Motorola G86 5G: An Android smartphone with a great screen and a high level of protection

In addition to the more advanced Edge smartphones, Motorola has interesting models in the mid-budget segment of the G line. The most relevant of them is the Motorola G86 5G. It has a large P-OLED display, an octa-core processor, a dual rear camera, and IP68/IP69 housing protection. Now we will tell you about it in more detail.

Specifications of Motorola G86 5G

Package contents

The Motorola G86 5G comes in a compact white cardboard box that only has the model name and basic information you need.

As you might have guessed, there is no power supply included. In addition to the smartphone, the box includes a Type-C charging cable, a tray removal tool, documentation, and a protective bumper made of recycled plastic.

It almost matches the color of the smartphone and has a nice matte texture.

Design and ergonomics

Unlike the current Edge models, the Motorola G86 5G is equipped with a flat screen without curves. Corning Gorilla Glass 7i is used to protect the matrix. The frames around the perimeter of the screen are thin, which is especially pleasing considering the category of the smartphone. The earpiece is located in a barely noticeable cutout above the screen, and the front camera is in a standard round hole.

Even in affordable models, Motorola tries to experiment with colors and materials. Thanks to cooperation with Pantone, the Motorola G86 5G is available in four interesting bright colors. The review included the green with a golden tint Golden Cyprus. In this version, the back cover is made of polyurethane and resembles nylon with a fine texture.

The main camera block is implemented as in other current models of the manufacturer: square in shape with rounded corners and a smooth transition into the back panel. From the outside, it looks like the block includes three cameras and a flash. But in fact, there are two cameras, the third block is purely decorative.

The frame is made of plastic in the same color as the Motorola G86 5G body. The main part is flat and has a matte finish. The transitions to the front and back panels are slightly rounded and glossy. On the right side there are standard power and volume buttons, as well as a microphone.

On the opposite side is the tray. In our case, you can install one physical SIM, as well as a MicroSD. The smartphone supports eSIM, so users of two SIM cards will not have any problems.

There is another microphone on the top edge, as well as the Dolby Atmos logo. On the bottom is a third microphone, the main speaker, and a Type-C 2.0 connector.

The Motorola G86 5G has quite average dimensions for a modern smartphone with a 6.67-inch screen: 161.2×74.7×7.8 mm, weight — 185 g. Now even affordable smartphones have serious protection against adverse external conditions. The smartphone has received an IP68/IP69 protection rating and meets the requirements of the MIL-STD-810H standard. The company claims that it can be immersed to a depth of 1.5 meters in fresh water for up to 30 minutes. The case is protected from powerful jets of high-temperature water for up to 30 seconds.

Display

The Motorola G86 5G has a flat P-OLED screen with a diagonal of 6.67 inches and a resolution of 2712x1220. The pixel density is 446 ppi, the aspect ratio is 20:9. The maximum refresh rate is 120 Hz. The manufacturer claims that the color depth of the display is 10 bits, the color coverage is 100% of the DCI-P3 space. The maximum brightness in automatic mode is 1500 cd/m², peak — 4500 cd/m², there is support for HDR10+. Visually, the screen makes a really pleasant impression: a clear, rich picture and high brightness, which allows you to comfortably use the smartphone in the sun.

As always, Motorola smartphones have many screen settings: choosing between a dark and light theme, choosing a refresh rate (60, 120, and adaptive), color display modes with color temperature settings, scaling of interface elements, night mode, contrast, anti-flicker, etc. The Always on Display function is missing in its full form. In current models, unfortunately, it is only available in the RAZR line.

In the "Bright" mode, the maximum brightness was 736.88 cd/m². The color gamut is much wider than sRGB, there is a deviation towards cool shades. The color temperature is about 8000-8500K with a reference value of 6500K.

In "Natural" the color gamut is close to sRGB, and the deviation towards cold shades is less than in bright mode. The maximum brightness is 703.737 cd/m².

Security

Under-screen fingerprint scanners have long been nothing new and are now available in mid-range smartphones, such as the Motorola G86 5G. This is a standard optical scanner that illuminates your finger for recognition. It works accurately, although not record-breakingly fast. But faster scanners are still mostly found in more expensive models. The only small complaint about it is that it is located too close to the edge of the smartphone. Although some people may find it more convenient that way.

Facial recognition works as standard, using the front camera. So you shouldn't expect anything special: it works quickly in good lighting, but the level of protection is questionable.

