Moto G82 Review – Pros and cons, Verdict

Motorola is on the right track once again and the brand’s revamped portfolio is flush with enticing offerings that have made their mark in the affordable and flagship killer space. And, to capitalise on the growing momentum, the brand recently announced the Moto G82 in India. 

For the uninitiated, the Moto G82 will fight for a spot in the coveted affordable segment that is headlined by devices from Redmi, Realme and Samsung. That said, the handset has an ace up its sleeve and is among the rare breed of affordable phones to ship with impressive imaging capabilities, including but not limited to an OIS assisted sensor. So then, is Motorola’s latest worth your hard-earned bucks? Well, let’s find out.

The lowdown 

The Moto G82 takes its design cues from its lesser-priced sibling, the Moto G52, which was launched a while ago. In fact, barring the subtle gradient on the G82’s back, the devices are a facsimile of each other. Consequently, if you’ve seen a G52 in the wild, then you won’t have to familiarise yourself with the G82’s design. But, for the uninitiated, the Moto G82 is a superbly sleek handset that measures in at just 7.99mm and tips the scales at 173 grams. The handset touts a curvy back which merges seamlessly into the unit’s chamfered frame and the device is available in two stunning colours dubbed Meteorite Grey and White Lilly. 

Moving on, the G82’s chassis has been constructed in its entirety using PMMA, which is a type of plastic that looks like acrylic glass. Understandably, the material doesn’t feel as premium as say, the Redmi Note 11 Pro Plus‘ (review) glass-back shell. That being said, the Moto G82 more than makes up for it with its ergonomic design and I rarely felt any wrist fatigue set in whilst using the phone as my daily driver. That’s not all as despite its sleek girth, the Moto G82 ships with a headphone jack too. The icing on the cake is that the phone also features a loud stereo speaker setup and as such, is among the most well-equipped, audio-centric device in its segment. 

As for the rest of the I/O, the handset features a capacitive fingerprint sensor embedded within the power button. While not as convenient as an in-display counterpart, the sensor worked quite well and felt adequately snappy and responsive, so no major complaints here. The device also features a hybrid SIM tray positioned on its left-hand spine, which can house either two SIMs, or a SIM and a microSD card for storage expansion.

The Moto G82 ships with a 6.6-inch, FHD+, pOLED display. The panel is of the 10-bit variety and correspondingly, offers a wider gamut of colours compared to an 8-bit screen. What’s more, the display gets plenty bright at 700 nits and refreshes at 120Hz as well, meaning you’ll be able to feast your eyes on buttery smooth animations and UI transitions. That’s not all, as the screen offers a snappy touch sampling rate of 360Hz as well and correspondingly, the display will pick up on all your swipes and gestures instantaneously.

Adding to the list of pros, the panel’s viewing angles leave nothing to be desired and the screen is bordered by extremely sleek bezels too. If anything, I wish the device could relay HDR media from OTT services like Netflix. As things stand, you’ll have to contend with HD streams from your favourite binging services. 

On the bright side, the smartphone’s display comes layered with Corning’s Gorilla Glass v3, which should keep scratches and scuffs at bay. You’ll also get a dedicated dark mode with the phone, along with Motorola’s Peek Display feature, which offers detailed insights into incoming notifications from the lock screen itself.

Moving on, the Moto G82 is backed by the tried and tested Snapdragon 695 SoC. The chipset works alongside 128GB of uMCP storage and up to 8GB of LPDDR4x memory. Now, we’ve already seen a number of phones ship with the same core specs, including but not limited to the Redmi Note 11 Pro Plus, the Vivo T1 5G (review) and the Realme 9 Pro. Now, as was the case with the aforementioned devices, the Moto G82 is a capable daily driver too. However, the device is not the best gaming phone in its segment. Be that as it may, I did run a number of benchmarks on the phone, the results for which can be accessed by scrolling through the gallery attached below. 

