Motorola have launched two new budget-friendly smartphones; the moto g05 and the moto g15. With only a $50 difference between them, is the g15 worth the extra cash, or should you save your money and go with the g05? Chris and I explore each main aspect of these phones in this review and give your our final verdict.
Packaging
Both phones come with a case pre-applied, some paperwork and a USB-C to C cable—no charging brick or stickers here. We have the g15 in Gravity Grey, but you can also choose between Sunrise Orange or Iguana Green if you fancy. Our g05 is in this nice Misty Blue colourway, with Plum Red, Forest Green and the Big-W-exclusive Fresh Lavender being your other options. The case is a no-frills, plastic soft-case with a transparent backing—it doesn’t look too bad and doesn’t bulk up the phone, either.
Design & Build Quality
From first glance, we wouldn’t fault you for thinking these were the same phone, and for the most part, they are; you’re looking at a 6.72 inch IPS panel on the g15, and a 6.67 inch panel on the g05. Both have plastic frames and the same eco-leather back, which is comfortable to hold but looks a bit tacky in our opinion. They weigh virtually the same, carry an IP52 certification and the same USB 2.0 port on the bottom. The phones feel solid in hand, and having a case included is a nice addition so you don’t scratch up the side rails or the back.
Now, if you take a closer look at the screen, you’ll see where the g15 pulls ahead; almost. The g15 is sporting a FHD+ resolution, whilst the g05 settles for an outdated HD+ resolution; if you’re not pixel-peeping or really close to your screen, you won’t notice a difference in day-to-day use, but for a late 2024 release, HD+ does feel outdated – even with the price in mind. However, what the g05 lacks in pixels, it makes up for in refresh rate—oddly enough, the cheaper phone gets a smooth 90Hz panel, whilst the g15 sits at just 60Hz.
Perhaps it’s the Helio G81 chip not being able to handle a high resolution and high refresh rate, but it is a bit of a bummer. If your phone use is mostly casual—calls, messages, and scrolling social media—the 60Hz won’t be a dealbreaker, but whether you prioritise sharper visuals or smoother motion is up to you. We’d both rather the latter!
Brightness is solid on both, with the g05 capable of boosting up to 1000 nits, which is more than enough for outdoor use, and the g15 seems to be the same. Out of the box, both displays default to a saturated colour profile that leans a bit too blue for our taste, but switching it to the natural preset helped balance things out.
Motorola does deserve credit for including a proper triple-slot SIM tray, letting us use two nano SIMs and a microSD card simultaneously. Though Chris doesn’t, I do switch between multiple SIMs regularly, so seeing this option—without forcing a trade-off with storage—is a big plus. No built-in eSIM here or 5G, but given the price, that’s not a huge surprise.
Stereo speakers make an appearance, and they sound about how you’d expect; good enough to share a video or two with those around you, but don’t expect to be able to kick back and enjoy an album with these loudspeakers. Motorola also claims Dolby Atmos support, but it’s only so useful on a phone with two speakers. Chris did try the Dolby Atmos through his Sony XM4 headphones, and all they seem to do is boost the highs, volume and add virtual surround sound – he preferred to leave it off entirely.
Finally, the power button doubles up as a fingerprint reader. It’s responsive and consistent – having it on the side feels natural, and we lament that under-display fingerprint scanners have become the norm in today’s era of smartphones. Keep it up Moto!
Performance & Software
Both models are powered by the same Mediatek Helio G81 Extreme, an octa-core chipset announced in August last year. Customers have a choice of 4GB or 8GB of RAM, but the g15 does have an edge with internal storage options going up to 512GB. Both can be expanded with up to a terabyte of storage through that micro SD card slot. We reviewed the 4GB RAM variants.
In real world use, neither phone is particularly snappy. While we weren’t expecting to max out Genshin Impact at 120FPS, even just scrolling TikTok is a surprisingly choppy experience. There were moments where we’d tap the screen and genuinely wonder if the phone had just decided to take a break. Adjusting animation speeds to 0.5x (faster) in developer settings helped, but it’s clear this chipset and 4GB of RAM struggle a bit.
If you know where to look, there definitely are faster phones out there at this price point. That said, between the two models, the g05 does feel a tad bit faster thanks to that 90Hz display making animations and scrolling just a bit more fluid.
