With Samsung promising four years of Android OS updates, are these the phones worth buying and holding onto until 2027? Here’s our review.

Samsung’s Galaxy A series brings some of the company’s premium software features to the mid-range segment at a slightly higher cost compared to the Galaxy M and Galaxy F series. The company launched the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 smartphones in India earlier this year, priced at under Rs 40,000 and Rs 30,000 respectively. These devices are powered by the company’s Exynos chip and come with four years of OS updates up to Android 18. But how do they compare to smartphones in the same price range? I’ve been using both the handsets for a while now and here are my impressions.

Samsung Galaxy A55 vs Galaxy A35 Price in India

The Samsung Galaxy A55 is priced at Rs 39,999 for the 8GB+128GB RAM and storage model. The phone also comes in 8GB+256GB and 12GB+256GB memory models, priced at Rs 42,999 and Rs 45,999 respectively.

Meanwhile, prices of the Samsung Galaxy A35 start at Rs 30,999 for the base model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, while the 8GB+256GB storage variant is also available for Rs 33,999.

The Samsung Galaxy A55 has a flat display, flat edges and a flat back panel.

The Galaxy A55 comes in Ice Blue and Navy, while the Galaxy A35 comes in Ice Blue, Lilac and Navy. Samsung sent us both the Ice Blue (Galaxy A55) and Lilac (Galaxy A35) devices for review.

Both devices are sold in a slim box that includes a charging cable, a SIM ejector tool, and some documentation, but they don’t come with a clear TPU cover or charging brick, so you’ll need to buy those separately.

Samsung Galaxy A55 vs Galaxy A35 Review: Design

The Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 share a striking similarity in appearance, with the SIM tray location, USB Type-C port, triple rear camera layout, and bottom speaker grille. The Boost device also features a new key island for the volume and power buttons, which are also in the same location. If you look at both the devices together, you’ll be indistinguishable.

Among Samsung’s mid-range smartphones, the Galaxy A series is known as the most premium looking smartphones, and the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 are no exception. The back panel is very similar to this year’s Galaxy S24 (review) device, which is a premium smartphone. In my experience, both the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 have a glossy back panel that is less susceptible to fingerprints.

Samsung Galaxy A55 (left) and Galaxy A35

On the front, these devices come with a Super AMOLED screen with up to 120Hz refresh rate and Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection. The display bezels are quite thick and the selfie camera is located in a center-aligned punch-hole cutout.

The Galaxy A55 has flat brushed aluminum edges, while the Galaxy A35 also has flat matte-finished aluminum edges. Neither phone came with a TPU case, so we used them without a cover during the review.

Samsung Galaxy A55 vs Galaxy A35 Review: Specs and Software

Both the Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 feature 6.6-inch Full HD+ (1,080 x 2,408 pixels) Super AMOLED displays with a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of up to 1,000 nits. Protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+, these screens are flat with somewhat thicker bezels compared to other devices in their price range.

Samsung is promising four OS upgrades and five years of security updates for the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35, meaning these devices running Android 14-based One UI 6 will be supported until 2028. That’s far better than any other mid-range smartphone, even by today’s standards.

The phone comes with a few pre-installed apps, including Spotify, but you can uninstall them. The Galaxy A35 also downloaded Candy Crush Saga via the pre-installed AppCloud service, but there doesn’t appear to be an opt-out option. And both phones periodically prompt you to enable the built-in Glance lock screen feature after every software update, requiring a few taps to skip through this menu.

Samsung’s One UI 6.1 Interface

However, the software experience is largely clean, which is to be expected of Samsung’s One UI interface, which has matured over the years since it was introduced in 2018. These Galaxy A- series smartphones also come with features like Samsung Wallet for contactless payments and secure document storage, advanced Link to Windows integration, and Good Lock for further customization and theming options.

The devices also come with Samsung’s Object Eraser feature, which uses machine learning to remove unwanted objects in photos.In terms of connectivity, both the devices have 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, GPS, a USB Type-C port for charging, data transfer, and audio output, but no 3.5mm audio jack.

Samsung Galaxy A55 vs Galaxy A35 Review: Performance

The Galaxy is powered by a 4nm Exynos 1480 chip with up to 12GB of RAM, while the Galaxy A35 5G is powered by a 5nm Exynos 1380 processor with 8GB of RAM. In theory, these devices should have enough performance overhead to stay fast for a few years, and they’ll handle everyday tasks like web browsing, social media apps, light gaming, and photo and video capture without a hitch.

Most games were playable on the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35, with titles like Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) and Asphalt 9 running well without throttling even after around 30 minutes of gameplay. However, slightly heavier titles like Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile couldn’t run without noticeable lag, and even the Galaxy A55 struggled with MiHoYo’s graphics-intensive Genshin Impact.

Android 14-based One UI 6 offers a polished software experience on the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35, with a few exceptions. RAM management is excellent, and your most used apps like Instagram, WhatsApp, Gmail, Outlook, X (formerly Twitter), Threads, etc. remain in memory even when you switch between apps.

Samsung should follow Motorola and Nothing’s lead and stop annoying users with prompts to enable features like Glance on their Galaxy A series phones with every software update, especially after the user has explicitly opted out once. On both devices, updates were available after the initial setup process. Additionally, Samsung has finally added support for system A/B updates (Galaxy A55 only), making it much faster to use your phone after an update.

The displays on the Samsung Galaxy A55 (left) and Galaxy A35 offer decent outdoor visibility.

We also ran synthetic benchmark tests, and both the Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 lagged behind the competition: the Galaxy A55 scored 1,132 points and 3,346 points in Geekbench 6’s single-core and multi-core CPU tests, respectively, while the Galaxy A35 scored 1,013 points in the single-core test and 2,805 points in the multi-core test.

In the AnTuTu v10 benchmark test, the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 scored 678,167 and 606,767 points respectively. Interestingly, the Galaxy A55’s PCMark Work 3.0 score of 13,315 is only slightly higher than the Galaxy A35, which scored 13,176 points.

For comparison, the iQoo Z9 I recently reviewed had a single-core score of 1,151 points and a multi-core score of 2,669 points. It also scored 687,545 points in AnTuTu v10. The Dimensity 7200 chip in iQoo devices performs better than the Exynos chips in these devices. The AnTuTu score and Geekbench single-core score of the iQoo Z9 is higher than both the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35, and the price of this device starts at Rs 19,999.

Both the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 feature 6.6-inch Super AMOLED screens with a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of up to 1,000 nits. These screens are bright enough to be used outdoors during the day, as long as auto-brightness is enabled. One UI also has an Extra Dim mode that can be enabled via a quick settings toggle. This mode allows you to dim the screen even further to reduce eye strain.

Equipped with 5,000mAh batteries, the devices are highly optimized, and in our HD video loop battery playback test, the Galaxy A55 lasted 28 hours 14 minutes on a single charge, while the Galaxy A35 lasted 26 hours 34 minutes. In real-world usage, with moderate usage, they didn’t need to be charged more than once every 30-35 hours.

Samsung doesn’t include a 25W charger with the Galaxy A55 or Galaxy A35, so you’ll need to buy one separately. My Belkin USB PD 3.0 charger charged both devices up to 50 percent in about 45 minutes, but it took an average of an hour and 25 minutes to charge from 0 to 100 percent. Both devices are IP67-rated for dust and water resistance, which means they shouldn’t be damaged if you accidentally drop them in water, which is good for a mid-range device.

