Moto g84 5G – how does Motorola do it? (smartphone review)

The Moto g84 5G is a fully featured 5G smartphone that is top of the $399 class. With an OLED screen, Qualcomm SD695 5G System-on-a-Chip, great phone signal strength, a decent OIS camera and a 5000mAh battery – it is tough to beat.

• A 120Hz, 10-bit/1.07 billion colour, 100% DCI-P3, Dolby Vision, 1300nit peak pOLED screen – unheard of in this class.
• Qualcomm SD6955G is a good choice, beating generic ARM processors.
• 12GB RAM is unheard of in this class
• 256GB storage – almost unheard of and has a hybrid 1TB micro-SD slot
• 5000mAh battery and 30W charger inbox
• Dolby Atmos and Moto Spatial sound
• Thin and light with vegan leather and PMMA back options
• Android 13
• 2+1+3 – warranty, OS update and security patches.

It is a winner – $399 well spent.

Australian review – Moto g84 5G 2023, 12/256GB, Dual SIM, Model XT2347-2

Website	Product Page
Price	$399
Colours	Midnight Blue PMMA Marshmallow Blue (vegan leather exclusive to JB Hi-Fi) Viva Magenta (vegan leather)
From *	Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Bing Lee, Officeworks, Lenovo online.
Warranty	Retail 24-months ACL
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, and 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 Motorola news and reviews

* Grey market – no Australian warranty, and 5G may not work

We strongly advise buying a genuine model with Australian firmware from the approved retailers above. It is easy to identify the Australian version – under Settings, About Phone, and Regulatory Labels, there is an Australian R-NZ C-tick mark. There is also an R-NZ C-Tick on the box. They use Australian 5G sub-6Ghz and 5G low-band frequencies, requiring local activation first. Read Don’t buy a grey market phone (guide).

Deep-dive review

We perform over 70 tests, and the full specs are in a table at the end. The first part is an essential summary only.

We use Fail (below expectations), Passable (meets low expectations), Pass (meets expectations), Pass+ (near Exceed but not class-leading) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

First Impression – Pass+

We received the Midnight Blue with a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) back. It is a synthetic resin that produces a transparent and rigid plastic substitute for glass in shatterproof windows, skylights, illuminated signs, and aircraft canopies. It is also boring but highly functional.

The Marshmallow Blue and Viva Magenta vegan leather (Read What is vegan leather seen on some smartphones?) are far more exciting.

The phone is a glass slab with a 3.5mm jack at the bottom and the usual Motorola button layout on the right side. It has an excellent hand fit.

Screen – Exceed

Motorola did several things right with this phone, but the ‘rightest’ is a delightfully crisp, clear, colourful, eminently daylight readable pOLED screen. But there is more. It is a 10-bit/1.07 billion colour screen with 120Hz refresh. You usually find this class of screen in phones costing twice as much.

It is daylight-readable, has very good colour accuracy, and infinite contrast.

Processor – SD695 5G – Pass+

The SD965 5G is a good choice of System-on-a-Chip (SoC). It has 12GB LPDDRX4 RAM and 256GB UFS 2.2 storage for excellent mid-range performance. To use an analogy, it is a V6 car engine. This has heaps of power for Joe and Jane Average with no lag and smooth screen scrolling even under load. It is acceptable for casual gameplay.

Full Benchmarks are here; all you need to know is that it performs similarly to the MediaTek 7020 or an SD765.

The second thing Motorola did the ‘rightest’ was 12GB of RAM. It has allowed the SoC to reach its potential.

The third thing Motorola did was to keep the microSD slot and allow for mountable external storage, albeit USB-C 2.0 limits speeds to around 35MBps.

It does not throttle, meaning excellent thermal management.

We noticed a performance uplift over other SD965 5G phones. I put that down to more RAM, but it is apparent that Motorola has also done some tweaking with Android.

