Moto G73 5G Review: Smooth and Secure

As I identified in my first impressions of the Moto G73 5G, Motorola is mainly aiming to hit two birds with one stone. This cellphone is positioned as an improve to the older Moto G62 5G and as a 5G different to the 4G-only Moto G72. 5G connectivity apart, Motorola’s focus with the Moto G73 can also be on three different areas – imaging, efficiency, and safety – and it goals to ship all of those at what seems to be a really engaging value level. Is the Moto G73 5G an all-rounder? I examined this smartphone for greater than every week, and this is what I believe.

Moto G73 5G value in India

The Moto G73 5G is accessible in a sole 8GB RAM and 128GB storage configuration in India. It is priced at Rs. 18,999 and is offered in two finishes – Midnight Blue and Lucent White.

Moto G73 5G design

The Moto G73 5G’s design seems refined but trendy, and feels extra in step with the model’s Edge 30 lineup than the older G62 5G. Its rear panel is flat in direction of the centre however curves alongside the perimeters. The body of the cellphone is sort of flat. The latter is constituted of polycarbonate whereas the rear panel is constituted of what Motorola refers to as ‘acrylic glass’. This materials has two advantages. It manages to present the impression of glass with a premium look because of its matte end, however because it’s basically plastic, it needs to be extra proof against shattering when dropped.

The Moto G73 5G has a matte-finished body, made out of polycarbonate

What this materials doesn’t handle nicely is fingerprints. Despite having a matte end, the cellphone is a mud and smudge magnet, and finally ends up trying fairly messy with every day use. Since that is plastic, it is also fairly troublesome to wipe off these smudges from the rear panel.

The mixture of a matte body and rear panel additionally makes the Moto G73 5G slippery. Thankfully, Motorola features a clear TPU case within the field which makes it rather a lot simpler to grip, however this additionally will increase the general thickness of the machine, which is in any other case fairly slim at 8.29mm.

The cellphone can flip right into a smudgy mess rapidly

The hole-punch show on the entrance has skinny bezels on the left and proper sides, however not a lot on the high and the underside. The one on the backside is the thickest and takes away from the in any other case chiselled look of the cellphone. Just just like the rear panel, the show additionally picks up smudges simply. The Moto G73 5G does have an IP52 ranking for fundamental mud and water resistance.

Moto G73 5G specs and software program

The Moto G73 5G has a 6.5-inch full-HD+ IPS LCD show with a 120Hz adaptive refresh fee and a 240Hz contact sampling fee. When launched, it was the primary machine in India to be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 930 SoC. Almost a month later, on the time of publishing this evaluation, it is nonetheless the one cellphone to supply this SoC within the Indian market.

There’s 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The Moto G73 5G additionally helps as much as 1TB of expandable storage utilizing a microSD card within the hybrid dual-SIM tray. The cellphone helps as much as 13 5G bands in India, together with Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi ac, NFC and the same old satellite tv for pc navigation programs. Also accessible are stereo audio system and a 3.5mm headphone port.

The fingerprint scanner is built-in into the facility button and it turned out to be fairly dependable. The cellphone has a 5,000mAh battery and will be charged utilizing the 30W Type-C charger offered within the field.

Motorola’s My UX presents good customisation choices

The Moto G73 5G runs Motorola’s My UX software program which relies on Android 13. At first look, the interface seems inventory however there are a tonne of customisation choices. These enable customers to tweak all the pieces from the theme, wallpaper, icons, font, sounds and extra, which is sweet. There are additionally the same old Motorola software program options and gestures comparable to Peek Display, Fast Flashlight, Pick Up to Silence, and extra.

While all these shortcuts labored as anticipated throughout my testing, I couldn’t assist however discover the rising variety of Motorola apps. The firm now preinstalls its personal Moto app, Moto Hub (Swish), Moto Notifications, the brand new Moto Secure and Family Space apps, and a Games app (which mainly reveals all of your put in video games in a single place). Add to this the 2 preinstalled third-party apps, Netflix and Facebook. After what was a reasonably lengthy bloatware-free run, Motorola appears to have lastly given in. Also, of all of the apps listed above, solely Moto Hub, Netflix, and Facebook will be uninstalled.

