Motorola has been making budget smartphones for a while now and has been trying to innovate in the segment, too. With Moto G45 5G coming in at Rs 10,999, should you consider spending on this Motorola handset or should you explore other options? Find out for yourself in this detailed review of the Moto G45 5G.
Design & Display
Motorola gave the Moto G45 5G its classic design language with Pantone shades and a vegan leather back panel finish. The Viva Magenta shade has a vibrant look to it and is an eye-catcher. The frame is made of plastic with a matte finish.
Given its price, the G45 5 G feels quite good in the hand. It’s lightweight as well, and the rings around the camera add a touch of elegance. The buttons on the right side are tactile, while the fingerprint sensor-cum-power button works without any issues.
Motorola also includes a TPU case in the box, which is a welcome addition considering the aggressive price. The device is also IP52-rated, so it can withstand a few splashes. The stereo speakers on the device sound decent and offer a good amount of loudness.
Considering the handset’s price, we’d say the Moto G45 5G handles the design department well and doesn’t look ordinary by any means, especially in the Magenta shade.
The display is a 6.5-inch 120Hz panel with an HD+ Resolution of 1600 x 720 pixels, 240Hz touch sampling rate, Gorilla Glass 3 protection, and a punch-hole design for the selfie sensor.
We didn’t expect it to be a high-end panel, and again, for what you are paying, the display is decent, but it doesn’t come without its downsides. The 120Hz Refresh Rate is smooth, and the display is also responsive.
The panel’s colours and viewing angles are above average, but the brightness isn’t. In direct sunlight, you’ll need to shield the display to clearly see what’s on it. Moreover, there’s a slight ghosting effect, which you can notice while scrolling content.
Performance & Software
The device is powered by the Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 SoC paired with 128GB storage that can be expanded up to 1TB. It comes in two RAM variants: 4GB and 8 GB.
The company sent us the 8GB RAM variant for review, and regarding RAM management, we wouldn’t say we had any complaints. Performance-wise, during our review, the Moto G45 5G did well in keeping up with day-to-day tasks, such as navigation, scrolling through social media, etc.
It’s not meant for gaming, but it can handle casual titles such as Bullet Echo and Candy Crush without any hiccups.
We did face hiccups with the animations, where we often noticed stutters, such as while opening settings from the Quick Settings shade. In some cases, the App opening animations also lagged, and these were noticeable.
The device is feature-packed despite its low price. It offers a load of gestures, such as chopping twice for the flashlight, twisting your wrist twice for the camera, flipping to turn on DND, lifting to wake up the display, and more.
Double-to-wake-up and double-tap-to-sleep gestures are also present. However, lock screen customisation, as we see in Motorola EDGE series devices, is missing.
However, you do get plenty of other options, such as the ability to change fonts and wallpaper-based colours across the system UI and some preset themes. Features like a secure folder are also available to enhance the protection of sensitive data you might want to store on your device.
The device runs on the July 2024 security patch out of the box. It doesn’t come with a lot of preloaded bloatware, keeping the experience clean, which is, again, something to appreciate. You get pre-installed Moto apps, including Ready For, which is quite useful for those who want their phone and PC to stay in sync. It does have a Glance lock screen that can be disabled via Settings if you want to keep your lock screen minimal and clean.
The Moto G45 5 G’s connectivity performance during the review, including Wi-Fi, 5G, and Bluetooth, remained optimal. The device doesn’t support NFC, yet for some reason, the specs page on Motorola’s website and the handset’s Flipkart listing show that it does.
Battery life
The G45 5G packs a 5000mAh battery with 18W TurboPower fast wired charging. With a decently sized battery, the G45 5G won’t disappoint you with its backup time, as it can easily last a day’s worth of use.
The device consistently gave me a screen-on time of 7 hours or above with moderate usage patterns, such as browsing Chrome, some calling and texting on WhatsApp and Telegram, and scrolling Instagram Reels and X.
The device does take some time to charge, though. It can take up to 2 hours to go from an empty battery to a full charge.
Cameras
The device includes a dual camera setup on the back. The primary sensor is a 50MP f/1.8, and the second sensor is a 2MP f/2.4 macro lens.
The photos from the main sensor look good, with ample detailing and vivid colours. The dynamic range is average, and there’s some shutter lag, so you’ll have to keep the device as stationary as possible while shooting a photo.
The secondary macro sensor clicks below-average shots with inconsistent colours and mediocre detailing.
For portrait photos, the subject’s edge detection is hit or miss. It can often fail at edge detection, which means that portrait shots may not always look the best.
Under low-light conditions, the Moto G45 5G’s camera further fails. The photo begins to show noise and gets a green tint. The detailing is also not the best in such shots.
Under artificial lighting, the camera gets the detailing right, with vibrant colours. Selfies look quite good with a natural bokeh effect when Portrait mode is enabled. The detailing and skin tones are also handled well.