Comms – Pass (remember this is a $399 phone)

Wi-Fi 5 AC reaches 433Mbps half-duplex speeds with usable 5Gz signal strengths out to 15m.

Bluetooth 5.1 has the full Qualcomm aptX codecs, making it easy to get the best from whatever ear/headphones or speakers you use.

4/5G – Exceed

It has all Australian 4/5G bands and excellent signal strength, finding all four towers at excellent speeds. It is a phone for city, suburbs, regional and rural use.

Battery – 2 days and fast charge – Exceed

It has a 5000mAh battery and a 33W charger inbox for a full charge in 1 hour 23 minutes. The video loop was 21 hours 38 minutes. PC Mark 3.0 Modern Office Battery life was 15 hours 59 minutes (typical office use), and Accubattery confirmed all figures. As we ran all tests in Auto screen refresh mode, the fixed 120Hz impact should be well below 20% in time reduction.

Sound – Stereo but odd – Passable

We have had issues with all the g-series with odd sound signatures. We put this down to the CrystalTalk AI setting that focuses on clear voice from 1-4kHz at the expense of all else. The problem is that it does not significantly improve the sound signature even when you turn it off.

It has Dolby Atmos decoding, Moto Spatial Sound decode, up to 24-bit/96000Hz high res and a full suite of Qualcomm aptX codes. The headphone sound is excellent, with great sound object definition.

Hands-free is also good with dual noise-cancelling mics.

The best way to describe the sound is overly harsh, crisp, and generally unpleasant for music but excellent for clear voice.

You can read more, including our test tracks – How to tell if you have good music (sound signature is the key – guide.

Build – Pass+

It is well-built with IP protection (IP54) – it is water resistant.

A plastic frame does not bother me; PMMA (acrylic glass) or vegan leather is acceptable for the back. There is no disclosed front glass protection, but it appears to be toughened glass.

 It is nice and slim, feels excellent in hand and is a keeper. It comes with a 33W charger and a bumper cover.

Android – almost pure – Exceed

It ships with Android 13 and Motorola’s overlay My UX. You can reasonably expect one OS upgrade and three years of bi-monthly updates.

Android is almost pure, and the MY UX adds things like a camera app and Moto gestures. See the table at the end for all features.

Missing – no deal breakers

• Disclosed screen protection, even Panda or Dragon glass, would be good
• More generous OS upgrade and security upgrade policy

Motorola g84 5G camera – Pass+

The 50MP Samsung S5KGN9 sensor has OIS (optical image stabilisation) for more stable still and video shots. It bins to 12.5MP.

The 8MP Ultra-wide/macro Samsung SK54H7 sensor is also quite common in lower-priced phones and does a creditable job. It lacks a depth sensor and uses a mix of AI and primary sensor focus for bokeh.

In all, it is a decent camera setup for point-and-shoot.

The front selfie is also quite common – our only issue here is its limited low-light capability.

Camera Summary

• 1X Day Primary sensor – the colours are excellent with good dynamic range. Good details in the background, shadows, and highlights.
• 2X Day Primary sensor – colours are excellent with good dynamic range. Excellent detail in foreground and background.
• 4X Day Primary sensor: Ditto to 2X
• 6X Day: Primary sensor – great colour and foreground detail, and the background is starting to get noisy.
• 8X Day: Primary sensor: Lost detail – pushing 8X zoom limits.
• Ultra-wide: 8MP sensor: Good colour and details, although you can tell it is a different sensor from the primary.
• Macro: The 8MP UW sensor takes great macro shots, but as usual, 4cm focus is critical
• Indoor office light: Colours are excellent – popping –  and dogs’ face/ears are deep black
• Bokeh Depth: It has no bokeh sensor but takes a great shot. There are minor issues with the definition around the ‘dog’s black ears.
• Dark <40 lumens: The standard (not night mode) is excellent, but not quite enough details to read the PC screen.
• Night mode brings up the detail a little, adds a little extra colour, and removes some of the noise
• Selfie: The 16MP selfie has natural skin tones, details, and a range of filters to enhance any image. Best in the day and office light.
• Video (we are not video experts): You can shoot at 1080p@30fps with OIS (optical image stabilisation.

