Moto G54 (Power edition) review

Familiar AOSP with a Moto skin and features

The Moto G54 Power doesn't stray from Motorola's usual path when it comes to software. You're getting a nearly AOSP-looking version of Android (13, in this case), augmented by a handful of proprietary features.

We believe that the clean appearance is a selling factor generally applicable to all Moto devices, while the added functionality helps widen the appeal for even more users.

One thing that readily sets apart AOSP (or Pixel) versions of Android, and in turn, Motorola's, from essentially all manufacturers' overlays, is the Quick Settings and notification shade. That means big and bubbly buttons, of which you only get four on the first pull, up to 8 on the second, and a full-screen notification shade.

Widgets are another thing some makers like to take their own path, but Motorola sticks with Android's interface, introduced with v.12 and carried over for another OS version. The widget picker offers responsive previews for differently-sized widgets. The API supports dynamic coloring by tying into the Material You theming engine, allowing the widgets to adapt to the wallpaper.

Quick settings • Notification shade • Widgets

The Material You auto-theming feature is here, too, though it's masked behind a slightly customized Moto-specific theming interface. You can still get wallpaper-based accent colors, which will apply to Google apps and the settings menu.

Personalization

As usual, Motorola has added a handful of useful extras. They are all placed in a Moto settings app that lists them in categories. The Moto app itself has a new, fresh look this year.

Moto app

The first category is personalization, where the OS-native auto-theming is housed on Moto phones. There is also a wide selection of Moto wallpapers in addition to Google's own, plus the option to leverage AI to create your own from the photos in your gallery.

Then come the gestures. By now, you must have seen Moto's karate chop motion that turns on and off the flashlight and the twisting motion that launches the camera app. Both work even when the device is locked.

The lift-to-unlock gesture works well with the face unlock, as it unlocks the device as soon as you pick it up and look at the screen. A swipe-to-split function is available, too - it triggers split-screen multitasking. You can also double-tap the back of the phone to do a custom action.

Gestures

Browsing through the display section, we didn't actually find Motorola's Peek Display option, though it still seems to be present and working fine on the G54 Power.

The screen lights up when it detects motion that's close to the phone or when you pick it up. Once you've received some kind of notification, you can tap on it, see the message, and even interact with it from the lock screen.

Attentive Display disables the screen timeout as long as there's a face looking at the screen.

Display

Then there's the Play section. Here, you'll find the Gametime utility, which offers the usual functionality of tools like call and notification blocking and screen recording. Additionally, there are optional shortcuts for media playback when the screen is locked using the volume keys and a Dolby Atmos sound enhancement utility.

You can also force a refresh rate on a per-app basis from the game launcher, which you might have to do given the G54 Power's relatively poor automatic behavior while gaming.

Play

With recent versions, Google has been investing heavily in Android's privacy and security aspects. This includes things like the Privacy dashboard, which offers a unified view of what permission is being used by what app and when.

There are also the camera and microphone indicators in the top right corner of the screen for an immediate clue that you're being watched/listened to, but also the quick toggles to limit access to those altogether. There is also the option to determine whether an app gets your precise coordinates or an approximate location.

Secure folder is self-explanatory. It is a vault to keep your sensitive apps and files. A few interesting network protection options are on board, like blocking certain apps from accessing the network while you are connected to an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot.

Security and privacy

Other interesting security features include the ability to lock your network and security settings for as long as your screen is locked. Also, the ability to scramble your pin input interface for higher security. You can access all of these security and privacy settings through a separate Moto Secure app shortcut as well.

As already mentioned, Motorola's "Ready For" platform is absent from the Moto G54 Power. There is no way to cast a desktop-style interface through Miracast like on other Moto devices like the G84.

Performance and benchmarks

The Motorola G54 Power is based on a MediaTek Dimensity 7020 chipset. It is a very new chipset from the beginning of this year. However, in actuality, the Dimensity 7020 is a rebranded Dimensity 930. That latter chipset is also quite new from the end of last year. We haven't had a phone with either chip pass through our office yet.

The Dimensity 7020 is a modern chip based on TSMC's 6nm manufacturing process. In terms of CPU, the Dimensity 7020 has two big Cortex-A78 cores, clocked at up to 2.2GHz and another six small Cortex-A55 ones, working at up to 2.0GHz.

The GPU situation is a bit more interesting. MediaTek has partnered with Imagination Technologies before for its GPUs. Notably the PowerVR series of chips. The IMG BXM-8-256 GPU is another Imagination Technologies product. This GPU is based on the B-Series architecture that should be about 30% more power efficient than the previous generation (PowerVR). In terms of graphical APIs, the IMG BXM-8-256 claims to support OpenGL ES 3.x, OpenCL 3.0 and Vulkan 1.3. That last bit about Vulkan support seems to be a bit problematic since none of the 3DMark benchmarks are even supported by the Moto G54 Power. Apparently, the particular GPU is missing some crucial Vulkan extensions. We didn't encounter any practical problems related to these Vulkan hurdles while gaming. It is still worth noting, though.

Let's start with GeekBench and some CPU benchmarks. The Dimensity 7020 is no powerhouse, but it does hold its own well amidst competitors in the same price range.

AnTuTu is a much more compound benchmark that also includes some GPU runs and memory tests. Once again, the Dimensity 7020 does well within its price bracket. It is comparable in performance to the Dimensity 1080 and 6080 as well as the Snapdragon 695 and the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, though the latter has it outpaced a bit. Depending on whether you trust AnTuTu 9 or 10 more, the Dimensity 7030 is less powerful than the 7020, too.

Graphical performance is another thing, though, and the Dimensity 7020, with its IMG BXM-8-256, lags behind the competition a bit. For instance, the Mali-G68 MC4 inside the Dimensity 1080 is notably more powerful, and so is the Mali-G610 MC3 inside the Dimensity 7030. Even the Adreno 619 inside the Snapdragon 695 does a bit better in graphical tasks.

On a more positive note, the Dimensity 7020 does not get too hot and does not thermal-throttle aggressively. Naturally, it still loses some performance with prolonged stress testing, but a perfectly reasonable amount.

Thermal throttling

All things considered, we can't complain about the overall performance of the Moto G54 Power and how it runs in practice. It offers smooth operation and enough power to chew through regular tasks. Unfortunately, the IMG BXM-8-256 GPU inside the Dimensity 7020 drags the experience down a bit. The Moto G54 Power just would not be our first choice for a gaming device.