Moto G82 5G review: going beyond the budget segment

The Motorola G series goes beyond Rs. In the 20,000 price segment in India, the Moto G82 5G is the first phone with such a premium price. It features a 120Hz pOLED display, stereo speakers, IP52 rating, and a 50MP primary camera. Should you pay more for these features, or are you better off saving money and buying a cheaper alternative? Here is my review.

Moto G82 5G price in India

Moto G82 5G costs Rs. 21,499 for the 6GB RAM variant, while the 8GB RAM variant costs Rs. 22,999. Both of these options get 128GB of storage. Motorola is offering the Moto G82 5G in two color options: Meteorite Gray and White Lily.

Moto G82 5G design

Motorola claims the Moto G82 5G is the thinnest and lightest smartphone in its segment. The design of the phone appears to be inspired by that of the Motorola Edge 30 (review), which also makes similar claims in its segment. The Moto G82 5G has a flattened plastic frame that is in line with the current design trend. Motorola has rounded the edges of the phone so they don’t dig into your palm when you hold it.

The Moto G82 5G features a 6.6-inch pOLED display that uses the same screen technology as the more expensive Motorola Edge 30. Motorola claims the pOLED panel helps make the display thinner and reduce bezel size. The Moto G82 5G has a cutout for the selfie camera.

Moto G82 5G acrylic back panel looks like glass

Using the Moto G82 5G alone wasn’t cumbersome, and its 173g weight didn’t induce fatigue. The phone has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner and volume buttons, both on the right side. While the power button was easy to reach, the volume buttons had to stretch your fingers slightly to reach them when using the phone with one hand.

All ports are located at the bottom of the case, and only an additional microphone is located at the top. On the left side of the frame is only the SIM tray. The back panel looks like glass, but it’s actually made from acrylic, which should be less prone to breakage in the event of accidental drops. The camera module sits in the top left corner and protrudes slightly from the rest of the back panel. Motorola has added its batwing logo in the center. Finally, the Moto G82 5G is IP52 rated, making it splash resistant.

I found my Meteorite Gray block picks up fingerprints quite easily, so I had to wipe the back of the phone quite often. Motorola ships a clear case in the box to help solve this problem.

Features and Software Moto G82 5G

The Moto G82 5G is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC. Motorola is also using the same processor in the Moto G71 5G (review), which we recently tested. Smartphones like the Vivo T1 (review) also offer the same SoC, albeit at a lower starting price. As I mentioned earlier, you get two RAM options, but the amount of storage is the same at 128GB. The phone has a hybrid SIM slot, so expanding the storage will cost you a second SIM.

The Moto G82 5G supports Bluetooth 5.1, dual-band Wi-Fi, 13-band 5G, and dual 4G VoLTE. The 6.6-inch display has a Full-HD+ resolution with a refresh rate of 120Hz and a touch sampling rate of 360Hz. The Moto G82 5G also features Dolby Atmos-enabled stereo speakers. The phone packs a 5,000mAh battery capable of 30W fast charging, and a 33W TurboPower charger is bundled with Motorola.

The Moto G82 5G runs Android 12 out of the box.

The Moto G82 5G runs Android 12 out of the box with Motorola’s MyUX UI. Motorola hasn’t gone too far with customizing the user interface, and it’s similar to stock Android. At the time of writing this review, my device has the April 2022 Android security patch installed. Motorola guarantees an update to Android 13 and three years of security updates. Guaranteed updates are always welcome as long as they are timely.

Motorola has managed to keep the malware under control and only has the Facebook app pre-installed, which can be easily uninstalled. The user interface offers theme options through the Moto app. This app also has Moto Actions, which allow you to control various smartphone features such as the camera and flashlight with gestures.

Moto G82 5G Performance

The Moto G82 5G could handle my day to day usage without any lag or stutter. I was able to multitask easily on my review device with 6GB of RAM. The application load time was within acceptable limits. The display had good viewing angles and was bright enough outdoors. Watching videos was fun, and the stereo speakers helped create an immersive experience. Moto G82 5G will definitely interest those who are looking for a device for multimedia consumption.

