The Motorola g62 5G is everything you need for $399. Qualcomm SoC, Wi-Fi 5 AC, BT 5.1, NFC, adequate performance, above social media standard camera and two-day battery life.
But it is very similar to the $349 Moto g51 5G exclusive to JB Hi-Fi that I nearly directed you to Motorola g51 5G – a well-priced, well-featured smartphone (review). There are minor differences in RAM, and the camera is the same as the Motorola g82 5G – exceptional value/features (smartphone review). You can’t blame Motorola for trying to fill every niche.
Spoiler Alert: Another superbly priced, fully-featured smartphone that you won’t regret buying.
Australian review Motorola g62 5G, 4/128GB, Dual hybrid sim, Model XT2171-2, Retapac firmware
| Website | Product Page |
| Price: | $399 |
| Colours | Midnight Grey |
| From* | JB Hi-Fi, Telstra, Optus, Officeworks, Woolworths, Big W |
| Warranty | 12-months ACL |
| Country of Manufacture: | 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 | Other CyberShack Motorola news and reviews |
* Grey market – no Australian warranty, and 5G won’t work
We strongly advise you to buy a genuine model with Australian firmware.
It is easy to identify the Australian version – under Settings, About Phone, and Regulatory Labels, there is an Australian RCM C-tick mark. There is also an RCM C-Tick on the box. They use unique Australian 5G sub-6Ghz and 5G low-band frequencies, requiring local activation first.
Do not buy models PAU90020AE / PAU90006GB / PAU90002GB / PAUY0002IN, or those with a 6/.128GB capacity.
Note that Telco-supplied models have a single SIM and dedicated microSD. Retail models have dual hybrid SIM and microSD.
Deep-Dive review format
It is now in two parts – a summary and a separate 300+ line database-driven spec, including over 70 tests to back up the findings. It also helps us compare different phones and features.
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.
First Impression – Pass
Yes, another well-made glass slab. The rear is a fingerprint/greasy finger magnet, but you will use the bumper case anyway. The fingerprint sensor is on the power button, and the three-sensor camera is on the rear. All the buttons are on the right side at the ideal height for one-handed use.
It is a mid-sized 6.5” phone at 161.83 x 73.96 x 8.59mm x 184g.
Screen – 6.5″ is just about right – Pass
It is a relatively bright and colourful 1080p FHD+ with a choice of Auto/60/120Hz. Our test software also reveals a 90Hz setting. It swaps between 60 and 120Hz, and the latter takes about a 20% toll on battery life. Leave it on 60Hz.
It is daylight readable (just – in the shade), but you cannot expect more at this price.
Screen orientation is an issue. The combo Accelerometer and Gyroscope are very sensitive, and the slightest movement sends it to landscape. I had to turn autorotation off.
Summary: Good IPS screen for the price
Processor – Qualcomm SD480+ 8nm is all you need – Pass
To put this in perspective, it is faster than a MediaTek Helio P0/G90/G70/Dimensity720 and slower than an SD730G.
It has a Gen 2 X51 modem for a maximum of 2.5Gbps download (it will never reach this).
The Adreno 619 GPU maxes out at 40fps for most games – not for gamers! Overall, it is pretty smooth.
The 128GB storage has mountable microSD expansion to 1TB. It also supports external SSD to 1TB as OTG drives (drag and drop).
It passed all tests commensurate with this price bracket. Impressively, it does not throttle under load.
Comms – it is all there – Pass+
Wi-Fi 5 AC is all you can expect, and it connects at 433Mbps. The antenna strength is quite good, out to 10m on the 5Ghz band.
BT 5.1 has Qualcomm standard codecs – SBC, AAC, aptX (most versions) and LDAC.
The dual GPS is welcome, but it easily loses satellites on cloudy days (and we are in the middle of a 100-year rain bomb). NFC supports Google Pay.
Phone – dual sim, dual ringtone, and solid signal strength
It is a dual hybrid SIM with one fitting a SIM or MicroSD (the Telco version is a single SIM). Only one can be active at a time, and if you have a 5G plan, it must be in SIM 1. It has two ringtones that are excellent for home and business users.
All you need to know is that it supports all Australian 4G/LTE and 5G sub-6Ghz and its low bands.
It is a great city, suburbs, and limited regional areas with decent coverage.
Battery – 5000mAh for two days of use – Pass
The battery is 5000mAh. But it is laughable that it comes with a USB 2.0 5V/2A charger that can take up to 4 hours. Using a USB-C 100W (well, anything above 25W) reduces this to 2 hours and 33 minutes. We repeated the tests several times.