On the intense aspect, I didn’t obtain any spammy notifications from any of those apps in the course of the course of this evaluation.

The variety of Motorola-branded apps is progressively rising

The new Moto Secure app on the Moto G73 5G brings the entire cellphone’s privateness and safety controls below one roof. This, based on Motorola, ought to give customers a greater thought in regards to the machine’s safety standing with out having to dig into the totally different sections of the Settings app. The firm additionally stated that this app will likely be made accessible to older Moto telephones with their Android 13 updates. I discovered the ‘PIN pad scramble’ characteristic fairly helpful. This mainly rearranges the numeric pad proven on display screen when unlocking the machine to make it tougher for onlookers to decipher your PIN.

The Secure Folder and Network Protection options are stated to be a part of guardian firm Lenovo’s ThinkShield safety suite. While the Moto Secure app does provide you with a way of safety, I by some means wished that every one of it may have been built-in into the Settings apps as a substitute.

The Family Spaces app on the Moto G73 5G has one very attention-grabbing characteristic which helps you to present distant help to a different recognized Motorola machine. Motorola says that this characteristic will likely be accessible on all Moto telephones operating Android 13 and older telephones ought to obtain this characteristic by way of an replace. Unfortunately, I wasn’t capable of check this in time for the evaluation.

The cellphone’s rear panel is fabricated from ‘acrylic glass’

The Moto Hub app is mainly an all-in-one app for the climate, information and mini video games, and it has an enormous widget that’s seen on the homescreen by default. This reveals you the information, climate and offers, which is ok, but it surely does all of this with out explicitly asking for any permissions to entry cellular or Wi-Fi information by any means, which is one thing I didn’t like. This solely received weirder after I observed that the app confirmed “no permissions” however was allowed to make use of background information by default.

Motorola guarantees a software program improve to Android 14 for the Moto G73 5G, and as much as three years of safety updates, which appears a bit restricted in comparison with what you’d get with the OnePlus CE 3 Lite 5G.

Moto G73 5G efficiency

The Moto G73 5G’s IPS LCD looks like a downgrade from the Moto G72’s pOLED panel. The G73 manages good color replica however with barely yellowish white tones when set to the ‘Natural’ color mode. Black ranges are additionally missing, as one would count on from an LCD panel at this value. The show will get sufficiently brilliant outside, and whereas that is sufficient for common use, it is inadequate for viewing photographs or movies correctly. Motorola claims that the show is able to HDR10 playback however I may solely view such content material within the YouTube app, as Netflix didn’t appear to assist it.

The Moto G73 5G’s display screen refresh fee is dynamic and switches between 30, 90 and 120Hz relying on the app getting used. The show may also be pressured to run at 120Hz if wanted, however I selected to make use of it set to ‘Auto’ for all exams.

I used to be keen to check the brand new MediaTek Dimensity 930 SoC on the Moto G73 5G, and the outcomes had been fairly stable when it got here to uncooked efficiency. The cellphone managed a rating of 4,22,824 factors in AnTuTu and scored 918 and 2,260 factors in Geekbench 6’s single and multi-core exams respectively. Graphics efficiency was additionally as anticipated. In GFXBench, the cellphone achieved 69fps within the T-rex check, 32fps in Manhattan 3.1, and 18fps within the Car Chase check suite. Overall, efficiency was much like that of current rivals such because the iQoo Z7 5G, which managed comparable benchmark scores with a MediaTek Dimensity 920 SoC.

The Moto G73 5G has two rear-facing cameras

In real-world utilization, I didn’t have any hiccups when utilizing the Moto G73 5G’s My UX software program. The gaming expertise with the high-quality stereo audio system was fairly good. However, video games comparable to Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9 Legends are likely to run at decrease graphics settings. For instance, Call of Duty: Mobile is capped at ‘High’ graphics, whereas Asphalt 9 Legends doesn’t provide a 60fps mode. Touch sampling felt ample when enjoying FPS (First Person Shooter) titles.

