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We tend to think that flagship phones get better year over year, but budget phones remain cheap and underpowered. And, that’s sort of true. Every new Galaxy phone or iPhone gets a brand-new processor and a performance boost while budget phones remain stuttery and underpowered. However, we’ve been blind to a trend in the smartphone industry lately. I was given the opportunity to review the Moto G Power – 2024, and this exemplifies that fact.
Just like flagship phones, the quality of budget phones increases as time goes on, it’s just not as fast as with flagship phones. While flagship phones improve each year, budget phones have been improving gradually over the years. Years back, any phone under $300 would be a stuttery mess. Nowadays, phones costing $299 or even $199 manage to offer solid experiences with smooth performance.
This is important to note because we’re seeing an interesting trend in the smartphone industry. Flagship phones are steadily getting more expensive, and the level of improvement between iterations is diminishing. However, budget phones are offering increasingly solid experiences at cheaper and cheaper price points.
This is something that plays into the Moto G Power – 2024’s favor. So, what makes this phone stand out, and should it be your next phone? Let’s find out in this review.
Moto G Power – 2024 Review: Design
As the years went on, the designs of budget phones have gotten progressively better. I’ve reviewed phones like the Infinix Note 30 Pro, Tecno Pova 6 Pro, and the Moto G 5G – 2024 (Review), and they all have designs that make me question their prices. The designs of budget phones have become high-quality and nuanced, and the Moto G Power – 2024 is no exception.
The design of this phone is in the same vein as the abovementioned Moto G 5G – 2024. The company went with a leather aesthetic for this device. This gives the phone a luxurious appearance that we expect from a more expensive handset. Honestly, I can’t take my eyes off of it.
It’s not just the leather material that makes it look gorgeous; there’s another layer to it. It’s how the leather fits into the overall design of the phone. Motorola went for a slightly boxy design for this phone, and I think that’s the best thing for the leather. It creates this no-nonsense aesthetic that I really like. Just like with the Moto G 5G – 2024, the Moto G Power – 2024 has an understated elegance that makes the design pop.
There’s a certain professionalism to the design that gives it the same energy as a worker in a business suit. It’s not flashy or over-the-top, but it’s well-refined.
The only thing that kind of kills the design for me is the camera package. You have this beautiful and bold boxy shape, but the camera package is oddly rounded. It throws off the whole aesthetic. I’d like it if the camera package matched the shape of the phone better. It just gives the phone an odd appearance that doesn’t reflect the level of refinement that I saw with the Moto G 5G – 2024. This phone is pretty to look at, but awkward.
Moto G Power – 2024 Review: Build quality
People often talk smack about Motorola’s phones, but you can’t say that the company constructs these phones poorly. I haven’t reviewed a Motorola phone that I needed to worry about babying. It doesn’t matter what price, I always feel that these phones are solidly built.
The case is no different with the Moto G Power – 2024. Sure, I’ve used solidly built Moto phones in the past, but I was still rather impressed when I first picked this phone up. There’s a satisfying heft that hits you right away. It lets you know that you’re using a phone that can take a hit and keep going.
One thing I referred to in my Moto G 5G – 2024 review was the feeling of density, and the Moto G Power – 2024 has that feeling. While this phone has a bit of thickness to it, it’s still rather compact. This, coupled with that satisfying heft makes the phone feel rather dense overall, and that’s a good feeling. It lets me know that the space within the phone is being used properly.
Not only that, but it lets me know that it’s using quality materials. It’s obvious that the company had to compromise on the frame of the phone; it’s made from plastic. Be that as it may, it still feels like a tough plastic. It doesn’t feel cheap and plasticy as some other phones would feel.
When it comes to the overall construction, I was also pleasantly satisfied. I bent the phone slightly from both sides just enough to hear a little bit of creaking coming from the phone. The creaking wasn’t substantial at all. I only heard it when I applied more force to the phone than necessary. Even though I didn’t apply a ton of force to it, the phone held its shape very well.