By the way, the supplied USB-A to USB-C cable is for charging only – it won’t transmit data and will not handle 15W charging – buy a new charger and 3 to 5W cable.
- PC Mark 3.0 battery test is one of the more accurate tests for heavy use, but it simply would not run.
- GFX Benchmark Manhattan stresses the device a little more, but it had the dreaded out-of-memory error, which is not an issue.
- GFX Benchmark T-Rex is a good 1080p video benchmark, giving 10.89 hours.
- Our video loop on-device storage, 50% screen and aeroplane mode was 16 hours and 38 minutes.
- 100% drain screen-on was 5 hours and 36 minutes.
It has excellent battery life. Moto should have provided a 15W faster charger for the pittance that would cost.
Sound – Stereo but more for clear voice – Pass(able)
It has an Analytical: (bass/mid recessed; treble boosted) – crisp but not pleasant for most music. It will decode Dolby Atmos and downmix it to the earpiece and down-firing bottom speaker.
The soundstage is limited to the phone width, which, as is usual for earpiece/speaker, has a definite bottom bias.
The maximum volume is 80dB. Hands-free is adequate, but the sound is a little tinny.
Build – solid – Pass
It is well-made and should withstand the knocks, especially with a clear bumper cover. However, IP52 is a joke – ‘Vertically dripping water shall have no harmful effect when the enclosure tilts at an angle of 15° from its normal position.’ Still, it should withstand light rain.
There is no disclosed screen protection.
Android 12– you will get 13
It ships with Android 12 and Motorola’s overlay My UX. You can reasonably expect Android 13 soon and two years of updates.
Android is almost pure, and the MY UX adds things like a camera app and Moto gestures.
Missing – not much
It has everything you need apart from a faster charger.
Motorola G62 5G camera – Pass
Let’s face it – it is an entry-level Samsung SK5JN1, 50MP with tiny .64um pixels binned to 12.5MP and 1.28um. Add to that the Qualcomm SD480+ has entry-level AI image processing, which is adequate.
It has an Ultra-wide 8MP Samsung SK53H7 sensor that takes decent shots and a 2MP macro sensor.
The result is generally good photos in Day or office light. It struggles with low light introducing a lot of noise, but you will not see that on a 4×6″ print.
- 1X Day Primary sensor – the colours are excellent with good dynamic range. Good details in the background/ shadows/ and highlights.
- 4X Day Primary sensor – colours are excellent with good dynamic range. The background is getting noisy.
- 8X Day: Primary sensor: Forget it
- Ultra-wide: S8MP sensor: Good colour and details/ although you can tell it is a different sensor to the primary.
- Macro: The 2MP sensor takes reasonable macro shots, but as usual, 4cm focus is critical
- Indoor office light: Colours are excellent, and the dog’s face/ears are deep black
- Bokeh Depth: The 8MP UW also does depth calculations for bokeh shots. Very good bokeh.
- Dark <40 lumens: The standard (not night mode) has adequate details, although there is some noise and the monitor screen is blown out.
- Night mode brings up the detail/ saturates the colour/ and removes a lot of noise
- Selfie: The 16MP selfie has natural skin tones and details and a range of filters to enhance any image. Best in a day and office light
- Video (we are not video experts): You can shoot at 1080p@30fps with EIS
CyberShack’s view – the Motorola g62 5G is everything you need
At $399, it gives Joe and Jane Average everything they need. It is a safe buy and yet another reason Motorola is shooting up the charts.
Let’s look at the 5G competition.
- Nokia G50 128GB
- OPPO A96 128GB
- Samsung Galaxy A13 128GB $379
- Vivo Y52 128GB $379
- Samsung Galaxy A32 128GB $449
The OPPO A96 stands out with a faster Qualcomm SD680 SoC, 8/128GB RAM/Storage, 2-year warranty and 33W fast charge battery. It has the same 50MP and 2MP rear camera sensor but misses the 8MP Ultra-wide. It is the class leader, but Motorola has plenty to offer.