Moto G82 5G performed well in performance tests. In AnTuTu, he managed to score 404,838 points. In Geekbench 5, it scored 657 points and 1929 points in single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. The Moto G82 5G performed well in the 3DMark Slingshot test with a score of 4031. In GFXBench, the Moto G82 5G scored 17fps in the Car Chase test. These scores were similar to the Moto G71 5G and Vivo T1 (Review), however the iQoo Z5 (Review) is still one of the most powerful smartphones in this price range with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G SoC.

The camera module on the Moto G82 5G doesn’t protrude too much

Gaming performance was good, and the Moto G82 5G could run Call of Duty: Mobile well on “High” graphics settings with “High” frame rates. The game could be played at these settings without any lag or stutter. I played the game for 20 minutes and it resulted in a six percent drop in battery level. The smartphone got a little warm to the touch, but that’s okay.

Battery performance was good for my usage, which included using Instagram, watching YouTube videos, making a few calls, and browsing the web. Moto G82 5G lasted more than a day with this use. In our HD video loop test, the phone lasted 16 hours and 13 minutes. The large 5,000mAh battery charges quickly with the included 33W charger, up to 42 percent in half an hour, and took just over an hour to fully charge.

Moto G82 5G cameras

The Moto G82 5G features a triple camera setup consisting of a 50MP main camera with optical stabilization (OIS), an 8MP ultra-wide camera, and a 2MP macro camera. For selfies, there is a 16-megapixel selfie camera. The camera app is feature rich and easy to use. You can easily swipe left or right across the viewfinder to change camera modes. It has quick switches for HDR, which helps in bright scenes, and automatic night vision, which automatically works in low light conditions.

Since Mumbai is in the midst of the monsoon, most of the photos I took with the Moto G82 5G were overcast. Daytime photos had good detail, and nearby objects were recognizable. The phone automatically turned on HDR, which helped to improve the output dynamic range. Photos taken with the ultra-wide-angle camera had the same color tone but didn’t offer the same level of detail.

Daylight photos from the main camera (top) and ultra-wide camera (bottom) (click to see full-size image)

Close-up shots were crisp and had accurate colors. The phone was also quick to lock focus and create soft background bokeh. The portraits had good edge detection, and the phone allowed me to fine-tune the level of background blur in the output. Macro photos were decent. The phone also offered to switch between the main and macro cameras depending on the phone’s distance from the subject.

Close-up shot from the main camera of the Moto G82 5G (click to see full size image)

Close-up with dedicated macro camera on Moto G82 5G (click to view full size image)

Camera performance in low light was good, and the phone turned on automatic night vision automatically to capture better images. It took about three seconds to take the picture, and he managed to get good detail on objects nearby. Distant objects seemed soft, but were still recognizable. Enabling night vision manually resulted in a brighter image with slightly better detail.

Low light photo (top) and night mode photo (bottom) with Moto G82 5G (click to see full size image)

Selfies with the Moto G82 5G were good in both daylight and low light conditions. Selfie portraits had good edge detection, but the phone applied a filter to smooth the output. You have the option to disable this if you prefer the natural look of the output.

Selfie portraits in daylight (top) and low light (bottom) with the Moto G82 5G (click to see full size image)

Video recording reached 1080p for both the main and selfie cameras. The stabilization wasn’t the best I’ve seen, and footage did shake when walking. Jitter in footage was more noticeable in low light. I expected good video stabilization since the main camera is equipped with OIS, but the result was below average.

Verdict

The Moto G82 5G is the first G-series smartphone to cross the threshold of Rs. 20,000 marks but still well below Rs. 25,000 which is not a very crowded segment. Motorola outfitted it with a crisp display, stereo speakers, and made it splash-proof to set it apart from the competition. The Moto G82 may appeal to those willing to push their budget beyond Rs. 20,000 for its features.

However, if you’re willing to spend a little more than the Moto G82 5G’s asking price, phones like the Realme GT Master Edition (review) and iQoo Z5 (review) offer significantly better performance. Those looking for good cameras should check out the Realme 9 Pro+ (review), which also delivers better video recording performance. If you’re looking to spend less but want the same features as the Moto G82 5G, you can also consider affordable alternatives like the Moto G71 5G (Review) and Vivo T1 (Review).