Motorola Moto G Pure review: Low in price, high in compromises

pure motorola moto g

Retail price $160.00

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“The Moto G Pure is the cheapest Moto smartphone you can buy. There are big commitments but also some nice surprises.”

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Against

The Moto G series of phones aren’t considered flashy. They create money. For every high-end model that Motorola sells, there are at least a few dozen mid-range and low-cost phones flying off the shelves. That’s why the Moto G line persists even when others fail. Unfortunately, the Moto G line has been a bit confusing lately with phones like the Moto G Power, Moto G Stylus, and Moto G100. Now we have the Moto G Pure, which seems to be trying to get back to its original budget.

The Moto G Pure is an entry-level phone, with many compromises, as I discovered when I used the phone on Verizon’s network for seven days. It comes with a somewhat attractive price, a nice design, and Motorola’s software is both a blessing and a curse.

Design and display

Like most smartphones, the front design is quite simple. The 6.5-inch IPS LCD display has a cutout at the top for a front-facing camera and a sizable chin at the bottom. Around the edges of the phone are a raised power button and volume rocker on the right. At the top is the headphone jack, on the left is the SIM/microSD card tray, and at the bottom are the speaker and USB-C port.

The back has a beautiful wavy pattern, fits snugly and is easy to grip. On the back is a fingerprint sensor with the Motorola logo and a camera cover containing two camera sensors and a flash. The bumps on the back feature catch light at different angles and play around the back of the phone. The phone only comes in one color which Motorola calls “Deep Indigo”.

As mentioned, the display is a 6.5-inch 720p IPS LCD panel. It’s not very impressive but has a 20:9 aspect ratio that makes it easy to use with one hand. However, being stuck at such a low resolution is a bit annoying, especially if you want to use that much battery for media use.

Software

Motorola’s software has its advantages and disadvantages, but let’s ignore the disadvantages immediately. This phone comes with Android 11, which wouldn’t be too bad, except that Google released Android 12 to the public on October 4. Motorola promises OS upgrades and two years of software updates . Again, that’s not too bad, except that other OEMs promise up to three OS updates and four years of security updates. Considering people keep their phones for more than two years, that’s a small promise.

But on the other hand, Motorola’s software is also a blessing because it’s very, very good. Motorola offers a Pixel-like experience with a minimal bootloader and plenty of design cues from Google. Although Motorola goes further with a series of gestures like clicking to turn on the flashlight. Motorola’s usual swipe of the wrist to activate the camera doesn’t appear for some strange reason, but the new swipe of the screen will get you into multitasking mode quite easily.

Motorola offers a Pixel-like experience with a minimal bootloader and plenty of design cues from Google.

These are things I got used to when using Motorola phones and really missed them when I switched to another OEM. It’s unclear why the swivel joint isn’t there but is missing. The new multitasking gestures make up for that, but this phone’s performance isn’t enough for single-tasking, let alone multitasking.

Performance and battery life

Inside the G Pure is a MediaTek Helio G25 processor, 32 GB memory and 3 GB RAM. Add to that a 4000mAh battery and you have pretty typical specs for a phone in this price range. The phone lacks NFC, wireless charging, and 5G. In all specs, 32GB of storage seems light for this price range, but everything else is on par with what you’d expect from the competition.

In general, this is what you would expect from a budget phone. Launching apps can be very slow, launching the camera takes a few seconds, and switching between tasks can be a bit difficult. Gesture navigation is quite clunky as the phone doesn’t respond well when idle. I wasn’t overly surprised by its performance, but it’s hard not to be a little disappointed.

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This phone drains the battery quite a bit, which can be a definite plus.

That might be a good way to justify the performance trade-off in the form of battery life. At 4000 mAh, it’s not the biggest battery you can buy in a phone today, but it’s a very good size and delivers good results. I’m a lighter smartphone user and I used this phone for two days without charging, the second day I went to bed at 19%. This phone drains the battery quite a bit, which can be a definite plus.

camera

In terms of camera, this phone has a 5-megapixel camera at the front and two cameras at the back. The rear camera includes a 13MP main camera and a 2MP depth camera. Overall, the camera’s performance is quite mixed. During the day, the camera performs quite well; it’s actually better than most phones at this level. Details are sharp and clear, with little loss of focus at the outer edges of the image. There are no burned highlights, dark areas are completely pixel-free. As long as the subject doesn’t move, it’s fine.

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When you try to take a photo of a person or an animal, things quickly fall apart. Auto mode is basically useless against moving subjects, and burst mode isn’t much better. This applies regardless of lighting conditions. It is possible to take a good photo of a moving subject, but this is definitely the exception, not the rule.

At night, cameras at the border cannot be used. The photos lack focus and any sharpness. Bright spots are washed out, dark colors become messy. The same goes for videos. Speaking of videos, daytime video recording is better, but there’s no stabilization on the main or selfie cameras. If you’re walking and shooting video, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Another highlight of the camera is a feature called “color spot”. This mode allows you to select one color within the frame and convert the rest of the photo to black and white. It’s a pretty cool effect that I find quite interesting. My only gripe about the performance is that it requires two hands. While holding the phone with the subject, you must touch the screen to select the color you want to keep. When you do this, the camera will show you in real time what your photo will look like.

None of this is particularly surprising considering the phone’s price. In fact, the only surprises are the pleasant surprise of daytime performance and spot color effects. The camera that comes with a $160 phone depends almost entirely on the lighting you have, and the Moto G Pure is no exception.

Price and availability

The Moto G Pure will launch at a price of $160, with pre-orders available starting October 14. You can buy the phone at Best Buy, Walmart, B&H Photo, Amazon and directly from Motorola. Verizon will also sell the phone exclusively until the end of the year, when T-Mobile and Metro are expected to offer it as well.

Our point of view

This phone is more like the Moto E, except it borrows from the Moto G series with a larger screen, fingerprint sensor and good camera. Make no mistake, this is a budget phone that has all the limitations you’d expect, like lag, slow app launches, and a camera that only takes decent photos in good lighting. This year is special because it’s almost difficult to buy a bad phone. This is not a bad phone. But it’s also not a good phone.

But there are some nice surprises here, which is all you can realistically ask for when paying $160 for a smartphone. It won’t be a beast, it won’t be a champion. It takes some nice photos and lasts a long time between charges. Sometimes that’s good enough.

Is there a better option?

There’s no shortage of smartphones that can be purchased for under $100, and many of them are Motorola’s own devices. As I mentioned before, it’s really hard to find a bad phone in 2021, and these phones under $100 are no exception. It’s worth noting the new Nokia G300, HMD’s cheapest 5G phone at $199. We haven’t tested it yet, but this is an attractive price for 5G connectivity.

How long will it last?

Motorola has a history of making solid phones and offers a standard one-year warranty, which is great. But Motorola also has a history of poor software support, which is not good. You will get Android 12 on this phone, but that’s it. Security updates will stop after two years in 2023.

Should you buy it?

Are not. While this is the cheapest Moto phone you can buy, Motorola and HMD have options including larger batteries and even 5G connectivity. While the camera is a pleasant surprise on this phone, it’s not enough to justify the relatively high price this phone comes with. For a few dollars more, you get even more functionality in the Moto G line, not to mention cheaper phones from other OEMs.

Editor’s recommendation

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