Moto G96 5G review: Imperfect but impressive for the price

VERDICT:

The Moto G96 5G is a reliable budget smartphone that nails the essentials. With its vibrant 144Hz display, minimal design and smooth performance, it offers great value under Rs 20,000. However, the cameras could have been better.

Buying a smartphone under Rs 20,000 these days can feel like both a blessing and a challenge. On one hand, there’s no shortage of feature-rich options offering great value. On the other hand, picking the right one from a sea of near-identical specs and marketing buzzwords is tougher than it looks. Brands are constantly trying to push the limits by offering high-resolution displays, larger batteries and good cameras, all while keeping the price accessible.

Motorola’s latest entry into this competitive space is the Moto G96 5G, with a starting price of Rs 17,999. It comes with a 144Hz pOLED display, Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset, a 50-megapixel main camera, and a 5,500mAh battery. But how does it handle real-world use?

I’ve been using the Moto G96 5G for the past several days, and here’s my full take on its design, performance, camera and battery life.

Moto G96 5G: Design

The Moto G96 5G comes in four Pantone-curated colours: Ashleigh Blue, Greener Pastures, Cattleya Orchid and Dresden Blue. Motorola sent us the Greener Pastures variant, which is a deep green shade with a matte vegan leather finish.

The texture of the vegan leather is soft to the touch and adds a bit of grip, making the phone feel secure in the hand. It also has the advantage of being highly resistant to fingerprints and smudges, something that’s especially useful if you prefer using your phone without a case.

The phone has a clean, minimal design with a subtly raised camera module that blends well into the rear panel. The Motorola logo is placed at the centre of the back panel, and the overall look remains clean. The G96 5G feels fairly slim and balanced, with curved edges that contribute to a comfortable in-hand feel.

Moto G96 5G: Display

The Moto G96 features a 6.67-inch FHD+ 3D Curved pOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate. This display panel is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. In our brightness tests, the G96 hit 834 nits (manual) and peaked at 2170 nits in auto mode, which means great outdoor legibility even under harsh sunlight. 

Using Calman and the Spectracal C6 Colourimeter, we tested the colour accuracy of the display. In the natural colour profile, the G96 achieved an average Delta E of 1.5, indicating good colours that make watching content a treat. Also, the gamut coverage is nearly 100% which means the display is capable of rendering the entire range of colours. So, whether you’re streaming YouTube or bingeing shows on your favourite OTT apps, the experience is smooth and visually pleasing.

Moto G96 5G: Performance

Now, let’s talk about performance. The Moto G96 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset, paired with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage. In day-to-day use, the phone holds up well. Tasks like texting, browsing Instagram, watching YouTube or jumping between multiple apps felt smooth and lag-free. For casual gaming, the phone performs reliably, too, and titles like Temple Run run without any issues.

The numbers back it up as well. On AnTuTu, the Moto G96 5G scored 6,28,570, while Geekbench results came in at 1,018 (single-core) and 2,939 (multi-core). These scores put it in a competitive spot among other devices in its segment.

In short, the Moto G96 5G is a capable performer for everyday tasks and light gaming. It may not be a powerhouse for intensive workloads, but it gets the job done smoothly and consistently for typical users.

Moto G96 5G: Camera

The Moto G96 comes with a dual camera setup on the back, consisting of a 50-megapixel Sony LYTIA 700C main camera with OIS and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens. On the front, the device has a 32-megapixel selfie camera with 4K recording support. Now, let’s talk about how it performs in real life.

For a budget phone, the camera does a pretty good job. The main camera captures sharp and detailed photos in daylight. However, the colours in the photos can sometimes look a bit more vibrant than they are. Portrait shots are decent, but I noticed that the background highlights often become too bright after processing.

The front camera captures clear selfies with good skin tones. It also supports 4K video recording, which is a nice feature at this price. At night, the colours come out a bit oversaturated, but in a way that actually makes the photos look more lively and eye-catching. 

So, the Moto G96’s cameras may not be perfect, but they’re definitely capable for everyday casual use.

Moto G96 5G: Battery

The Moto G96 is backed by a 5,500mAh battery with support for 33W wired charging. In the PCMark battery test, the phone lasted 13 hours and 55 minutes, which is a good score for a device in this segment. In everyday use, the battery holds up well. With moderate usage, you can expect it to last 1.5 days on a single charge.

In our battery drain test, the phone lost just 3% battery during 30 minutes of HDR video streaming. An hour of Google Maps navigation, which usually drains batteries fast, consumed 7%, and a 15-minute session of BGMI drained around 4%, which is pretty reasonable. As for charging, it took around 74 minutes to fully charge the phone from 0 to 100% using the 33W adapter included in the box. 

Verdict

The Moto G96 5G is a well-rounded budget smartphone that delivers a good experience where it counts. With its premium design, bright and vibrant 144Hz display, smooth day-to-day performance and enduring battery, it stands out as a dependable option in the under Rs 20,000 category. While the camera has room for improvement, it still manages to deliver satisfactory results.

If you’re looking for a reliable all-rounder that doesn’t compromise on essentials, offers a minimal design and good performance, the Moto G96 5G is definitely worth considering.