we has reviewed Moto G30 earlier this year and it turns out to be an all-around safe phone that takes good photos in daylight and offers solid battery life, plus the 90Hz refresh rate display is a nice bonus. great. While not much has changed with the G31 in terms of design, there have been a few upgrades and now there are new competitors to compete with. So, is the new Moto G31 an all-around phone like the Moto G30?
Motorola Moto G31 price in India
Moto G31 is priced starting at Rs. 12,999 in India and available in two variants. There’s a base 4GB RAM and a 64GB storage variant priced at Rs. 12,999 and a variant of 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage priced at Rs. 14,999.
Design Motorola Moto G31
The Moto G31 looks very similar to its predecessor, the Moto G30. It is made of polycarbonate and has a unibody design that feels solid. It feels good to hold thanks to the small groove texture on the back and is relatively thin at only 8.54mm. It has an IPX2 rating for light water resistance, slightly lower than the G30, which has an IP52 rating for dust and water resistance.
Motorola Moto G31 is made of polycarbonate
Thanks to the texture on the back and the matte finish, the phone is fingerprint-free. Its display was also smudge-free during our review period. I often struggled to find the nearly recessed fingerprint reader, which sits at the back under the Motorola logo, but it unlocks the phone instantly. There’s only one speaker, and it’s at the bottom next to the main microphone and USB Type-C port.
The Moto G31 has an AMOLED screen with a hole-punch for the camera, which looks modern compared to the notch on the Moto G30. While the borders at the top, left, and right look pretty thin, the border at the bottom is noticeably thicker.
There are four buttons on the right side, including one dedicated to the Google Assistant
I don’t like the layout of the physical buttons on the Moto G31. There’s a dedicated Google Assistant button, located almost in the top right corner of the device, above the power and volume keys. The Assistant button doesn’t make any sense because of its inconvenient location, but it can come in handy when the device can’t wake up and perform actions when locked by voice commands.
Motorola Moto G31 software and specifications
Moto G31 is powered by MediaTek Helio G85 processor and offers up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The storage is expandable up to 1TB using a microSD card in the hybrid dual-SIM tray. Communication standards include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5 and several satellite navigation systems. The phone packs a 5,000mAh battery and comes with a 20W charger in the box.
Motorola ships the Moto G31 with Android 11. It has a number of customization options, including the ability to change the accent color, font, and icon shape. There are also the usual Moto gestures and a Moto peek display feature that lets you interact with notifications while the phone is locked. The software experience does not include any third-party apps, which we see on most competing smartphones, but there is a Dolby Atmos app, which is used to enhance the audio experience. .
Motorola Moto G31 . battery life and performance
The software experience on the Moto G31 is generally very smooth when used regularly. Upgraders will miss out on the snappy 90Hz display from the Moto G30, but good performance and apps stay in memory for a long time. The 6.4-inch AMOLED display provides deep blacks and creates an immersive viewing experience when watching movies and playing games. The phone is Widevine L1 DRM certified, allowing full-HD resolution playback in streaming applications. The Moto G31 has a single bottom speaker that’s loud enough, but not as deep as the stereo speakers found on competing smartphones.
Moto G31 has an AMOLED display with a standard 60Hz refresh rate
I received the 4GB RAM variant for review, and it managed to score average for a budget smartphone in our benchmark tests. The Moto G31 scored 1,55,315 points in AnTuTu and 346 and 1,241 respectively in Geekbench’s single- and multi-core tests. The G31 managed 39 fps and 8.7 fps in GFXBench’s T-Rex and Car Chase benchmarks, respectively, and scored 1,799 and 1,408 in 3DMark’s Sling Shot and Sling Shot benchmarks, respectively. Extreme. However, there are smartphones with MediaTek Helio G88 and G95 SoC in this price segment that perform better.
The Moto G31 offers a basic budget smartphone gaming experience. The phone can handle most games at low graphics settings but nothing more. I experienced some stutter and lag while playing Call of Duty: Mobile at the default Low graphics settings and Medium frame rate. Asphalt 9: Legends runs smoothly at Default graphics settings with some occasional lag that occurs when a lot of action happens on screen. The phone did heat up after about 30 minutes of gaming, which is beyond performance. Indeed, this is a smartphone primarily built for simple everyday tasks and playing casual games.
Moto G31 has a hybrid dual SIM tray
Battery life is pretty good on the Moto G31. Its 5,000mAh battery lasted a day and a half of use, including some games. The phone managed a reasonable 18 hours and 32 minutes in our HD video loop battery life test. Charging speed is quite good with the included 20W charger. The Moto G31 fully charged the battery in 2 hours and 33 minutes.
Camera Motorola Moto G31
Motorola has reduced the number of rear cameras on the Moto G31. The Moto G30 comes in four, including a dedicated 2-megapixel depth sensor. On the Moto G31, the 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera doubles as a depth camera when taking photos with Portrait mode. The main camera now has a 50-megapixel sensor instead of the 64-megapixel on the Moto G30, and there’s also a 2-megapixel macro camera. Selfie tasks are taken care of by the 13-megapixel front camera.
Motorola Moto G31 has three rear cameras
The camera app interface is typically Motorola, with a list of customizable camera modes in a very simple layout. Most of the settings are hidden under the gear icon. Oddly enough, the camera interface doesn’t offer an option to choose a video recording resolution, and there’s no icon or icon to tell you what resolution it’s recording at.
Motorola Moto G31 daytime camera model. Top to bottom: Close-up, main camera, super wide-angle camera (tap to see full size)
Photos taken in daylight have mostly natural colors with decent dynamic range. Most of the photos I took looked a bit hazy thanks to the powerful HDR feature, but this also ensured good detail in the darker areas of each frame. The ultra-wide-angle camera isn’t great, and most end up with overexposed scenes, creating noticeable blur details and barrel distortion.
Close-up shot of Moto G31 sample. Top: macro camera, bottom: main camera (tap to see full size)
Autofocus is a bit slow, especially when shooting close-ups of subjects. These photos have good detail, but often have too bright backgrounds or blown highlights. Macro photos don’t have a lot of detail and I prefer to use the main camera because the shots are sharper with better details and can be cropped. Selfies look good as long as I don’t use Portrait mode, which often results in a blurred background.
Low-light shot of the Moto G31 sample. Top: auto mode, bottom: Night mode (tap to see full size)
Low-light photos are quite blurry. The Night Mode manages to make the photos sharper but they still have very low detail. Portrait mode never seems to work in low light. Overall video quality is at its best with exposure changing quite drastically when panning. Low light video is quite poor.
Identify
With prices starting at Rs. 12,999, Motorola Moto G31 offers a high-quality AMOLED display, waterproof body, and near-perfect Android software experience. However it’s not up to par with its predecessor in some ways, and its imaging capabilities are a mixed bag and inconsistent. It is not a comprehensive software but still might be suitable for those who are looking for vanilla Android software experience. NS Nokia G20 is the only other phone that offers this in this price segment and as I pointed out in review, it is an inefficient device.
If you don’t mind some Android customization and pre-loaded apps, there are smartphones like Infinix Hot 11S (Review), which has a lower price (starting at Rs 10,999) but offers better specifications along with better camera and gaming performance. There are also Realme Narzo 30 (Review) offers a high refresh rate display and Helio G95 processor at a slightly higher price point, starting at Rs. 13,499. Finally, yes Redmi 10 Prime (Review) offers a larger battery and a 90Hz display for the same price.