Motorola G62 5G
| Brand | Motorola |
| Model | Motorola g62 5G |
| Model Number | XT2223-1 – software version retapac |
| Price Base | 4/128 |
| Price base | $399 |
| Warranty months | 12-months ACL (Telco’s offer 2-years for single sim model) |
| Tier | lower-mid-range |
| Website | Product page |
| From | JB Hi-Fi, Telstra, Optus, Officeworks, Woolworths, Big W |
| 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/ and it has grand plans to become a ‘top five’ smartphone maker. |
| More | CyberShack Motorola news and reviews |
| Test date | 1-7 September |
| Ambient temp | 10-20° |
| Release | Jun-22 |
| Other models not for Australia (Don’t buy) | Must have RCM C-Tick. We are aware of USA/ China/ LATAM/India and Europe models that won’t work on 5G here. |
Screen
| Size | 6.5″ |
| Type | IPS LCD |
| Flat/ Curve/ 2D/ 3D | Flat |
| Resolution | 2400 x 1080 |
| PPI | 405 |
| Ratio | 20:09 |
| Screen to Body % | 89.7 |
| Colours bits | 8-bit 16.7m colours |
| Refresh Hz/ adaptive | Auto, 60/90/120Hz. Auto seemed to say at 120Hz most of the time. |
| Nits typical/ test | 450 (400) |
| Nits max/ test | 550 (500) |
| Contrast | 1500:1 (1490:1) |
| sRGB | Natural 90% |
| DCI-P3 | Vivid around 50% of the 16.7m gamut |
| Rec.2020 or other | No |
| Delta E (<4 is excellent) | 4.5 |
| HDR Level | No |
| SDR Upscale | No |
| Blue light control | Yes |
| PWM if known | No |
| Daylight readable | Difficult, even on maximum brightness |
| Always on Display | No |
| Edge display | No |
| Accessibility | Usual Android features |
| DRM | L1 for HD SDR playback |
| Gaming | 40fps at best |
| Screen protection | Not disclosed |
| Comment | Slight blueish/translucent cast – best to use Natural setting. Overall, a fit-for-purpose screen that is better than expected for this price. |
Processor (Soc)
| Brand/ Model | Qualcomm SD480+ |
| nm | 8 |
| Cores | 2×2.2GHz + 6×1.8GHz |
| Modem | x51 |
| AI TOPS | Estimate 7 TOPS (low-end AI) |
| Geekbench 5 Single-core | 535 |
| Geekbench 5 multi-core | 1690 |
| Like | Qualcomm SD 730G but faster in multi-core like an SDS845 |
| GPU | Adreno 619 |
| GPU Test | |
| Open CL | 1054 |
| Like | SD 730G |
| Vulcan | 944 |
| RAM/ type | 4GB LPDDR4X |
| Storage/ free/ type | 128GB (97GB free) UFS 2.1 |
| micro-SD | Up to 1TB (shared hybrid slot) |
| CPDT internal seq. Read MBps | 489 |
| CPDT internal seq. write MBps | 315 |
| CPDT microSD read/ write MBps | 86.15/33.18 and mountable as storage |
| CPDT external (mountable?) MBps | 31.94/23.62 OTG Only |
| Comment | All are fit for purpose and price. It is nice to see mountable microSD to 1TB. |
| Throttle test | |
| Max GIPS (power/battery) | 154,870 |
| Average GIPS | 152,701 |
| Minimum GIPS | 144,648 |
| % Throttle | Nil |
| CPU Temp | 52° |
| Comment | Excellent thermal management |
Comms
| Wi-Fi Type/ model | Wi-Fi 5 AC WCN3990 2×2 MU-MIMO |
| Test 2m -dBm/ Mbps | -25/433 |
| Test 5m | -46/433 |
| Test 10m | -64/234 – usable |
| BT Type | 5.1 |
| GPS single/ dual | Dual but tends to lose satellites on cloudy days. Accuracy <10m. |
| USB type | USB-C 2.0 480Mbps |
| ALT DP/ DeX/ Ready For | No |
| NFC | Yes |
| Ultra-wide-band | No |
| Sensors | |
| Accelerometer | Yes -combo with Gyro is very sensitive |
| Gyro | Yes |
| e-Compass | Yes |
| Barometer | |
| Gravity | |
| Pedometer | |
| Ambient light | Yes |
| Hall sensor | |
| Proximity | Yes |
| Other | SAR sensor |
| Comment | Speeds as expected with Wi-Fi 5 AC and quite strong to 10m |
LTE and 5G
| SIM | Telco – single SIM and microSD Retail – Dual Hybrid 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, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26, 28, 32, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43 |
| Comment | All Australian 4G bands |
| 5G sub-6Ghz | n1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40, 41, 77, n78 |
