Moto g34 5G 2024 – 5G on a budget (smartphone)
The Moto g34 5G 2024 is its lowest-cost, fully-featured smartphone with very few compromises. It is well-made, performs to spec, has great phone reception, a decent camera, a long battery life, and even comes with a charger.
Sure, we could be picky and say it has a 720p screen, 4GB RAM, etc., but that is not the point. This phone meets or exceeds any expectations you may have of a $279 phone.
How does Moto do it?
Simple—this is the ‘cookie-cutter’ recipe for its g-series. It is a complex balance of screen resolution, processor, RAM, storage, and camera. This is a Goldilocks phone—just right for the price.
Should you spend more? Motorola and its retailers hope so, or they would be out of business. In reality, Motorola hopes to get you into the tent and offer a great experience so you will stick to the brand when you can afford more.
Australian Review: Moto g34 5G 2024 Single SIM/eSIM/dedicated microSD, 4/128GB Model XT2363-3.
| Brand | Motorola |
| Model | Motorola g34 5G |
| Model Number | XT2363-3 |
| RAM/Storage Base | 4/128GB |
| Price base | $279 |
| Warranty months | 12 months retail 24-months Telco carrier |
| Tier | Upper entry-level |
| Website | Product page |
| From | Motorola Lenovo Online. Not seen at retailers or Telcos yet. |
| Made in | China |
| Company | Owned by Lenovo (Est 1984) – a multinational technology company with its primary operational headquarters in Beijing and Morrisville, North Carolina. It is the world’s largest PC maker. It purchased Motorola Mobility from Google in 2014. Most of Lenovo’s smartphone business is now under the Motorola brand, with grand plans to become a ‘top five’ smartphone maker. |
| More | CyberShack Smartphone news and reviews |
| Test date | 15-27 May 2024 |
| Ambient temp | 10-20° |
| Release | December 2023, but later in Australia |
| Other models not for Australia (Don’t buy) | Must have an RCM C-Tick. Only approved resellers – any other outlet is likely to be grey market. See Don’t buy a grey market smartphone (updated guide) |
We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.
We are also tightening up on grading. From now on, Pass, for example, means meeting expectations for the price bracket. We consider a Pass mark to be 70+/100 with extra points added for class-leading and excellence.
First Impression – Pass+
Remembering this is a $279 phone, all you can expect is a glass slab. But it has a nice Ocean Green vegan leather back (not a fingerprint magnet), a decent, reasonably colour-accurate 720p screen, a 3.5mm headphone port, and a microSD slot. Above all, its phone reception strength is very good for the city, suburbs, and regional use. We won’t give it a rural use recommendation, but it is likely fine, too.
I especially like the 20W charger, bumper cover inbox, and little things like an eSIM (dual ringtones), NFC, and dual-frequency GPS. The camera is pretty good in daylight and office light.
It has one OS upgrades, three years of quarterly security patches – good for the price – and one would expect you would probably buy a new phone in two to three years.
This phone is for the people and gets our unreserved recommendation if you all have $279.
Screen – 720p and pretty good for the price – Pass
It is quite a ‘clean’ screen without that blue cool cast that plagues lower-cost LCD screens. It is not daylight readable (no 400-nit screen is). It plays HD SDR content from streaming companies.
| Size | 6.5″ |
| Type | IPS LCD |
| Flat, Curve, 2D, 3D | Flat with centre o-hole |
| Resolution | 1600 x 720 |
| PPI | 269 |
| Ratio | 20:9 |
| Screen to Body % | 85% |
| Colours bits | 8-bit 16.7m colours |
| Refresh Hz, adaptive | Fixed 60/920Hz Auto stepped 60/90/120Hz |
| Response 120Hz | N/A |
| Nits typical, test | Not stated (350) |
| Nits max, test | High Brightness in a 5% window: not stated (512Nits) |
| Contrast | Not stated (1125:1) |
| sRGB | Test 92% |
| DCI-P3 | Not tested/relevant. |
| Rec.2020 or other | No |
| Delta E (<4 is excellent) | Approx 2 |
| HDR Level | SDR |
| SDR Upscale | No |
| Blue Light Control | Yes |
| PWM if known | No |
| Daylight readable | No |
| Always on Display | Peak display option |
| Edge display | No |
| Accessibility | Usual Android features |
| DRM | L1 HD SDR |
| Gaming | Not for gaming |
| Screen protection | Unknown – likely not. Buy a screen protector. |
| Comment | It has a decent, bright, relatively colour-accurate screen. However, for the price, you can only expect 720p. |
Processor – Pass+
It has a 6nm Qualcomm SD695 5G System on a chip (SoC). This is a mid-range processor (above SD4X and below SD7X and SD8X)—an oldie but a goodie. It has enough power to use some AI photo post-processing, and the Qualcomm modem got all four towers in our test. It is enough for a casual gamer.
