For the better part of a decade, one company more than any other has owned thebudget Android space. While Samsung and OnePlus continue to make massive strides in bringing excellent experiences to more affordable price points, Motorola built its modern name ondelivering “good enough” smartphonesfor anyone with a couple hundred bucks. The Moto G-series has long been a champion in this realm, and with the latest Moto G Power, it’s only getting better. But with the competition more stacked than ever before, it’s unclear whether this smartphone will stand out among the crowd.
Moto G Power (2023)
Motorola’s latest Moto G Power combines a massive 1080p display with a long-lasting battery and an affordable price point for a solid upgrade over the last-gen model. But some cut corners — namely, the lack of NFC — and the company’s poor reputation for OS support may keep some buyers on the fence.
On paper, the Moto G Power is every bit the successor tolast year’s modelthat you would expect, with improvements in a couple of key areas that might make current owners pretty jealous. The display is still a 6.5" LCD panel, but with a big boost up to FHD+and120Hz. The design is also much cleaner, ditching the wavy lines of the 2022 model for something a little more modern and professional.
Inside, Motorola ditched the sluggish Helio G37 for a more powerful Dimensity 930 — not the most powerful on the market, but with two Cortex-A78 cores alongside six Cortex-A55 cores, it should make for a huge difference. It also finally supports 5G, a first for this particular series. Really, only the camera seems unchanged — it’s still rocking a 50MP f/1.8 main sensor that left us anything but impressed.
Unfortunately, there are a couple of downsides with this phone, not least of which is the price. $300 might not sound too bad on paper, but it’s $100 more than the previous model. Granted, the jump up to a full HD display — not to mention that boost in performance — might make all the difference, but in a world where theGalaxy A14hits that $200 price point, it’s going to be a tough sell for anyone not devoted to Motorola.
Second, that price point doesn’t even deliver you everything you’d expect to see in a modern smartphone. While it’s great to have a charger included in the box, and the 3.5mm headphone jack is a sight for sore eyes, there’s no NFC to speak of here.Mobile paymentsare entirely out of the question, which could be a dealbreaker even in the modern budget space.
I’ll be curious to see how the Moto G Power performs in daily life — it’s possible these shortcomings might fade into the background once the device is in hand. If you’re already sold, Motorola’s latest G-series phone will be available as an unlocked model at Amazon, Best Buy, and Motorola starting on April 13th, with carrier models for Metro, Spectrum, and Xfinity Mobile coming soon.