| Comment | All Australian 5G sub-6 and low bands |
| mmWave | No |
| Test Boost Mobile/ Telstra | |
| UL/ DL/ Ms | 32.3/18.4/40 |
| Tower 1 -dBm/ fW or pW | -81/2-9pW |
| Tower 2 | -98/100-150fW |
| Tower 3 | -99/100fW |
| Tower 4 | -101/<100fW (verging on unusable) |
| Comment | Reception is as good as expected for a Qualcomm Soc. |
Battery
| mAh | 5000 |
| Charger/ type/ supplied | 10W supplied and capable of 15W charge |
| PD/ QC level | PD capable – Overcharge protection may influence results |
| Qi/ wattage | No |
| Reverse Qi or cable | No |
| Test (60Hz or adaptive screen) | |
| Charge % 30mins | 25% |
| Charge 0-100% | 2 hours and 33 minutes (fast charge using 100W PD or 5V/ 3A) |
| Charge Qi/ W | N/A |
| Charge 5V/ 2A | 3 hours 19 minutes |
| Video loop 50%/ aeroplane | 16 hours 38 minutes |
| PC Mark 3 battery | Would not run Accubattery – 5hrs screen on, 18hrs mixed-use |
| GFX Bench Manhattan battery | Would not run |
| GFX Bench T-Rex | 653.4 minutes (10.89 hours) 4035 frames |
| Drain 100-0% full load screen on | 5 hours 36 minutes |
| Watt full load | 1100-1320mA |
| Watt idle Screen on | 230-260mA |
| Estimate loss at max refresh | 20% |
| Estimate typical use | Easily two days at 5.5 hours screen on time |
| Comment | Charge speed over 3 hours is too long. If you use a USB-C PD charger 2 hours and 33 minutes. |
Sound
| Speakers | Earpiece and stereo down-fixing speaker |
| Tuning | No |
| AMP | Qualcomm Aqusitic sound |
| Dolby Atmos decode | Only for headphones – it makes no difference to the speaker |
| Hi-Res | No |
| 3.5mm | Yes |
| BT Codecs | SBC/ AAC/ LDAC and aptX/ HD/ TWS/ Adaptive |
| Multipoint | Yes |
| Dolby Atmos (DA) | Yes, but downmixes to 2.0 |
| EQ | Not for speaker – choice of smart/ music or movie for headphones. |
| Mics | Dual with noise cancelling |
| Test dB – all on EQ flat DA off | |
| Volume max | 80 |
| Media (music) | 65 |
| Ring | 75 |
| Alarm | 77 |
| Notifications | 77 |
| Earpiece | 55, but it is very tinny |
| Hands-free | While it has dual mics and some noise-cancelling, the volume is just adequate. |
| BT headphones | Good volume and channel separation |
Sound quality
| Deep Bass 20-40Hz | Nil |
| Middle Bass 40-100Hz | Nil |
| High Bass 100-200Hz | Slowly builds to 200Hz |
| Low Mid 200-400Hz | Still building |
| Mid 4000-1000Hz | Still building |
| High-Mid 1-2kHz | Still building to 2kHz |
| Low Treble 2-4kHz | Flat to 6kHz |
| Mid Treble 4-6kHz | Drop and flatten |
| High Treble 6-10kHz | Flat |
| Dog Whistle 10-20kHz | declining to 12kHz the off the cliff |
| Sound Signature type | Analytical: (bass/mid recessed; treble boosted) – crisp but not pleasant for most music |
| Soundstage | As wide as the phone |
| Comment | At the price/ this is all you can expect. The speaker is purely for clear voice, and music is unpleasant. Use earphones where DA adds more effect. |
Build
| Size (H X W X D) | 161.83 x 73.96 x 8.59mm |
| Weight grams | 184 |
| Front glass | Glass – protection level not specified |
| Rear material | Plastic |
| Frame | Plastic |
| IP rating | Water repellent IP52 |
| Colours | Midnight grey |
| Pen/ Stylus support | No |
| In the box | |
| Charger | 10W charger |
| USB cable | 2A USB-A to USB-C charge only – no data |
| Buds | Yes |
| Bumper cover | Yes |
| Comment | Nice of Moto to provide a charger – it should have been 15W. |
OS
| Android | 12 |
| Security patch date | 1-May-22 |
| UI | Personalise: Styles, Wallpapers Display: Peek Display, Attentive Display Gestures: Power Touch, Quick Capture, Fast torch, Three-finger screenshot, Flip for DND, Pick up to silence, Lift to unlock, Swipe to split Play: Media controls, Gametime |
| OS upgrade policy | Should get Android 13 |
| Security patch policy | Two years of security patches |
| Bloatware | Facebook (uninstallable) |
| Other | No |
