

• -

  Camera struggles with lighting

• -

  Dim brandish

• -

  Only i Android update

Moto G Power (2022) specs

Starting price: $199
Display: 6.5-inch LCD (1600x720)
Refresh charge per unit: 90Hz
CPU: MediaTek Helio G37
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 64GB, 128GB
microSD: yes, up to 512GB
Rear cameras: 50MP chief (f/ane.viii), 2MP macro (f/2.four), 2MP depth sensor (f/2.4)
Forepart camera: 8MP (f/ii.0)
Battery size: 5,000 mAh
Bombardment life (hrs:mins): 13:15
Size: 6.6 x 3 x 0.37 inches
Weight: 7.2 ounces
Colors: Dark Grove, Ice Blueish

The Moto G Power has firmly established itself as the phone to get in Motorola's G Series lineup of budget handsets, and it's easy to understand why. If you desire one of the best cheap phones that lasts all day and then some on a single accuse, you turn to the Moto G Power, whether it was the 2020 or 2021 versions. With a pitch that straightforward, you can encounter why Motorola keeps cranking out new versions.

And the beat goes on with the Moto G Power (2022), which arrives not fifty-fifty a year afterward the Moto G Power (2021) made the scene. Motorola is eager to keep the long-lasting good times rolling. Merely while the latest Moto G Power still has the lengthy battery life enjoyed by its predecessors, Motorola's fabricated a primal change that makes the new phone a less compelling budget option than before.

Moto G Power (2022) review: Price and availability

The Moto G Power (2022) is starting to become on sale, though information technology sounds every bit if the rollout to unlike carriers and retailers will happen over the course of the next few months. You'll pay $199 for the 64GB version, which is an improvement over the Moto G Power 2021 — that phone only included 32GB of storage in its $199 version. Motorola volition too sell a 128GB Moto K Power (2022) for $249.

Apart from battery life, the low price of the Moto G Power has always been one of its most compelling features. That'southward especially the instance at present that yous tin can become a phone with a decent amount of storage for less than $200.

You can now buy the Moto Yard Ability from Metro past T-Mobile and Commonwealth Wireless. Motorola says the phone will also come to Verizon, Boost Mobile, Xfinity Mobile, AT&T, Cricket, Usa Cellular, and Google Fi. The telephone is too supposed to come to Amazon and Best Purchase, though it'southward not at that place as of this writing.

Moto G Power (2022) review: Pattern and display

There'due south no mistaking the Moto G Ability (2022) for anything other than a budget telephone, thanks to its plastic frame. And that's fine — I'm not expecting a $200 looker. At least, the One thousand Power is solidly built, and Motorola tries a few stylistic touches similar a screw blueprint on the phone'south back case that actually makes it piece of cake to grip.

(Prototype credit: Tom's Guide)

The rear camera assortment blends somewhat seamlessly into the back panel, and while the rear fingerprint sensor strays a lilliputian too close to the cameras — I prefer it down lower in the center of the phone's back — at least it's very responsive at unlocking the Moto Grand Power. Up front, the selfie camera is situated in a punch-pigsty cutout placed in the meridian-middle of the phone's 6.five-inch LCD screen.

About that display: it defies the Moto Yard Power's budget telephone roots by featuring vibrant colors and a 90Hz refresh charge per unit. Well-nigh phones in this toll range stick with 60Hz. As a outcome, scrolling is a fiddling bit smoother on the Moto G Power (2022) than on many rivals and its predecessors.

I enjoyed watching video on the phone as well. Steaming Moana on Disney Plus, I was struck by the purples, pinks, and oranges of the sky stretching across the shimmering Pacific Ocean; the strands of Moana'due south hair blowing in the breeze were like shooting fish in a barrel to spot, too. According to our tests, the Moto G Plus (2022) captured 94.half-dozen% of the sRGB colour spectrum — the equally low-priced OnePlus Nord N200 5G registered 160.7% — but I thought the telephone recreated those colors well. They're certainly accurate, every bit evidenced by the 0.23 Delta-Due east rating we recorded for the Moto 1000 Ability; for context, the OnePlus Nord N200 had a 0.26 rating. (The closer to cipher, the more authentic the colors.)

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

I but had a couple complaints about the display on the Moto G Power (2022). With an average brightness of 407 nits, it'due south pretty dim. (For context, the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G is brighter, at 485 nits.) As a consequence, on bright, sunny days, you're going to demand to creepo that display up to maximum brightness, and you'll even so have a hard time making out details on the Moto Thousand Power's panel.