The Moto G73 5G lasted 16 hours and 6 minutes in our HD video battery loop check which is common for this section. With common use, I managed to get by means of a full day, with the cellphone having about 20-30 p.c left on the finish. The 30W USB-PD charger managed to totally cost the battery in an hour and 17 minutes. While charging appears fast sufficient, I did discover that the cellphone will get fairly sizzling whereas charging.

Moto G73 5G cameras

The Moto G73 5G has two rear-facing cameras, a 50-megapixel main and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide, which additionally capabilities as a macro digicam and a depth digicam (for Portrait mode). A 16-megapixel digicam is in control of capturing selfies. The digicam interface is usually Motorola, with all necessary capabilities accessible inside the viewfinder itself. The cellphone does get sizzling when utilizing the digicam outside and the warmth will be felt on the show relatively than the rear panel. While the digicam interface runs easily initially, it begins to lag as soon as the cellphone heats up.

Moto G73 5G daylight digicam samples. Top to backside: Primary digicam, ultra-wide digicam and macro mode (faucet to see full dimension)

Daylight photographs got here out nicely with respectable element. Colour saturation was on the upper aspect, whereas dynamic vary didn’t appear ample. Both rear cameras tended to overexpose a bit and ended up capturing clipped highlights and crushed shadows. The ultra-wide digicam fell quick on particulars and additionally showcased purple fringing round brilliant objects.

Selfies in daylight come out a bit oversharpened and showcase saturated colors. The entrance digicam additionally tended to beautify faces, making them seem fairer than the precise pores and skin tone. This was regardless of having all beautification options switched off. The digicam app does have an AI optimisation mode which is enabled by default, however switching it off didn’t make any noticeable distinction, when utilizing each the entrance or the rear cameras. Edge detection in Portrait mode when utilizing the selfie digicam was pretty correct.

Moto G73 5G low mild digicam samples. Top: Auto mode, backside: Night mode (faucet to see full dimension)

The digicam’s issues with color saturation and dynamic vary make issues worse when taking pictures in low mild. Photos regarded fairly saturated and the shadows become black patches. I actually anticipated higher provided that cellphone has an auto-night mode like most premium gadgets. Switching to the devoted Night mode improved the dynamic vary however was nonetheless not capable of seize higher particulars.

Macro photographs got here out fairly nicely exhibiting good element. This is especially as a result of the cellphone makes use of its ultra-wide digicam for taking pictures macro photographs.

Video efficiency was respectable at finest. Footage shot at each 1080p 30fps and 60fps appeared a bit brighter than it ought to and additionally lacked particulars, even with objects that had been near the digicam. Focusing was an issue in addition to the first digicam’s autofocus system stored hopping making the video seem a bit jerky, regardless that stabilisation was respectable.

The focussing points solely received worse when utilizing the ultra-wide digicam which was restricted to 1080p 30fps. I additionally observed skipped frames when panning the digicam at 60fps which made the footage seem uneven. In low mild, 30fps video shot utilizing the first digicam regarded noisy and lacked stabilisation. When taking pictures at 60fps utilizing the identical digicam, video appeared extra steady, however lacked element in textures, making objects and folks within the distance seem featureless and flat.

Verdict

With the Moto G73 5G, Motorola has focussed primarily on efficiency and safety. The software program expertise is sort of easy and the gaming expertise can also be fairly good, but it surely is not a giant leap over what most smartphones at this value level already provide.

Motorola may have accomplished much more to make the Moto G73 5G stand out. Its design, regardless of being trendy, will not be precisely distinctive or totally different. Battery life is common, and the dearth of an AMOLED show is disappointing. To add to that, digicam efficiency can also be insufficient, and Motorola is progressively shedding its near-stock software program benefit, which the model had constructed as a promoting level over the previous decade. In quick, it is laborious to suggest the Moto G73 5G particularly when the Moto G82 5G (Review) will be discovered for the same value. It presents a digicam with OIS and a bigger battery, together with an AMOLED show, and is priced ranging from Rs. 19,999.

While I’d suggest spending a bit extra and getting a Realme 9 Pro+ 5G (Review) as a substitute, there’s additionally the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G (Review), which presents higher worth