Review: Motorola Moto G7 is the inexpensive Android phone you've been waiting for

Motorola Moto G7
The Motorola Moto G7

I'm a tech reviewer, so I think people expect me to carry the newest iPhone—at least that's what I tell my wife.

My current choice is the iPhone XS Max.

Apple has released several iPhone models in each of the last few years, but none of them were what I would call inexpensive. If I wanted to find a cheap iPhone, I'd look for a used one.

Android users have their share of expensive phones, but they also are blessed with some great choices that are really affordable.

I've been trying out the Motorola Moto G7, which packs a lot of nice features inside a handset that costs just $299.99.

The G7 looks great with its edge-to-edge 6.2-inch LCD with an aspect ratio of 19:9 and a resolution of 2,270 x 1,080 pixels.

The front and back are made of glass. The is water-repellent, but I wouldn't count on taking it swimming.

Motorola moved the to the back, under the cameras, which is perfect for my hands. The fingerprints are easy to register, and the phone unlocks very quickly with just a touch on the sensor.

The G7 is almost as big as my iPhone XS Max, but it has a slightly bigger bezel at the bottom of the screen where Motorola has placed its logo.

It measures 6.18 by 2.96 by 0.31 inches and weighs 6.06 ounces.

It syncs and charges with a USB-C port that transfers data at USB 2.0 speeds. The G7 also has a headphone jack.

It comes with 64 gigabytes of onboard storage and has a microSD card slot for additional storage.

The G7 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 1.8 GHz octa-core CPU with 4 gigabytes of RAM and an Adreno 506 graphics processor.

The phone ships with Android 9 (Pie).

There are two cameras on the back of the G7. The main camera has a 12-megapixel sensor with an f/1.8 lens, and the secondary camera has a 5-megapixel sensor that's only used to provide depth information for portrait mode.

The main camera can shoot 4K video.

The front camera has an 8-megapixel sensor.

The cameras do a , especially in good light, but you won't get the same quality as you might with the cameras in a phone that costs $1,000 or more.

Gestures count

There are a few pretty cool gestures that can act as shortcuts on the G7.

If you give the phone a quick twist, like you're turning it over twice in a row, the camera app will launch.

If you shake the phone like you're giving a karate chop, it'll turn on the flashlight.

The G7 also has a One Button Nav mode that replaces the three onscreen buttons at the bottom with one button that acts like all three with the swipe of a finger.

The G7 has a 3,000 mAh battery with 15 watt TurboPower charging that'll give nine hours of phone use with just 15 minutes of charging. The faster charger is included in the box.

Tradeoffs

There are a lot of nice features on the G7, but when you pay one-third the cost of an Apple or Samsung flagship phone, you'll notice some missing features.

There is no wireless charging or NFC chip.

The lack of NFC means you can't use the handset to pay for things with Google Pay.

And, as I mentioned above, the is good but not great.

Users will also find the G7 is not be the best choice for graphics-intensive games.

But overall, the G7 feels like a more expensive phone.

It looks great, responds quickly enough for everyday app use and it has a nice, big screen.

I also love the microSD .

Not being able to pay for things with the phone is a bummer, but if that feature isn't important to you, I can certainly recommend the G7.

I know plenty of users who look for affordability over features. The G7 is a the best inexpensive Android phone you can buy right now.

Pros: Inexpensive. Great screen. Expandable storage.

Cons: Single speaker. Photo quality suffers in low light. No wireless charging.

Bottom line: The G7 is the best phone for less than $500.

©2019 The Dallas Morning News
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Citation: Review: Motorola Moto G7 is the inexpensive Android phone you've been waiting for (2019, May 10) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2019-05-motorola-moto-g7-inexpensive-android.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Review: Moto G5 Plus: An inexpensive Android phone with all the right features

31 shares

Feedback to editors