Moto G51 review

Two Minute Review

Motorola recently dropped a mid-range smartphone in the Indian market named the Moto G31 which is followed by a new affordable 5G smartphone, Moto G51 in the country. 

Even though it is priced under the bracket of Rs 15,000, the Moto G51 gets a massive display, which coupled with a  120Hz refresh rate enhances the gaming experience, and makes it ideal for content consumption.

Though the phone could not be termed as the best gaming smartphone because of the low RAM and storage capacity which means the gamers will certainly face issues over a period of time.

The 5G support, pricing, camera, and other features are all good, but Motorola could have done better when it comes to the charging speed, RAM, and onboard storage of the device. 

Given the uncertainty around the 5G roll-out in Indian, it is difficult to suggest a phone which focuses on a feature that might be useful in future. Considering the requirement of the users, we feel Motorola could have prioritized basic features over a future promise.

That said, the Moto G51 is still a capable phone, if you are looking for a gaming-centric mid-ranger with a high refresh rate, long-lasting battery, a massive display and a decently powerful SoC under the hood.

Pricing and Availability

The Moto G51 5G has only one 4GB RAM variant, including 64GB internal storage and a dedicated microSD card slot of expandable memory. The device has been priced at Rs 14,999 and is exclusively available on Flipkart in two different colour options, including Bright Silver and Indigo Blue. The first sale of the smartphone started a day ago, and it is currently available on Flipkart for purchase. 

Check out the Moto G51 5G at Flipkart

Price: Rs 14,999

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Design

Well, the Moto G51 5G follows the design language that we can see in the most modern Moto devices. In Moto G51, the company has provided the old-school but robust design seen in most affordable Motorola phones so far. At the front, the smartphone gets a huge display, and a centrally-aligned punch hole cut out housing the selfie camera.

The smartphone has a prominent chin. It has flat edges and a plastic back panel with dual-color contrast, including navy blue and a darker shade of the same colour in the Indigo Blue edition. The USB Type-C port, 3.5mm port, and the speaker grilles are all placed at the bottom of the device. 

Like all Moto devices, the Moto G51 also has a dedicated button to trigger Google Assistant, Volume rockers, and a power button - all located at the right edge of the smartphone. The power button also has a fingerprint sensor housed underneath, 

Apart from that, the back panel of the device has the Motorola branding and at the top left corner, you will see the capsule-shaped camera bump sporting three sensors and a flashlight. Next to the camera setup, you can see '50MP | quad pixel' written on the camera bump. The back panel of the device is highly prone to smudges, so make sure that you have a back cover while using the device. 

Display

Moto G51 5G features a 6.8-inch IPS LCD display with FHD+ resolution. The size of the display is surely a fascinating aspect for the users who are more into streaming and gaming on the device. However, the large size makes single hand operation a slightly difficult task - especially if you're someone with smaller hands.

For a quick size comparison, the below image has a Mi A3 sitting beside the Moto G51. The Moto G51 is not only longer, at 3-inches it is wider as well.

The smartphone has a 120Hz refresh rate along with a 240Hz touch sampling rate. The response of the device to heavy games that require a high frame rate and animations is better than most of the alternatives available in the same budget.

In addition, the refresh rate of the device is adjustable, and you can reduce it to 60Hz in order to save more power. While 120Hz is ideal for gaming and offers a smooth experience, it can be taxing on the battery as well. Hence, it is best to set the phone of Auto mode for refresh rate.

The smartphone also gets options like colour profiles (natural, separated, and temperature tuner), dark theme, screen recorder, system-UI-based themes, attentive display, split-screen, and a few more to mention.  

However, the absence of an AMOLED panel can be clearly felt at times because you will see a brighter shade of black in cases where a video or a game has a black background. Though including an AMOLED panel would've resulted in a bump in the price. That said, though the screen is bright, however, it did pose issues while reading text against the direct sunlight.

