The Moto G64 5G: A Solid Budget Phone with a Few Trade-offs
Motorola continues its dominance in the budget smartphone market with the release of the Moto G64 5G, the successor to last year’s Moto G54 5G. While it boasts the world’s first MediaTek Dimensity 7025 SoC, a slight upgrade from its predecessor, the G64 5G primarily offers minor improvements without significant design changes. After two weeks of extensive usage, here’s a comprehensive review exploring the strengths and weaknesses of this budget offering.
Moto G64 5G: Pricing & Availability in India
The Moto G64 5G is currently available in India at Rs. 13,999 for the 8GB + 128GB storage variant and Rs. 15,999 for the 12GB + 256GB variant. Our review unit is the top-end model with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.
It comes in three colour options: Ice Lilac, Mint Green, and Pearl Blue. Our review unit is the vibrant Mint Green, which is visually appealing.
Motorola remains environmentally conscious, shipping the G64 5G in a plastic-free box. However, it includes a plastic/silicone case for added protection. The box also contains the usual paperwork, a SIM ejector tool, a USB Type-A to Type-C cable, and a 33W fast charging adapter.
Moto G64 5G: Design – Familiarity with Minor Tweaks
The design of the Moto G64 5G is strikingly similar to its predecessor, the Moto G54 5G. The key difference lies in the absence of the Black colour option, with Motorola opting for a more colourful approach this year. The phone features a plastic frame that houses the power and volume buttons on the right, the SIM tray on the left, and a microphone at the top. The bottom frame houses the 3.5mm headphone port, USB Type-C port, a second microphone, and a speaker.
The rear panel is made of plastic and boasts a glossy finish that creates an interesting pattern when light hits it. The camera module, positioned in the top left corner, retains its familiar rectangular shape, although it protrudes, causing the phone to wobble when lying flat. The front panel features a Gorilla Glass layer for display protection, but retains thick bezels, particularly at the bottom. A hole-punch cutout at the top houses the front camera.
Overall, the Moto G64 5G feels familiar to the G54, with a weight of 192g and a thickness of 8.9mm. It’s also IP52 dust and water-resistant, providing basic protection against splashes. However, exposing the phone to water or heavy rain is not recommended.
Moto G64 5G: Specifications & Software – A Familiar Tune with Latest Software Updates
The Moto G64 5G is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7025 SoC, a minor upgrade from the Dimensity 7020 in the previous model. The chipset is paired with the IMG BXM-8-256 GPU, up to 12GB LPDDR4X RAM, and 256GB UFS 2.2 storage, expandable via a microSD card.
Connectivity options include support for 14 5G bands, 3 carrier aggregation, dual SIM support (with a hybrid SIM tray), Bluetooth 5.3, dual-band Wi-Fi, GPS, A-GPS, LTEPP, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, NFC support, a 3.5mm headphone port, FM Radio, and a USB Type-C (USB 2.0) port.
The phone features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner housed within the power button, providing a familiar and fast unlocking experience. A 6,000mAh battery powers the device, supporting 33W fast charging.
The Moto G64 5G runs Android 14-based My UX. While it offers the latest software, Motorola has confirmed that only Android 15 updates will be provided for this phone. However, it promises 3 years of security updates. The phone includes Motorola features like Family Space 2.0, Moto Secure, a Game Mode, and several Moto apps. Additionally, it comes with several bloatware applications, including GamesHub, Entertainment, and Shopping apps, which are mostly removable.
Moto G64 5G: Performance – A Solid Performer in Daily Use
Equipped with the MediaTek Dimensity 7025 SoC, the G64 5G offers a good performance in daily use. The AnTuTu benchmark score reached 4,94,364 points, close to Motorola’s claim of over 500k. Similarly, it scored 1012 points in Geekbench’s single-core CPU test and 2403 points in the multi-core test.
