Moto G (2025) review: An inexpensive, no-frills phone

Yahoo

11-02-2025

Android is special, not just because of the amazing phones that call it home, but because of the versatility it offers as a platform. While flagship phones like the Google Pixel 9 and midrange monsters like the OnePlus 13R get the bulk of the spotlight, many options come with a lower price point.
Motorola has been one of the industry leaders when it comes to low-cost Android phones for a while now. The company isn't afraid to undercut the competition by bringing several phones to the market that retail for less than $250. The Moto G (2025) is the latest device in Motorola's low-cost lineup, and if you keep expectations in check, it delivers a solid experience in a couple of key categories.
7/10
The Moto G (2025) offers a compelling package at a low price point. With great battery life, a well-crafted design, and Android 15, the Moto G is a solid device. No phone is perfect and neither is the Moto G, but looking past it's shortcomings is easy if you're on a tight budget.
Pros & Cons
Great design
Multiple days of battery life
Display gets the job done for the price
Fantastic price
Motorola's software updates are highly suspect
Lackluster performance
Mediocre cameras
The Moto G (2025) was released on January 30, 2025, and carries an attractive retail price of $200. It's available in a single colorway, Forest Gray, and can be found with 128GB of storage. The Moto G can be purchased from Motorola or a retailer like Amazon or Best Buy.
At the time of writing, it's not available through wireless carriers. However, last year's Moto G 5G (2024) can be found on various carriers, so we may see the newest Moto G in the future.
The Moto G is a well-crafted phone, especially considering its $200 price point. Motorola has been using vegan leather on the back of devices like the Motorola Razr (2024) for some time now. With what feels like every manufacturer opting to use glass on the back of their devices, I applaud Motorola for bucking the trend.
I'm a big fan of the textured vegan finish. Not just because it looks and feels great but because it gives the Moto G some flair that helps it stand out in a crowd. The fit and finish may not matter much if you plan on tossing the Moto G in a case, but if you plan on going caseless, the Moto G has my approval.
At 167.05 x 76.3 x 8.16mm, the Moto G is a sizable device, but it's relatively thin, making it easy to hold. At 193g, it's also light for its size but still feels hefty enough that it doesn't feel like a cheap toy. It has an IP54 rating to keep it safe from light splashes and rain, but it won't fare well in anything more than that.
The power button on the right edge doubles as a fingerprint reader, which was reliable during my testing. With 128GB, there's plenty of storage by default, but you can expand the storage up to 1TB thanks to the microSD card slot. If you prefer wired headphones, you'll be happy to know that Motorola included a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom.
Motorola equipped the Moto G with a 5,000mAh battery, which leads to an impressive battery life. I routinely got over eight hours of screen on time, lasting two full days before I had to plug it in. When you need to charge the Moto G, you can charge it via USB-C up to 30W. It takes 25 minutes to go from dead to 50% and an hour and 16 minutes to charge fully.
I wasn't expecting much regarding the display, but the Moto G exceeded my expectations for such a low-cost device. It has a large 6.7-inch LCD panel with a 120Hz refresh rate for mostly smooth scrolling. I say mostly due to some performance issues, but more on that later.
Some may complain about the lackluster 1604 x 720 resolution, but the more I used it, the more I realized it didn't matter. Is it the sharpest display out there? Not by a long shot. Did it hinder my experience? Absolutely not. It was bright enough to be used outdoors and crisp enough for watching Netflix or YouTube videos. For a $200 device, that's all I could hope for. Some devices in this price range have better displays, like the Samsung Galaxy A15 5G, but the display Motorola went with is perfectly capable.
Software is another aspect that I enjoyed during my time with the Moto G. It's easy for manufacturers to ship outdated versions of Android. Still, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it ships with Android 15 and a mostly stock version of Android. There's also less bloatware than I expected. A handful of Moto apps can be disabled but not removed, and five apps like Facebook and Candy Crush can be uninstalled.
One aspect of the Moto G that I loved was the chop gesture. Holding the phone sideways and making a chopping motion activates the flashlight, which I use daily. The Moto G can also take a screenshot by placing three fingers on the display.
While I enjoyed the software experience of the Moto G, I can't say that I trust Motorola when it comes to software updates. It's good that this phone comes with Android 15 because, regardless of what Motorola promises, there's a strong chance that this device will receive minimal support. They just aren't good at keeping their phones updated. It's a pill that's easier to swallow thanks to its low price point, but it's still disappointing, to say the least.
There were some performance woes, and that's my biggest gripe about the Moto G. Equipped with a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 processor and a paltry 4GB of RAM, you'll encounter stutters. It happens randomly. It doesn't matter if you scroll a web page or jump between apps. Stuttering limits the effectiveness of the 120Hz display, which can be frustrating.
Motorola features RAM Boost, which allows you to reserve up to 8GB of storage to use as additional RAM. It's nice in theory, but your device's storage will never match that of regular RAM. While it makes a difference, it wasn't enough to stop the stuttering completely.
In Geekbench 6, the Moto G received a single-core score of 787 and a multicore score of 1,986. These scores aren't much better than last year's model and are roughly the same as what you would get on the Galaxy A15 5G. Benchmarks don't tell much of the story, and I'm happy to say that the Moto G handles basic tasks like web browsing, messaging, and checking your mail. It can even handle intensive tasks like light gaming. It can play games like Call of Duty Mobile and Genshin Impact at low settings and with minimal issues, but it's far from ideal if you enjoy mobile gaming.
Camera quality and versatility are lacking on the Moto G. You get a 50MP, f/1.8 primary lens, a 2MP f/2.4 macro lens, and a 16MP, f/2.4 front-facing camera. The primary camera gets decent-looking shots, but they often lack detail, especially when looking at the image on a larger monitor. It only gets worse when the lighting dims, with the resulting images increasingly losing detail and becoming muddy.
The macro lens isn't worth using or talking about, so you essentially get a single rear camera on the back. The front-facing lens is fine for the occasional video call, but it will suffer from problems similar to those of the primary rear-facing lens.
If you're in the market for a low-cost, no-frills Android phone that does the basics well, the Moto G (2025) is a good option. It is well-designed and has phenomenal battery life. The display can be off-putting for some, although it shouldn't, as it's enough for daily use. I also enjoyed the stock Android experience of the Moto G.
The main aspects holding the Moto G back are its lackluster performance, Motorola's poor update history, and mediocre camera performance. No phone is perfect, and that's evident here. Making a $200 phone is difficult and requires careful consideration of every component. Motorola did a solid job providing a good overall experience while nailing the price. You can spend a bit more and get something more powerful, but if $200 is your limit, you can do far worse than the Moto G (2025).
7/10
Thanks to multiple days of battery life, a beautiful design, and a stock Android 15 experience, the Moto G (2025) is a great option if you are on a tight budget. It's let down by lackluster performance and mediocre cameras, but is a good device overall considering the price.