Motorola Moto G22 First impressions: Punches WAY above its weight

The Motorola Moto G22 has been launched in India starting at Rs. 10,999. Here are our first impressions of this budget smartphone.

Motorola Moto G22 first impressions: Attractive build quality, fast performance and a reliable camera makes it a very desirable budget smartphone. (Akash/HT Tech)

It is common knowledge that the lower you go on the smartphone price scale, the more you will have to compensate with a device that has cut corners in every direction. In fact, once you reach the region between Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 12,000 you're essentially settling for a smartphone which is still ‘smart' in its name but barely in its functionality. However, Motorola Moto G22 does pose a strong challenge to this notion.

The Motorola Moto G22 is the latest device targeted at the lower end of the budget segment after being priced at Rs. 10,999. In its segment, it competes with popular devices like Realme C35, Samsung Galaxy M12 and Xiaomi Redmi 10. But we believe it will not be a tough job for Motorola Moto G22 to place itself right on top of this list. On the spec sheet, Motorola beats all its competitors significantly. But oftentimes, spec-sheets and user experience are not really aligned. I used the smartphone for a couple of days to understand how its real-world performance compares to its spec-sheet. So, how did the Moto G22 fare? Find out in our first impressions below. But before that, let us take a look at its specifications.

Motorola Moto G22 specifications

The Motorola Moto G22 features a 6.5-inch HD LCD display with a refresh rate of 90Hz. In the price segment it falls, 90Hz refresh rate is a rare treat which very few smartphones like Samsung Galaxy M12 and Galaxy F12 offer. The smartphone also comes with a punch hole camera cut out in the front, which no other smartphone in the range offers so far.

Under the hood, the smartphone is equipped with MediaTek Helio G37, which is a fairly powerful processor for this price segment. The smartphone is also equipped with dedicated slots for dual SIM cards along with a MicroSD card slot.

The smartphone sports a quad rear camera setup with a 50MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, a 2MP macro lens and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, it features a 16MP selfie camera. Motorola Moto G22 is backed by a 5,000 mAh battery and 20W charger. It also comes with a USB-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The smartphone runs stock Android 12 out of the box.

The Motorola Moto G22 will be available in a single 4GB RAM + 64GB internal storage (expandable up to 1TB) variant. The smartphone is available in three color variants – Cosmic Black, Iceberg Blue and Mint Green.

Motorola Moto G22 price

The Motorola Moto G22 has been priced at Rs. 10,999. However, the company has announced a bank offer under which it can be purchased for just Rs. 9,999 between April 13 and 14.

Motorola Moto G22 first impressions

The Motorola Moto G22 is a budget specialist. In terms of its offerings, the smartphone goes above and beyond what is the norm. Where it really shines is in its design and build quality. The smartphone has a slightly bulky structure but a very light weight which makes it both easy to carry and comfortable to hold. The smartphone has a plastic body and feels quite sturdy. I also liked the design of the power button and volume keys on the device. Both are slightly raised and give an ergonomic feel. The power button also serves as a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, and its response time is above average.

The 90Hz refresh rate of the display makes the smartphone scrolling experience pleasant and gives it an impression of being faster. In terms of performance, so far my experience has been positive with the device. The smartphone easily handles the majority of everyday apps like Google Chrome, Facebook, WhatsApp and others with ease. I have not faced any glitches or freezing incidents with the apps so far. You do have to remember that it is a budget phone and as long as the application size is not too large and it is not too RAM intensive, it should be able to manage it just fine.

The large display of the Motorola Moto G22 was fun while gaming as well. I played some casual games like Stickman Archery for more than 2 hours at a stretch yet I did not face any overheating or slowdowns. However, I did not yet try out the device with different types of games, and I will reserve my opinions for the full review.

I was impressed with the dynamic range of the smartphone's daylight images. The images came out crisp and fairly detailed. However, under low light conditions, there were some jitters and loss of detailing. The soon-to-come full review will have a detailed camera review and we will test it across different scenarios, functionalities and lightings.

The stock Android 12 experience was also quite nice and the lack of any pre-installed apps was a sigh of relief as I did not have to spend hours uninstalling the apps I did not want. Additionally, no pre-installed apps meant no unnecessary notifications, which was also nice. The cleaner UI also gave a faster and smoother impression. The battery performance was also decent. My usage of the smartphone was light to moderate and it lasted me almost two days with ease.

In conclusion, after using the device for a limited period of time, Motorola Moto G22 definitely seems to be a solid option in the price range and takes care of all the general needs of the demographic in this range. With some of its features like the 90Hz refresh rate, the well optimized MediaTek Helio G37 SoC and camera performance, it even punches above its price range which is quite commendable given the price restraints of the smartphone. But, this is still an ‘at a glance' review. We will soon come back with a full review of the smartphone where we will analyze all its features in much more detail. You should wait for that before making your mind up about the smartphone.