Test shots

CyberShack’s view – the Motorola g84 5G brings new meaning to the value segment

This should be Australia’s largest-selling phone. It does everything just right for an affordable $399. It is the Toyota Camry of the phone world.

When reviewing this, I had to keep reminding myself that $399 phones don’t usually have a Qualcomm SD695, 12GB RAM, 256GB/microSD storage, an OIS 50MP camera, very strong phone reception, and above all, a 10-bit/1.07 billion colour pOLED screen.

The Motorola g84 5G is the top-of-the-g series. So, the comparison is not whether a $399 phone is worth it but how much more you could spend to get similar features.

Motorola’s next level is the $699 Motorola Edge 40 2023 – Edge benefits at a lower cost (the only Edge 40 we have seen in 2023). I prefer the Moto g84 5G Qualcomm SoC, and it has more RAM and a similar camera setup. If it were me, I would seek out the Edge 30 (2022) bargains – the $999 Motorola Edge 30 Pro is the value flagship king and is on run-out at $499 – an absolute bargain.

Competition

Frankly, the 1.07 billion colour pOLED is so far class-leading that there is no real competition. But you must ask if you really care about 16M or 1.07 billion colours. After all, we have been using 8-bit for years.

Motorola g82 5G at $349 on runout. It is very similar to the Moto g84 5G and got our recommendation last year.

The $649 OPPO A98 5G 2023 – a class leader in many ways uses the same processor and antenna signal strength and is on sale at $437. It is tempting but has an LTPS LCD screen.

No, the Motorola g84 5G is the clear class leader and gets our unreserved buy recommendation.

Rating

• Features: 90 – Top-of-the-g-series with an SD695 5G processor and pOLED screen
• Value: 100 – $399 and you get it all
• Performance: 90 – It is not the fastest SoC, but it is perfect for this phone and offers Qualcomm’s excellent modem for terrific phone reception.
• Ease of Use: 90 – Motorola’s MY UX and 2+1+3 warranty/OS/Security patch are excellent.
• Design: 90 – With IP54, stylish vegan leather and great build quality – it rises slightly above glass slab territory.

CyberShack Smartphone comparison v 1.12 (E&OE)

Moto g84 5G

Brand	Motorola
Model	Moto g84 5G
Model Number	XT2347-2
Price Base	12/256
Price base	399
Warranty months	24-months ACL
Tier	Mid-range
Website	Product page
From	Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Bing Lee, Officeworks
Country of Origin	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.
Test date	45261
Ambient temp	25-30°
Release	45200
Other models not for Australia (Don’t buy)	Only approved resellers – any other outlet is likely to be grey market.

Screen

Size	6.5″
Type	pOLED
Flat, Curve, 2D, 3D	Flat with centre o-hole
Resolution	2400x 1080
PPI	405
Ratio	0.839583333
Screen to Body %	0.872
Colours bits	10-bit 1.07 billion colours
Refresh Hz, adaptive	Auto up to 120Hz (steps from 60/90/120) Fixed 60 or 120Hz
Nits typical, test	Not disclosed (Test 510)
Nits max, test	HBM 900 (Test 888) Peak 1300 (Test 1240)
Contrast	Infinite
sRGB	Not stated (Test 145% Natural mode)
DCI-P3	Not stated (near 100% Saturated mode)
Rec.2020 or other	94% Adobe RGB
Delta E (<4 is excellent)	1.21
HDR Level	Capable of HDR10 playback scaled to screen capability. No Dolby Vision decode.
SDR Upscale	No
Blue Light Control	Yes
PWM if known	90Hz is low and may cause eyestrain and headaches in PWM-susceptible people.
Daylight readable	Yes, nearly 1000 hits HBM
Always on Display	Yes, at a glance
Edge display	No
Accessibility	All Android 13 features
DRM	L1 for SDR/HDR10/HLG
Gaming	Touch sampling 240Hz GtG <1ms
Screen protection	Not stated. Likely toughened glass.
Comment	Excellent 10-bit, 1.07 billion colour screen with greater subtleties in colour than the Samsung S23 series.