Overall, we all know that Motorola had to cut some costs and corners to keep the price down. However, I don’t think any of the cuts were to the build quality. This feels like a generally high-quality and well-built phone. I don’t just mean that for the price, I mean in general.
Moto G Power (2024) Review: Display
Years before, good displays were reserved for super-expensive phones, but we saw a huge shift in this department. Imagine seeing an LCD display on a $300 phone just five years ago. That would make anyone shudder. However, I think that display quality is one of the things that have improved the most on cheaper phones.
The Moto G Power – 2024 is a testament to that, as this phone was able to impress me in just about every aspect. Every once in a while, I forget just how beautiful LCD displays can look, and this is one of those phones that refresh my memory.
Brightness
Not to put you through the trauma again, but think back to that $300 phone from back in the day, and imagine using it out in the bright sun. Those were not fun days. Thankfully, things have changed for the better.
When I brought the Moto G Power – 2024 out into the bright sun, I was surprised with how visible the screen was. It’s definitely not as bright as the displays coming with flagship phones, but it’s still miles better than older phones. We were all used to having to cover our phone displays in the sun to keep from just seeing our reflection. Well, when using this phone in the light, everything was still perfectly visible. I’d say it’s around 900 nits, which is still a commendable number.
So, whether I’m scrolling through music, playing games, or watching content in the sun, I think that this screen’s brightness is just enough.
Colors
OLED displays are more saturated than LCDs, yes, we’ve known that for years. So, seeing a colorful OLED display is nothing special. I’ll tell you what’s special, seeing an LCD display with colors that can give an OLED a run for its money. That’s pretty much what the Moto G Power – 2024 has.
Obviously, if placed side-by-side with an OLED display, the colors will look washed out, but you’re not going to constantly be looking at this screen directly adjacent to an OLED.
I was impressed with how much color Motorola was able to squeeze into this display. Everything on the screen just pops with so much color. It’s the kind of screen that, at points, almost fools me into thinking that I’m looking at an OLED panel.
One thing about this display that really gets me is the overall balance of the colors. The display on the Moto G 5G – 2024 really shines when it comes to warmer colors like red, yellow, and orange. However, cooler colors were a little muted. They still look nice, but they lack that punch.
With this Moto G Power – 2024, colors across the board are juicy and nice to look at. Warm sunsets look nice, and so do sapphire-blue oceans. This makes for some stunning visuals.
Contrast
OLED displays have better contrast than LCD displays. Yes, we’ve also known that for years. Now, contrast on LCD displays has gotten better over the years, but companies haven’t been able to impress as much as with saturation.
The contrast on the Moto G Power – 2024’s display is definitely commendable. I can say that the blacks are pretty dark, and they lend to an overall nice picture. I wouldn’t say that it’s jaw-dropping. That’s to be expected, as there’s a limit to how dark the blacks can be on an LCD display. So, I think that the contrast is about as good as an LCD panel can produce.
Extras
When it comes to extra goodies, there aren’t many. Starting off, this screen has HDR support. This gives the content you’re watching a boost to the color saturation, details, contrast, ETC. Also, this is a smooth 120Hz display. So, everything you see on it will be smooth and fluid.
Overall
Affordable phones are not confined to having terrible displays anymore. We used to dread buying $300 phones because we knew that the viewing experience would be low-quality. However, as time went on, companies started giving us affordable phones that we could actually enjoy watching content on. I was pretty blown away by the quality of this screen. When I started watching content and playing games, I was impressed by how punchy and well-balanced the colors were. I was impressed with the overall smoothness and the amazing contrast.
I’d say that the display is one of the best qualities of this phone. Every time I turn it on, I’m greeted with an amazing visual experience.
Moto G Power – 2024 Review: Speakers
Just like with their displays, speakers on affordable smartphones have always been historically bad. If you’re saving money, you aren’t really concerned about having top-notch audio quality. So, the speakers on affordable phones would barely be passable.