Performance and Battery

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 Plus processor is a successor of the Snapdragon 480. However, because of Qualcomm's naming scheme, it can confuse laymen into thinking that this is an inferior chipset,

The Snapdragon 480 Plus processor is an 8nm chip, including 2 Cortex-A76 cores with a clock speed of 2.2GHz and Cortex-A5 cores with a clock speed of 1.8GHz. Furthermore, the chipset is coupled with Adreno 619 graphics processing unit (GPU), 4GB LPDDR4X RAM, and 64GB onboard storage. The limited amount of inbuilt storage on the smartphone is an issue as the system files already occupy around 19GB of space on the smartphone. Now, you are left with the remaining 43-45GB storage capacity. Though the phone supports storage expansion, however, most people prefer onboard storage. 

Pitching the smartphone as a gaming-centric yet providing only 4GB RAM could be a bummer. If in the future, Motorola drops a high RAM and storage capacity variant, which is a high probability, then that is going to be unfair for the customers who have bought the phone at launch.

The Snapdragon 480 Plus chipset coupled with the 120Hz refresh rate of the device offers an enjoyable gaming experience. I started with Asphalt 9, and the gameplay was so smooth that I played that game straight for an hour. 

After an hour of gameplay, the battery level only dropped by 11 per cent - from 56 per cent to 45 per cent - which is commendable. Once fully charged, the smartphone has a standby time of around four days, as per our tests. The charging capacity of the smartphone may disappoint as the bundled 20W charger takes a minimum of two and a half hours to fully charge the battery.

The slightly taller aspect ratio also marked the phone ideal for content consumption. Moto G51 is based on the Android 11 operating system with My UX skin that provides a near-stock Android experience. Minimal bloatware and a clean UI is definitely a boon as it also helps in boosting the performance of the device. The game time feature offered in the device makes your gaming experience much better with tools like notifications and call blocker, screen recorder, quick access app shortcuts, and it also disables auto-brightness. 

Camera

Moto G51 5G sports a triple rear camera setup, including a 50MP primary snapper, 8MP ultrawide shooter and a 2MP macro shooter. The camera of the device delivers quite decent photographs in both low light and regular light. The macro shooter of the device is really good when it comes to taking close shots, and the ultra-wide snapper also works as a depth shooter whenever required. 

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The rear camera module of the smartphone also consists of some features to level up your photography like the Pro Mode, Spot Color, videography at 1080p, Cinemagraph (GIF maker), Panorama, Slo-Mo, Night Vision, Timelapse, Dual capture, etc. Talking about the picture quality, Moto G51 comes with an ultra-resolution mode that provides high-quality photographs.

At the front, the device features a 13MP snapper for attending video calls and capturing selfies. The front camera of the device includes modes like AR stickers and group selfies to make your experience better. 

Should you buy the Moto G51?

Buy it if...

You are looking for high performing mid-ranger

Mid-range smartphones often lack in terms of performance due to limited specifications and features. However, with Moto G51 5G, you will not face that issue as it has a powerful Snapdragon 480 Plus chipset.

Gaming is a priority

All the gamers in the house who are looking for an affordable gaming-focused offering can go for Moto G51 5G as it has a 120Hz refresh rate, 6.8-inch IPS LCD display with FHD+ resolution that makes it ideal for gaming.

You want a long-lasting battery 

The 5000mAh battery of the device makes sure that it goes on for more than a day easily, even after extensive use. 

Don't buy it if...

You want an AMOLED display

Apart from all the good things in the latest offering by Motorola, it lags behind when it comes to the display panel used on the phone. The device has an IPS LCD display which will make you feel the absence of true black colour and image quality that comes with an AMOLED display.

You need more RAM and extra storage

The 64GB internal storage offered in Moto G51 5G along with 4GB RAM is a major turn-off. The device could have been a much better deal with at least 128GB internal storage and a high-end variant with 6GB RAM.

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