| Brand, Model | Qualcomm SD695 5G |
| nm | 6 |
| Cores | 2 x 2.2GHz & 6 x 1.7GHz |
| Modem | X51 |
| AI TOPS OR Multi-thread Integer Operations Per Second (INOPS) GINOPS = billion | 9.98 GINOPS 10.21 GFLOPS This is a measure of numeric processing and CPU processing. It is not an AI TOPS (trillion operations per second) measurement, and we estimate that to be around 4. The SD8X series is around 20-30. |
| Geekbench 6 Single-core | 913 – strong results |
| Geekbench 6 multi-core | 2016 – ditto |
| Like | Benchmarks Helio G99 and Exynos 1280 |
| GPU | Adreno 619 840Mhz |
| GPU Test | |
| Open CL | 1389 |
| Like | More than enough for a 720p screen |
| Vulcan | 1176 |
| RAM, type | 4GB LPDDR4X with up to 6GB virtual RAM. |
| Storage, free, type | 128GB UFS 2.2 (98GB free) |
| micro-SD | Up to 1TB |
| CPDT internal seq. Read MBps sustained | 506 Jazz 500.49 |
| CPDT internal seq. write MBps sustained | 356 Jazz 337.95 |
| CPDT microSD read, write MBps | 76/55 |
| CPDT external (mountable?) MBps | 30/18 with 2TB external SSD |
| Comment | It is about twice as fast as the Moto G54 MediaTek. The new 6nm SoC is an excellent processor, whereas the entry-level is usually an SD4 series. |
| Throttle test | |
| Max GIPS | 151359 |
| Average GIPS | 148947 |
| Minimum GIPS | 134709 |
| % Throttle | Nil |
| CPU Temp | 54° |
| Comment | Excellent thermal management, but the case can get toasty under load. |
Comms – Pass+
Few phones at this price would have any better specs. It has Wi-Fi 5 AC 2.4/5GHz dual band and reaches a maximum 433Mbps speed out to 10m. ✅
It has dual-band GPS and an accuracy of 3m – perfect for in-car navigation. ✅
It has NFC. ✅
| Wi-Fi Type, model | Wi-Fi AC 2.4/5Ghz tested 5GHz. WCN3990 |
| Test 2m -dBm, Rx/Tx Mbps | -45/433/419 |
| Test 5m | -44/433/433 |
| Test 10m | -53/433/390 |
| BT Type | 5.1 |
| GPS single, dual | Dual L1/L5 3m |
| USB type | USB-C 2.0 480Mbps |
| ALT DP, DeX, Ready For | Wi-Fi only DeX |
| NFC | Yes |
| Ultra-wideband | No |
| Sensors | |
| Accelerometer | Yes |
| Gyro | Yes |
| e-Compass | Yes |
| Barometer | |
| Gravity | |
| Pedometer | |
| Ambient light | Yes |
| Hall sensor | |
| Proximity | Yes |
| Other | Fingerprint SAR sensor Sensor Hub |
| Comment | Speeds as expected with Wi-Fi AC. |
4G and 5G – Pass+
We stirred a hornet’s nest when we asked Is Telstra Blue Tick accurate for rural phone reception? The short answer is that is not.
Our test methodology is such that we can accurately tell you if a phone will get reasonable reception in cities, suburbs, regional, and rural/remote areas.
