Moto E32s Review: A Feature Packed Budget Device With Compromises

The Moto E32s tries to bring that good old charm back to the sub-Rs 10k segment, but is it able to do so? Know more in our review.

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After using various phones in the sub-Rs 10,000 segment from the popular brands, we feel a gap in the design segment needs to be filled. Most devices in this segment have a plastic back with usual old designs. With the Moto E32s, the company wants to bring that good old charm back. The Moto E32s is priced under Rs 10,000 in India and brings a refreshing design, 16MP triple rear camera, 5,000mAh battery, Mediatek Helio G37, and much more. In our first impressions, we gave you an overview of the phone. But now, after putting it into the test for more than a week, it’s time to see if the Moto E32s is worth the price tag or not. Read our review to know.

Moto E32s

9299
7.7

Design & Build

9.0/10

Performance

6.0/10

Display Quality

7.5/10

Camera Quality

7.0/10

Software

9.0/10

Battery Performance

8.5/10

Audio

7.5/10

Day-to-Day Use

7.0/10

Value For Money

7.5/10

What Is Good?

  • Design
  • Decent selfie camera
  • All-day battery backup
  • Stock Android experience

What Is Bad?

  • Weak processor
  • Macro and depth camera feels non-existent
  • 10W charger in the box
  • Poor light balancing in cameras

Moto E32s Review: Design and Build

Compared to the Micromax In 2C (First Impressions) or Infinix Smart 6, the Moto E32s feels premium and attractive for the price. It has a flat panel with chamfered edges. This is not something new from the house of Motorola, but the design is impressive for the price.

Motorola says that the glossy panel on the back is made of Acrylic Glass, making it look stylish and cutting off some weight. While the back looks good for a budget device, it’s fast to catch fingerprints and scratches. Also, it has a slippery back which is why we recommend using a case. It comes in two colour options – silver and grey. We had the latter, and it looks impressive.

The Moto E32s, on the bottom, come with a Type-C port and a speaker grille. On the left, it has a full-sized SIM slot which supports a microSD card of up to 1TB. Motorola has placed the volume rocker and a power button on the right. The power button also doubles up as a fingerprint scanner. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top.

The volume rocker has been placed too high, which we feel could have been slightly lower or on the bottom left side of the panel. See, the device is already large, and we found it uncomfortable for one-handed use despite having large hands. It required a considerable stretch of the thumb to reach the right side and increase the volume of the phone.

The Moto E32s has an IP52 rating which protects it from water splashes and dust, which we feel is a good addition in the sub-Rs 10k segment.

Moto E32s Review: Display and Audio

Flaunting a 6.5-inch display, the Moto E32s comes with an IPS LCD panel with HD+ resolution. The screen refreshes at 90Hz and allows you to switch between 60Hz and 90Hz. Additionally, there’s an automatic mode in which the device selects the best refresh rate for the app to save battery life.

The display is not the best but can be justified for the price. Despite having a higher refresh rate, the screen responds slowly, which we think is because of the low-powered processor that Motorola has used. The LCD display lacks vibrancy, and we could notice the faded colours on Google app icons. The screen visibility was also average under direct sunlight.

Despite this, our video-watching experience was satisfactory, and it seems to be a good media consumption device at this price. The 90Hz refresh rate on the handset is a great addition in the sub-Rs 10k segment and makes scrolling smooth on the device.

All that said, the Moto E32s screen is justified for the price, and it’s fine for content watching. The high refresh rate option will make your experience smooth.

The loudness of the single bottom-firing speaker is mediocre, and it lacks clarity. The sound starts to crackle on low frequency and at about 80% volume. You might wish to plug in your earphones while watching movies on the Moto E32s.

Moto E32s Review: Battery and Charging

The Moto E32s packs a 5,000mAh battery which is more than enough for a device with such specifications. It lasts a full day if you keep the display refresh rate at 90Hz. Using it at 60Hz with general usage such as scrolling social media, web browsing, etc., will provide more than a day of battery life.

The device supports 15W charging, but the company has provided a 10W charger in the box, which takes between 2.5 and 3 hours to charge the battery from 0 to 100%. The charging time is very long, so you would be able to slash some minutes by using a 15W adapter.

Moto E32s Review: Performance and Software

The Moto E32s is powered by the Mediatek Helio G37 processor, which is commonly found in budget smartphones. It is paired with two variants – one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage and the other with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. You also have the ability to use a 1TB microSD card to extend the storage further. This is especially useful if you are planning to get the 32GB variant, as the device only gives you about 24GB of total available space after setting it up.

