Once upon a time, the Indian smartphone market was dominated by phones in the Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 price bracket, with some very competitive devices being introduced. But prices have risen steadily over the past five years, and this particular bracket is now all about affordability. But does affordability necessarily mean a compromise on performance? That’s what Motorola’s Moto G64 tries to address – offering an affordable device with a good enough performance for most users. Here’s our review.
What Is Good?
- Excellent Battery Life
- Rear Camera in Daylight
- Reliable Daily Performance
- Quick Fingerprint scanner
- Good Design
- Ample Storage Option
- Affordable Price
What Is Bad?
- Display Struggles in bright sunlight
- Slow Charger
- Camera Speed in Night Mode
Moto G64 Review: Price and Availability in India
The Moto G64 is available in two different variants on Flipkart. The current sale price is mentioned below. Remember that Motorola’s launch was higher by Rs 1,000 for both variants, but the current sale price is lower as part of launch offers. Flipkart is offering another Rs 1,000 off on all credit card transactions.
| Moto G64 Variants | Price |
| 8GB RAM + 128GB Storage | Rs 13,999 |
| 8GB RAM + 256GB Storage | Rs.15,999 |
Moto G64 Review: Design, Display and Audio
| Design | Specifications |
| Weight | 192 grams |
| Thickness | 8.89 |
| IP Rating | IP52 |
| Colour options | Ice Lilac, Pearl Blue, Mint Green |
Motorola’s Moto G64 is surprisingly light despite carrying a hefty 6000 mAh battery. Motorola uses 3D PMMA, a type of plastic commonly used in 3D printing, for the device, giving it a slightly more premium touch and feel than devices in this price bracket.
The back has excellent tactile feedback, and I appreciate its faux matte look. But yes, the back attracts fingerprints; it is just that the colour shading ensures you can’t always see them. The Ice Lilac looks very exciting and manages to stand out.
Motorola has also added an IP52 rating to this phone, which means it should be safe against minor splashes. But given the limited protection, don’t go dunking this in water. The phone has a fingerprint scanner as part of the power button, and it works accurately and quickly to unlock it.
| Display | Specifications |
| Size | 6.5-inch |
| Type | LCD |
| Resolution | Full HD+ (2400 x 1080) |
| Refresh Rate | 120Hz |
On the display front, Motorola’s 6.5-inch screen is where I felt this might be a bit of a compromise. The display is good enough when consuming content indoors, and the 120Hz refresh rate should keep most users happy. It is good enough with accurate colours, even with minimal brightness levels. Yes, it is not as good as an AMOLED, but given the price, the display delivers what is expected, more or less.
But in bright sunlight, it is more of a mixed performance. When taking pictures in bright sunlight, I struggled to view what I was trying to click because the screen was too reflective. This was with the screen’s brightness maxed out in adaptive brightness mode. Content on apps like Facebook and Instagram is just about legible when used in bright outdoors.
The phone has stereo speakers and Dolby Atmos support on the audio front. The audio quality is good enough for the price and adequate for consuming OTT content. I didn’t need to crank up the volume when watching videos at night, which was critical because I didn’t wish to wake up my child.
Moto G64 Review: Performance, Software
The Moto G64 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7025 processor—the only phone in India to offer this particular chipset. It is also 5G ready, with Motorola ensuring support for most bands, so next-gen mobile connectivity is not a problem. But what does this mean in terms of daily performance for users?
As you can see in the tables below, the phone is behind the competition if one were to go only by synthetic benchmarks. And while these numbers are useful, this does not mean daily performance is compromised.
| Hardware | Specifications |
| Processor | MediaTek Dimensity 7025 processor |
| RAM | Up to 12GB |
| Storage | Up to 256GB; expandable to 1TB |
| Antutu Test | 497471 |
| Geekbench 6 Test | Single-Core: 1025
Multi-Core: 2459 |
| Software Version | Android 14 with Motorola’s My UX |
| Connectivity Details | Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3 |
Moto G64’s daily performance was on par with what one expects in this price bracket. If your primary use case is scrolling on social media, consuming content, taking photos and running some easy, less resource-intensive games, then the phone does the job efficiently.