This phone gets our recommendation for cities, suburbs, and regional cities. It should be fine in rural areas, but there are better and far more expensive models for that use.
It is unusual to find an eSIM at this price, which is a real bonus.
| SIM | Single SIM, eSIM, dedicated microSD |
| Active | Only one active at a time |
| Ring tone single, dual | Dual |
| VoLTE | Carrier dependent |
| Wi-Fi calling | Carrier dependent |
| 4G Bands | 1/2/3/5/7/8/20/26/28/32/38/40/41/42 |
| Comment | All Australian 4G bands |
| 5G sub-6Ghz | n1/3/5/7/8/20/26/28/38/40/41/77/78 |
| Comment | All Australian 5G sub-6 and low bands |
| mmWave | N/A |
| Test Boost Mobile, Telstra | |
| DL/UL, ms | Would not run |
| Tower 1 -dBm, fW or pW | -83 to -87/2 to 5pW |
| Tower 2 | Yes, up to 5pW |
| Tower 3 | Yes, up to 5pW |
| Tower 4 | Yes, up to 800fW |
| Comment | As expected from a Qualcomm modem, it found all four towers at usable strengths. It should be suitable for city, suburbs, and regional use with reasonable tower coverage. It also found a 5G signal, although it was unusable. |
Battery – Pass+
5000mAh, 20W charger, 2-hour charge and two days of typical use. You can also slow charge from USB chargers, PCs, etc.
| mAh | 5000 |
| Charger, type, supplied | 20W 5V/3A/15W 10V/2A/20W 12V/1.65A/20W Charges at 18W maximum |
| PD, QC level | No PD, but you can use PD chargers. |
| Qi, wattage | N/A |
| Reverse Qi or cable. | N/A |
| Test (60Hz or adaptive screen) | Adaptive |
| Charge % 30mins | N/A |
| Charge 0-100% | 2 hours |
| Charge Qi, W Using Belkin Boost Charge 15W fast wireless charge | N/A |
| Charge 5V, 2A | Approx 7 hours |
| Video loop 50%, aeroplane | 15 hours 46 minutes |
| PC Mark 3 battery | !8 hours 7 minutes Accubattery 17 hours 51 minutes |
| GFX Bench Manhattan battery | Would not run |
| GFX Bench T-Rex | 476.8 minutes (7.95 hours) 6005 frames |
| Drain 100-0% full load screen on | 4 hours 33 minutes Accubattery 4 hours 57 minutes |
| mA full load | 1000-1150 |
| mA Watt idle Screen on | 250-300 |
| Estimate loss at max refresh | Adaptive screen refresh mode |
| Estimate typical use | Given it is a 6nm energy-sipping processor, a typical user should get 2 days. |
| Comment | Reasonable battery life. A 2-hour charge is tolerable. |
Sound – Pass+
This concerns the hardware—not the sound quality (next segment). It has loud sound, 10-15% more than usual. Qualcomm has almost every BT Codec you could ever want and a 3.5mm jack. Hands-free is excellent.
It will decode Dolby Atmos, but this is mainly for headphone use.
| Speakers | Stereo earpiece and down-firing bottom speaker |
| Tuning | No |
| AMP | Qualcomm Aquistic |
| Dolby Atmos decode | Yes, decodes to 2.0. |
| Hi-Res | No |
| 3.5mm | Yes |
| BT Codecs | SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX TWS+, aptX Adaptive, LHDCV1/2/3, LDAC in 24-bit/48000Hz |
| Multipoint | |
| Dolby Atmos (DA) | DA: Spatial 2.0 stereo: Smart Audio, Music, Movie, Game, Podcast, Custom. |
| EQ | See DA |
| Mics | 2 – top for noise cancellation and bottom for voice. CrystalTalk focuses on 1-4kHz for clear voice and reduces background noise. |
| Test dB – all on EQ flat DA off | |
| Volume max | 95 – very loud (most are 80dB) Excellent volume levels – 10-15dB above average. |
| Media (music) | 94 |
| Ring | 90 |
| Alarm | 97 |
| Notifications | 90 |
| Earpiece | 70 |
| Hands-free | Excellent volume and mic pickup. |
| BT headphones | Good volume and channel separation |
Sound Quality – Pass
It has a bit of high bass and decent mid-high treble (most phones don’t have either), so it is listenable for music. For the best result, use BT headphones.
