Motorola Moto G54 Power Edition review: smartphone with 6000 mAh battery

This year’s lineup of affordable Moto G smartphones turned out to be extremely interesting. We recently reviewed the Moto G84, and today we’re going to take a look at the slightly more affordable Motorola Moto G54 Power Edition.

Specifications of Motorola Moto G54 Power Edition

Scope of delivery

All modern Motorola smartphones come with a very good package. Moto G54 Power Edition is no exception. In addition to the smartphone, the box contains a 33W power supply, a USB Type-C cable, a transparent protective silicone bumper, a tray eject tool, and documentation.

Design and ergonomics

Moto G54 Power Edition looks quite modern, although without interesting features like faux leather, as in more expensive models. Not the thinnest bezels and a noticeable “chin” under the screen hint that we are looking at an affordable smartphone, not a flagship model. Although in general, this does not spoil the experience. The front camera is located in a small hole in the middle of the top of the screen, as in most modern smartphones.

Unlike the Edge line, which has rounded screens and streamlined bezels, the G line smartphones have flat screens and flat bezels. The back panel and bezels are made of plastic, and there are no eco-leather options. The buttons are located on the right and are at a comfortable height. The tray is located on the opposite side. It is interesting because it supports only one SIM card, but has a slot for a memory card. If necessary, there is support for eSIM. I am very pleased that eSIM is already available in low-cost models.

The back cover has a nice matte silky finish. Fingerprints are hardly visible on it. But there is a significant drawback: the lid is slippery. So it’s better to carry the smartphone in a protective bumper. The smartphone is available in three color variants: Mint green, Pearl blue and Midnight blue, which we reviewed. In fact, the frame is navy blue, and the back cover looks black with blue reflections at certain angles.

The usual Motorola logo in the middle of the lid and a large rectangular camera module in the upper left corner are present. The company tries to stick to a common recognizable style in all models of the current lineup. The camera module does not protrude too much above the lid. And the bumper has a special edge that protects the camera from accidental bumps.

Let’s get back to the functional elements. On the top and bottom of the smartphone, everything is almost standard. There’s an additional microphone on top, the main speaker, an earpiece microphone, a Type-C connector, and a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, which has recently begun to disappear in affordable smartphone models.

The smartphone is quite massive: 161.6×73.8×8.9 mm, weighing 192 g. This is due to the large battery inside. But it is quite comfortable to use. Unlike the Edge line with full water protection, the Moto G54 Power Edition has only IP54 rating, which means it’s dust and splash resistant. The smartphone will survive the rain, but not immersion in water.

Display

Unlike more expensive models, Motorola Moto G54 Power Edition is equipped with an IPS display. It has a diagonal of 6.5 inches and a resolution of 1080×2400 pixels (pixel density is approximately 405 PPI). The maximum refresh rate is 120 Hz. In the settings, you can choose between 60, 120, and adaptive mode. In addition, the user has access to a dark theme, scale settings, and color display modes: bright and natural with the ability to adjust the color temperature.

In the Bright mode, the maximum brightness is 324.857 cd/m², which is not very high, but for an affordable model it’s quite good. The black field brightness is 0.264 cd/m², and the static contrast is 1231:1. The color gamut is slightly wider than sRGB. But the color temperature is about 8000K. This is slightly higher than the reference value of 6500K, so the picture looks a little cool. But the user can adjust the color temperature in the settings.

In the Natural mode, the maximum brightness is only slightly lower at 316,974 cd/m², the black field brightness is 0.269 d/m², and the static contrast is 1178:1. The color gamut is close to sRGB, and the color temperature is very close to the reference value.

Safety

Motorola Moto G54 Power Edition is equipped with a standard set of methods for owner identification. First of all, it is a fingerprint scanner. It is the safest and most effective, not dependent on ambient light. The scanner is located in the power button. It works instantly and very accurately.

In addition, of course, there is face recognition using the front camera. There are no additional sensors, so this method is not very secure and does not always work instantly, especially in low light.