Honestly, that remains true to this day for most phones. However, I’ve come across a few gems while reviewing phones. Some phones like the Galaxy A53 5G and the OnePlus Nord N30 redefine what affordable smartphone speakers can do. So, let’s see what the Moto G Power- 2024 can do.
To test the speakers, I did two things. Firstly, I just used the speakers in my day-to-day life. Also, I did a more scientific test. I crafted six short musical examples, and each of these examples accentuates one core aspect of a smartphone’s speakers: loudness, distortion, bass, treble, balance, vocals, and immersion. Both the distortion and loudness were tested using the same musical example. So, here’s a rundown of how this phone performed.
Loudness
In terms of loudness, I have no complaints. When the speakers are turned to full volume, they’re allowed enough to be heard clearly across the room. The example piece used to test the loudness is a very loud and punchy rock piece. Not only that, but I have no issues hearing the speakers when I am outside.
I played the example piece one foot away from a sound meter, and the speakers peaked at 84db. So, you don’t have to worry about this phone’s speakers feeling weak or underpowered.
Distortion
Smartphone speakers have come a long way in terms of reducing distortion. You’d expect an affordable smartphone’s speakers to distort wildly at higher volume levels. However, that wasn’t quite the case with this phone. I didn’t start hearing distortion until I was within one or two volume levels of the peak. The music remains clear until you get to the very top. I was actually really impressed.
Bass
One of the main pain points with affordable phone speakers is the lack of bass. We’re all used to hearing weak and tinny audio coming from them. Historically, the job has just been to do the bare minimum and protect the sound. It didn’t have to sound good.
However, Motorola put effort into making the speakers on the Moto G Power – 2024 sound good. It missed the mark and wound up making them sound great. These speakers are able to produce satisfying and warm bass. I was very surprised, as this phone retails for under $300.
The bass that the speakers produce is very immersive, and it’s so much better than this phone’s price would indicate.
Treble
It’s easy to overlook the treble performance of a set of speakers. Many companies focus on deep thumping bass, but they sometimes neglect the higher tones. However, just like a puzzle, every piece of the audio performance is important.
When it comes to treble, what you want to listen for is clarity. You want to make sure that all the higher tones project crisp and clear. Well, I think that the speakers on this phone handle that job very well. The higher tones are nice and tactile, and the distortion is very low.
Balance
With the bass and treble being reviewed separately, it’s time to put them together. It’s very important for a set of speakers to have very well-balanced audio. You want to make sure that neither the base nor the treble overpowers each other. Having a nice balanced sound makes for a much more enjoyable experience.
The test piece I listened to is a short musical example with a similar emphasis on both the treble and bass. I listened to see if any were overpowered. Overall, I feel that the treble overpowers the base just a bit. So, you will probably hear the higher tones a bit more than the lower tones. However, the sound is still overall balanced.
Vocals
You’re likely to listen to some songs on these speakers, and there are just those songs where the lyrics are more important than the music. This is why it’s important for a pair of speakers to properly project voices.
I think that, out of all of the phones I’ve tested, this is one of the best performers when it comes to vocals. I was extremely impressed because there are much more expensive phones that struggle to properly project vocals. However, with the Moto G Power – 2024, I can hear just about every detail in the voices. I was extremely surprised and very impressed.
Immersion
Phone speakers can sound really nice but drop the ball when it comes to immersion. It’s hard to put my finger on how to describe immersion, but it’s how the audio seems to surround you. It almost creates a surround-sound effect, and some speakers do a good job of doing this.
As for the Moto G Power – 2024, I’d say that the immersion is very good. There’s a nice wide and encompassing soundstage.
Editing the audio
There are several ways that you can edit the audio quality of the speakers. This is through the Dolby Atmos settings. The Moto G power2024 comes with Dolby Atmos support enabled by default, and there’s no way to disable it. So, you’re getting a Dolby-optimized audio experience from the get-go.
