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

Our Verdict

The Moto G Power (2022) lasts a oblong time on a charge and the 64GB model costs to a lesser degree last year's version. Only an under-powered C.P.U. leads to laggy app launches, and you may be better off with the 2021 variation if you want a tenacious-lasting device without the phlegm.

For

Battery lasts all day and then some
6.5-in screen is a pleasure to look back at
Laboursaving gesture support
More storage in stem good example

Against

Perceptible lags when launching apps
Camera struggles with lighting
Dim display
Only unmatchable Humanoid update

Tom's Guide Finding of fact

The Moto G Power (2022) lasts a age on a charge and the 64GB mould costs to a lesser degree last year's version. But an below-steam-powered C.P.U. leads to laggy app launches, and you may be best off with the 2021 edition if you want a long-lived device without the flatness.

Pros

+ Battery lasts all twenty-four hours so both
+ 6.5-column inch screen is a pleasance to look at
+ Helpful gesticulate support
+ More storehouse in base worthy

Cons

- Noticeable lags when first appearance apps
- Camera struggles with lighting
- Dense display
- Only extraordinary Android update

Moto G Power (2022) spectacles

Opening damage: $199
Video display: 6.5-inch LCD (1600x720)
Refresh rate: 90Hz
CPU: MediaTek Helio G37
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 64GB, 128GB
microSD: yes, up to 512GB
Fanny cameras: 50MP main (f/1.8), 2MP macro (f/2.4), 2MP depth sensor (f/2.4)
Front camera: 8MP (f/2.0)
Electric battery size: 5,000 mAh
Stamp battery life (hrs:mins): 13:15
Size: 6.6 x 3 x 0.37 inches
Weight: 7.2 ounces
Colors: Dark Grove, Ice Blue

The Moto G Tycoo has firmly established itself as the telephone to get in Motorola's G Series lineup of budget handsets, and it's slowly to understand why. If you want one of the best cheesy phones that lasts all twenty-four hour period and then many on a single charge, you address the Moto G Index, whether IT was the 2020 or 2021 versions. With a pitch that straightforward, you can see why Motorola keeps cranking out new versions.

And the wash up goes on with the Moto G Power (2022), which arrives not even a twelvemonth after the Moto G Power (2021) made the setting. Motorola is enthusiastic to keep the long-lived good times rolling. Only piece the stylish Moto G Magnate still has the lengthy battery life enjoyed by its predecessors, Motorola's ready-made a key change that makes the fresh phone a fewer compelling budget option than before.

Moto G Power (2022) review: Price and availability

The Moto G Power (2022) is starting to whirl on cut-rate sale, though it sounds atomic number 3 if the rollout to different carriers and retailers will bump all over the class of the next few months. You'll pay $199 for the 64GB reading, which is an improvement over the Moto G Power 2021 — that phone only included 32GB of storage in its $199 version. Motorola will also sell a 128GB Moto G Power (2022) for $249.

Separated from battery life, the under monetary value of the Moto G Power has always been nonpareil of its just about compelling features. That's especially the pillow slip instantly that you can experience a phone with a decent total of storage for less than $200.

You'll be able to get the Moto G Power from Metro by T-Perambulating and Republic Tune at first. Motorola says the phone will also come to Verizon, Further Mobile River, Xfinity Raisable, AT&T, Cricket, US Cancellate, and Google Fi. You fire buy an unsecured version at Motorola.com A well as from Amazon and Unexcelled Purchase.

Moto G Power (2022) review: Design and display

There's no misinterpretation the Moto G Power (2022) for all the world other than a budget phone, thanks to its plastic frame. And that's fine — I'm non expecting a $200 knockout. At least, the G Power is solidly built, and Motorola tries a few stylistic touches suchlike a coiling pattern on the phone's back pillow slip that actually makes IT easy to grip.

Back view of Moto G Power 2022 — (Image cite: Tom's Guide)

The arse photographic camera raiment blends somewhat seamlessly into the back panel, and while the rear fingerprint sensor strays a bit excessively close to the cameras — I prefer it toss off lower in the center of the phone's rear — at least it's identical responsive at unlocking the Moto G Power. Up front, the selfie camera is situated in a punch-hole cutout placed in the top-mall of the phone's 6.5-inch LCD block out.

Nearly that display: it defies the Moto G Power's budget call up roots by featuring reverberant colors and a 90Hz refresh rate. Most phones in this price range dumbfound with 60Hz. As a result, scrolling is a brief bit smoother on the Moto G Power (2022) than on umpteen rivals and its predecessors.

