The Moto G72: A Solid Offering With a Major Limitation
Motorola has been aggressively expanding its presence in the Indian smartphone market, especially in the budget and mid-range segments. While most of their recent releases above Rs. 15,000 boast 5G compatibility, the Moto G72 stands out as an odd duck, offering premium features at an attractive price point but lacking 5G connectivity. This puts it in a tricky spot, competing with phones offering both 5G and comparable specs at similar prices. Let’s dive into the details and see if the Moto G72’s strengths outweigh its 5G absence.
Moto G72: Price and Availability
Motorola launched the Moto G72 in a single storage configuration in India, offering 6GB of LPDD4X RAM and 128GB of uMCP storage. It comes in at Rs. 18,999 and can be purchased via Flipkart.
Moto G72: Design and Display
The Moto G72 is available in two colors — Meteorite Grey and Polar Blue. The striking Polar Blue, with its shiny texture over a matte finish, makes the phone look more premium than its polycarbonate back might suggest. Motorola’s "PMMA acrylic glass-finish" design contributes to this elevated aesthetic.
Weighing in at 166g and measuring just 7.9mm thick, the Moto G72 is comfortable to hold. The weight distribution is well balanced, and the curved corners enhance the grip.
The phone boasts a familiar camera module design, similar to the more premium Moto Edge 30 Fusion. This square module houses three camera sensors and the LED flash.
At the bottom, you’ll find the USB Type-C port sandwiched between the 3.5mm headphone jack and the primary speaker grille. The dual-SIM slot is on the left, while the power and volume buttons are on the right.
The front of the phone features a flat 6.55-inch pOLED display with a full-HD+ resolution. This 120Hz screen supports up to a billion colors and comes with an HDR10+ certification, though some applications like Netflix couldn’t detect this capability, preventing HDR content streaming. Nevertheless, the display delivers impressive details and color accuracy, even for full-HD OTT content. With a peak brightness of 1300 nits, it’s easily visible even in outdoor sunlight.
The Moto G72 also offers an IP52 rating for splash resistance, making it suitable for use in light drizzle. The bezels around the display, including the chin at the bottom, are remarkably thin. Completing the premium feel is a quick and responsive in-display fingerprint sensor, a welcome addition in this price range, although its placement towards the bottom might feel awkward for some.
Moto G72: Specifications and Software
Powering the Moto G72 is a MediaTek Helio G99 SoC, one of the few new 4G SoCs launched in 2022. Built on a 6nm process, this chipset offers performance improvements over its predecessor, the Helio G96. The phone also packs a 5000mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging. While the battery size is sizable, other phones like the Redmi Note 11 Pro offer faster 67W charging at a similar price point.
Connectivity options include Wi-Fi ac (2.4GHz and 5GHz), GPS, Bluetooth 5.1, and standard sensor suite. Running on Android 12 with Motorola’s MyUX skin, the Moto G72 offers a clean and near-stock Android experience with customization options. The Moto app acts as a central hub for all personalization options, allowing you to customize fonts, icons, and even the system UI colors based on your chosen wallpaper.
The phone also supports popular Moto Gestures, such as twisting your wrist twice to open the camera, three-finger screenshots, and flipping the phone to activate Do Not Disturb mode. While the software experience is generally enjoyable, there were instances of app crashes or freezes, particularly with the default camera app. Motorola has promised Android 13 update along with three years of security patch support.
Moto G72: Performance and Battery Life
The MediaTek Helio G99 SoC in the Moto G72 handles basic day-to-day tasks and casual gaming with ease. Games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9 Legends, along with lighter titles, ran smoothly. Call of Duty: Mobile achieved an average of 40fps with ‘Medium’ graphics and ‘High’ frame rate settings, while Asphalt 9 Legends provided a consistently enjoyable gaming experience without lag.
In the AnTuTu benchmark test, the Moto G72 scored 3,34,803 points. While this score is lower than the more affordable iQoo Z6 Lite 5G, most users shouldn’t notice significant performance differences in everyday usage. The phone scored 533 and 1736 points in Geekbench’s single-core and multi-core tests, respectively.
The dual speakers on the Moto G72 boast Dolby Atmos enhancement. Although loud, the earpiece (that doubles as a secondary audio outlet) generates a noticeably lower sound output compared to the primary speaker.
Battery life is a strong point. With a moderate usage pattern encompassing social media browsing, gaming, video recording, and other activities, the Moto G72 achieved an average screen-on time (SoT) of around nine hours. In our battery loop test, the G72 lasted for 14 hours and 10 minutes. The included 33W fast charging adapter takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes to fully charge the battery from zero to 100 percent.
Moto G72: Cameras
The Moto G72 features a triple-camera setup on the back. This configuration includes a 108-megapixel Samsung HM6 primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. For selfies, there’s a 16-megapixel camera on the front.
The main camera captures images with good details, though reds and blues might appear slightly oversaturated. Despite this, the dynamic range performance is impressive. In low-light, the main camera effectively brings out details in shadows when using Night mode. While noise and some artificial smoothening are present to mitigate it, the performance is still acceptable for a mainstream smartphone. Importantly, the highlights are not overblown, which is commendable.
The ultra-wide camera leaves something to be desired. The color temperature deviates from the main camera, and the details are not as sharp. Distortion around the corners and color-fringing in some shots are also noticeable. The macro camera, while initially requiring some adjustment to its focal length, produces decent images. Using the "Ultra-res" mode in the "More" menu of the camera app and cropping the image further can potentially yield similar results.
The Moto G72 excels in selfies. Skin tones are close to natural, but the software tends to smoothen textures slightly. A subtle pink hue in skin tones, also observed in the Moto Edge 30 Fusion, is present but less pronounced in the Moto G72’s selfies.
The phone supports 1080p video recording at 60fps using the main rear camera. However, videographers using the front camera should be aware that video recording is capped at 1080p and 30fps. While colors are good, the footage exhibits some shakiness due to the lack of optical image stabilization. The dynamic range performance is average. In low-light, noticeable noise appears in darker areas, but the primary camera manages to capture reasonably well-exposed footage.
Verdict: 5G Absence Casts a Long Shadow
The Moto G72 undeniably offers a compelling combination of features for under Rs. 20,000. It delivers a satisfactory multimedia experience, decent camera performance, and a processor capable of handling casual gaming. Battery life is also commendable, capable of lasting through a full day with moderate usage. Adding to the allure is the near-stock Android 12 experience with MyUX customization options. Aesthetically, the Moto G72 boasts a pleasing design, though personal preferences will vary.
However, the glaring absence of 5G support casts a long shadow over the phone’s merits. The Moto G72 is the only Motorola phone priced above Rs. 15,000 to lack 5G connectivity. Those seeking 5G compatibility will likely gravitate towards alternatives like the Moto G82 5G, which offers enhanced performance, a comparable multimedia experience, all-day battery life, and future-proof 5G connectivity, albeit at a slightly higher price point.
If 5G is not a priority and you desire a no-compromise budget smartphone with a clean Android experience, the Moto G72 is certainly a viable option. However, consider other compelling choices like the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G or even the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G, particularly if near-stock Android isn’t paramount in your considerations.