Samsung Galaxy A55 vs Galaxy A35 Review: Camera

Both the Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 have a 50-megapixel main camera with f/1.8 aperture, a 5-megapixel macro camera with f/2.4 aperture, and a 12-megapixel and 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with f/2.2 aperture, respectively. The Galaxy A55 has a 32-megapixel front-facing camera, while the Galaxy A35 has a 13-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies and video calling.

The Samsung Galaxy A55’s Auto (left) and Portrait modes produce images with vibrant, punchy colors.

The Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 feature the same camera interface as the more expensive Galaxy S series smartphones, which includes a Pro mode that lets you tweak various settings, including white balance, focus, and exposure. You can also access these settings when shooting video using the Pro Video mode, which is great. Both devices also support Samsung’s Super Steady (stabilization), Slow-Mo, and Super Slow-Mo modes for video recording.

The main cameras on the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 are capable of taking detailed images, and both devices support 2x in-sensor zoom, which allows you to take clearer images of objects at a distance. These cameras work very well outdoors when there is sufficient natural light, and tend to provide somewhat more vibrant colors in images. These devices can also take high-quality portrait shots, which work best in natural light.

The Galaxy A55’s ultra-wide-angle camera is slightly better than the one on the Galaxy A35, but both are significantly worse than the main camera, especially in low light. They can be used to take photos of nearby buildings and other subjects, but images taken with these cameras are a bit distorted around the edges and color accuracy isn’t as reliable as with the more advanced 50-megapixel main camera.

Samsung’s Camera app takes long exposure photos by default in low-light conditions (Night Shot), but you can manually disable it with a tap to capture darker but less blurry images of moving subjects. For very dark scenarios, the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 come with a dedicated Night mode that delivers very bright images that are smoothly processed to reduce noise.

The 5-megapixel macro cameras on the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 were able to capture images of the subject well, but only when there was enough natural light. Also, I had to tap the subject in the viewfinder to take multiple images of the subject to ensure the image was in focus. Selfies taken using the front cameras on both phones are clear, but selfies taken with the Galaxy A55, which has a higher-resolution 32-megapixel camera, have more detail.

Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 Take Nearly Identical Macro Photos

Both the Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 support video recording at 4K/30fps or 1080p at 30fps and 60fps. The rear cameras’ gyroscope-enabled Super Steady mode provides excellent stabilization in most lighting conditions. The selfie cameras on both phones offer 4K/30fps and 1080p/30fps, while the Galaxy A55 also offers 1080p/60fps video recording from the selfie camera.

Samsung Galaxy A55 vs Galaxy A35 review: Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 have great cameras and processors, but are they the best mid-range smartphones you can buy right now? The answer depends on what you want from a smartphone. Subjectively speaking, these are good-looking smartphones that are promised to receive Android OS updates for four years, plus one year of security updates.

It’s also nice to see that these phones are IP67 rated, and battery performance is excellent, despite Samsung sticking to support for 25W charging and not including an adapter in the box.

On the other hand, if you want a smartphone with pure performance, you’re better off looking at the Nothing Phone 2 (Review), OnePlus 12R (Review), or iQoo Neo 9 Pro (Review) rather than the Galaxy A55. Similarly, the OnePlus Nord CE 4 5G (Review), Redmi Note 13 Pro, Infinix GT 20 Pro, or iQoo Neo 7 Pro (Review) offer better CPU performance at a similar price point.

If you’re looking for a smartphone with good camera performance under Rs 40,000, Samsung’s Galaxy S23 FE (Review) is a good choice. It has more versatile cameras, including a good telephoto camera, and a more powerful Exynos chip. As an alternative to the Galaxy A55, you could also consider the Google Pixel 7a (Review). Other alternatives to the Galaxy A35 include the Galaxy M55 (Review), Vivo V30e, and Oppo Reno 11 5G.

The post Samsung Galaxy A55 vs Galaxy A35 Review: Mid-Range Performance, Impressive Battery Life appeared first on Review Products.

Infinix aims to offer basic features in a segment that doesn’t have many options in the mix.

Infinix makes decent smartphones in the sub-Rs 10,000 price range and offers pretty good hardware with them too. The brand launched the Infinix Smart 7 HD in April last year and has now revamped the model with the latest Infinix Smart 8 HD. The new phone comes with a slightly revised look and packs 3GB of RAM instead of 2GB on last year’s Smart 7 HD. We have tested the device thoroughly and in this article, we will tell you whether this entry-level smartphone is value for money or not.

Infinix Smart 8 HD Price in India

The Infinix Smart 8 HD is priced at Rs 7,990 and comes with 3GB RAM and 64GB storage. It comes in four colour options – Crystal Green, Timber Black, Shiny Gold and Galaxy White. We got the Crystal Green colour option for our review. In the box, you will find the smartphone, a clear case, a charging brick, a USB Type-A to USB Type-C charging cable, a user manual and a SIM ejector tool.

Infinix Smart 8 HD review: Design

The phone looks pretty similar to its predecessor. The matte back panel barely features the Infinix logo, and the camera module protrudes quite a bit from the matte polycarbonate side rails. The main difference between the Smart 8 HD and the 7 HD is the texture on the back panel. Instead of a textured polycarbonate back panel, you get this unique shimmery design. The phone uses a side-mounted fingerprint reader instead of the rear-mounted one used on the 7 HD. Despite the heavy use of polycarbonate, the Infinix Smart 8 HD feels good in the hand with flat sides and a thickness of 8.5mm.

Infinix Smart 8HD Back Panel Infinix Smart 8HD Back Panel

The Infinix Smart 8 HD looks very different from its predecessor.

Weight distribution is good, and at 184 grams, it doesn’t feel bulky. For a short time, I used this smartphone as a secondary smartphone, and I had no problem carrying it in the same pocket as my daily smartphone. The Smart 8 HD’s bezels are quite thick, but that’s not a problem considering the price. The front camera uses a punch-hole cutout, which is refreshing for an entry-level smartphone. However, there is no official IP rating or splash resistance, so it’s not wise to take it swimming. A dedicated microSD card is included, making it a good choice for those who want more storage space but need to use two 4G SIM cards.

Infinix Smart 8 HD review: Specifications and Software

The smartphone is powered by the Unisoc T606 SoC, an entry-level processor that can handle light tasks with ease. You can use the smartphone for daily VoIP calls, checking emails, replying to texts on WhatsApp, and light website browsing. I had a second 4G SIM card inserted while I was carrying the device and the reception was good. The internet speeds are not as fast as 5G-enabled devices, but considering it is a 4G smartphone, it works well enough.

For a smartphone in this price range, it is good to see the phone moving to a USB Type-C port instead of the usual micro USB port. It has a fingerprint reader on the side, which is a nice feature at this price range. Face unlock is also available, but we don’t recommend it as it is not secure. The Infinix Smart 8 HD is powered by a 5,000mAh battery and can be charged using the included 10W charger. It runs on Infinix’s XOS 13 based on Android 13 Go. It uses a Dynamic Island-like feature that Infinix has named Magic Ring, but it has limited functionality. The brand has not made any promises regarding future software updates, which may be a bit worrying for those who want to keep the smartphone for a long time.

Infinix Smart 8 HD review: Performance

Being an entry-level device, our expectations on performance were not very high. Nevertheless, we ran all the required benchmarks on the device and the scores were decent for a smartphone in this price range. It scored 2,32,007 in AnTuTu v10.2.1 , 379 in single-core and 1,322 in multi-core tests in Geekbench 6. The Infinix Smart 8 HD sports a 6.6-inch HD+ LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate which seems new in this price range, while Xiaomi’s Redmi A3 offers the same. The display shows colors well when viewed from the front, but colors start to wash out when viewed from an angle. Indoors, the brightness levels of the smartphone are adequate with a peak brightness of said to be 500nits . But, when you take it outdoors, the display is quite disappointing.

