The New Moto G Power 5G Gets a Better Display, but Shorter Battery Life – CNET [CNET]

Motorola says the $299 Moto G Power 5G will get 38 hours of battery life.

With its new $299 Moto G Power 5G, Motorola appears to be focusing on more than just a long battery life. The phone, announced Thursday, is part of Motorola’s affordable G series and gains a number of notable hardware updates over last year’s version, including 5G compatibility, an upgraded display and new front-facing camera. But those changes may come at a cost, since the new version of the G Power is priced $100 higher than its predecessor and is rated for shorter battery life. The Moto G Power 5G will be available unlocked, meaning it can be used on any carrier, starting April 13.

Improvements include a 6.5-inch display with a 1080p resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. That high refresh rate, which makes animations smoother when browsing the web or using apps, is rare for a phone under $300. Phones in this price range usually top out at around 90Hz.

The Moto G Power’s front-facing camera has a new 16-megapixel sensor, compared to 8 megapixels on last year’s version. Hopefully the newer sensor will improve the quality of selfie photos and video chats. The main rear camera has a 50-megapixel resolution just like last year, along with a 2-megapixel macro camera and 2-megapixel depth sensor for portrait mode.

The phone will also include either 128GB or 256GB of storage — which is quite roomy for a $299 phone — with the option of adding 1TB of space with a microSD card. The G Power 5G also has either 4GB or 6GB of RAM, depending on the model, stereo speakers, a headphone jack, and comes with a 10W charger though its max charging speed is 15 watts.

Battery life has long been one of the Moto G Power’s high points, but it looks like Motorola may have scaled that back on the new model. Motorola expects the new Moto G Power’s 5,000 mAh battery to provide 38 hours of battery life, while last year’s version was said to last for three days on a single charge. Additionally, the Moto G Power’s 5,000 mAh battery no longer feels as unique as it once did now that more phones under $500 have the same capacity. 

My recent experience with the $170 2023 Moto G Play makes me concerned about the new Moto G Power. Even though the Play easily gets two days of battery life (and potentially a third), the phone’s MediaTek Helio G37 processor was so laggy that some apps wouldn’t load. The Moto G Power runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 930 processor — which could be fine — but I’ll have to test it to be sure it can run basic apps with ease.

Still, if the Moto G Power 5G does indeed have enough power — as it should, given its name — it could be a really great value for $299.