Out of the box, you will have a smart audio option that optimizes the audio based on the content you’re listening to. So, the audio will adjust itself depending on whether you’re watching videos, listening to music, gaming, or listening to podcasts. Under that, you will see five different settings. These are Music, Movie, Game, Podcast, and Custom settings. So, if you don’t want the system to automatically optimize the music based on the content you’re listening to, you can have the audio set to one of these Settings.
Within each of these settings, you have the option to further customize the audio. You can choose between different EQ presets. You can also enable or disable the surround virtualizer, which creates a surround sound experience to your connected device. Lastly, you can enable or disable the volume limiter.
If you dig into the custom settings, you will be able to manually customize a 10-band equalizer along with the aforementioned settings. These all give you very granular controls over your audio. So, if you like to tinker with your audio, then you will love these speakers.
Overall
Just like the display, the speakers on this phone really blew me away and completely shattered my expectations. I’m hearing qualities in these speakers that put much more expensive phones to shame. It’s clear that Motorola had a powerful media consumption experience in mind when making this phone. The speakers are immersive, warm, and very high quality. Also, they have some of the best vocal performance that I’ve heard on any phone that I’ve reviewed.
Moto G Power (2024) Review: Performance
As anyone could guess, performance is another area where budget smartphones have historically come up short. They usually run highly underpowered chips, and can sometimes barely even run the software that comes loaded on them. This is a major pain point for people buying budget smartphones and hoping for them to be useful.
However, as I’ve said before, budget smartphones have gradually gotten much better in terms of performance. Now, we’re seeing smartphones under $300 performing almost as snappy as phones three times as expensive.
In the case of the Moto G Power – 2024, I don’t have any major complaints about the performance. At no point during my testing have I experienced any slowdown or dropped frames. Sometimes, weaker phones with 120Hz refresh rates struggle to maintain fluidity and often drop frames.
However, this phone managed to keep performing smoothly no matter what I threw at it. So, I think that Motorola did a great job of optimizing the software for the MediaTek chip that’s powering it.
However, it’s not perfect
While the performance was notably snappy, it is still a few steps behind the performance you’d see on more powerful phones. The performance is similar to what I saw with the Moto G 5G – 2024.
Whenever I tap on an app or perform a function, there’s just a bit of hesitation before I see anything happen. If I tap on an app, there’ll be maybe half a second of a wait before the animation plays. It’s not as drastic as on the Moto G 5G – 2024. However, it’s still discernible.
So, it appears that the phone needs just a few milliseconds to process the action it’s about to perform. That’s not a big deal, and I prefer that to drop frames.
Moto G Power (2024) Review: Gaming
Imagine buying a $300 phone to play some of the most graphically intensive games on the market. That would never really be a possibility back in the day. However, it seems that midrange processors are getting better at a faster rate than game graphics are improving. So, weaker processors are starting to catch up to more graphically intensive games. This is good news, as you won’t need a more expensive phone just to play some of the funnest games on the market.
The gaming performance of the Moto G Power – 2024 confused me just a bit. However, this was only with the more graphically intensive games. When talking about less graphically intensive games, there’s no question. This phone conquers them. I chose Survivor.io as a good 2D game to test. While this is not a graphically intensive game, it tends to include a metric ton of Sprites on screen at the same time. This makes it a pretty taxing game. However, this phone showed no trouble playing that game at all.
Moving on to some 3D games, I chose games such as Dragon Ball Legends and Asphalt 9. These are both very nice-looking games, and they were undoubtedly the peak of mobile game graphics at the time of their releases. They’re no longer the most intensive games, but they provide a nice Middle Ground. Just like with survivor.io, I had no trouble whatsoever with these games. They both ran smoothly, and I even had the graphics turned all the way up. This means that you’re perfectly fine playing the majority of the 2D and 3D games that are available on the Google Play Store. You get perfectly smooth gameplay.
Honkai Star Rail
Now, let’s dig into some of the more taxing games. First up, Honkai Star Rail. This is a beautiful-looking game, it has the ability to bog down most phones. Well, this game’s performance on the Moto G – 2024 is pretty sluggish. When I turned the graphics all the way up to their highest setting, this game did not want to run anything higher than 15FPS.