The phone handles everyday tasks seamlessly, with minimal lag or stutter while opening apps, navigating system animations, and multitasking. This smooth performance is accentuated by the 6.5-inch IPS LCD display. It features a 120Hz refresh rate, full-HD+ resolution, 240Hz sampling rate, and HDR10 support, contributing to a fluid and visually pleasing user experience.
However, the peak brightness rating of 560 nits isn’t quite impressive. While the display is bright enough for indoor usage, it struggles to maintain readability in direct sunlight. The display offers two color modes: Natural and Saturated, with viewing angles being decent, though colors can appear a bit washed out at extreme angles.
The phone incorporates a hybrid dual-speaker setup, with the earpiece acting as the second speaker. The audio quality is decent but lacks bass and volume. Call quality, on the other hand, is excellent, thanks to the two microphones.
Gaming performance is satisfactory, though not exceptional. The phone can handle casual games seamlessly, while graphic-intensive titles are playable at medium to high settings. Although the phone is advertised as supporting high graphics for games like Asphalt 9, it’s worth noting that the game itself issued a warning about the phone’s limitations in handling those settings.
The heat management is excellent, with the phone remaining cool even during extended gaming sessions, heavy app usage (like camera), or charging.
The 6,000mAh battery is a highlight, delivering exceptional battery life. During our HD video loop test, the phone achieved an impressive 16 hours of screen-on time. Even with heavy usage, expect the G64 5G to last for a day and a half. However, charging is a bit of a letdown, despite the 33W fast charging support. It took almost 2 hours to fully charge the battery from zero.
Moto G64 5G: Camera Performance – A Mixed Bag
The Moto G64 5G sports a dual rear camera setup with a 50-megapixel primary sensor (f/1.8 aperture, quad pixel binning, optical image stabilisation) and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera (auto-focus, macro mode, 118-degree field of view). There’s also a 16-megapixel front-facing camera (f/2.4 aperture) for selfies. The camera app is user-friendly and includes several modes, including a Pro mode and a Night mode.
Daylight image quality from the primary camera is good. However, colors are a bit oversaturated, and the details are lost upon zooming in. The ultra-wide camera also produces decent photos in adequate lighting, although color consistency between the main and ultra-wide cameras is inconsistent. Photos taken with the ultra-wide camera also exhibit a lack of detail. The phone’s 2x digital zoom effectively crops the primary sensor and delivers satisfactory images when there’s sufficient light. While the selfie camera is capable of capturing decent photos in daylight, it lacks sharpness and can appear blurry on occasion.
Low light performance is a mixed bag. While the main camera is capable of capturing decent photos with the Night mode enabled, pictures taken without it are washed out, with excessive noise and artifacts. This trend also applies to the ultra-wide camera, and even photos captured with Night mode aren’t entirely impressive.
Video recording performance is decent in daylight but lacks polish. Colors are overly saturated, panning is not smooth, and stabilization is acceptable. The phone can shoot at a maximum resolution of 1080p at 60fps. Low light video suffers from a lack of detail and excessive noise.
Moto G64 5G: Verdict – A Recommended Budget Phone with Trade-offs
The Moto G64 5G faces strong competition in its segment. The recently launched Realme P1 offers a more powerful processor but comes with only 8GB RAM, lacks an ultra-wide camera, and has a smaller 5,000mAh battery. Other notable contenders like the Redmi Note 13, Vivo T3x, and Samsung Galaxy A15 fall short in various aspects compared to the G64 5G.
While the Vivo T3x boasts a better processor and similar battery capacity, it compromises on other crucial features like cameras and RAM.
If you’re searching for a budget phone with exceptional battery life, a decent display, and a capable camera setup, the Moto G64 5G is a solid choice. Though gaming performance might not be top-notch, it can still handle most games effectively with adjustments to graphics settings. Despite only offering minor improvements over its predecessor, the Moto G64 5G remains a compelling option and earns a recommendation for budget-minded consumers.