| Deep Bass 20-40Hz | Nil |
| Middle Bass 40-100Hz | Nil |
| High Bass 100-200Hz | Starts at 90Hz and linearly builds to 800Hz |
| Low Mid-200-400Hz | Linear building |
| Mid-400-1000Hz | Flat |
| High-Mid 1-2kHz | Flat |
| Low Treble 2-4kHz | Flat |
| Mid Treble 4-6kHz | slight decline to 7kHz |
| High Treble 6-10kHz | Flat |
| Dog Whistle 10-20kHz | Flat |
| Sound Signature type | This is Bright Vocal (bass recessed, mid/treble boosted) for vocal tracks and string instruments, but it can make them harsh. |
| Soundstage | Good Left/Right separation. The sound stage is as wide as the phone, but the DA (spatial setting) gives it some 3D height and width. |
| Comment | How to tell if you have good music – sound signature is the key The stereo speakers are well balanced, and there is some high bass and decent mid/high treble, so it is listenable for music. |
Build – Pass+
The Moto g34 5G 2024 is well-made and should last a few years. Get a TPM screen protector and use the supplied bumper cover.
| Size (H X W x D) | 162.7 x 74.66 x 8.19mm |
| Weight grams | 179-181g PMMA/Vegan |
| Front glass | Not specified |
| Rear material | PMMA Charcoal Black Vegan Leather Ocean Green |
| Frame | PMMA |
| IP rating | IP52 Water-repellent coating |
| Colours | Charcoal Black Ocean Green |
| Pen, Stylus support | No |
| In the box | |
| Charger | 20W |
| USB cable | 2W USB-A to USB-C |
| Buds | No |
| Bumper cover | Yes |
| Comment | Nice of Moto to include a charger – it has been leaving them out of lower-cost handsets. |
OS – Pass
| Android | Android 14 |
| Security patch date | 1 April 2024 |
| UI | Hello Moto |
| OS upgrade policy | Android 15 |
| Security patch policy | Three years of bi-monthly security patches |
| Bloatware | Booking.com, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok |
| Other | Moto apps – some duplicate Google apps. |
| Comment | My UX seems to have gone but the functionality lives on. Moto Apps now manages most Moto features and enables simple updates. Family Space, Games, Moto Connect, Moto Secure, Moto Unplugged, Moto Ready For. Display: Peek Display, Attentive Display Gestures: Quick capture, Fast flashlight, Three-finger screenshot, Lift to unlock, Flip for DND, Pick up to silence, Swipe to split |
| Security | |
| Fingerprint sensor location, type | On the power button – 9/10 test |
| Face ID | Yes 2D |
| Other | Moto Secure |
| Comment | It offers good levels of security, such as network security warnings, a pin pad scramble, and secure folders for sensitive apps. Users can also use Family Space to create multiple profiles, limit screen time, and control app access, creating a safe space for kids to learn and play on their smartphones. |
Moto g34 5G 2024 camera – surprisingly good – Pass+
It uses the industry workhorse Samsung S5KJNS 50MP sensor that bins to 12.5MP. This, coupled with the SD695 SoC, performs well in daylight and office light. The surprise was that it was not bad in low light either. We will let the photos tell the story.
However, DXOMARK was critical, rating it at 67 points, along with the g62 5G and G53 5G. I think DXOMARK expects way too much from a $279 phone.
Moto g34 5G 2024 camera test shots.