Infinix Smart 8HD Display Infinix Smart 8HD Display

The Infinix Smart 8 HD’s display is barely readable outdoors.

The smartphone’s bottom speaker offers acceptable sound quality despite having very little bass. When played at maximum volume, it can sound sharp and volume adjustments will be required to improve clarity during playback.

Android 13 Go edition is quite lighter than the full version, which works in the smartphone’s favour quite a bit. The smartphone did not feel slow or lagging while scrolling through the UI of the smartphone, but it is a bit slow to launch third-party apps. Despite the price, the performance of the Infinix Smart HD 8 is quite good. It is not a gaming device but it can handle basic casual games without any issues. Subway Surfers ran well without any lag and the touch response rate of the smartphone was also good.

Considering it is an entry-level processor, I was surprised to see the phone heat up after just 15-20 minutes of playing casual games. There are also heating issues while using the camera app, but everyday tasks like web browsing and using messaging apps like WhatsApp work just fine.

The phone achieved a respectable 20 hours and 10 minutes in our battery loop test. After a full day of use, including calls, streaming videos, and even taking photos with the default camera app, there was about 30% battery left at the end of the day, which is decent for a phone in this price range. In our battery charging test, the phone charged just 4% in 30 minutes, 27% in an hour, and was fully charged in 3 hours. This may seem a bit slow, but most phones in this price range perform similarly.

Infinix Smart 8 HD review: Camera

The Infinix Smart 8 HD sports a dual rear camera setup with a 13MP primary camera with f/1.8 aperture and a 0.08MP secondary camera. The smartphone uses an 8MP camera for selfies. The camera UI is simple and without any fancy features. It offers basic photo and video controls as you would expect on an Infinix smartphone.

The Infinix Smart 8 HD has one user-accessible camera.

The 13MP main camera takes decent images even in sunlight, and although it takes a second for the final image in the gallery to appear, the result is very different from the image you see in the Camera app’s viewfinder when you take the shot.

The camera does a lot of processing in the background, but the results are average. Images have good saturation but lack detail resolution. I took a few shots of moving and still objects in sunlight and the results were satisfactory for a smartphone in this price range. The camera handles backlit situations well in portrait mode and has decent edge detection, which is typical for a smartphone in this price range.

The phone uses 2x digital zoom and a lot of processing to produce softer images, but in enough light you can take serviceable photos. As expected, the phone struggles with low-light photography.

Daytime photo taken with 2x digital zoom

The night mode gives you clearer images and decent colors. One thing that caught my attention is that you can’t set the exposure when using the dedicated night mode, which can lead to bad photos and you having to retake them. In other words, the low light performance is not what you would expect from a smartphone in this price range and is not reliable at all.

Night mode photo from the main rear camera

The Infinix Smart 8 HD’s front camera doesn’t perform well in low light.

The 8MP selfie camera is adequate for daytime shots. Photos taken are sharp enough with a good level of detail. The front camera struggles quite a bit in low light, taking noisy and blurry images. The Infinix Smart 8 HD can shoot videos up to 1080p 30fps with the main camera. If you stay still, the results are mostly good. If you start moving or panning, the video shakes a lot and becomes unusable. Video performance in low light is not great, and recorded videos are very blurry and noisy. The front camera takes pretty good daytime shots in both moving and stationary situations, which is a plus.

Infinix Smart 8 HD Review: Verdict

The Infinix Smart 8 HD is a good device if you want a second phone with a long battery life and you are on a tight budget. However, it has some drawbacks like very slow support for 10W charging, poor camera performance in low light, unreadable outdoors and very limited viewing angles. So, it is good for calls and basic app usage, but not much more. There is no doubt that there is not much choice in this price range, but Xiaomi offers something similar with the Redmi A3 starting at Rs 7,299. It has a better processor, more RAM variants and a 90Hz refresh rate display. You can also consider the Redmi 13C (starting at Rs 7,699), which is a little more expensive but has a better display and cameras.

The post Infinix Smart 8 HD Review: The most basic Android Go smartphone appeared first on Review Products.

Sorry, Apple fans, but the iPhone 13 Pro Max is no longer the best iPhone on the market – you’re going to want to upgrade to the newer iPhone 14 Pro Max for that. The new device has an always-on display, 48MP main camera, no notch and newer chipset, making for an all-around better package.

That’s not to say the 14 Pro Max’s predecessor is bad, though. It’s got incredible battery life, cameras that can do pretty much anything you’d need on a smartphone, and is available in a range of muted, but classy, colors. Simply put, this is one of the leading contenders for the best smartphone in the world right now.

It now also appears with a 1TB storage option (not available on the iPhone 12), so if you’re a budding (or professional) film maker, you can fill this handset with content to your heart’s content.

It’s also got a ‘Pro’ price, starting at $1,099 / £1,049 / AU$1,849 and going all the way up to $1,599 / £1,549 / AU$2,719.

Yes, it’s a bit of a tired trope to moan about how expensive the iPhone can get at the top end, but Apple has charged top dollar for its best iPhone year on year, and yet they still remain among the most popular models, meaning ‘too expensive’ is starting to become rather subjective when it comes to reviewing.

That said, if you’re considering the iPhone 13 Pro Max then you’re probably after the best iPhone, and in that case you might want to wait a little longer, as we’re expecting to see the iPhone 14 Pro Max along with the rest of the iPhone 14 line on September 7. That’s sure to be an upgrade in a number of ways, and even if it doesn’t appeal it’s likely to mean price drops for this model.

In any case, ‘best’ is heavily subjective here, but if you can handle the gargantuan proportions of a phone with a 6.7-inch screen, then this is easily the best iPhone Apple has ever made… until the aforementioned iPhone 14 makes an appearance.

The design is almost identical to that of the 12 Pro Max that appeared in 2020, with the flat, industrial-looking stainless steel frame surrounding the massive OLED screen.

The large camera protrusion at the rear is noticeable (and it now sticks out even further to enable greater photography prowess). The new Pro comes in a fetching Sierra Blue too this year, which is a nice-looking, powdery color to enjoy.

The screen has been improved to not only include a 120Hz refresh rate, called ProMotion (which iPhone users have been asking for for years, but which to our eyes adds very little) but also higher maximum brightness and a smaller notch.

The shrinking of the notch is good, but it’s not game-changing – Apple needs to shrink it out of existence. However, the overall screen quality is stunning, whatever you’re looking at.

The key thing you’d buy the iPhone 13 Pro Max for, in our opinion, is its battery life. Apple has improved this again over the 12 Pro Max, which offered pretty good longevity, to the point where it’s no longer an issue.

Most of the time we’d make it into a second day before needing a charger, and even on a day of high-intensity use it was around 9pm before the phone totally died.

It remains a shame that Apple doesn’t bundle its higher-power iPhone charger in the box, though, so you’ll need to pay $19 / £19 / AU$29 for that speedy juicing.

The cameras, as we’ve alluded to, enable you to take a huge variety of snaps in a wider range of scenarios than ever. Apple has made a big deal about adding improved low-light capability and Night Mode to all of the three 12MP sensors on the rear, and the iPhone 13 Pro Max also comes with a nifty macrophotography mode.

This means the handset will automatically shift to the ultrawide camera when you get close to objects, and the effects are stellar.

Apple has balanced an impressive amount of power with ease of use, so you can take great snaps in auto mode, but you’re also easily able to play around with various settings for a more hands-on experience.

