Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Motorola’s new Moto G Power (2022) keeps long battery life, adds better camera

The Moto G Power (2022) is officially the newest part of Motorola’s Moto G family, and the successor to the Moto G Power (2021) that we reviewed early this year. As our review of the earlier model noted, all the key selling points are here, like the long-lasting three-day battery life, huge display, and sturdy design. But on top of that, Motorola also appears to have addressed our complaints about the weak camera performance and mediocre panel, by significantly beefing up both, though it still hasn’t brought 5G to the device likely to keep it under $200.

To start with, the new G Power features a 6.5-inch 1600 x 720 IPS display with a 90Hz refresh rate, meaning everything will be smoother than last year’s 60Hz panel. It’s still not really a bump up from 720p — 1080p would have been nice given the big screen, but it’ll still feel a lot better to use. In terms of weight and dimensions, it’s about the same size and tips the scale at about 203 grams. The design is fairly sturdy and is IP52 water-repellent, however, it is not technically waterproof, so don’t fully immerse it.

On the back logo is a built-in fingerprint sensor as always, but if you’d rather not use that, the phone also supports face unlock. Design flourishes are minimal, with Dark Grove being your only color option. The G Power also comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, which may start to become less common next year as Samsung moves to remove the headphone jack from its midrange devices.

Image of Moto G Power.
Motorola

Battery life continues to be the primary selling point of the G Power, with the phone juiced by a 5,000mAh cell that supports a three-day battery life and 10-watt charging. This is about the same as last year’s model, but we’ll have to wait to test our review unit to confirm.

The other big selling point this year is the triple rear-facing camera array which consists of a 50-megapixel primary sensor with Quad Pixel binning for better low-light performance, 2MP macro camera, and 2MP depth camera. Low light tends to be the real bane of midrange and budget phones, so it’ll be interesting to see if the new G Power is able to do better.

The front-facing hole-punch camera is 8MP. The cameras can record 1080p video at 30 frames per second, which is pretty standard for budget phones. They do support Dual Capture mode, which records with both the front and back cameras to ensure your reaction is captured without missing anything in front of you, which seems handy for streamers and vloggers.

Image of a picture being taken with a Moto G Power.
Motorola

As for specs, things are decidedly midrange. The Moto G Power runs with a MediaTek Helio G37 octa-core processor coupled with 4GB of RAM. It’s no powerhouse, but it’ll get the job done for average browsing and app usage. The built-in storage options include 64GB and 128GB, but you can expand it up to 512GB with a microSD card.

The phone comes running Android 11 and may get an Android 12 update eventually, though certainly not as soon as flagship devices. Like most other Motorola phones, the Moto G Power comes with the Moto app My UX which is geared towards greater customization with the classic Motorola gesture controls, voice commands, and more. It also has ThinkShield, which supposedly provides extra security on both hardware and software levels.

For connectivity, the G Power has 4G LTE and Bluetooth 5.0, but no 5G, as we noted earlier. While 5G phones are getting cheaper, we still haven’t typically seen them below $200 in the U.S.

Image of front and back of Moto G Power.
Motorola

Price and availability

The Moto G Power will run you $200 or $250 depending on the storage you get, and it’ll be available sometime in the coming months with from Republic Wireless and Metro by T-Mobile. After that, it should become available at Verizon, Boost Mobile, Xfinity Mobile, AT&T, Cricket, UScellular, and Google Fi. If you want to get the Moto G Power (2022) unlocked, you can pick it up at Best Buy, Amazon, and Motorola in early 2022. Canada will also get the device in the coming months, but no other details are specified.

Elizabeth Tirk
Elizabeth is a small town writer based out of the US, focusing mainly on mobile tech news. Part of her interest in tech is…
If you like cheap phones, you’ll love these 2 new Moto G options
The Moto G Stylus 2023, standing upright on a couch, with its display turned on.

The budget smartphone market is a bustling space right now, with great phones from Nokia and Samsung making big waves. Motorola is the unofficial king of the budget smartphone, but its throne is looking quite shaky right now. That might be why it's decided to remix some classics this year, releasing new versions of the Moto G 5G and Moto G Stylus.

While there are definitely some improvements in the 2023 versions of both phones, Motorola has also made some cutbacks for both, making these new versions remixes of past classics rather than pure upgrades. Here's everything you need to know about the Motorola Moto G 5G (2023) and Moto G Stylus (2023).
Moto G 5G (2023)

Read more
Moto G Power 5G adds a flagship feature to a budget phone
Render of the Motorola Moto G Power 5G in a white color against a light purple background.

Motorola may be making a play for the flagship market with the Motorola Edge 40 Pro, but budget phones are what the American monolith is best known for. While it won't be making as many waves as the latest Samsung phone or Apple iPhone launch, the newest iteration of the Moto G is always something worth paying attention to, as Motorola is a true veteran of the space and knows what makes an excellent cheap device.

Best of all, this new Moto G comes at a time when budget phone enthusiasts have never had it so good. Previously premium features are filtering down into lower-priced devices, without altering that sweet low price or the features everyone loves. That's exactly what's happening with the new Motorola Moto G Power 5G, which includes a 50-megapixel main camera lens, a larger amount of storage, and a big screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. With the big 5,000mAh battery the G Power range is known for, this could be the $300 phone to grab if you love a budget bargain.
Super-smooth motion

Read more
Moto G Play (2023) serves up a smooth screen and big battery for just $170
Motorola Moto G Play 2023's official render.

Motorola has a new ultra-affordable phone on offer, and this one serves up a few perks usually seen on higher-end phones. The latest budget warrior from the company is the Moto G Play (2023) — a phone that only costs $170 and will be sold unlocked by Amazon, Best Buy, and Motorola starting January 12. 
The most striking aspect of the phone is its screen. You get a modern-looking 6.5-inch display with palatable bezels and a small hole-punch cutout at the top that houses the selfie camera rather than an eyesore waterdrop notch. 

The resolution has been capped at HD+ (1600 x 720 pixels), which isn't surprising for a phone in this price bracket. However, Motorola is adding some pizzazz courtesy of a smooth 90Hz panel, a convenience Apple doesn't offer on the iPhone 14 despite asking $800 for it. 
Another notable aspect of the Moto G Play (2023) is the battery size. Motorola has armed it with a 5,000mAh battery that is claimed to last up to three days. Those are rather generous figures, but given the phone's modest internals, it will easily go past a day. 
The phone is powered by MediaTek's Helio G37 chip, paired with a modest 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. Thankfully, you can expand the storage by popping in a card of up to 512GB capacity. 

Read more