Motorola’s early Moto G phones were known as great mid-range phones at reasonable prices. However, the brand has recently taken a scattered approach and it’s hard to tell the difference with its product line.
The Moto G30 and G10 are a pretty straightforward proposition – high-resolution cameras and long-lasting batteries at a reasonable price. The G30 even adds a few goodies like a 90Hz display and 20W fast charging.
Before digging into the details, it should be noted that both phones will launch in Europe before the end of the month. The G30 will cost 180 € and the G10 will be slightly cheaper at 150 €.
Disadvantage of resolution
The Moto G30 has a 720p + display, which might be its biggest flaw – 1080p class screens aren’t that rare in the under $ 200 price range, with some offering refresh rates of 90Hz or even 120. Hz, others having AMOLED panels (but neither has both.).
The high refresh rate makes the user interface smoother and opens the door to a growing roster of games that can hit 90 fps and beyond. Not that the G30 is positioned as a gaming phone and that it doesn’t really have the GPU for it. However, the low pixel density will make all the text you read noticeably less sharp.
The other pain point is the lack of 4K video recording. This is, again, fairly easy to find in this segment. It’s not that bad, but it further decreases the value you get for your money.
Take the example of the Moto G8 Plus. It’s a year and a half at this point, but Motorola Germany still has units in stock and coincidentally sells them for the same price as the G30, € 180. Except that the G8 Plus has a 1080p screen and a 4K compatible camera. The G30 is still the best phone, no argument there, but the G series seems to be backing down.
Advantage of the camera
That said, a 64 MP camera isn’t easy to find on a Motorola under $ 200. The high resolution sensor will be an advantage for night photography and digital zoom.
The addition of the requirement of an ultra-wide camera further narrows the list of competitors. However, it only really makes a difference if you have a Motorola at heart. Looking at other brands, however, and it’s easy to find similar setups. It doesn’t help that the G30 ultra wide module only has an 8 MP sensor and a lens that is not that wide (118 °).
Battery good but commonplace
A 5000 mAh battery should allow you to go several days without recharging, which is always a plus in our books. And the 20W charge seems pretty fast. However, the battery looks less noticeable when you notice that the older and cheaper Moto G9 Play has the same battery.
And with something like the Galaxy M21 or the Poco M3, you can get a larger 6,000mAh power cell, although it’s slower to charge (mostly because of the extra capacity). If speed is what you want, the Realme 7 has a 5,000mAh battery that charges it to 30W. And a Poco X3 goes up to 6000mAh and 33W of charging (5160mAh on the NFC model).
Who wants pure Android, anyway?
Of course, with a Galaxy, Poco, Realme, or whatever else, you’d be dealing with One UI, MIUI, ColorOS, etc. Motorola uses an almost pure Android with valuable (but mostly discreet) additions.
Is this a real advantage or is it in fact a disadvantage? The Galaxy M21 we mentioned already runs Android 11 after launching with version 10 last year. Meanwhile, the Moto G9 Power, G9 Plus, G9 Play and many other 2020 Motorolas are still on Android 10.
To be fair, the Moto G9 and G8 series will be getting the version 11 update “in the coming months”, but that hasn’t happened yet. Here are the official lists of phones awaiting update. You will notice that the G series models from 2019 are not on it. And even the relatively high-end One Zoom ends its updating career with just one major operating system update.
What we mean is that pure Android is no guarantee for long term support or fast updates (although it should have been). And some people like the extra features added by designer skins. So who wants pure Android, anyway?
Not at this price
So far we’ve barely mentioned the Moto G10, the G30’s little brother. And we mean less – while you can make an argument for a 720p + 90Hz display, the G10’s 60Hz panel just isn’t that great. Worse yet, the 5,000mAh battery now receives a 10W charge. Additionally, the phone has 64GB of built-in storage as standard, half of what the G30 has.
Keep in mind that the Moto G10 costs € 150, only € 30 less than its sibling. We think we’d pay € 30 just to have 128GB of storage, not to mention screen refresh rate, load speed, and camera downgrades (main sensor up to 48 MP, selfie camera at 8 MP).
The Moto G10 needs an instant, permanent reset if it has any hope of being chosen over the G30, not to mention the myriad of phones from competing brands that are just plain better. Come to think of it, the G30 would be a lot more impactful if a few euros were taken out of its price.
A well-balanced package but …
The Moto G30 launches with Android 11 and has a good chance of getting 12 next year. The 128GB storage is double what most phones in this price range get (and is expandable). The 3.5mm headphone jack and NFC are also solid additions. Also, as noted above, the camera and battery are quite solid.
Then there are the, shall we say, less amazing features. The older Snapdragon 662 chipset in particular isn’t great because that’s the reason the camera can’t do 4K. It also doesn’t offer a ton of performance. Nothing too exciting about the plastic frame with IP52 protection.
The G30 is a complete phone, however, we’re concerned that it might be swallowed up by similar (and sometimes better) phones from brands with a bigger market share and higher visibility – Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme and Poco all have a lot of marketing power behind them and phones that offer similar (and sometimes better) value for money.