The device boots Android 12 and provides a near-stock experience. You do not get any bloatware installed, no spam notifications and no ads, which is what most users want. The software experience on the Moto E32s has been better. The Android 12 notification toggle, colour palette, bubbles, and privacy settings make the device useful.

But, the Moto E32s gasps for breath, even with day-to-day tasks. It feels slow to use, and the animations seem to be delayed. For example, when we used YouTube, the phone took some seconds to maximize the screen, close and scroll the video. We had the same gripe with other lightweight apps too. Multitasking was also a total chore. Switching between Spotify and Instagram was way too slow for us.

We would recommend you to use light apps on the device. That said, the phone doesn’t heat up during prolonged usage. The fingerprint and face unlock are also slow in responding.

While testing on benchmark apps, it achieved a single-core score of 155 and the multi-core score of 863, which is low and clarifies that the phone is not meant for heavy tasking. The device was also not able to handle the AnTuTu tests and crashed each time we ran it.

We had very low expectations in gaming from the Moto E32s, but surprisingly it was able to run Battlegrounds Mobile India in Smooth+Medium mode. The maximum graphics you can switch to is Balanced+Medium, but we don’t recommend you to switch to it as the gameplay becomes choppy. For some reason, Call of Duty Mobile was crashing again and again while downloading game resources, and therefore we weren’t able to play it. Casual games like Coach Bus Simulator and Dr Parking ran smoothly on the smartphone, though.

Moto E32s Review: Camera Quality

Motorola has cleverly stepped up the numbers and added a 16-megapixel primary sensor on the Moto E32s instead of the 13-megapixel cameras the competition offers. This is accompanied by two 2-megapixel sensors for macro and depth sensing.

Motorola has included an 8MP camera at the front for selfies and video calls, which houses inside a centre punch hole. The Moto E32s comes with basic camera modes that you get in a typical budget device – Portrait, Night vision, Pro, Panorama, along with Dual capture that allows you to click pictures from both rear and front cameras simultaneously. Take a look at our experience with Moto E32S’ camera system.

    1. The 16MP primary sensor captures good pictures in the daylight with natural colours and an ample amount of detail. It takes a few seconds to focus on a subject and to process images. In indoor conditions, the picture starts to lose detail, and the colours seem to be dull. We have noticed that the rear camera is incapable of balancing the lights and hence ends up overexposing the pictures. In most cases, we had to turn the HDR mode on to capture the background details. Take a look below.
    2. The macro camera captures pictures with a reddish tone and soft details which are unusable. It seems to be non-existent on the device.
    3. Coming to the low light pictures, it produces soft photos with less amount of detail and with overexposed lights. The night mode is a gimmick and doesn’t do much to retain the highlights and details in dark scenarios, and you can check it out by comparing the pictures below. If there are external lights around the surroundings, you will be able to capture the subject easily. Otherwise, you will have to manage with an almost blank image.
    4. When it comes to human subjects, the rear camera crushes details and produces a picture with no focus. Check out the shoes of the subject, which are blurred.
    5. Lastly, the front camera captures good pictures with the proper amount of detail and natural skin tone. However, it also has the same overexposed issue in which it tends to blow out the background. And that is why you may also want to enable HDR mode in selfies. Portraits come out to be natural, but the edge detection could have been better.
    6. Videos can be recorded at a maximum of 1080p/30fps for both rear and front cameras. The primary camera produces okayish videos with an ample amount of details. In harsh lighting conditions, it completely blows the background, such as the sky or buildings. The mic quality is fine and can also be used to do a voiceover.

Moto E32s Review: Verdict

The Moto E32s, no doubt, is packed with a bunch of features, however, the lack of a good processor is making things hard for the device to run smoothly. We have used the Unisoc T610, and it feels more capable than the Mediatek Helio G37. The design, battery, and software of the device are the most appealing features that make it look like a good buy. The rear camera is average, while the selfies come out to be fine. But, the overexposing issue that we have noticed in most of the photos needs to be fixed, if it can be via an OTA update.

The Moto E32s starts at Rs 9,299 in its 3GB/32GB configuration. We would recommend getting the more capable 4GB/64GB, which is worth it for a premium of just Rs. 700. Alternatives of the Moto E32s include the Redmi 10, which offers a better processor, a big battery, and a high megapixel camera.