As can be seen from the benchmarks, the handset isn’t just adept at churning out a respectable score in synthetic testing apps like GeekBench, but the device isn’t susceptible to thermal throttling either. That’s not all, as you can even run demanding games on the set, albeit at less intensive graphics presets. To wit, I was able to run CoD Mobile on the phone at High graphics and Max FPS presets. BGMI, on the other hand, capped out at HD graphics and High FPS presets, whereas Apex Legends Mobile was playable at UltraHD graphics and High FPS settings respectively. I’d also like to point out that the handset rarely faltered when rendering animations at 120Hz. What’s more, the device could comfortably keep a half dozen apps in memory, including resource-hungry utilities like Instagram, Snapchat and more. All said and done, while not the best, the Moto G82’s offers adequate performance for the price. 

Software-wise, the handset ships with Android 12 out of the box. Now, unlike most competing devices, Motorola phones usually ship with a near-stock Android interface. The scenery remains unchanged for the Moto G82 as well which, barring Google’s essential suite of apps, doesn’t come with any other pre-loaded software. What’s more, the smartphone offers a slew of customisation features as well, although, you’ll have to download a third-party launcher to make the most of your icon pack collection. Moving on, the handset ships with a 5,000mAh cell which, with the included 33W charger, refuels in well over an hour. While not the slowest charging phone in its segment, the device has some catching up to do with Redmi’s offerings that come bundled with 67W bricks in the box. 

Interestingly, the Moto G82 is among the most affordable phones to ship with an OIS-assisted main sensor. Spec-wise, the device gets a 50MP main camera which works alongside an 8MP UW angle lens and a 2MP macro shooter. For selfies, the handset features a 16MP camera up front. I spent a good chunk of my review period testing the cameras on the phone and have summed up my experience below, so take a gander – 

• The Moto G82’s primary sensor clicks decent photos during the day that offer realistic colours and good details around the centre of the frame. That said, the sensor glosses over the subjects positioned towards the edges of the composition. For instance, you’ll notice that the buildings in my apartment complex appear a tad soft. What’s more, while the unit brings out passable details from the shadows, it also introduces noise in the frame.

• Thankfully, the unit’s 50MP sensor is more than adept at exposing overtly peppy hues properly. The same is evident if you look at the closeup of the orange flower wherein, the sensor has done a good job at exposing the hue as is. Furthermore, the colour doesn’t appear blotched either. 

• The handset’s 16MP front camera, on the other hand, clicks delightful images that do justice to the subject’s skin tone as well. The photos appear superbly sharp at a closer crop too, so no complaints here.

• The ultrawide angle sensor clicks gram-worthy shots too, however, struggles to retain adequate details from a scene. That’s not all, as the corner sharpness and the dynamic range of the images leave a lot to be desired as well. 

• As for lowlight, the sensor can squeeze more detail out of a scene with the night mode utility enabled. Unfortunately, the images suffer from poor corner sharpness and the sensor isn’t as adept at bringing out the details from the shadows either. 

• On the bright side, the handset can shoot adequately stabilised clips. Don’t get me wrong, the footage does appear jittery, especially if you’re recording in a car, or when out for a walk. That said, the clips exhibit good exposure control and realistic colours too. 

Verdict

The Moto G82 starts at Rs 21,499 and for the price, puts forth a competent package. The device doesn’t cater to a particular use case and instead, bundles acceptable specs in a handsome, lightweight chassis. That’s not to say that you should overlook the device’s shortcomings, which include (but are not limited to) lack of HDR media playback from Netflix and slow wired charging speeds. But, quite frankly, the smartphone’s clean software experience and capable performance somewhat cushion the blow. Consequently, if you were in the market for a device that offers a no-nonsense UI and is, for the lack of a better term – the jack of all trades – the Moto G82 is a decent option. 

Editor’s rating: 3 / 5 

Pros: 

• Sleek, lightweight design
• Decent performer 
• Clean UI
• Stunning 120Hz display 

Cons:

• Camera performance is not the best
• Slow wired charging speeds
• Limited theming options 
• Can’t relay HDR media from Netflix