The performance was pretty mediocre. However, the performance really took a tank in the towns. Towns are where NPCs, buildings, vehicles, and other assets are loaded in. So, this makes for a higher CPU load. Moving into the city, the game tanked to around 10FPS. So, you will not want to play this game at its highest Settings.
I lowered the graphical settings down to the lowest setting, and the performance, unsurprisingly, sped up. I dare say that I even got up to 60FPS. So, if you don’t care about getting the highest visual fidelity, then you shouldn’t worry about turning the graphics down.
Genshin Impact
This is why this phone’s performance confused me. If a phone performs poorly in Honkai Star Rail, then you’d expect it to perform even worse with Genshin Impact. Also, if you have to turn the graphics to the lowest setting on Star Rail, then there’s no chance that it could run Genshin Impact on its highest setting. However, this phone is just full of surprises.
I was expecting Genshin Impact to be extremely laggy and slow. However, it wasn’t. In fact, even with the graphics turned to their full quality, I was actually able to get some pretty smooth gameplay. It wasn’t quite 60 FPS, but it was still plenty smooth. It’s definitely more than playable.
Starting up the game, it’s easy to get the impression that it will be slow. For about the first minute, the gameplay is very laggy. However, once you start playing for a bit, the game place moves out
This is not to say that you won’t have the occasional stutter or drop frame. It’s very possible. This is especially true when you enter a town. Just like in Star Rail, the game has to render so many more assets at once. Obviously, if you want smoother gameplay, you can try lowering some of the graphics for example, a go-to message to help improve performance is to disable the motion blur.
Overall
So, I’m a bit confused. I thought that star rail wasn’t an indicator of this game’s giving performance. However, with how smoothly is able to run Genshin Impact, I’ll have to say that the gaming performance is hit or miss. In any case, if it’s able to run Genshin Impact at its highest graphic settings, then it’s good enough to run the mass majority of the games on the Google Play Store.
It’s important to note that I got this gaming performance by setting the performance mode to Turbo. This is the highest graphical setting, and it can be accessed through a floating button when you play a game.
Moto G Power (2024) Review: Camera
When it comes to judging the camera on a cheaper smartphone, it can be a bit difficult to come up with a final verdict. It’s tempting not to be too hard on the camera because cheaper smartphones aren’t quite built-to-be camera phones. However, the camera is such an essential part of the smartphone experience that companies are expected to put some level of effort into making it usable. So, it’s hard to decide whether to be hard or lenient in the camera review.
That being said, budget smartphone cameras have gotten better over the years. I say they developed much slower than display technology. However, some phones managed to do a pretty good job of taking pictures. When it comes to the camera and the Moto G Power – 2024, I’d say it’s a mixed bag.
Exposure
In terms of overall exposure, I think that the camera software was able to keep highlights well in check. I did notice a few overblown highlights at certain points. However, it wasn’t too bad. If you are adventurous enough, you could probably go to the pro mode and knock the ISO back just a few notches.
Details
I would not say that the details are bad in these images. However, I ran into a similar issue that I ran into with the Motorola Edge – 2022. When I zoom into the shots, I see the image start to take on this weird watercolor effect. Other than seeing pixels, I see the details become rather muddy. I was pretty curious as to why that happened in any case, I feel like it detracts from the details just a bit.
The details are okay, but that weird watercolor effect seems to affect them negatively.
Colors
When it comes to the color reproduction of this camera, it’s kind of hard to place my finger on what’s going on. The results are rather inconsistent. With some shots, the colors will be nicely saturated. Other times, they would appear washed out. Also, sometimes the color temperature will fluctuate.
For example, the image below shows a nice shot of some palm trees against a blue sky. I say that the colors are very well-balanced and saturated here. It’s faithful to how the scene looked when I took the picture.
However, looking at the picture of this yellow flower, it appeared that the camera wanted to paint the scene a lot warmer than it actually was. But almost looks like the camera put a yellow filter over the image.
