Motorola Moto G7 review

Competition

When the original Moto G came out in 2013, it was essentially without competition in its segment, offering unmatched price/performance ratio. Six years later, the Moto G7 aims to do a bit of the same, only now other makers are in on it too.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 • Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) • Honor 8X • Oppo F9 (F9 Pro)

Xiaomi was barely making its first steps back then but now has a firm grasp on the low-to-mid range. The Redmi Note 7 is the latest in a line of successful Redmis and will give you much longer battery life than the Moto G7 and superior CPU and GPU performance. However, the Redmi's MIUI can't be further removed from the stock-ish Android of the Moto.

The Galaxy A7 (2018) is similarly non-stock, plus it's still on Oreo, and then it's a little more expensive, yet it has a dated microUSB port and no fast charging. On the other hand, it's got a much better display overall, will comfortably outlast the Moto in a battery contest, plus it packs an ultra wide angle camera on top of the main+depth combo.

The Honor 8X is another of the more powerful competitors thanks to the Kirin 710 inside, while it's also got better endurance than the Moto G7. The Moto's display is slightly better, its Android is more recent (not to mention near-stock) and it's got faster charging over a future-proof USB-C - both missing on the Honor.

The Oppo F9 is, again, significantly more powerful than the Moto, has better endurance and charges even faster than the G7. It does it over microUSB though, it's a bit more expensive, and it runs heavily-skinned ColorOS on top of older Android Oreo.

An advantage of the Moto G7 over all four of these and generally over phones in this class is the splash resistance (that's admittedly hard to quantify). There's also the matter of 4K video recording, which none of the above supports, but then it's not particularly good-looking on the Moto either.

Verdict

We had a particularly tough time populating the lists below, and that's probably a good thing - the Moto G7 doesn't really shine, yet it doesn't necessarily disappoint in any particular area. Isn't that what the definition of a successful midranger should be?

While not a dealbreaker strictly speaking, the battery life of the G7 is perhaps the first thing that'll have us exploring other options, because other options do rank higher on this front. The other complaints we have are likely to even go unnoticed by a lot of what we imagine is the G7's target audience.

And for a budget-conscious shopper that still wants a well-rounded and dependable smartphone, the Motorola Moto G7 delivers. It's almost like it's 2013 all over again.

Pros

• Design is easy on the eyes, the round camera bump makes it easily recogbnizable as a Moto phone.
• Latest Android 9.0 Pie, useful Moto customizations.
• FM radio, dedicated microSD slot, and a headphone jack - why doesn't every phone have all of these?

Cons

• Overall unimpressive battery life, poor standby times in particular.
• Underpowered GPU.
• Mediocre 4K video (though competitors don't have it at all).