However, we’re not taken with the new Cinematic mode, which will automatically shift focus depending on where people are looking – it’s cool, but it doesn’t really add much.

Finally, another reason to save up and buy the iPhone 13 Pro Max is its performance – it’s ridiculously powerful, and is able to play games to a high graphical standard and perform intensive tasks like encoding video at a pretty nifty rate.

Most people buying this phone will never scratch the surface of what it can truly do, but videographers will really appreciate the increased storage, the number of shooting options and speed at which it can process edits.

Want more than a two-minute review? Read on to find out how the iPhone 13 Pro Max performed in our in-depth testing – the results of our battery life and camera tests in particular are pretty impressive.

The iPhone 13 Pro Max was unveiled on September 14, and you’ve been able to buy the handset from September 24.  The 13 Pro Max is the most expensive iPhone you can buy right now, with the cheapest model (128GB of storage) costing $1,099 / £1,049 / AU$1,849.

The 256GB model costs $1,199 / £1,149 / AU$2,019, the 512GB variant costs $1,399 / £1,349 / AU$2,369, and the 1TB model costs $1,599 / £1,549 / AU$2,719.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a 1TB smartphone, but it is the first time Apple has offered that much storage – and it’s going to cost you, so think carefully about whether you really need that much space.

Really, 1TB is only for those who are going to be using the iPhone 13 Pro Max for movie making and generating reams of 4K video at 60 frames per second, or thousands of maximum-resolution photos; most people won’t need more than 512GB.

Compare the best iPhone 13 Pro Max deals available

Design – more of the same

We’ll get this out of the way now: if you’re looking at the iPhone 13 Pro Max as your next phone, you surely have to know you’re getting a massive handset. And it is massive. This is not a phone for those wanting something that you can wrap a hand around or even reach a thumb the whole way across – you want screen, you want battery, and you’re ready to sacrifice the feel in the hand for it.

Let’s start by looking at how it’s put together. The stainless steel outer band, first seen on the iPhone 12 range last year, is back again, aping the design of the iPad Pro range for the last few years.

Even after a year, we’re still missing the curved back of the previous iPhone models, first seen on the iPhone 6. Yes, there’s a nice grippiness to the sharper, more industrial-looking edges of the new iPhone 13 Pro Max, and change is always welcome in the world of smartphone design, but it just feels less comfortable to hold.

Speaking of comfort, while we assume that you’re okay with the idea of the larger handset if you’re plumping for the iPhone 13 Pro Max, unless you’ve got very large hands it can be a bit of a challenge to wield.

We’ve noticed that using the phone for extended periods can stretch the fingers a little further than normal, and that can lead to some slight aches; our digits adapted over time, but it’s worth being aware of if you’ve decided you just want ‘that iPhone with the really long-lasting battery’.

The Lightning connector remains at the base of the phone, flanked by the speaker (well, one of them – the other is in the earpiece, and does a thoroughly good job of dispensing sound when you’re watching movies or listening to music).

While there would be numerous advantages to Apple switching the iPhone to USB-C at the bottom (faster charging and data transmission for one) it would clearly incur the wrath of a lot of people with iPhone chargers kicking around, so the miss isn’t really that strongly felt at this time.

We were sent the Sierra Blue version of the iPhone 13 Pro Max and, like the other colors in the range (graphite, gold and silver), it’s on the muted side to allow those who need to do more ‘professional’ things (like carry briefcases and have a weekly lunch with Tomi from Accounts) to have the phone in meetings and the like.

The blue is a strong addition to the line-up in the iPhone Pro range, but despite the phone having Apple’s super-tough Ceramic Shield on the front, we would still suggest you pop this thing in a case.

We still managed to dull the edges off the iPhone 12 Pro Max, as well as scratching the front screen, over the course of a few months’ use – so while the 13 Pro Max is a more robust phone than iPhones from years ago, we still think it’s worth protecting your investment.

MagSafe, the magnetic connection on the back of the new iPhone range that allows you to wirelessly connect chargers and other accessories, also returns – and it’s becoming more of a selling point.

We’re still not seeing swathes of MagSafe accessories on the market just yet, but that makes sense given that, other than the new iPhones, only the iPhone 12 range supports it.

Now there are four more phones that use MagSafe, expect more cases, stands, controllers and gimbals to appear – and it’s really cool to just slip on the round metal disc and see your phone start charging instantly.

iPhone 13 Pro Max Display – Brighter, But 120Hz Misses

There are three key changes to the 6.7-inch display on the iPhone 13 Pro Max that are worth discussing: the smaller notch, a screen that refreshes at up to 120Hz (meaning smoother scrolling and transitions throughout) and improved brightness when frolicking outdoors in the sunny sunshine.

The reduced size of the notch is the most obvious of the three, and while it’s welcome it doesn’t really change a lot in terms of the iPhone design – there’s still a notch encroaching on your movies and games, where other brands are playing with smaller punch-holes and even completely invisible cameras.

That said, we’re not saying the notch is without its merits – when you find that you’re able to unlock your phone with your face from a surprising angle (where you think ‘surely it can’t pick my face up from here’), you can forgive the need for multiple sensors to be wedged in at the top of the screen.

We’d like to see Apple miniaturize this a little more though, and get the cameras and sensors into the rim of the phone – or at least let us see the battery percentage shown constantly, rather than having to swipe down. When we heard word of a smaller notch coming, we had hoped that the little beacon of battery life would be a constant option, but sadly no.

Apple’s 120Hz display technology is called ProMotion, and has been used on the iPad Pro range for years. It’s surprising that it’s taken this long to appear on an iPhone, simply because the technology clearly exists within Apple, and because most rivals have had it on flagship and even some mid-range phones for a while now.

However, we can also see why Apple has eschewed its presence until now – it comes at the cost of battery life, and, to our eyes, doesn’t always add a lot to the browsing experience.

A quick explainer if you need it: the refresh rate is the amount of time your screen will show a new image per second – 120Hz means you’ll see 120 images per second, which means that scrolling a web page or flipping through Twitter will be smoother.

However, often you don’t need that high refresh rate if you’re just looking at a static image, so Apple has made the feature dynamic, with the phone intelligently deciding the refresh rate, and dropping down to 10Hz when needed to save battery life.

A 120Hz display is definitely a luxury extra rather than a must-have feature, and in our scrolling tests we noticed that things didn’t always look that much smoother compared to the screen on the 11 Pro Max – when you peer closely you can see the difference, but in reality it isn’t a huge change.

What was noticeable was that the screen scrolled in a far more ‘stable’ way, meaning that our finger flicks were far more accurate, and we didn’t send the rows of text flying around with the merest quiver of a digit. Text was also clearer as it flew by, showing that there is a benefit here, even if it’s a modest one.

While we have called this a luxury feature, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is presented as one of the most luxurious phones on the market, so a 120Hz screen is something that Apple really should have added by now, and its presence feels more like a box-tick than an impressive new feature.

Another purported advantage of a 120Hz screen is for gaming – the increased frame rate is supposed to yield superior play thanks to smoother motion and the ability to react that much quicker in games – but quite honestly, we couldn’t see a difference compared to older screens.

We chose Aldo’s Odyssey and Grid Autosport to test the feature out, and both looked – and played – identically to on the 11 Pro Max, with the smoothness and graphical performance appearing to be exactly the same.

Do 120Hz Refresh Rates Matter?

Don’t get us wrong, it looks good, but it’s hard to see what 120Hz is adding here other than a touch more fluidity. Developers will likely need to optimize some games to make full use of the slickness of 120Hz, so perhaps that’s what we’re seeing here – we’ve asked for more clarification.