As well, similar other phones in the Moto K family, Motorola has given this ane a chunky bezel at the bottom of the display, which makes the half dozen.5-inch screen experience more cramped than it should be.

Moto Grand Ability (2022) review: Cameras

Not much has changed on the photographic camera front since the Moto Chiliad Power (2021). On the 2022 model, Motorola has bumped the sensor on the main camera to 50MP (upwardly from 48MP), but you lot still accept the aforementioned macro camera and depth sensor that the final Moto G Ability offered. That'due south not the worst thing in the world, as the older Moto G Power generally produced serviceable if not spectacular shots — certainly nothing you lot'd be embarrassed to post or share.

(Paradigm credit: Tom's Guide)

For the nigh role, the Moto One thousand Power (2022) yields the good-not-keen results of its predecessors, though this phone seemed to struggle a little more with color and tone than by Motorola camera phones. For photo comparisons, I tested it against a Pixel 4a 5G — a tough claiming for the Moto Grand Ability since Google'southward handset was 1 of the best camera phones on a budget until the Pixel 5a came along. Just I call back it illustrates the sacrifices y'all sometimes make with pic quality by opting for a cheaper phone.

1 of my neighbors has gone a petty crazy with the vacation decorations, and I call up the Moto G Ability does a fine job capturing the scene, with a brilliant, vibrant image that shows off the dissimilar colored lights and allows the inflatables in the background to stand up out. But cheque out that snowman in the middle of the shot — he's washed out, as the Moto G Power struggled with the shadows cast over the g. The Pixel 4a 5G shot is darker and less colorful, but more counterbalanced, and the details of each snowman are more visible.

Lighting conditions also proved tricky for the Moto Grand Ability when we move indoors nether the unflattering lights of my kitchen. The spatchcocked turkey in the Moto G Power shot looks somewhat jaundiced, every bit in that location's a yellow hue to the photo. The Pixel 4a 5G produces a warm photograph that compensates for the light and faithfully recreates the crispy skin and mahogany tones of this roast turkey.

I call back the Moto G Power did a apparent chore photographing this Christmas wreath hanging on our front door when using the camera'south Dark Vision fashion. You tin make out the private lights, and the pine needles await pretty striking in the shadows. But there's a reason Google is the male monarch of night shots — it does a ameliorate task emphasizing the lite so that you lot can meet the greenness of the wreath bathed in the white light emanating from inside the house.

If I was disappointed by whatsoever shot the Moto Yard Power took, it was this movie of my daughter. Motorola includes a dedicated depth sensor for portrait shots, and yet the left half of my girl's face looks somewhat fuzzy and not every bit focused as the right half. The blur event is OK, but if yous zoom in, you see that strands of her hair got caught in the background blur. Her freckles are done out, also. The Pixel 4a 5G shot is handled far more successfully, with the actual subject of the shot in sharp focus.

Speaking of wasted lenses, I keep to believe that phone makers would be better off skimping on the number of cameras than including a defended macro lens like the Moto M Power does. This close-up of a flower in my backyard is all right — information technology's certainly more detailed than the Pixel 4a 5G's shot. (Because the Pixel lacks its ain macro photographic camera, I got up shut and switched to the ultrawide bending lens; that turned out to produce a not very compelling photograph, in all honesty.) That said, the macro shot produced past the Moto One thousand Power doesn't have a sharp focus and fails to call out the details on the petal. You accept to enquire yourself what's the betoken.

I'm more satisfied with what the Moto G Ability (2022)'s 8MP front camera did with this cocky-portrait. It's an accurate recreation of my face, even if the facial smoothing is a footling over-aggressive. Once again, the Pixel 4a 5G produces a warmer shot, which some people might prefer, but I see cypher wrong with how the Moto G Power handled the task.

Moto G Power (2022) review: Performance

As with the Moto G Pure, the new Moto Chiliad Power turns to MediaTek for its chipset. In the case of the Moto Grand Power, a MediaTek Helio G37 is running the evidence. It's probably not a coincidence that the aforementioned problems I experienced with the Moto G Pure's performance are also present in the Moto M Power (2022).