Performance and software

The Moto G54 Power Edition smartphone received a Mediatek Dimensity 7020 processor, which is actually a Dimensity 930 after rebranding. This is a 6-nanometer 8-core processor, including 2 productive ARM Cortex-A78 cores operating at frequencies up to 2.2 GHz, and 6 energy-efficient Cortex-A55 cores with frequencies up to 2 GHz. The graphics are handled by a rather unusual IMG BXM-8-256 accelerator. We have only one configuration available: with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal memory. Judging by the tests, it looks like UFS 2.2. If desired, you can increase the size of the built-in memory using a microSD card.

The Dimensity 7020 is a mid-range processor, so you shouldn’t expect high performance. For everyday tasks, the performance is quite enough: the interface and applications work quickly, without noticeable hesitation. For mobile gamers, this is not the best choice. Most modern games work, but not on high settings, and you shouldn’t expect a high frame rate.

A nice advantage of the processor is its stability. It hardly ever heats up. In the CPU Throttling Test stress test, performance can drop by up to 90% in 15 minutes of maximum load, which is a good indicator. The body of the smartphone remains cold. The smartphone became barely warm after only 30 minutes of Diablo Immortal.

The smartphone has a modern, sufficient set of communication capabilities: there is support for 5G (not yet relevant, but we hope for the best), dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, A-GPS, LTEPP, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS. Beidou, and NFC.

All Motorola smartphones, including the Moto G54 Power Edition, run on almost pure Android 13. Additional features are minimal, and they are all collected in the proprietary Moto app. Among them are additional gestures to quickly launch the camera and flashlight, Dolby Atmos virtual surround sound settings, additional Moto Secure security features, and more.

Sound

The Motorola Moto G54 Power Edition plays stereo sound, with the earpiece speaker as the second speaker, as in most modern smartphones. The volume is not bad, but the quality is certainly not the best. Although it would be strange to expect very high quality sound from an affordable model. There is a minimal imbalance, the earpiece speaker is a little quieter. But this is not critical, watching videos on YouTube is quite comfortable. Dolby Atmos virtual surround sound is supported.

Unlike most modern flagships and mid-range smartphones, Moto G54 Power Edition has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. So owners of wired headphones will not need to use an additional adapter.

Cameras

The rear camera of Moto G54 Power Edition contains two modules and an LED flash. The main sensor has a resolution of 50 megapixels, ƒ/1.8 aperture, phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilization. It’s complemented by an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle module with ƒ/2.2, 118° viewing angle, autofocus and a separate Macro Vision mode. This is quite a good set for an affordable smartphone, especially considering the ultra-wide-angle camera with autofocus. The front camera is 16 MP with ƒ/2.4 aperture.

The Motorola Moto G54 Power Edition uses its own camera application, although the interface is quite familiar and understandable. Horizontal swipes switch modes, and additional ones are in the “more” section. The viewfinder screen has all the basic settings for the current mode, and the drop-down menu contains additional ones.

The camera uses a standard pixel combining scheme, so in standard mode, the camera takes photos with a resolution of 12.5 megapixels. During the day, the main camera of Moto G54 Power Edition takes mostly good pictures with sufficient detail, although the white balance is not always correct. In low light, the photos are also good, and the detail is not critical. However, noise becomes noticeable and the effects of software processing become noticeable: the sky often does not look very natural and in general, shades appear that do not quite correspond to reality.

The ultra-wide-angle camera has autofocus, which most competitors in this price range don’t have. But it doesn’t work very quickly. Of course, the camera is inferior to the main camera in terms of detail and dynamic range, but in conditions of sufficient lighting it generally takes good pictures. In the evening, there is a lot of noise, and the detail is greatly reduced, with noticeable blurring at the edges of the frame.

The ultra-wide-angle camera is also used for macro mode. The photos are very good. Especially in comparison with separate 2-megapixel macro modules without autofocus, which other manufacturers like to install in inexpensive smartphones.

The maximum video resolution is FullHD. Videos are of mediocre quality with jitter. Video is not a strong point of the smartphone.

Battery life

Motorola Moto G54 Power Edition has a rather large 6000 mAh battery. Together with a rather modest processor, we have a very good battery life. In the PCMark battery test with a screen brightness of 250 cd/m² and a screen refresh rate of 120 Hz, the smartphone lasted about 13.5 hours. With active use (with games, music), the smartphone lasts for a day and a half. With more moderate use, you can consistently get two days.

Motorola Moto G54 supports fast wired charging (30W). A full charge takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes, which is very good considering the large battery.