Apple is also touting greater outdoor brightness on the iPhone 13 Pro Max, with higher peak levels of 1200 nits (read: brighter than a lot of other smartphones out there). Compared to the 11 Pro Max, it was easier to see what was on the screen in brighter conditions, although it’s still something of a squint-fest when you’re trying to watch a movie in direct sunlight.

However, that screen brightness increase makes the 13 Pro Max more usable than any iPhone before it and a good example of Apple focusing on the changes that really will make a difference in day-to-day use.

Underpinning all these changes is the fact the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a stunning OLED display, with incredibly rich color reproduction and great use of things like Dolby Vision playback for when you want to watch movies with that extra level of detail and clarity.

The effect is pretty stunning – even though it’s not that new, as the iPhone and many other smartphones have had great screens for many years – and it’s worth remembering that you’re getting a phone that’s a genuine alternative to watching on the big screen when it comes to quality.

We noticed that Apple’s changes to the brightness of the screen are minor, but noticeable when you place the iPhone 13 Pro Max alongside an older phone. Interestingly Apple has wandered more towards more saturated colors with the latest display – particularly when showing off red elements of the image.

This is something that Samsung has always been famed for, so it’s intriguing to see Apple decide to add a little more artificial ‘pop’ to its displays with the iPhone 13 Pro range.

Battery Life – Finally Good

Let’s not beat around the bush here – you’ve already seen us say it, but the battery life of the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the biggest reason why you’d buy this phone.

Sure, you like the larger display to watch all your fancy movies and TikTok clips on, but in reality the notion of owning an iPhone with actually decent battery life is going to attract hordes of people to this model.

Why is everyone proclaiming that the iPhone 13 Pro Max battery life is so good? Well, it just feels robust. On a day of ‘middling’ use – mostly consisting of web browsing and music streaming over Wi-Fi, with three trips out for running and picking up kids from school – we took the phone off charge at 7:30am, and only managed to kill it by 4am the next day by downloading two huge games… that’s 35 hours of battery life.

We performed a side-by-side test with the iPhone 11 Pro Max, starting with both phones at 100% battery, streaming two hours and 20 minutes of YouTube on full brightness. The older model (which, we must stress, has been used for over a year, so there will be some battery degradation) fell to 81% in that time, where the new Pro Max only dropped to 91%.

Even if you were feeling generous to the older iPhone, that’s a massive gulf in battery management.

We’re not claiming that the iPhone 13 Pro Max has bulletproof battery life – on a super-hard day of testing, which saw us using the camera for hours, running around with Spotify playing in the background, and going in and out of signal, making phone calls, running a YouTube test and generally fiddling about with the phone, we only managed to get 14 hours of use before reaching for the charger.

But don’t get us wrong: in day-to-day use, you’ll regularly find that you’ve got a good third of the battery left by the time you go to bed, even with a few heavier tasks like music streaming or navigating using Google Maps for a few hours, so you’re less likely to need a power bank with this new phone.

In our lab testing we saw a score of 12 hours and 16 minutes for continuously browsing the web over a 5G connection until the battery was flat, which is pretty impressive, and the best we’ve seen from a flagship phone – the handsets that have performed better are usually cheaper phones that don’t have things like fast-charging capability.

Oh, while we’re on that subject… we’re still strongly of the opinion that Apple is being unfair by not including a charging block in the box with the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Yes, it definitely does save on waste from people having unnecessary chargers when many iPhone users likely have a few Lightning leads kicking around.

We also get why there’s a USB-C to Lightning cable in the box – so that users can connect easily to one of the new MacBooks or other laptops on the market. But that lead also facilitates the faster charging this phone is capable of, meaning you’ll want to buy the 20W charging block to get that sweet juice into your phone quickly.

It would be better if Apple gave you the option of whether or not to have a charger at purchase – either giving you a small discount for not having one, or just a general sense of being a good person and helping the planet. (Although, in fairness, keeping the cost of the phone the same as last year is a pretty good move when there are some decent hardware upgrades in the mix).

Why would you want that faster charger? Well, if you suddenly remember that you’re useless at life and have let your phone run out of battery, we found that in 15 minutes we could replenish the phone to a third full – enough for up to 10 hours of use, based on our testing.

Another 15 minutes on the charger got the phone up to 53%, showing that the fast charger is definitely worth it. However, the rate of charging slows down after that, with the phone getting to around 80% after an hour, and then requiring another 80 minutes to get to 100%.

The larger iPhones have always been the longest-lasting in each range, obviously, but this battery performance is a level above for a phone made by Apple.

It finally removes ‘Yes, but it hasn’t got very good battery life’ from the equation if you’re deciding between Apple and Android devices, as it’ll be more than serviceable for anyone who regularly charges nightly, and will save the bacon of those ‘forgetful chargers’ who don’t top up each night and then constantly pester you for a charger.

Camera – Making Tiny Things Amazing

While we think the battery life is the real selling point of the iPhone 13 Pro Max, a close second is the camera offering – while the improvements here are only tweaks from the iPhone 12 Pro Max, those tweaks are useful and impressive in a number of ways and make it one of the best camera phones around.

Let’s run through the changes quickly: the main camera (which Apple calls the Wide camera, confusingly) has a 12MP sensor, with larger 1.9μm pixels placed on the largest sensor Apple’s ever put in a smartphone in order to absorb even more light, which combined with an f/1.5 aperture enables you to capture some seriously impressive low-light images, as you’ll see in the samples below.

The Ultra Wide sensor (which zooms out from the main image) has also been upgraded – the megapixel count here is also 12MP which is the same as last year, but it now packs Apple’s Night Mode functionality, with the phone able to take some breathtaking photos in near-pitch black situations, as long as you’re able to hold the handset perfectly still for the necessary amount of time.

The Telephoto lens, the one that can zoom in on distant objects, has been upgraded to be able to zoom in three times optically – meaning that it’s physically magnifying the image, rather than doing so digitally and creating a grainier shot. That’s a useful addition, but it’s a shame you can’t also do 2x zoom optically – as sometimes that would be preferable.

Sadly, the zoom distance is fixed, so you’ll need to make do – although the iPhone’s chipset does a pretty good job of cleaning up the digital zoom.

When it comes to the quality of the photos the iPhone 13 Pro Max is capable of producing day to day, there’s a clear and obvious improvement over last year’s model.

What’s interesting is that it appears to be in the processing of images that the improvements have been made – in some shots the subject was clearer and brighter where a strong backlight was present (which is tricky to manage on a smartphone camera), while in others it was clear that the 13 Pro Max had decided to darken the photo in order to preserve more detail.

This is useful to prevent overexposure, and leads to more attractive shots overall – although the improvements aren’t huge over the 12 Pro Max, or even the 11 Pro Max, they’re noticeable and welcome.

Macrophotography

One of the key changes to the iPhone 13 Pro Max camera setup comes in the shape of the new macrophotography mode, which activates instantly when you move the phone closer to a subject. It’s quite a jarring jump, but suddenly a world of blur becomes clear, and you can take some fantastic pictures.

In fact, it’s only the shadow of the phone falling on some subjects, due to the camera being so close, that causes any issue with the photos – we took some stunning snaps, and we can see the macro mode being something we play with for hours, as all kinds of subjects can look fascinatingly different when viewed ultra-close.

Low-light and Night Mode

Apple has improved all three rear camera sensors for the iPhone 13 Pro Max to make them more effective in low light, and the results are pretty spectacular in a number of ways.

The first is that, generally, low-light shots (not using the long-exposure, hold-still method of Night Mode) look far brighter. Everything we shot looked clear, sharp and bright, and while there was a fair amount of grain in images we definitely got the best low-light photos we’ve seen from any iPhone.

