Moto G73 5G review: Clean enough UI and good battery, but what about the rest?

An ever-expanding 5G canvas has made smartphone brands target even the sub-Rs. 20000 segment. These brands include Realme, Xiaomi, Samsung, iQOO, and Poco, with all of them offering the latest tech at affordable prices. The Moto G73 5G has just walked into this tough segment to make sure its rivals don't have it all to themselves. Priced at Rs. 18999, the phone offers the new MediaTek Dimensity 930 chipset, 5000mAh battery, and 13 5G bands. After spending two weeks with the Moto G73, here is what I think of its capabilities.

Moto G73 5G Design

Notably, unlike many other budget offerings by Motorola, the Moto G73 5G has a premium feel and that is thanks to its PMMA material, which is actually plastic, but appears like glass. It’s lightweight at just 181g and gets curved edges, which boosts the premium feel and comfort level. However, the soft-matte finish at the rear panel is dust and smudge-friendly, which ultimately pushes you to use a phone cover that comes inside the box. Overall, the design does a great job for those who like to have a classic and minimalistic approach (just like any other Motorola phone!)

Apart from these, the Moto G73 5G has a rare offering of a 3.5mm audio jack. It gets an IP52 dust and water resistance rating and stereo speakers.

Moto G73 5G Display

The Moto G73 5G features a 6.5-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD panel that can reach a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz. It appears that Motorola has compromised on an AMOLED display in order to include 5G connectivity in the Moto G73. In the face of stiff competition from Realme, Samsung, iQOO, and Xiaomi, the absence of an AMOLED display seems like a big miss. Having said that, the display works decently enough even under sunlight. It features a punch-hole selfie camera and thin bezels at the sides, but the bottom bezels are slightly thicker.

Moto G73 5G Performance

The Moto G73 is equipped with the latest MediaTek Dimensity 930 chipset. The device is fast while launching apps and playing graphically-demanding games such as Asphalt 9 and Call of Duty: Mobile with moderate settings. Additionally, multitasking on the phone is satisfactory, but it did suffer some minor stutters here and there. However, while playing games for, say even around 30 minutes, the device did experience slight sluggishness and heated up a bit.

Talking about the software, Motorola has impressed us with its near to Stock Android UI, and minimal pre-installed apps. The Moto G73 comes with Android 13 out of the box with Moto’s MyUX UI skin on top of it. In front of the bloatware-loaded smartphones from iQOO, Realme, and Oppo, this budget offering from Motorola seems like a breath of fresh air, which impressed us greatly. Plus, an ample amount of customisation options, animations, and wallpaper add to the overall experience.

The smartphone comes with a 3.5mm audio jack and stereo speakers that provide loud and clear sound output, with the exception of some distortion at maximum volume. With the arrival of 5G in India, I was able to enjoy faster mobile data speeds of around 600mbps with my Airtel 5G SIM and a seamless calling experience with the Moto G73, which boasts 13 5G bands.

With the Moto G73 5G, Motorola has taken security and privacy very seriously. You'll find the convenience of having all privacy and security controls in one place through the Moto Secure app. Acting as a central control center, this app helps you to easily access the privacy dashboard, manage app permissions, and customize privacy settings without wandering through multiple settings. Additionally, the secure folder feature allows you to lock apps, modify app icons, and enjoy various other privacy-related functionalities. It is really interesting to see that Motorola is focusing so much on security even though the Moto G73 5G is a budget phone.

Moto G73 5G Cameras

The Moto G73 5G brings a dual camera setup consisting of a 50MP primary lens with OIS coupled with an 8MP wide-angle and a 16MP selfie camera. However, if you are an avid photographer, you may want to consider other options! The photos in daylight with a primary camera are just about good enough, but lack colour accuracy. Sadly, portrait photography did not come up to my expectations! It lacks edge detection and you can find softness in the images. Take the phone to low-light conditions and the camera starts really struggling.

However, the 8MP ultra-wide camera, which also doubles as a macro lens, manages to capture detailed and well-lit shots. Its front camera with a 16MP lens is just about okay for casual photos, but ends up altering colours to an extent. The videos too are underwhelming to say the least.

Moto G73 5G Battery

With a 5000mAh battery, the Moto G73 boasts an impressive battery life that can last for almost 1.5 days on a single full charge, easily accommodating casual day-to-day activities such as an hour of calling, social media, internet surfing, and listening to music. The smartphone benefits from 30W charging support, which enables it to recharge from 10-100 percent in 1 hour and 10 minutes. Nevertheless, it is important to highlight that Moto G73 lags behind several budget smartphones in terms of charging speed. Smartphones like Vivo T1, iQOO Z7, Redmi Note 11 Pro, and others in this segment are better at it.

Verdict

The Moto G73 5G is just about all right for your day-to-day tasks and casual gaming. The long battery life is a blessing though. It also has two more pluses on its side - 5G connectivity and a clean UI. Of course, you could say that for most Motorola phones in the budget segment too. In effect, Moto G73 5G ends up compromising a good display, anda rich photography experience, especially in low-light situations and though the battery is good, it does suffer from slow charging.

Therefore, if the price suits you and you are not too finicky about the camera, do not indulge much in gaming, want a clean UI experience, a decent performance for general tasks, a secure experience, and a 5G smartphone, then you can go for the Moto G73. However, you should check out the alternatives that are in the same segment including Redmi Note 12, Poco M5, and iQOO Z7.