I enjoyed watching video on the phone also. Piping 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's pilus blowing in the breeze were easy to spot, to a fault. According to our tests, the Moto G Plus (2022) captured 94.6% of the sRGB visible spectrum — the equally low-cost OnePlus Nord N200 5G registered 160.7% — merely I view the phone recreated those colors well. They're sure accurate, as evidenced by the 0.23 Delta-E rating we recorded for the Moto G Top executive; for context, the OnePlus Nord N200 had a 0.26 military rating. (The finisher to set, the more right the colours.)

Moto G Power 2022 showing a scene from Moana — (Project citation: Tom's Guide)

I only had a couplet complaints about the display on the Moto G Magnate (2022). With an modal brightness of 407 nits, it's bad dim. (For context of use, the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G is brighter, at 485 nits.) As a consequence, on promising, sunny years, you're going to need to crank that display up to level bes brightness, and you'll still have a horny time making out inside information connected the Moto G Power's venire.

Also, like other phones in the Moto G family, Motorola has precondition this one a chunky bezel at the inferior of the display, which makes the 6.5-edge in screen feel more cramped than it should glucinium.

Moto G Power (2022) review: Cameras

Not much has changed on the camera front since the Moto G Power (2021). On the 2022 model, Motorola has bumped the sensing element on the intense camera to 50MP (up from 48MP), but you still hold the said macro camera and depth sensor that the endmost Moto G Power offered. That's not the worst thing in the world, as the older Moto G Top executive by and large produced utile if non spectacular shots — for certain zip you'd be embarrassed to office or share.

Moto G Power 2022 rear cameras — (Image credit: Gobbler's Guide)

For the most contribution, the Moto G Power (2022) yields the good-not-great results of its predecessors, though this phone seemed to struggle a little more with vividness and tone than old Motorola camera phones. For pic comparisons, I tested it against a Pixel 4a 5G — a tough take exception for the Moto G Power since Google's handset was one of the best camera phones on a budget until the Picture element 5a came along. Just I think information technology illustrates the sacrifices you sometimes make with picture quality by opting for a cheaper phone.

One of my neighbors has gone a trifle weirdo with the holiday decorations, and I think the Moto G Power does a very well job capturing the scene, with a bright, colourful paradigm that shows off the different bicoloured lights and allows the inflatables in the background to stand out. But cheque that snowman in the middle of the shot — he's washed out, As the Moto G Force struggled with the shadows cast over the yard. The Pixel 4a 5G shot is darker and inferior colorful, but Sir Thomas More balanced, and the details of each snowman are more visible.

Lighting conditions likewise proved slippery for the Moto G Power when we relocation indoors under the unflattering lights of my kitchen. The spatchcocked turkey in the Moto G Power shot looks somewhat jaundiced, as there's a yellow hue to the photo. The Pixel 4a 5G produces a fresh photo that compensates for the sick and faithfully recreates the tender skin and mahogany tones of this roast turkey.

I think the Moto G Power did a presumptive occupation photographing this Christmas wreath supported on our front entrance when using the tv camera's Night Vision mode. You can grapple the individual lights, and the yen needles look pretty striking in the shadows. But there's a conclude Google is the Martin Luther King Jr. of night shots — IT does a better job emphasizing the luminance so that you can see the greenness of the wreath bathed in the white light emanating from at bottom the theatre.

If I was disappointed by any nip the Moto G Power took, information technology was this picture of my daughter. Motorola includes a dedicated depth sensor for portrait shots, and nevertheless the left half of my daughter's face looks somewhat fuzzy and non A centred as the rightfield half. The smudge effect is OK, merely if you zoom in, you see that strands of her hair got caught in the scop blur. Her freckles are wet away, besides. The Pixel 4a 5G shot is handled Interahamw more successfully, with the actual subject of the shot in sharp focus.

Speaking of wasted lenses, I continue to think that phone makers would comprise better off skimping on the issue of cameras than including a dedicated macro lens like the Moto G Index does. This close-up of a flower in my backyard is each right — it's certainly more detailed than the Pixel 4a 5G's scene. (Because the Pixel lacks its own macro camera, I got up close and switched to the ultrawide angle lens; that turned out to bring out a not very compelling photo, in all honesty.) That said, the macro shot produced by the Moto G Power doesn't wealthy person a sharp focus and fails to call out the details on the flower petal. You have to ask yourself what's the gunpoint.

I'm more satisfied with what the Moto G Power (2022)'s 8MP nominal head camera did with this self-portrait. IT's an faithful recreation of my face, even if the surface smoothing is a little over-aggressive. Formerly again, the Pixel 4a 5G produces a heater shot, which some people might choose, but I project nothing wrong with how the Moto G Power handled the job.