This is partly to do with the new sensor, but also the use of the LiDAR function (which uses lasers to spot where surfaces are) as well as excellent stabilization on board – these mean that the autofocus was superb and sometimes yielded photos that looked brighter than the subject did in real life without losing definition to keep the shutter open for longer.

a night scene of a garden, with trees at the top and sweeping lawn

One interesting quirk of the multi-lens setup of the new phone: in low light, the iPhone 13 Pro Max once again, when using the telephoto lens and instead of using the optical sensor, defaults to the main wide camera and crops in digitally.

It’s not a huge issue, as the picture quality still gets processed to a decent level, but it’s annoying that it’s not highlighted in the process, and Apple has been doing this for years now.

The other enhancement the new, more sensitive sensor has brought with it is that Night Mode doesn’t activate as often. While the results from Night Mode can be incredible (see the samples below) it’s annoying to have to hold the phone steady for a second or two when you just want to take a quick snap in the evening, and the new sensor often negates the need for that.

Photographic Styles

We were surprised when Apple came out with Photographic Styles as a Big New Feature () on the iPhone 13 range – while there are five pre-programmed settings (standard, rich contrast, vibrant, warm and cool) to make the image more vibrant or alter the color temperature, we didn’t see how this was really different from a filter.

But what’s actually happening here is that the color and contrast of the photo are being altered when you take it, rather than an effect being applied post-capture, and which you can undo.

This means you can choose to shoot in richer contrast every time if that’s your style, or take a set of photos that are a little less warm if that’s what the project calls for.

It’s more akin to the photo style options on DSLRs and mirrorless cameras than an Instagram filter, and, while we didn’t really use it that much, it does add another interesting new layer of functionality.

Cinematic Mode

Apple’s other new feature is Cinematic Mode, where the ‘rack focus’ (as in, which part of the shot in a movie is in focus) will change automatically depending on where the focus of the viewer should be.

This means that if the protagonist in your movie looks at someone else and stops speaking, the focus will shift to them and blur out the original speaker- it certainly looks dynamic and more movie-like. You can even alter the focus after the movie has been taken in the on-phone editing suite, if someone speaking doesn’t quite look as sharp as you want.

You might assume that this is a mode designed for professionals so that they don’t have to worry about rack focus when shooting movies, but given that it’s also appearing on the regular iPhone 13 and 13 mini, as well as the 13 Pro, it’s clear that this isn’t exclusively a pro feature, and something the everyday user can play with.

While it’s a fun tool, it seems odd that Apple’s made such a big deal of this. Yes, we can see that it will yield some cool videos if you want to film your friends talking about something or everyone having fun at a party, but that’s quite rare for home footage.

It feels more like you’d need to remember to use Cinematic Mode when the conditions are just right, where the focus of your movie is constantly shifting – and we’re not sure how often most people will make ‘proper’ movies’ at home, rather than just capturing a video of their dog doing a backflip for a treat or similar.

Portrait Mode

Another enhancement Apple has made is, once again, refining the background-blurring Portrait mode on both the front and back cameras.

The forward-facing TrueDepth camera can take some truly stunning selfies (well, subject dependent, of course…) and the blurred-background pictures you can get with the rear-facing camera was something we enjoyed playing with, getting some impressive shots.

It’s the foundational elements of the Portrait-mode shots that have been upgraded: the lighting is more natural, the lighting is more natural, and the depth-of-field or ‘bokeh’ effects have been improved so that the things that should be in focus are in focus – the edges of someone’s head for example (and even their stray hairs).

You can even use Portrait mode to capture stationary objects that aren’t human or animal – being able to a heavy depth of field to a trail or forest leads to some lovely pictures when you’re out and about.

We’re a bit sad that Portrait mode only works in 1x or 3x zoom though – on the 11 Pro Max, 2x zoom was the perfect length to capture a subject, and we found that we constantly had to move the camera forward and back to get the right image with the 13 Pro Max. The 12 Pro Max increased this to 2.5x zoom, but now we’ve gone even further.ProRAW

ProRAW is back again on the iPhone 13 Pro Max (and it’s now available on the iPhone 13 Pro too) – and it’s a bit of a gateway drug to ‘proper’ photography.

A quick overview: most phones shoot in the JPEG format, with images processed in-camera to tweak things like color and contrast, and do a jolly good job of it; however, the images are also compressed, and much of the image data discarded, which leaves you with less latitude to edit your shots later.

Most modern cameras also enable you to shoot in raw mode, which captures unprocessed and uncompressed (but very large) image files, giving you plenty of leeway to fine-tune the exposure, color, contrast and more in post-processing.

ProRAW gives you the best of both formats, allowing the user to get an enhanced and ready-to-go snap using the smarts of Apple’s A15 image processor, but retaining all the information to allow you to edit the photo afterwards if you want – this is easily doable in a program such as LightRoom, and we really enjoyed playing with the ability to raise or drop shadows and get some really cool extra effects by altering the exposure and sharpness, thanks to having more image data to play with..

iPhone 13 Pro Max photo showing a long forest trail

A ProRAW photo taken and edited on the iPhone itself from the inbuilt editing app (Image credit: TechRadar)

Now this really is the kind of thing that we’d expect from a ‘Pro’ handset, and it’s a feature that’s really fun to explore and play with.

Speaking of pro modes that videographers will want to use, there’s also ProRes support here, which is a high-quality, lossy video compression format that Apple created to let creative types manage video up to 8K, and which is used regularly throughout the industry now.

The inclusion of support for this format on an iPhone is going to be useful to those who want to shoot commercials or high-end video and send off the edited results from the field – that’s not something that most of us will do regularly, but such additions show that Apple wants to make it clear that the iPhone 13 Pro range is a step above the ‘basic’ models.

iOS 15 and Supreme Power

Apple is making some bold claims about the iPhone 13 Pro Max, selling it as one of the most powerful smartphones out there right now – and the claims seem pretty justified based on our testing.

While the numbers that we saw in our benchmarking absolutely back Apple up (and we’ll get onto that in a minute), the real-world performance is what matters. The ‘issue’ is that smartphones are already more than powerful enough to handle most things you want to throw at them, and the fact the 13 Pro Max is lightning-fast at switching between apps is no surprising thing.

When it comes to raw figures the results speak for themselves: this phone is twice as fast (nearly) at transcoding Adobe video from 4K to 1080p) as the 11 Pro Max, and a second faster than the 12 Pro Max from last year. Apple’s claims that the new A15 chipset is powering things along more efficiently than ever before really do stack up.

But we were surprised to see that some high-power games, like Grid Autosport, didn’t load that much faster – the game’s high levels of detail and graphical fidelity mean it’s going to take a few seconds to load on any device, but we expected it to be a lot quicker on the iPhone 13 Pro Max compared to a phone from two years ago.

That’s splitting hairs somewhat though, as there’s no doubt that when it comes to things like editing photos, saving video and performing the heavy tasks the iPhone 13 Pro Max is more than adept. In fact, it’s only bettered by the iPad Pro range in our testing – which is a far more expensive device, and arguably more likely to be picked up by those looking for a high-power device.

Let’s quickly look at those benchmarks: the iPhone 13 Pro Max scored far better in terms of framerate, multi-core capability and speed of video transcoding when compared to the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra – almost twice as fast in some cases.

However, keeping in mind what we said above about real-world use, we wouldn’t read too much into that performance, as both phones operate sublimely well; but if you’re a creative looking for a phone that can help you record high-quality video or work on high-power tasks, this is your phone.

