Motorola’s vision with the ‘G’ series seems crystal clear. They are looking to fill up the market with a bunch of options in almost every segment. We recently put up reviews for the Moto G32 and the Moto G82 — in different price brackets — and found them to be good value-for-money devices.
The Moto G62 5G, with its starting price tag of Rs 17,999, acts as the middle child to attract consumers looking for a good software experience. Motorola’s lineup is known for a decent set of features at an affordable price. While this is not going to be an easy battle considering, Chinese smartphone giants such as Xiaomi, Poco, and Realme have already marked up the territory with their devices — can Motorola lure people into buying the Moto G62 5G?
It packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC, a triple camera setup, a 5000mAh battery, and more. In our first impressions of the device, we said our experience with it was similar to the Moto G32, so is it worth the asking price? So, let’s see how we feel after using it for longer.
Moto G62 5G Review: Same old humdrum design
Relaying back to our first impressions of the Moto G62 5G, we said that the device looks very much like the Moto G82. Our feelings about it are pretty much the same after using it for a bunch of days. The plastic back panel resembles almost the entire ‘G’ series of devices with a similar design approach. It’s tough to differentiate between them. It has a frosted finish, and our colourway tends to pick up smudges, although it’s not very evident unless there’s light falling onto it.
The Moto G62 5G is available in two colour variants: Mineral Gray and Frosted Blue. If you are someone who prefers a more subtle look, the former colour variant should do the work. However, the latter is bound to attract some eyes and looks like a new introduction. The camera setup at the top has a slightly different finish than the back to add a discerning factor. The camera module looks good and does not protrude much. The rear panel smoothly subsides into the frame giving it a unibody look. The curved edges on the device give it an ergonomic design, and it sits flush in your palms. Although, the sharp outside edges of the device can sometimes cause discomfort. This can be dealt with by slapping on a case which comes inside the box.
The Moto G62 5G weighs 184g, and despite the high number, weight distribution feels well balanced on the device. As for the ports and button placements, the right side of the device consists of the volume rockers and the power button, which also houses a fingerprint scanner. The 3.5mm headphone jack, speaker grille, and primary microphone can be found on the bottom. Tactile feedback on the buttons is decent, but it’s nothing to write home about. The power button also ]doubles up as a fingerprint scanner which worked flawlessly throughout our review period. Face unlock also worked without any stutters.
The Moto G62 5G supports a hybrid setup, which means you can either use two nano SIM cards or one nano SIM and a microSD card. In addition, the device is IP52 rated, so light showers should not be an issue for the device.
Moto G62 5G Review: The viewing experience
The Moto G62 5G sports a 6.5-inch LCD display that refreshes at 120Hz. It also features a 240Hz touch sampling rate; in our experience, the display felt smooth in daily usage and gaming. Phones such as the Poco X4 Pro 5G also provide a 120Hz display in the same price segment, but a major difference is that it comes with an AMOLED display. This means blacks appear deeper on it, aiding in better battery life and better quality of content.
The Redmi Note 11 Pro Plus is another device in this price bracket that offers an AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 1200 nits, but there is no mention of HDR. The Moto G62 5G misses both display certification and a high brightness number.
The company claims that the Moto G62 5G uses Panda Glass protection for the display, which is equivalent to Corning Gorilla Glass 3, we tested the same thing on the Moto G32 with a couple of drops here and there, and no harm was done. The same is the case with the Moto G62 5G, although we didn’t drop it as much.
Watching movies and TV shows on the display was fun. Although, the chunky bezels at the bottom hamper the viewing experience a bit. The device supports Widevine L1 certification, so watching 1080p content on both Netflix and Amazon Prime Video was not an issue. The Moto G62 5G has two video presets in the settings, and you can switch between them depending on your preference. We always set it to ‘Natural’, as that was able to reproduce colours neatly. Viewing angles on the Moto G62 5G were also fine.
The display can be yanked all the way up to 600 nits. So we could read texts and watch videos under direct sunlight easily without any issues. It also boasts of a stereo speaker setup with a dedicated secondary speaker at the top of the device. So it gets loud enough while listening to songs, and you can adjust presets in the Dolby Atmos app.
Moto G62 5G Review: Performance falters under pressure
The Moto G62 5G is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC rated at 2.2GHz that is based on the 6nm fabrication process. This is paired with an Adreno 619 GPU for gaming needs. The device is available in 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, and 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variants. The former will cost you Rs 17,999 while the latter comes with a price tag of Rs 19,999. This puts it right up in the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite, Poco X4 Pro 5G, and Redmi Note 11 Pro Plus territory. As for connectivity, the Moto G62 5G supports 5G, Bluetooth 5.1, and dual-band WiFi, among other things.
The Moto G62 5G comes with Android 12 out of the box, which has pretty much been the norm with Motorola devices, and we are all in for it. The company also promised three years of security updates and a guaranteed upgrade to Android 13. This shows commitment from the company’s side, and consumers planning to buy the device can hence trust it. Usually, there’s a lot of a grey area when it comes to software updates. The Moto G62 5G runs on Android 12 on top of My UX. It provides a clean software experience and is devoid of bloatware, which we have always preferred.
The infamous Motorola “Gestures” can be found here as well. We found this very handy on the Moto G32, and we have the same to say here. If you wish to find out about what features are included, we suggest reading our Moto G32 review.