| Comment | There is a lot of added functionality in MY UX, which leaves the underlying Android alone. |
| Security | |
| Fingerprint sensor location/ type | Fingerprint sensor |
| Face ID | Yes |
| Other | Lenovo Think Shield security for registered businesses – not for consumers |
| Comment |
Motorola g62 5G Camera
| Rear Primary | Wide |
| MP | 50MP bins to 12.5 |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KJN1 |
| Focus | PDAF |
| f-stop | 1.8 |
| um | .64 bins to 1.28 |
| FOV° (stated/ actual) | (63) |
| Stabilisation | EIS only |
| Zoom | 8X digital |
| Rear 2 | Ultra-wide |
| MP | 8 |
| Sensor | Samsung SK54H7 |
| Focus | Contrast Autofocus |
| f-stop | 2.2 |
| um | 1.12 |
| FOV (stated/ actual) | 118 |
| Stabilisation | no |
| Zoom | No |
| Rear 3 | Macro |
| MP | 2 |
| Sensor | Galaxy Core GC02M1 |
| Focus | Fixed 4cm |
| f-stop | 2.4 |
| um | 1.75 |
| FOV (stated/ actual) | 88.8 |
| Stabilisation | No |
| Zoom | No |
| Video max | 1080p |
| Flash | Yes |
| Auto-HDR | Yes |
| Burst Shot/ Auto Smile Capture/ AR stickers (via future Playstore update)/ Spot Colour/ Smart Composition/ Shot Optimization/Active Photo/ Dual Capture/ Live Filter/ Portrait Mode/ Panorama/ HDR/ Night Vision/ Pro Mode/ 50MP High Resolution Mode/ Super Resolution | |
| QR code reader | Via Google Lens |
| Night mode | AI |
Selfie
| Front | Selfie |
| MP | 16MP |
| Sensor | Omnivision 16A1 |
| Focus | Fixed |
| f-stop | 2.2 |
| um | 1 |
| FOV (stated/ actual) | 70.3-82.7° |
| Stabilisation | No |
| Flash | Screen fill |
| Zoom | 8X digital |
| Video max | 1080p@30 |
| Features | Burst Shot/ Gesture Capture/ Auto Smile Capture/ Group Selfie/ Selfie Animation/ Spot Colour/ Shot Optimisation/Active Photo/ Dual Capture/ Live Filter/ Face Beauty/ Portrait Mode Beauty/ HDR/ Auto Night Vision |
| Comment | • 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. The background is getting noisy. • 5X Day: Primary sensor – pushing the limits • 10X Day: Primary sensor: Forget it • Ultra-wide: S8MP sensor: Good colour and details/ although you can tell it is a different sensor to the primary. • Macro: The 8MP UW sensor takes reasonable macro shots, but as usual, 4cm focus is critical • Indoor office light: Colours are a little muted and the dog’s face/ears are grey instead of deep black • Bokeh Depth: A 2MP sensor helps for bokeh shots. It has helped bring out the dark black ears foreground and sharpened the background. • Dark <40 lumens: The standard (not night mode) is quite good with excellent details/ although there is some noise. • Night mode brings up the detail/ saturates the colour/ and removes a lot of noise • Selfie: The 16MP selfie has natural skin tones and details and a range of filters to enhance any image. Best in Day and office light • Video (we are not video experts): You can shoot at 1080p@30fps with some OIS (optical image stabilisation |
Motorola g62 5G Ratings
| Features | 9 |
| It is an entry-level 5G phone using the Qualcomm SDF+480+ SoC. Nothing is wrong with it, but nothing is outstanding, either. | |
| Value | 10 |
| 5G low-mid rangers at $399. | |
| Performance | 9 |
| It is a value SoC, and you get fit-for-purpose performance, and it is not for gamers. | |
| Ease of Use | 9 |
| My UX adds some value to stock Android | |
| Design | 9 |
| All plastic is fine | |
| Rating out of 10 | 9.20 |
| Final comment | At $399, it is an excellent and safe buy. You can’t go wrong. |
Motorola g62 5G, Motorola g62 5G, Motorola g62 5G
Motorola g62 5
$399
Pros
- FHD+ screen
- Better than social media class camera
- Reasonable price
- Great battery life – albeit slow charge
- Good for city and suburban phone use. OK, for rural, but there are better models.
Cons
- Slow 10W charge but capable of 15W
- The video quality is adequate
- USB 2.0 and cable won’t do data transfer or handle 15W