The upgraded iOS 15 is coming to most iPhones, so the new capabilities aren’t too much to get excited about on the new iPhone 13 Pro Max, as you can get the same tricks on older models.

That said, there are a few improvements that you can look forward to: the new Weather app is hugely enhanced, with more accurate location tracking, improved animations and things that are genuinely useful, like radar maps to show heat and rainfall patterns.

Apple is making a big deal about Focus Mode, which allows you to turn off certain distractions when you need them. This feels like a powerful tool, but in our testing we didn’t really get much from it. Perhaps it’s something that needs to be perfected over a few months, allowing you to work out who you want to hear from and in what scenarios, but we found we kept cancelling the settings.

Perhaps we just need more discipline here – but it would be nice to see a few more default modes, or more in-depth tutorials to see how useful this can be.

Another change that’s worth noting is to notifications – it’s great to be able to lump together non-time-sensitive updates, and only see them each morning and afternoon. We instantly found we didn’t care about most of them, and just switched them off in the menu, and having a moment to perform that cleaning was handy.

We do like the new ‘Cards’ used to show images in Messages too – it’s a small change, but they were fun to scroll through.

The post iPhone 13 Pro Max Review appeared first on Review Products.

A fiery design and surprising gaming chops.

Even for Motorola, the champion of cheap Android phones, the Moto G84 is an above-average handset. It excels above its weight class for gaming power, its battery lasts ages, it has some surprisingly top-end features and, if those traits weren’t all enough, it comes in an eye-catching and vibrant red tone that we can’t get enough of.

Pros

• +Lively red color
• +Impressive performance for price
• +Snappy fingerprint scanner

Cons

• -Two other colorways are dull
• -Unimpressive cameras
• -Very similar to cheaper G73

MOTO G84 TWO-MINUTE REVIEW

Another day, another Moto G phone…

…and as usual, the Moto G84 is a surprisingly adept and reliable Android handset from one of the world’s most dedicated phone manufacturers, with Motorola continuing its forcible takeover of our round-up of the best cheap phones.

The latest entry in Motorola’s ever-growing G-line of low-cost mobiles, the G84 brings a few clear and concise arguments as to why it should be your next purchase, as well as a few wardrobes that it hopes you won’t be checking for skeletons.

First up, the Moto G84 is the company’s latest collaboration between Motorola and paint company Pantone, with one of its three colors designed by color experts. This is the Viva Magenta one that you can see pictured above, adorned in the shade that Pantone decided was its Color Of The Year 2023.

It’s a distinctive shade (which may put some people off), and we’re big enough fans to add the vibrant and striking look to the ‘Pros’ list above. But for some reason, Moto decided to release two other color options, silver and black, which look pretty boring by comparison.

We go from one of the phone’s touted selling points to something Motorola is barely mentioning: the G84 is a powerhouse for gaming. While I’ve been disappointed by other mobiles brandishing the same Snapdragon 695 chipset used here, the Moto chews through gaming and other intensive tasks. If you’re a gamer on a budget, this is definitely a solid pick.

It’s at this point in the review (less than a minute into the ‘two-minute review’, so pretty early on) that I should mention the Moto G73. This mobile, released in early 2023 and still ranged by most retailers including Moto itself, has lots of specs in common with the G84.

It has a lower price and the same camera array, same rough design, same software, same battery size, same charging speed and same screen size. Admittedly it’s screen quality is worse, it doesn’t have an under-display fingerprint scanner, it’s less powerful and it doesn’t catch the eye quite like this Viva Magenta-clad beast. But if you want to save some cash and don’t mind these tweaked features, it’s a very real competitor that may sway your attention.

‘Close competition’ is nothing new for Moto phones, given how many similar-looking budget mobiles it releases each year. Neither is my other major gripe with the handset: its cameras are anything but impressive, with photos that look a little dull and unexciting.

Picking up a Motorola phone and being surprised that its cameras aren’t amazing, is like picking up a dumbbell and being surprised it’s heavy – that trait is just par for the course. The cameras aren’t terrible either, they just won’t suit passionate smartphone-centric photographers.

And overall, the Moto G84 is a terribly impressive phone, when you consider its feisty look, gaming power and low price; it’ll just fit some users better than others.

MOTO G84 REVIEW: PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

• Released in September 2023
• Costs £249.99 (roughly $315, AU$475)
• Not for sale in US or Australia

The Moto G84 was released in the UK in mid-September 2023, after coming out in India and Europe in the weeks prior. It was joined by the low-end Moto G54 and premium-leaning Moto Edge 40 Neo.

You can pick up the phone for £249.99 (roughly $315, AU$475), which lodges it firmly in the category of ‘cheap Android phone’, perfect for people on a budget who want a reliable mobile. That’s Moto’s whole schtick, after all. There’s no information on a US or Australian launch, but they seem unlikely even several months after the phone’s release.

Rivals at that price include Samsung’s Galaxy A23 5G, Redmi’s Note 12 5G, OnePlus’ Nord CE 3 Lite and several of Motorola’s own mobiles, like the Moto G73 5G and Edge 40 Neo, which are all at roughly the same price point. But for its price and the performance it offers, the G84 is solidly good value.

Value score: 4 / 5

MOTO G84 REVIEW: SPECS

The Moto G84 has many traits in common with other budget phones, but it exceeds its class in a few areas too.

Moto G84 Specs:

• Dimensions: 160 x 74.4 x 7.6mm
• Weight: 166.8g
• Screen :6.5-inch 20:9 FHD+ (2400×1080) 120Hz p-OLED
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 695
• RAM: 12GB
• Storage: 256GB
• OS: Android 13
• Primary camera: 50MP, f/1.9
• Ultra-wide camera: 8MP f/2.2
• Front camera: 16MP f/2.5
• Audio: Stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack
• Battery: 5,000mAh
• Charging: 30W wired
• Colors: Viva Magenta, Marshmallow Blue, Midnight Blue

MOTO G84 REVIEW:DESIGN

• Vibrant Pantone-designed red shell
• Repositioned under-display fingerprint scanner
• 3.5mm headphone jack and USB-C port

Motorola isn’t exactly in the business of revolutionizing smartphone design (well, at least for its budget mobiles, though you can say what you like about the Moto Razr). So if you’ve seen a Moto G in the last few years you’ve seen the G84.

It’s a standard Android mobile measuring 160 x 74.4 x 7.6 mm – a few years ago we could’ve called it “a little on the big side” though you could probably consider it average now. It’s surprisingly light at 166.8g, which means the phone sits a little comfier in the hand than most phones with a flat edge.

You’ve got the usual accouterments of a Moto: a USB-C port and 3.5mm headphone jack underneath, a power button and volume rocker on the right edge. But Motorola has made one big adjustment in its budget phones of late, and that’s in replacing the side-mounted fingerprint scanner with a more premium under-display one. And it’s a great change too, as unlocking the phone is much easier than in previous Motos. The scanner is a bit lower down the phone than on most others, but it’s something I got used to.

There are three different color options for the Moto G84: a silver and a black option, and also an eye-catching red version called Viva Magenta. This latter was created by paint company Pantone, and it’d make the phone very attractive if it wasn’t for the big Pantone-logo color swatch on the bottom. You can’t remove this, it’s part of the phone.

Still, if the G84 was in a line-up of 10 random other phones, it’d be the most attractive one the vast majority of the time – its red is a little richer than Apple’s Product Red and the glossy alternatives some Chinese phones offer.

In terms of protection, you’re looking at IP54: it’s partly dust proofed but not against all solids, and is splash-proof but can’t be dunked in water. That’s all to be expected at this price.

