Motorola, in my eyes, has held the throne as the king of the budget range smart phones for a while now but with the new G6, can it manage to keep its crown?

Simple answer – Yes. Go buy it. But why? What makes this a great phone? For the simple running theme: Surprisingly great additions for the price point. Let me explain what I mean…

Every smart phone should be judged using ‘The 5 Pillars of a Great Smartphone’. These are: Performance, Camera, Battery Life, Display and Build Quality. Of course when we’re talking about a budget range phone, we have to compromise on some of these elements and weigh them against the overall cost or best bang for your buck. Before we take a look at performance, let’s get all of the specs out of the way. Don’t get me wrong, specs are important but aren’t the be all and end all. You can’t judge a book by its cover, so why judge a phone purely by its specs?

Performance

While it isn’t a powerhouse, the G6 has more an adequate performance for the needs of the user. Scrolling through webpages and menus feels natural and comfortable with the very occasional stutter that most phones are prone to. Gaming is relatively smooth, however it struggles with graphically intensive games. It plays them, just not as well as you’d want them to. Saying that, if you’re looking at buying the G6, I wouldn’t have thought you’d want it specifically for intense games.

Camera

The camera holds up well, but won’t ‘wow’ you. You won’t be wanting to show off the camera quality of your photos to friends and family, but that’s compared to the big boys. Within its price range, the Moto’s camera is one of, if not, the best.

Moto has surprisingly added optical image stabilisation which stabilises the camera when recording video, and reduces blur on photos. This kind of technology isn’t usually found on its peers.

Also similar to the high phones, the Moto includes dual rear-facing cameras. Even though on paper the 12 mega-pixel camera main camera is less than last year’s 13 megapixels, the much wider aperture lets more light in the lens, creating better looking photos.

Both the front and back shooters have the inclusion of portrait mode which is most welcome addition to an already surprising phone. The camera includes an array of features which include Panorama, Text scanner, Face filters, Cut-out, Time-lapse and Slow-mo.

Battery Life

The combination of the 3000mAh, and the fact the battery doesn’t have to power a high end screen, means you’re left with incredible battery life! With heavy day to day usage, I was easily left with more than 40% at the end of the day and if you actually manage to use up all the battery life, the Moto’s Turbo charging will bring you right back to full in no time. The super-fast charger, included in the box, is best in class with its only true rival being the resoundingly fast OnePlus Dash charging.

Display

The HD display is pretty good for its range – it’s not a Samsung so don’t expect to be blown away by the screen quality, but it holds up well. It follows the 2018 trend of extended, long screens and manages to pull it off. On the front of the screen is the included fingerprint sensor, which albeit is fast, but it produces a hollow haptic feedback which can, luckily, be turned off.

The earpiece quite cleverly doubles as a front facing speaker which works surprisingly well. It’s loud, very loud, but can sometimes sound too tinny at times – it doesn’t ever start to distort the sound, but it could defiantly do with some bass. Still, it’s nice to be able to hold the phone normally without awkwardly trying not to cover up a speaker on the bottom.

Build Quality

Moto has surprisingly ventured into the world of glass backed phones, which looks especially gorgeous on the Deep Indigo model I’m using, as it gives the look and feel of premium smart phone without the cost one. However, where there’s glass, there’s fingerprints. But Motorola have countered this dilemma and kindly included a plain and simple clear flexi-rubber case in the box so your phone can stay relatively fingerprint free, and in one piece.

The bottom on the phone has a USB-C charging port which is standard for most high-end phones, but is unusual to see on a budget phone. Next to it is a 3.5mm headphone jack which a lot of manufactures are trying to get rid of, so thank you Motorola for keeping it.

The only buttons, power button and volume rockers, are located on the right side of the phone which is exactly where they should be. It’s where your thumb naturally sits when holding the phone, and feels incredibly natural using them, no awkward appendage contortions required.

Verdict

As you may have noticed I’ve used the word ‘surprising’ several times in my review, 6 times to be exact as that was my overall takeaway from my time with the Moto G6. It’s really quite surprising the amount of features they bundle into the phone. What left me stunned is reminding myself that this phone only costs £220! Without knowing the price, I would’ve easily put it in the category of £400-£450.

Motorola has knocked this one out of the park with their attention to detail, and strive to provide an array of features and additions while keeping the rock bottom price point. If you’re not looking to spend over £600 on a smart phone, the Moto G6 is a no brainer and I wouldn’t even consider any other phone in its price range at this time.

[Review by contributor Josh Strobeck]