Video 1080p@30fps was fine. It uses Qualcomm’s EIS (crops the image to the horizon to help remove shakes). Naturally it is fine for day and office light. It struggles in low light.
| Rear Primary | Wide |
| MP | 50MP bins to 12.5MP |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KJNS |
| Focus | PDAF |
| f-stop | 1.8 |
| um | .64 bins to 1.28 |
| FOV° (stated, actual) | 63.2 to 75.2° |
| Stabilisation | No Crop factor 6.6x for EIS |
| Zoom | 8X |
| Rear 2 | Macro |
| MP | 2MP |
| Sensor | SmartSens SC202 |
| Focus | Fixed 3-5cm |
| f-stop | 2.4 |
| um | 1.75 |
| FOV (stated, actual) | 63.2 – 75.2° |
| Stabilisation | No (EIS for video) |
| Zoom | No |
| Video max | Rear main camera: FHD (30fps) Rear macro camera: HD (30 fps) |
| Flash | Yes |
| Auto-HDR | Yes |
| Rear Camera Software Dual Capture Spot Colour Night Vision Macro Vision Portrait Live Filter Panorama Pro Mode (w/ Long Exposure) Auto Smile Capture 9 Shot Optimisation Auto HDR Google Lens™ integration Active Photos Timer High-res Digital Zoom (Up to 8x) RAW Photo Output HDR Burst Shot Assistive Grid Leveller Watermark Scan Quick Capture Tap Anywhere to Capture | |
| QR code reader | Google Lens |
| Night mode | Yes |
Moto g34 5G 2024 front camera
| Front | Selfie |
| MP | 16MP bins to 4MP |
| Sensor | Omnivision OV16A |
| Focus | FF |
| f-stop | 2.4 |
| um | 1 |
| FOV (stated, actual) | 71.1 to 83.6° |
| Stabilisation | No |
| Flash | Screen fill |
| Zoom | No |
| Video max | 1080p@30fps |
| Features | Front Camera Software Dual Capture Spot Colour Portrait Photo Booth Live Filter Pro Mode (w/ Long Exposure) Auto Smile Capture9 Gesture Selfie Active Photos Face Retouch Timer Selfie Animation RAW Photo Output HDR Assistive Grid Leveller Selfie Photo Mirror Watermark Burst Shot Quick Capture Tap Anywhere to Capture |
| Comment | Good natural tones and just wide enough for two people. Not great in low light. We were concerned that the 16MP binned to 4MP would produce an inferior image but with the AI post-processing it is fine. You can set it to 16MP without image processing. |
CyberShack’s view: The Moto G34 5G 2024 is the phone you want when you don’t want to or cannot spend more.
The Mot g34 54G 2024 is one of the best, if not the best, 5G smartphones for the money. I have no issues in recommending it.
Why?
- Decent Qualcomm processor – no lag and good AI photo post-processing
- Great 2-day battery life and comes with a charger.
- Better than social media class camera
- Excellent phone signal strength for city, suburbs and regional areas.
- Can’t beat the price.
Its competition is the $249 Moto g51 with a Qualcomm SD 480 SoC, but the more powerful SD695 5G is worth the extra,
Moto has a special on the G84 5G with the SD695 5G SoC, 256GB, and a pOLED screen. The RRP is $449, but now $349 is another $70, which shows how the ‘cookie cutter’ approach covers all bases.
Moto g34 5G 2024 ratings: 81/100 – that is well above the pass mark.
| Ratings | New for 2024 – 70 is a pass mark |
| Features | 80 |
| It is Moto’s lowest-cost 5G phone, replacing the G54 (MediaTek) with a Qualcomm SD695 5G SoC. It has an eSIM, NFC, 3.5mm port and microSD. | |
| Value | 85 |
| It has all the features at a great price. | |
| Performance | 80 |
| It is an entry-level value SoC, and you get fit-for-purpose performance. It is not for gamers. | |
| Ease of Use | 80 |
| One OS upgrade and three years of security patches are fine at this level. | |
| Design | 80 |
| All PMMA plastic is fine – it looks like a more expensive smartphone. | |
| Rating out of 10 | 81 |
| Final comment | I am impressed with the overall functionality and device. It is a good all-rounder and should sell heaps. |
| Pro | |
| 1 | Moto Apps instead of MyUX is a great idea. |
| 2 | You get good value at $279. |
| 3 | Decent Camera |
| 4 | Reasonable battery life and charger |
| 5 | Suitable for city, suburb, and regional use. Rural may be a push. |
| Con | |
| 1 | None really at this price |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| 4 | |
| 5 |
Moto g34 5G 2024
$279