While not as laggy every bit the Moto 1000 Pure — there'south some high praise — in that location's however a noticeable filibuster between when yous tap on an app and when it launches. This is especially truthful with the camera app, where I can sometimes count all the way upwardly to three Mississippi from the time I launch the app to when it's actually fix to take a photo. You can play demanding games such equally PUBG Mobile on the Moto G Power (2022), but yous'll spot lags and hiccups every bit the phone struggles with the graphics. Information technology's not enough to foul up gameplay, but it definitely does not make for an immersive experience.

Benchmarks reveal more about the operation story. In Geekbench 5, the new Moto G Power posted single- and multicore scores of 177 and i,011. Those are really worse than what Moto One thousand Power (2021) and its Snapdragon 662 system-on-chip produced when we tested that phone before this year and got scores of 314 and 1,437, respectively. Essentially, Motorola has taken a big step backward with performance on this phone, after it previous delivered a pretty respectable showing for the price.

(Prototype credit: Tom's Guide)

The Moto G Ability (2022) lags behind other comparable phones, such as the Snapdragon 480 5G-powered OnePlus Nord N200. That phone posted Geekbench scores of 508 and 1,602. On the Sling Shot Extreme Unlimited graphics exam from 3DMark, the Nord N200'south score of 2,562 trounced the Moto G Power (2022)'southward 544 outcome.

While some members of the Moto G family have added 5G back up — the Moto G Stylus 5G is the best example — the Moto Chiliad Power (2022) remains an LTE telephone. That's non likely to concern deal hunters at this phase, though there are plenty of inexpensive phones from Samsung, OnePlus and — yes — Motorola that don't skimp on 5G connectivity.

Moto Thou Power (2022) review: Battery life and charging

If the Moto G Power'southward performance is dismal, especially when compared to its predecessors, at to the lowest degree information technology still provides the long-lasting battery life we've come to expect from this family unit of phones. On our battery test, in which nosotros have a phone surf the web continuously over cellular (T-Mobile LTE in this case), the Moto Thousand Power (2022) lasted 13 hours and 15 minutes before running out of power. Turning off its 90Hz refresh rate improved that fourth dimension but slightly to xiii hours and xx minutes.

Neither fourth dimension matches what the Moto Thou Power (2021) and Moto Yard Power (2020) did on our battery examination. Only it'south still the 3rd-best time we've seen in the last 18 months. Only the Nubia RedMagic 6 stands betwixt the Moto Yard Power (2022) and its predecessor on our best phone bombardment life listing.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Information technology is expert that the Moto G Power lasts a long time on a accuse, considering recharging the phone is not exactly a sprint, thanks to Motorola capping charging speed at 10W. After 30 minutes of charging a tuckered Moto K Power (2022), the phone was back to xx% ability. The OnePlus Nord N200, which features 18W charging, gets back to 32% in that time.

Moto One thousand Power (2022) review: Software and special features

The standard praise nosotros accept for Motorola'south My UX interface applies to the Moto G Power (2022). My UX is a clean implementation of Android, and the few additions Motorola makes are welcome ones, such as gesture shortcuts to accept screenshots, split up your screen or turn on the flashlight. Wallpapers and styles allow yous personalize the look of your telephone.

(Epitome credit: Tom's Guide)

Our usual criticism of Motorola's update policy applies, likewise. The Moto G Power (2022) ships with Android 11, and all you lot tin look from Motorola is an update to Android 12, which is already out. Y'all'll become bi-monthly security updates for two years, but the lack of Android updates beyond a version that was released 2 months ago does not speak well to this phone's longevity.

Moto G Ability (2022) review: Verdict

If you want a long-lasting phone above whatsoever other feature, the Moto M Ability has been the device to get, and the 2022 model lives up to that reputation. Unfortunately, the MediaTek chipset powering the Moto G Power (2022) is a big step back from previous editions, making information technology feel more than like a phone that sacrifices solid features for a lower price.

Further complicating matters is the fact that the Moto G Power (2021) is all the same bachelor and — considering of its more than powerful processor — a better option for a long-lasting phone than its successor. Aye, the Moto One thousand Ability (2021) will be stuck on Android 11, while buyers of the 2022 edition can expect an Android 12 update. But the 2021 phone didn't suffer from the noticeable delays in app launches that I saw when testing the Moto G Power (2022).

Put some other way, if yous were to lay downward the two virtually recent Moto G Ability models in forepart of me, I know which one I'd pick up. And in this case, newer does not mean meliorate.

Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom's Guide. He has potent opinions most Apple tree, the Oakland Athletics and sometime movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/moto-g-power-2022

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