Design score: 3.5 / 5

MOTO G84 REVIEW: DISPLAY

• Big 6.5-inch screen
• FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh
• Automatic brightness issues

The Moto G84 has a 6.5-inch display, which is pretty average for a smartphone these days, but the Moto’s specs are anything but average.

The phone packs an FHD+ display (that’s 1080 x 2400) and a 120Hz refresh rate, which means the display updates its image 120 times per second, over the old standard of 60Hz. Lots of budget mobiles tout this spec now but certainly not all of them, and it brings a marked improvement when you’re scrolling around the menus.

Another unusual trait is the use of the DCI-P3 color gamut with over 1 billion colors – this was designed for use in movies and it makes videos look that little bit better than on another budget phone.

One other display feature worth flagging is that the punch-hole that houses the front-facing camera is very small, reducing the amount of screen space you’re losing from it.

A small issue I had with the phone was with its display and the automatic brightness features. Often, the phone would default to a screen brightness that was just too low, and I frequently had to manually adjust it to be able to make out the display.

Display score: 3.5 / 5

MOTO G84 REVIEW: SOFTWARE

• Stock Android 13 is clean
• Useful Moto Actions return
• Plenty of customization options

When you boot up the Moto G84, it’ll come running stock Android 13 – that was the current OS when the mobile launched, though Android 14 started rolling out just weeks later. The G84 is only confirmed for one software update too, so Android 14 is all you’ll definitely get, though you’ll be able to enjoy at least three years’ security updates.

Stock Android is always fairly clean, at least compared to some other Android forks, but some bloatware has snuck into the Moto. There’s TikTok, LinkedIn and three simple games – it’s nothing too offensive, and if you’ve used one of the budget phones from another brand you might have used something a lot worse, but it’s still not ideal.

Moto phones have always been great for software customization, even before Google made it an official Android feature, and there’s no difference here. You have plenty of choice in terms of font, color scheme, icon shape, animations and more – if you like diving into the settings and then tweaking the nitty-gritty of how your phone looks, you’ll love this phone.

A returning feature exclusive to Moto phones are Moto Actions, which are easy navigation tricks that I find myself using a lot. Examples include a double karate-chop motion to quickly turn on the torch and a twisting shake to open the camera app. They take a little getting used to, but once you’ve got the knack for them, they’re incredibly handy.

Software score: 4 / 5

MOTO G84: CAMERAS

• 50MP main and 8MP ultra-wide cameras
• Some extra features like Spot Color
• 16MP front-facing camera for selfies

The camera department is an area that Motorola phones rarely excel in, and there’s no exception here. The phone uses up its ‘color’ budget on its exterior shell and there’s none left for its photos…

The main snapper is a 50MP f/1.9 unit and it’s joined by a single 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide companion. On the front, you’re looking at a 16MP f/2.5 selfie camera. That’s not exactly a revolutionary combo for Moto, which used the exact same line-up in the Moto G73 from earlier in the year.

Pictures taken on the main camera looked fine – that nondescript word is the best way to describe them – with fair sharpness but a lack of vibrancy or color that made me miss Samsung’s or Xiaomi’s handsets.

Flip onto the ultra-wide camera and you’re getting pretty grainy pictures – it’s an 8MP sensor, what did you expect – though not straight away. No, the secondary snapper was surprisingly slow to focus when I pressed the icon in the camera app, and I often found myself waiting a few moments for it to sharpen the image.

You can also use the ultra-wide camera for macro (close-up) shots, but this suffers from the issue that all wide-angle-macro phone photos do: it’s rounded and distorted thanks to the lens type. No thanks!

There’s no zoom lens on the Moto G84, so you have to use its 8x digital zoom to get closer to a subject. But I’d really recommend you don’t, unless you want your photo to be as grainy as spot art.

Grainy is also the word to use for pictures captured on the front camera, which is a surprising twist as some Motos redeem themselves on their selfie abilities. They’ll be fine for sending between phones, especially with bokeh working well in Portrait mode, but if you look at selfies on any bigger screen you’ll see the pixels clearly.

When capturing video, you can shoot at 1080p, with no 4K option. There’s also a slow-mo option as well as dual capture (front and back cameras at once) and Spot Color, which lets you isolate a single color in your recording. These latter two options are also available for photography.

MOTO G84: PERFORMANCE AND AUDIO

• Snapdragon 695 chip exceeds expectations
• 12GB RAM and 256GB storage
• 3.5mm headphone jack and Bluetooth 5.1

The Moto G84 packs the Snapdragon 695, and anyone who’s used a phone using this chipset knows what to expect: fine everyday performance, but a lackluster showing when used for gaming or intensive processes. That’s how this exact same chip worked in the recent OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite, and gaming was a slog.

In a pleasantly surprising plot twist, the G84 bucks expectations: it runs a lot faster than you’d think. In fact, through our rigorous gaming tests, it proved itself as one of the most reliable low-budget phones for gaming.

When playing titles like Call of Duty: Mobile and PUBG Mobile, the phone could be relied on to get through a match without lags, stutters or freezes – in fact, the G84 beat many gaming phones in that it didn’t even overheat!

This may be thanks to the 12GB RAM you’re getting, a surprising amount for a phone at this price. The 256GB storage is also laudable – this is a phone that’ll last you a long time, and even if you do manage to fill the device’s onboard storage, the microSD card slot will keep you going for even longer.

If you’re into your facts and figures, a benchmark test through Geekbench 6 returned a multi-core average score of 2,037. That middling score shows that this phone is no supercomputer that’ll land a spaceship on the sun or predict the future, but for the price, I was very surprised.

Onto audio – this is par for the course for a Moto phone. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack for wired music and Bluetooth 5.1 for wireless. The onboard stereo speaker is nothing to write home about, but it’s not so tinny that voice calls or memos are affected.

Performance Score: 4 / 5

MOTO G84 REVIEW: BATTERY LIFE

• Large 5,000mAh battery
• Over a day’s use from a single charge
• 30W charging isn’t particularly fast

If there’s one thing a Motorola phone can be relied on to have, even more than a confusing name, great customization or that distinctive sound when you first boot it up, it’s a long-lasting battery life.

No surprise, then, that the Moto G84’s 5,000mAh battery lasts a long time. You can use it to get through a day of use with no issue, and in our tests it lasted well into a second day before the charging cable needed to come out.

That charging cable gets you powering at 30W, so it’s not particularly fast, not when rival budget mobiles hit 50W, 67W or higher. You’re looking at charging times just shy of an hour, or more if you’re using the thing as you power it.

There’s no wireless charging here, but at that price, no-one should be surprised.

Battery Score: 3.5 / 5

HOW I TESTED THE MOTO G84

Review test period = 2 week

Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback

Tools used = Geekbench 5, Geekbench 6, Geekbench ML, GFXBench, native Android stats

As you can tell from my review and the images, I tested the Moto G84 in its Pantone-endorsed Viva Magenta colorway. It felt fitting to test this festive-looking mobile during winter, hence the Christmas baking images!

Before true testing commenced I set up the phone to let the battery use settle, then used it as a standard mobile for two weeks. This included all the tasks you’d use your mobile for: social media, photography and streaming.

I also used it for gaming a lot. In fact, it was so snappy and fast for this task, alongside its lovely display, that I was loathe to move onto the next handset I’m testing for TechRadar!

My tech review history spans five years for TechRadar, and more for other brands. I used to work as an editor and writer for the site, covering phones, tablets and wearables (as well as a wide range of other gadgets), and continue to write freelance reviews across many types of gadget.

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