Moto G6 India launch: Unboxing, first impressions, and more

Moto G6 gets a big facelift with a glass back panel for premium look and feel, and an 18:9 screen on the front. Here are our first impressions of Moto G6.

Moto G6 features a 5.7-inch full HD+ display with a Corning Gorilla Glass back. (HT Photo)

Moto G has been the strongest smartphone lineup for Motorola since its comeback in 2014. The first two generations of Moto G were the hot-selling phones of their time. But times have changed and there are new competitors in the market. While Motorola has persisted with Moto G-series with incremental upgrades, the budget segmented is being dominated by Xiaomi which excels at selling high-specced phones at affordable prices.

Motorola's latest offering is Moto G6, which is the successor to the Moto G5S which launched less than a year ago. As expected, Moto G6 is targeted at the budget segment with price starting at ₹13,999 for the base 3GB RAM model. The smartphone will be available online via Amazon.in. It comes in a single colour variant, indigo black.

Moto G6: Design

Moto G6 marks a big change in the design department. While the last year's Moto G5 upgraded from plastic back panel to aluminum, Moto G6 shifts to glass back panel protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. On the front, it has an 18:9 5.7-inch Full HD+ IPS Max Vision display. The aspect ratio means users have more screen real-estate without actual change in the overall dimensions. An engraved Motorola logo on the back is also a nice touch.

The only three buttons on the phone are placed right side and are well within reach. The textured power button really helps in distinguishing it from volume rockers. It shares the loudspeaker with its earpiece and since it's front facing, it sounds adequately loud.

Overall, Moto G6 feels short and bulky in your palm, but is comfortable to grip. You won't be finding yourself using the phone with two hands, thanks to its compact form factor. It weighs 167 grams and is 8.3mm thick, making it heavier and slimmer than last year's Moto G5 which measured 144.3 x 73 x 9.5 mm and weighed 145 grams.

Camera

Talking about the camera, there's a dual-camera clicker on the back, with 12-megapixel and 5-megapixel sensors with phase detection autofocus and some decent tricks up its sleeve. Motorola has continued to keep the round wristwatch-like setup for the camera. It also bears an uncanny resemblance to the Futurama robot, Bender.

Motorola Moto G6 also comes with a Portrait mode, which works fine when the subject is at distance from the background, but not so well in cozy setups. You also have a beauty mode, HDR, panorama, spot colour and a cutout mode. In the spot colour mode, you can select a colour in the frame and keep the rest of the image black and white. It has a tendency to pick a range of colours, so you might find your photos showing different shades the same colour.

On the front it has a 16-megapixel camera with an adaptive low-light sensor. Motorola says the sensor allows the camera to capture 300% more light than a standard 16-megapixel camera. During our brief usage, the selfie camera delivered satisfactory results but on some occasions it did end up with oversaturated colours.

Moto G6 flaunts a Corning Gorilla 3D Glass at the rear. (HT Photo)

Moto G6 flaunts a Corning Gorilla 3D Glass at the rear. (HT Photo)

Features

Moto G6 joins a growing list of Android phones that support facial unlock feature. The new feature is in addition to the existing fingerprint scanner (located on the front). This is also the first time a Moto G phone has a Face Unlock feature. As far as experience goes, it's easy to set up and quite fast, but doesn't perform very well in low-light conditions and on odd angles as you'd expect on a premium phone. Face Unlock anyway is more of a convenience-focused feature rather a key security feature on such smartphones. We recommend you not to rely just on Face Unlock for security.

Apart from Face Unlock, Moto G6 is also scheduled to get Google Lens support. Google's AI-driven feature allows users to search about an item by just pointing the camera on it. Integrated within Google Assistant, the feature is available on very select phones.

Performance

Under the hood runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor clocked at 1.8GHz. . The 3GB RAM variant has 32GB storage while the 4GB RAM variant has 64GB. Snapdragon 450 is pretty fine chipset for budget phones, but if you're just about specifications, you may consider Redmi Note 5 which is powered by superior Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor. It has a 3,000mAh battery with TurboCharging, Motorola's version of fast charging.

The software experience is near-stock Android. Pre-installed apps include the Moto app, which allows you to set gesture controls like one button navigation, which uses the fingerprint scanner to navigate the device and eliminates the on screen navigation buttons, and the Google's suite of apps.

During my brief usage I faced a few stutters every now and then. But stay tuned for our final verdict.

Summing up

Overall, Moto G6 a clear upgrade in every aspect from its predecessor, the Moto G5, be it looks or performance. The phone, however, will face a tough competition from the likes of Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 and Mi A1, and a range of other high-specced Android smartphones.