Processor

Brand, Model	Qualcomm SD695 5G
nm	6nm
Cores	2 x 2.2GHz & 6 x1.7GHz
Modem	X51
AI TOPS	Estimate 15
Geekbench 6 Single-core	917 – 30% higher than other ]benchmarks
Geekbench 6 multi-core	2072 – marginally higher than other benchmarks.
Like	SD 765 or MediaTek Dimensity 7020
GPU	ADRENO 619
GPU Test
Open CL	1405
Like	Like SD732G
Vulcan	1157
RAM, type	12GB LPDDR4X – way above others with 4 or 6GB
Storage, free, type	256GB UFS 2.2 (214GB free) – about double the standard capacity.
micro-SD	Hybrid slot to 1TB
CPDT internal seq. Read MBps	364
CPDT internal seq. write MBps	395
CPDT microSD read, write MBps	83/37
CPDT external (mountable?) MBps	35/33
Comment	All are fit for purpose and price, and microSD is a nice bonus.
Throttle test
Max GIPS	182313
Average GIPS	173666
Minimum GIPS	169915
% Throttle	Nil
CPU Temp	50°
Comment	Excellent thermal management

Comms

Wi-Fi Type, model	Wi-Fi 5 AC WCN3990 2×2 MU-MIMO
Test 2m -dBm, Mbps	-23/433
Test 5m	-46/433
Test 10m	-50/433 (15m -61/433)
BT Type	5.1
GPS single, dual	Dual accuracy <3m
USB type	USB-C 2.0 480Mbps
ALT DP, DeX, Ready For	Miracast over Wi-Fi only to TV or PC
NFC	Yes
Ultra-wideband	No
Sensors
Accelerometer	Yes
Gyro	Yes
e-Compass	Yes
Barometer
Gravity
Pedometer
Ambient light	Yes
Hall sensor
Proximity	Yes
Other	SAR
Comment	Excellent Wi-Fi signal stability

4/5G

SIM	Hybrid dual sim 1 x 5G and 1 x 4G with microSD
Active	Only one active at a time
Ring tone single, dual	Dual – excellent for travellers
VoLTE	Carrier dependent
Wi-Fi calling	Carrier dependent
4G Bands	1/2/3/5/7/8/18/19/20/26/28/32/38/40/41/42
Comment	All Australian 4G bands
5G sub-6Ghz	n1/3/5/7/8/20/26/28/38/40/41/77/78
Comment	All Australian sub-6GHz 5G bands
mmWave	No
Test Boost Mobile, Telstra	3-bar test area
UL, DL, ms	24/14/26ms
Tower 1 -dBm, fW or pW	-83/2.5 to 5pW
Tower 2	-92/1-2pW
Tower 3	-94/500fW to 1pW
Tower 4	-96/250 to 500pW
Comment	Excellent reception strength good for city, suburbs, regional and rural areas.

Battery

mAh	5000
Charger, type, supplied	30W Tends to charge at 8V/3A/24W when empty
PD, QC level	Several new battery features: Battery Saver (dark mode) Adaptive Battery AI battery Optimised charging Overcharge protection
Qi, wattage	No
Reverse Qi or cable.	No
Test (60Hz or adaptive screen)	Adaptive
Charge 0-100%	1 hour 23 minutes
Charge Qi, W Using Belkin Boost Charge 15W fast wireless charge	N/A
Charge 5V, 2A	5 hours 25 minutes
Video loop 50%, aeroplane	21 hours 38 minutes
PC Mark 3 battery	15 hours 59 minutes Accubattery 17 hours 49 minutes
GFX Bench Manhattan battery	Would not run
GFX Bench T-Rex	455.7 minutes (8 hours) 4655 frames
Drain 100-0% full load screen on	4 hours 31 minutes (Accubattery 4 hours 47 minutes)
mA full load	1000-1100
mA Watt idle Screen on	225-250mAh
Estimate loss at max refresh	Tested on adaptive mode. Expect a 20% penalty at 120Hz fixed.
Estimate typical use	Great battery life and should have two days of typical use between charges.
Comment	Nice to see a 33W charger inbox and for a lower-cost phone to have this fast charging.