Productivity and software

The Motorola G86 5G uses the same hardware as the Motorola Edge 60 Fusion. Namely, the 8-core 4-nanometer Mediatek Dimensity 7300 processor. It has 4 ARM Cortex-A78 cores with a frequency of up to 2.5 GHz, 4 Cortex-A55 cores with a frequency of 2.0 GHz, as well as a Mali-G615 MC2 graphics accelerator. So far, only one option is available in Ukraine: with 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM (expandable via a storage device up to 24 GB) and 256 GB of uMCP permanent memory with the ability to expand with MicroSD cards. The Motorola G86 5G wireless interface set is represented by dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.4 and NFC. There is eSIM support. GPS, Glonass, GALILEO, Beidou and QZSS global positioning systems are supported.

The Motorola G86 5G doesn't set records in terms of performance, but there are no problems with everyday use. Yes, you won't be able to play heavy games at maximum settings, but the interface and applications work quickly.

The smartphone has its own gaming application "Game Time". It has quite standard functionality: monitoring system load, displaying frame rate, disabling notifications, etc. Delta Force on standard graphics settings works with an average frame rate of 40 FPS. Diablo Immortal on medium-high settings works with a stable 60 FPS, so it will be quite enough for not the most demanding mobile gamers.

The smartphone has practically no problems with overheating. In the CPU Throttling Test stress test, under prolonged maximum load, performance drops to about 83%, which is quite acceptable for smartphones. The case barely gets warm.

Motorola G86 5G runs on Android 15 with the proprietary Moto Hello UI interface. The interface is similar to what we have seen in recent reviews of other models from the manufacturer. The only difference is that the hero of the review lacks the proprietary Moto AI assistant. The interface is close to pure Android with standard logic, the usual curtain, the possibility of external customization, split-screen mode, launching applications in a window and a number of additional gestures.

Additional proprietary applications are minimal. Moto with all the basic smartphone settings. Moto Secure (blocking certain applications, creating a secure folder, etc.), the aforementioned "Game Time" application, Moto Unplugged (temporarily turning off notifications for selected applications) and Smart Connect (connecting to external displays, PCs, laptops, headphones and smart devices).

Sound

Motorola G86 5G supports stereo sound reproduction through the main and speaker, like almost all modern smartphones. The volume level is good, distortion at maximum volume is minimal. But low frequencies are practically absent.

Motorola G86 5G supports Dolby Atmos virtual surround sound, has an intelligent mode, several ready-made settings for different usage scenarios, as well as an equalizer for each of them.

Cameras

Motorola G86 5G has a dual rear camera. Unfortunately, there is no telephoto module. But the ultra-wide-angle camera has autofocus. Camera set:

• 50MP main module, 1/1.95", 0.8µm, 25mm with f/1.9 aperture, phase detection autofocus and optical stabilization. 4K 30 FPS video resolution.
• 8MP ultra-wide, 1.12µm, 12mm with f/2.2 aperture, autofocus and 118° field of view; also used for macro. Video resolution 4K 30 FPS.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.2, 0.7µm;

The camera app interface has a standard logic: a horizontal carousel of modes, additional modes in a separate section. Basic settings on the viewfinder screen, additional ones in a separate menu:

Daytime photos from both cameras are generally of good quality, with a wide dynamic range. But the detail of the ultra-wide-angle camera is noticeably lower. At night, the difference is more noticeable, a slight blur appears around the perimeter of the photos from the ultra-wide-angle camera. This is inherent in the vast majority of ultra-wide-angle cameras. It is also worth noting that the main camera takes night photos with more natural colors. Main camera:

2x zoom (crop from main camera):

Ultra wide angle:

Videos on a smartphone are of mediocre quality: not the best detail and periodic jerking:

Battery life

The Motorola G86 5G is powered by a 5200 mAh battery. With a small number of calls, a couple of hours of music via Bluetooth, using instant messengers, a browser, mail, social networks, a camera and videos on YouTube, the smartphone lasts about a day. If you add games, you will have to put it on charge before going to bed. On the other hand, if you exclude listening to music and the camera, you can last up to 1.5 days.

In the PCMark battery test at 50% brightness, the smartphone lasted almost 11.5 hours. Far from a record, but quite a normal indicator. The smartphone supports fast charging with a capacity of 30 W, a full charge takes a little more than an hour. Wireless charging is not supported