Moto G Power (2022) refresh: Performance

As with the Moto G Pure, the new Moto G Power turns to MediaTek for its chipset. In the case of the Moto G Superpowe, a MediaTek Helio G37 is running the picture. It's probably not a coincidence that the same problems I experienced with the Moto G Pure's public presentation are also present in the Moto G Power (2022).

While not equally laggy equally the Moto G Pure — there's whatsoever squeaky praise — in that location's still a marked retard between when you tap on an app and when information technology launches. This is peculiarly true with the camera app, where I can sometimes count wholly the way up to three Mississippi from the time I launch the app to when it's actually ready to issue a photo. You can play tight games such as PUBG Mobile happening the Moto G Power (2022), but you'll spot lags and hiccups every bit the phone struggles with the graphics. It's not enough to foul up gameplay, but it in spades does not make for an immersive experience.

Benchmarks reveal more than about the performance story. In Geekbench 5, the fresh Moto G Power posted unshared- and multicore scores of 177 and 1,011. Those are actually worse than what Moto G Power (2021) and its Snapdragon 662 system-on-chip produced when we tested that phone early this year and got piles of 314 and 1,437, respectively. Essentially, Motorola has taken a big abuse backward with carrying into action on this phone, after it previous delivered a jolly respectable showing for the price.

Front view of Moto G Power 2022 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The Moto G Power (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. Along the Sling Shot Extreme Unlimited graphics test from 3DMark, the Nord N200's make of 2,562 trounced the Moto G Power (2022)'s 544 answer.

While some members of the Moto G family deliver added 5G support — the Moto G Stylus 5G is the unexcelled exemplar — the Moto G Power (2022) remains an LTE sound. That's not likely to concern bargain hunters at this stage, though there are mickle of inexpensive phones from Samsung, OnePlus and — yes — Motorola that assume't skimp over on 5G connectivity.

Moto G Magnate (2022) review: Battery life and charging

If the Moto G Power's functioning is dingy, especially when compared to its predecessors, at least it still provides the long-unending battery life we've come to gestate from this family of phones. On our battery test, in which we take over a phone surf the web continuously over cellular (T-Mobile LTE in this case), the Moto G Power (2022) lasted 13 hours and 15 minutes earlier running stunned of power. Turn off its 90Hz refresh rate landscaped that time only slightly to 13 hours and 20 transactions.

Neither time matches what the Moto G Power (2021) and Moto G Power (2020) did on our battery mental test. But it's lul the third-best time we've seen in the last 18 months. But the Nubia RedMagic 6 stands between the Moto G Might (2022) and its predecessor on our uncomparable phone battery life list.

Moto G Power 2022 plugged in — (Image credit: Tom's Channelize)

It is good that the Moto G Major power lasts a farsighted time on a charge, because recharging the speech sound is not exactly a sprint, thanks to Motorola capping charging speed at 10W. After 30 minutes of charging a knackered Moto G Power (2022), the phone was back to 20% power. The OnePlus Nord N200, which features 18W charging, gets back to 32% in that time.

Moto G Top executive (2022) review: Software and special features

The standard extolment we have for Motorola's My UX interface applies to the Moto G Power (2022). My UX is a clean implementation of Android, and the some additions Motorola makes are welcome ones, such as gesture shortcuts to take screenshots, Split your screen or turn on the torch. Wallpapers and styles let you individualize the look of your telephone.

Moto G Power 2022 camera view — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Our usual criticism of Motorola's update insurance policy applies, too. The Moto G Power (2022) ships with Mechanical man 11, and all you can gestate from Motorola is an update to Humanoid 12, which is already outer. You'll get bi-monthly security updates for two years, but the miss of Android updates on the far side a translation that was released two months ago does not speak advantageously to this phone's longevity.

Moto G Power (2022) review: Finding of fact

If you want a lasting speech sound above some past feature, the Moto G Power has been the device to get, and the 2022 model lives up to that repute. Unfortunately, the MediaTek chipset powering the Moto G Power (2022) is a big step support from previous editions, making it feel Sir Thomas More like a phone that sacrifices solid features for a lower price.

Further complicating matters is the fact that the Moto G Power (2021) is still available and — because of its more powerful C.P.U. — a better option for a long-enduring phone than its successor. Yes, the Moto G Power (2021) will make up stuck on Android 11, while buyers of the 2022 edition can expect an Humanoid 12 update. Only the 2021 phone didn't suffer from the observable delays in app launches that I saw when testing the Moto G Power (2022).

Cast another means, if you were to lay down the cardinal most recent Moto G Power models in front of me, I know which same I'd pick up. And in this case, newer does not mean better.

Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tomcat's Guide. He has industrial-strength opinions nigh Apple, the Oakland Athletic competition and older movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.