And these two pictures, we see that the camera washed out the red color in the stop sign and in the flower.
So, it can be a bit tough nailing down a specific style of color that this phone wants to produce. Most of the time, the colors come out nice and juicy. However, if you care about color accuracy, just know that your results will definitely vary.
Contrast
When I reviewed the Moto G 5G – 2024, I talked about how bad the contrast was. The phone would overblow highlights and crush shadows and still managed to create photos that lacked proper contrast. Well, I’m happy to say that this isn’t a problem with this camera.
Areas that would have had pitch-black Shadows are much better exposed with the Moto G Power – 2024. Overall, I think that the pictures are much more balanced. I wouldn’t say that the contrast is perfect, however. There’s still a little bit of a washed-out tone to some of the pictures. Also, I am seeing a few hot highlights and spots as well.
I would say that the contrast is good enough, and that’s saying a lot for a $300 phone. However, Motorola does not have the best track record as far as photography goes, so there are definitely some flaws.
Video
When it comes to video, don’t hold your breath. Video was not a core Focus for this phone. The videos taken are rather pixelated and low quality. What makes things worse is the fact that there are two resolution settings (which is technically false.
The standard resolution setting and the high-resolution setting are both 1080p. It’s just that the high-resolution setting has a higher bit rate. So, it appears sharper). The phone is set to the standard resolution setting by default spirit so, right out of the box, you are getting very subpar video. You have to dig into the settings to enable the high-resolution mode. Even then, the video looks mediocre.
I will say that the video stabilization is decent. It does a great job of smoothing out the actual video. So, if you’re going to be recording motion, you will know that there’s some quality video stabilization going on.
Overall
All in all, the Moto G Power – 2024 has been able to impress me by overachieving in several respects. Well, the camera is not one. The results I get from the camera are pretty inconsistent. It’s capable of making some nice results. So, I wouldn’t call it a bad camera. However, you are not going to buy this phone for its camera capabilities.
Moto G Power (2024) Review: Software
The software on the Moto G Power – 2024 is pretty straightforward. The company is known for having very near-stock Android with a few Motorola touches added. The overall aesthetic of the software is pretty much the same as stock Android. Where we see Motorola’s influence is in the theme editor and in the gestures.
The theme editor is very in-depth which allows you to adjust the theme profile, wallpaper, text font, colors, icon shape, display size, layout, and sounds. It’s a great tool to help you personalize your phone.
Next, there are other gestures. Motorola comes with a ton of gestures that you can use to perform certain actions on the phone. This includes double chop to activate the flashlight, swiping down with three fingers to take a screenshot, switching to split screen mode by swiping backward and forwards on the screen, Etc.
So, if you want a near-pixel-like experience for your software with a few unique touches added, then this is definitely the phone to get.
The Moto G power-2024 is currently running Android 14 U. And, at the time of writing this article, it is on the January 1st, 2024 security patch.
Moto G Power (2024) Review: Final verdict
I can honestly say that I am both and not surprised at how great this phone is. I’m surprised because I was able to get such a smooth and Powerful experience on a $300 phone. A couple of years ago, getting a $300 phone would not have been as much fun. So, Motorola was able to pack a significant amount of power and utility into such an affordable handset.
However, I’m not surprised because of how great the Moto G 5 g – 2024 is. That is a phone that also has a stunning design, great display, good performance, amazing speakers, and an overall great user experience. The Moto G Power – 2024 takes pretty much every aspect of that phone and pushes it a few steps further. The display is more balanced and colorful, the speakers are more spacious and high quality, the design is more premium, and the camera is better. For just under $300, Motorola managed to unlock the formula of the perfect mid-range phone. Yes, it has its flaws, but what phone doesn’t?
If you’re looking for a phone that just generally gives you a solid user experience with some nice goodies, then I highly recommend that you pick up the Moto G Power – 2024. It’s a fantastic phone for the price and a great phone in general.
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