Moto G54 (Power edition) review

The competition

The Motorola G54 Power is a very affordable device. It has that going for it. You can pick up a unit from Amazon starting at € 199/$ 369/INR 17,600. That's really not a lot of money to spend on a phone, but that doesn't mean there aren't some excellent competitors out there.

Let's kick things off in camp Xiaomi, where the Redmi Note 12 sits right around the same price range as the Moto G54 Power. Some of its highlights include a 6.67-inch, 120Hz AMOLED display with an advertised peak brightness of 1200 nits. It's much more usable than the LCD panel on the Moto. You also get IP53 ingress protection. The Moto does have a notably bigger battery pack and an autofocusing ultrawide camera, though.

If you want to save quite a bit of money, then the Xiaomi Redmi 12 could be worth considering. It has a large LCD, not unlike the Moto and is also strapped for brightness. But just like its more expensive sibling, it offers IP53 ingress protection. Unlike the Moto, it only has a 90Hz refresh rate and a smaller 5,000 mAh battery that only charges at 18W.

The recently announced Redmi Note 13 Pro might also be within budget. It is still kind of hard to find retail listings for it, so you might have to wait a bit. Said wait might just be worthwhile, though, with specs like a 12-bit Dolby Vision, 120Hz, 1800-nit OLED display, stereo speakers and a 200MP, OIS-enabled main camera with 4K video capture. Also, 67W charging on the 5,100 mAh battery.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 • Samsung Galaxy A24 4G • Tecno Spark 10 Pro

Samsung has at least a couple of good offers in this segment as well. The Galaxy A24 4G is one of them. It has a great 6.5-inch, 90Hz Super AMOLED display with an advertised 1,000 nits of brightness. Compared to the Moto G54 Power, you will be missing out on the stereo speakers, the larger 6,000 mAh battery with faster 33W charging and the autofocusing ultrawide, though.

It is worth noting that the A24 4G seems hard to come by in Europe. Instead, Samsung is pushing the cheaper still Galaxy A14 5G. You will have to settle for some things with it, though, like a 90Hz LCD, no OIS on the main camera, no ultrawide at all, and just 15W charging on the 5,000 mAh battery.

If you are willing to spend a bit more, then the Galaxy A34 is an excellent contender. It is a much better-rounded device that offers things like a 6.6-inch, 120Hz Super AMOLED display, IP67 ingress protection, 4K video capture on its main 48MP, OIS-enabled camera, which is hard to come by in this price range. Also - stereo speakers.

Allows us to throw another interesting device into the mix. Currently, the Tecno Spark 10 Pro is less expensive than the Moto G54 Power. All the while, it offers a similar specs sheet, including a 90Hz, 6.8-inch LCD, 50MP main camera, sans OIS, but with 1440p video capture and solid battery life from its 5,000 mAh pack. There is no ultrawide on the Spart 10 Pro at all, though and no stereo speaker setup.

Our verdict

Let's not beat about the bush here - there is nothing particularly impressive or majorly appealing about the Moto G54 Power. Well, perhaps other than the battery life, but that is right there in the name and kind of a given on a 6,000 mAh pack. The rest of the experience the phone offers is kind of mundane and without surprises. this also means there are no bad surprises either.

The Moto G54 does what it does without too much fanfare. It is an okay budget device that does have certain nice aspects to it, particularly for the price range. The 120Hz refresh rate and the relatively good way the dynamic refresh rate is handled on the phone are much appreciated. The ability to lower said refresh rate down to 30Hz to conserve power is a great addition to the mix. The Moto G54 Power also has a surprisingly solid stereo speaker setup with Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio support. The camera setup, while nothing to phone home about, is also quite versatile thanks to an autofocusing ultrawide that doubles nicely as a macro shooter. OIS on the main cam is also great to see.

As for things we didn't like about the G54 Power, there is the LCD panel, which simply doesn't get bright enough and has pretty slow pixel response times, leading to smearing and ghosting. The Dimensity 7020 is also not a particularly impressive chip. While it holds up quite well in terms of CPU performance, its IMG BXM-8-256 GPU is a bit starved for power. Also, the onboard ISP limits video capture to 1080p. To be fair, that is the norm in this budget price range anyway.

All things considered, we generally had a good time while using and testing the Motorola G54 Power. It certainly has plenty of limitations to work around, but it still delivers a satisfactory experience. That being said, it wouldn't exactly be our first recommendation since, even at this price point, there are some excellent alternatives out there.

Pros

• Slick classical design with solid build quality, great weight distribution, water-repellent design and a light body.
• Decent high refresh rate handling with the ability to drop refresh rate down to 30Hz.
• Great battery life.
• Impressively clean stereo speaker system with Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio, plus a 3.5mm audio jack.
• Clean nearly AOSP software with some powerful Moto additional features.
• Decent daylight camera performance all-around.
• Expandable storage.
• Generous retail package.

Cons

• No official ingress protection rating.
• The LCD panel is not particularly bright and has no HDR support.
• The Dimensity 7020 has a rather modest GPU and limits video capture to 1080p.
• EIS introduces a lot of focus hunting while video recording.
• Low-light camera performance is only average.