Overall performance on the Moto G62 5G was decent. We did not notice any shortcomings in our day-to-day usage, which included watching videos, camera testing, and casual gaming. We ran our usual stress test on the Moto G62 5G with Google Maps running on PiP and a video running on YouTube Premium. We noticed that the device started dropping frames with just these two running. However, it wasn’t very consistent. We then launched the Twitter app, and the device started gasping for air with scrolling a simple social media app also posing a task for the device. So, that pretty much tells you about the multitasking capabilities of the device.
We ran the Moto G62 5G through some benchmarks. AnTuTu 9 registered a score of 361216, which somewhat lines up with the rest of the devices in this segment. Geekbench 5 recorded a score of 643 and 1606 on single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. On paper, results with benchmarks were pretty average, and as usual, we ran the device through our gaming test to check out if it could last in the real world.
Apex Legends Mobile thoroughly tested the Moto G62 5G with the device on its dying embers. We ran the game on ‘HD’ graphics and ‘High’ frame rates settings. The Moto G62 5G was able to run it at a maximum of 40fps with constant drops to 28fps and even 18fps at some parts of the map as the device struggled to cope with the graphic settings.
Luckily, the frame drops did not cost us the match, as it was able to maintain anywhere between 30fps and 40fps during squad fights. Even after dropping the graphic preset to “Normal”, the device couldn’t cope with the game’s high demands. We then switched to Call of Duty: Mobile. It was able to perform at ‘High’ graphic settings and ‘Max’ frame rates. Playing ‘Team Deathmatch’ did not cause any issues for the device in terms of performance. However, the back panel started warming up after 15 minutes or so. The device also has ‘Gametime’, which is equivalent to ‘Game Turbo’ on Redmi and Poco devices. This lets you boost the performance of a game, block notifications, record the screen, and more.
Overall, the Moto G62 5G lacks in terms of horsepower in the performance department. However, it can run light games well, without stutters or lags. However, if you are looking for a device that can handle intensive games, this might not fulfil your needs.
Moto G62 5G Review: Slow charging but good battery life
The Moto G62 5G packs a 5000mAh battery, much like its competitors. However, it falls short with the charger rated at just 20W. The Poco X4 Pro 5G and the Redmi Note 11 Pro Plus both support 67W charging straight out of the box. The Moto G62 5G battery life was very good in our experience. The phone managed to last over 7 hours and 45 minutes, and we were able to use it for two days. Charging, however, was very cumbersome, as the device took 30 minutes to reach 21 per cent and an hour to hit 38 per cent.
It took the device about 2 hours and 35 minutes to completely juice up. This, according to 2022’s standards, is very poor. Surprisingly, the Moto G32, priced lower than the Moto G62 5G, comes with a 33W charger. Motorola should have at least provided the same 33W charger to somewhat align with the competition. A 20W charger is a no-go. For context, the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite also offers a 33W charger.
Moto G62 5G Review: Questionable night-time photography
The Moto G62 5G features a triple camera setup at the rear led by a 50-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. A 16-megapixel shooter handles selfies up front. The same setup can be seen on the lesser-priced Moto G32. We noticed that photos taken on both the cameras were slightly similar, with the Moto G62 5G preferring cooler tones.
Photos taken in daylight had decent details and sharpness, but the dynamic range was not quite up to the mark. It managed to balance the highlights, but shadows were crushed. Objects at farther distances had the watercolour effect. The Moto G62 5G tends to favour red tones on human subjects when taking photos with the primary camera.
Switching things to the ultra-wide angle camera did not help in the details department, but the 118-degree point-of-view is able to capture more estate. Objects along the edges had slight distortion, but there was no major colour disparity in comparison with the primary camera, which is good. Portrait shots with the Moto G62 5G came out good with decent edge detection. Using the 2-megapixel macro camera did not make much sense to us as it captures soft photos that are not usable. At this point, all the OEMs add a lower resolution camera just for the numbers game.
Photos taken in low-light conditions were underwhelming. Pictures had a lot of noise, and images consisted of a purple tint whenever lights hit the camera. Night mode helped brighten up the photos, but it didn’t do much to eliminate noise. Unsurprisingly, switching to the ultra-wide angle camera worsened the image quality, with photos being introduced to more grains and softer details. Overall, we were pretty much disappointed with the low-light photos on the Moto G62 5G. On the other hand, the Poco X4 Pro 5G was able to take better images in low-light and night mode was even superior.
Selfies taken on the 16-megapixel front camera were pretty average. Photos taken against the light were heavily overexposed, and details were also at a minimum. Switching on HDR makes the images better with balanced exposure and shadows.
Videos recorded on the Moto G62 5G were good with decent stabilisation. Footages max out at 1080p 60fps, which is good as some devices in the same price bracket max out at 30fps. However, footage shot in low light was average.
Moto G62 5G Review: Verdict
Motorola’s aim of bringing 5G to the people at an affordable price is a good idea, but the execution of the same feels tenuous. While the bloat-free software experience with promised updates and lasting battery life seems like a catch, the shortcomings in the camera department can be a bummer.
Performance on the device for daily usage was fine, but playing intensive games was not something the smartphone was comfortable with. It’s also sad to see that the company is using the exact same setup as their budget offering on the Moto G62 5G, making it an awkward middle child from the company.
The competition provides AMOLED displays in the same price bracket to add more burden on the Moto G62 5G. If your priority is content consumption, the Poco X4 Pro 5G, Redmi Note 11 Pro Plus, and the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite offer much better value.
The post Moto G62 5G Review: The Awkward Middle Child appeared first on MySmartPrice.
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