Yes, at times, I could notice that slight lag in the app animations, especially when trying to open some of the annoying pre-set folders pre-loaded on this, but there was nothing that would frustrate me. There’s also a slight shutter lag when shooting photos in night mode, but I’ll discuss that further in the camera section.
The phone worked without trouble for apps like Facebook and Instagram and even games such as Alto’s Adventure. However, with more intensive games such as Badland or Asphalt 9, I felt the performance was not as fast and smooth as I’m used to. But then again, this is an affordable device, and one must temper expectations.
The phone runs Moto’s My UX with Android 14. Motorola is known for keeping the user interface simple, and more or less this is maintained. But I was surprised to see these pre-loaded folders for categories like Shopping, Entertainment and Gaming when going to the app drawer. The ads in these folders and push to download some apps are annoying, but these compromises have become the norm on more affordable devices.
Still, there were no annoying push ads in the notifications asking me to download these apps, which has been my experience on some other phones. Motorola promises three years of security updates with this and only one more Android update (Android 15).
Moto G64 Review: Camera
This is one aspect where I expect a lot of compromise in the affordable category. Now, the Moto G64 offers an interesting camera. The primary 50MP camera sensor includes OIS, which is always positive. The 8MP ultra-wide will also double as the macro. The less said about the macro capabilities, the better. Photos taken in ultra-wide mode are also acceptable.
| Camera | Specifications |
| Primary Camera | 50MP sensor (f/1.8, Quad Pixel technology for 1.22µm) | OIS Camera | PDAF |
| Secondary Camera | 8MP (f/2.2, 1.12μm) | Auto-focus | macro | depth | 118° ultra-wide angle” |
| Selfie Camera | 16MP (f/2.4, 1.0µm/2.0µm Ultra Pixel) |
The primary camera, however, delivers good results indoors and outdoors. Details are preserved in photos, and there’s minimal noise even when shooting at 2X mode; the colours are mostly accurate.
However, there is noticeable oversaturation and bleeding when shooting reds and pinks. The colour range is off in the photos of the bright pink flower and the red chilli. Hopefully, Motorola can fix this with an update.
Surprisingly, the night mode is quite efficient, though it will test your patience in capturing the shot. The photo of the mask I took in a fairly dark room with very unsteady hands is a deadly combination when trying to shoot in such conditions. And yes, the camera takes a few seconds to focus, but once it does, the object is visible with more or less accurate colour representation.
The Portrait mode is suitable and captures edges fairly accurately, provided your subject stands still. The selfie camera does a good job, even in poor lighting conditions and with the flash turned on, the photos are good enough.
Moto G64 Review: Battery
| Battery | Specifications |
| Battery Size | 6000 mAh |
| Charger speed | 33W |
| Claimed Charging Time | 100 per cent in 82 minutes |
| Charging in testing | 100 per cent in 1 hour, 35 minutes |
The Moto G64 has a 6000 mAh battery, which is more than enough for most regular users. If you need a phone which will last a day or more, this one has you covered. The 33W charger might seem like a letdown, but I don’t mind this.
It does take more than an hour or so to get to a full charge, but given that the battery doesn’t die, it is good enough. In our PC Mark battery test, the phone lasted 9 hours and 24 minutes, which is excellent.
Moto G64 Review: Verdict
The Moto G64 aims to offer an affordable device without cutting too many corners. And it succeeds in that aspect to a large extent. If you go for the higher-end variant, you get 256GB storage and 12GB RAM for under Rs 16,000, which is impressive.
What stands out is the design, the general performance, the camera, and the large battery size. The user interface is also simple, though not entirely ad-free. But then Motorola is restricting Android updates to just one more version, which is sad.
Is this the best display one can get on a phone? No, nor is it a device centred around gaming. But then, given the price, it ticks some of the more important boxes quite nicely. If one strictly goes by pricing, its biggest rival would be the Realme P1, which has more to offer on the gaming front. You can read our detailed comparison of the two.
Get the Moto G64 if you want a phone that does the basics well and your budget does not allow you to go beyond Rs 14,000. Given the simple user interface and camera, this is also an excellent phone for senior citizens.