Sound

Speakers	Top forward, up-firing and bottom down-firing stereo.
Tuning	No
AMP	Qualcomm Aqusitic sound
Dolby Atmos decode	Dolby Atmos decode to 2.0 speakers Moto Spatial Sound support
Hi-Res	Headphones only 24-bit/48000/96000Hz
3.5mm	Yes
BT Codecs	SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, LDAC, LHDCV1/2/3
Multipoint	Yes
Dolby Atmos (DA)	Yes – auto, movie, music, voice and games mode
EQ	No
Mics	Dual with noise cancelling
Test dB – all on EQ flat DA off
Volume max
Media (music)	80
Ring	80
Alarm	80
Notifications	80
Earpiece	60
Hands-free	Dual mics and some noise-cancelling with adequate volume.
BT headphones	Excellent left-right separation and DA makes quite a difference with DA content.

Sound quality

Deep Bass 20-40Hz	Nil
Middle Bass 40-100Hz	Nil
High Bass 100-200Hz	Very late start and slow build
Low Mid 200-400Hz	Slow build to 400Hz, then dips at 500Hz
Mid 4000-1000Hz	Still building to 1kHz.
High-Mid 1-2kHz	Flat but choppy
Low Treble 2-4kHz	Flat and less choppy
Mid Treble 4-6kHz	Peaks at 5kHz and then declines to 7kHz.
High Treble 6-10kHz	Flat
Dog Whistle 10-20kHz	Declines
Sound Signature type	One of the oddest, almost indescribable sound signatures. It has almost no upper bass, poor low-and-mid-mid, strong high-mid (clear voice 1-4kHz) and some low-treble for some crispness. We tested with and without Dolby Atmos, and the latter was still worse.
Soundstage	Narrow and DA settings don’t expand the sound stage. Left-right separation is poor, with a distinct bias to the bottom speaker.
Comment	The sound signature is poor with no low, mid, high-bass, no real mid and the only flat section is low-and-mid-treble. Fortunately, the headphones do take advantage of Dolby Atmos! But conversely, voice is crisp!

Build

Size (H X W x D)	160 x 74.4 x 7.6mm
Weight grams	168.3
Front glass	Glass – protection level not specified.
Rear material	PMMA or vegan leather
Frame	Plastic
IP rating	IP54
Colours	Midnight Blue (PMMA) Viva Magenta (Vegan) Marshmallow Blue (Vegan)
Pen, Stylus support	No
In the box
Charger	33W
USB cable	USB-A to USB-C 3W capable cable
Buds	No
Bumper cover	Yes
Comment	Has a charger inbox (Samsung does not) and a bumper cover. Well made.

OS

Android	13
Security patch date	September 2023 (due for update)
My UX UI	Personalise Display: Attentive Display Gestures: Quick launch, Quick capture, Fast torch, Three-finger screenshot, Lift to unlock, Flip for DND, Pick up to silence, Swipe to split Play: Games, Media controls, Dolby Atmos Tips
OS upgrade policy	One year
Security patch policy	Three years of bi-monthly updates
Bloatware	Facebook
Other	No
Comment	There is a lot of added functionality in MY UX, leaving the underlying Android alone.
Security
Fingerprint sensor location, type	On-screen – fast
Face ID	Yes, 2D not tested
Other	ThinkShield

Moto g84 5G rear camera

Rear Primary	Wide
MP	50MP bins to 12.5
Sensor	Samsung S5KGN9 (not on Samsung’s ISOCELL list – first seen in the Moto g84 5G).
Focus	PDAF
f-stop	1.8
um	1 bins to 2
FOV° (stated, actual)	72.5-85.1°
Stabilisation	OIS
Zoom	8X digital
Rear 2	Ultra-wide/Macro
MP	8
Sensor	Samsung SK54H7AF
Focus	AF
f-stop	2.2
um	1.12
FOV (stated, actual)	118
Stabilisation	No
Zoom	No
Special	Camera and Qualcomm SoC are compatible with Google Pixel Camera GCAM 9.1 or later APK from https://gcamapk.io/ (Motorola https://gcamapk.io/google-camera-for-motorola-moto-g84/). It adds HDR, better portrait, better night mode, astrophotography, RAW, etc. Installs safely as a second camera app. Leaves Moto Camera app installed.
Video max	1080p@60fps
Flash	LED
Auto-HDR	Primary lens, sensor only
	Shooting modes: Ultra-Res Pro (w/ Long Exposure) 360° Panorama Live Photo Filters Dual Capture Night Vision Portrait Scan Spot Colour Artificial intelligence: Auto smile capture Google Lens™ integration (not available in PRC); Shot Optimisation Auto Night Vision Other features: Audio Zoom Burst shot Timer Assistive Grid Watermark Leveller, RAW photo output Barcode scanner HDR Active photos
QR code reader	Via Google Lens
Night mode	AI
Front	Selfie
MP	16MP
Sensor	Omnivision OV16A
Focus	FF
f-stop	2.45
um	1
FOV (stated, actual)	70.3-82.7° single selfie
Stabilisation	No
Flash	Screen fill
Zoom	No
Video max
Features	Shooting modes: Dual Capture Spot Colour Timelapse (w/ Hyperlapse) Other features: Video Stabilisation Face Retouch Video Snapshot

Moto g84 5G photo comments

• 1X Day Primary sensor – the colours are excellent with good dynamic range. Good details in the background, shadows, and highlights. • 2X Day Primary sensor – colours are excellent with good dynamic range. Excellent detail in foreground and background. • 4X Day Primary sensor: Ditto to 2X • 6X Day: Primary sensor – great colour and foreground detail, and background is starting to get noisy. • 8X Day: Primary sensor: Lost detail – pushing 8X zoom limits. • Ultra-wide: 8MP sensor: Good colour and details, although you can tell it is a different sensor from the primary. • Macro: The 8MP UW sensor takes great macro shots, but as usual, 4cm focus is critical • Indoor office light: Colours are excellent – popping –  and dogs’ face/ears are deep black • Bokeh Depth: It has no bokeh sensor but takes a great shot. There are minor issues with the definition around the ‘dog’s black ears. • Dark <40 lumens: The standard (not night mode) is excellent, but not quite enough details to read the PC screen. • Night mode brings up the detail a little, adds a little extra colour, and removes some of the noise • Selfie: The 16MP selfie has natural skin tones, details, and a range of filters to enhance any image. Best in the day and office light. • Video (we are not video experts): You can shoot at 1080p@30fps with OIS (optical image stabilisation.

Moto g84 5G ratings

Features	90
	Top-of-the-g-series with an SD695 5G processor and pOLED screen
Value	100
	$399, and you get it all
Performance	90
	– It is not the fastest SoC, but it is perfect for this phone and offers Qualcomm’s excellent modem for terrific phone reception.
Ease of Use	90
	Motorola’s MY UX and 2+1+3 warranty/OS/Security patch are excellent.
Design	90
	With IP54, stylish vegan leather and great build quality – it rises slightly above glass slab territory.
Rating out of 10	92
Final comment	We would be happy and save money if we all owned this phone.

Moto g84 5G, moto g84 5G