Software-wise, both phones run Android 15 with Moto’s Hello UI. It feels clean and minimal, hosting a decent array of features like gesture controls, extensive customisability (karate chop motion to turn on/off the flashlight – surprisingly useful!) and Moto Secure, their in-house antivirus software. The bloatware situation is another story though – when we first set up these phones, there were dozens of pre-installed apps, and rather surprisingly, new ones kept downloading days later. Thankfully, you can uninstall all of them, and once you do, the software experience is solid. These 2 models should both receive 2 OS updates and 3 years of security updates—not too shabby, but doesn’t compare to the likes of Google, Samsung and Apple.
Camera
As budget phones, we had to temper our expectations when testing the cameras. As you may have already noticed, the g05 boasts an extra camera over its little brother; it’s a 5MP wide angle sensor, useful for family or landscape photos.
Both phones feature 50MP main sensors, which Motorola claims deliver “pro-level shots with breath-taking details.” While megapixels aren’t everything, stills from the main sensor actually perform decently in good lighting. Images aren’t noticeably over sharpened and are fairly noise-free. Though, if you’re snapping pictures of intricate scenes like grassy areas or trees, you might notice some smearing in the background. Dynamic range is as you’d expect for the price; it was an overcast day when these samples were taken , yet the sky still ended up blown out (watch the video review above for all camera samples). We also aren’t a fan of the processing; when shooting in HDR mode, the colours were greatly oversaturated and not really true to life. If you prefer a vibrant, punchy look, you might like this, but we personally like a more natural look. Night mode doesn’t do much to salvage the rather poor camera performance in low-light—grainy images and video with a lack of detail make them exclusively daytime cameras.
The g15’s ultrawide lens, unfortunately, feels like an afterthought. Image quality takes a significant hit, with noticeable loss of detail—more reminiscent of a phone from ten years ago.
When it comes to video, both phones max out at 1080p 30FPS. Though rather lacking in detail and suffering from poor dynamic range, video quality is acceptable considering the price point. It should be okay for quick snaps here and there but temper your expectations. Notably, the g15 does have an advantage here thanks to its image stabilisation, which helps reduce shakiness in handheld shots—something the g05 lacks. Moving whilst shooting with the g05 won’t be a fun experience!
As for the selfie camera, it’ll get the job done; again, good lighting and you should be happy with the results. You can swap between a ‘wide’ and ‘ultra-wide’ view for the selfie camera which is subtle but handy.
The camera app itself is feature-packed, offering Night Mode, Portrait, Panorama, a basic Pro Mode, and Google Lens integration. While the hardware isn’t ground-breaking, it’s nice that the software provides for some creative flexibility. Some of the filters are questionable, though…
Features
Both phones include NFC—a welcome feature for mobile payments. Neither of us are carrying our wallets around often, so having a backup is always nice.
Bluetooth 5.0 is present, which, whilst not the latest, will get the job done.
As mentioned earlier, the software provides for some decently useful features, but don’t expect any fancy AI integration that you’ll find on the latest iPhones and Pixels.
The g05 is missing a few extras found in the g15: no FM radio, gyroscope, or compass. Whilst the first two we can forgive, the lack of a compass can make navigation a bit frustrating if you rely on map apps to get around.
Battery
One of the biggest strengths of these two phones are their battery life. Both pack massive 5,200mAh batteries—larger than even flagship devices from the likes of Samsung and Apple. We know size isn’t everything (heh), as it also depends on software optimisation, feature set, usage and so on. Despite this, the g05 and g15 impress.
During our testing, which consisted of daily-use tasks uni readings, social media, a few photos and videos here and there, and lots of Spotify, we managed roughly seven to eight hours of screen-on time. This is excellent, and most users can easily go two full days without charging. The stand-by time is stellar too, only dropping by 5% each day we weren’t using or charging the phone; this is with WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC turned on. We both really enjoyed not having to worry about plugging in to charge or micro-managing our phones’ background processes to conserve battery life.
Charging speeds, however, are less exciting, capping at just 18W; it’ll take roughly three and a half hours from 0 to 100 if you’re not using the 18W turbo charging, which would otherwise take you just over two hours. Also keep in mind you won’t find wireless charging (or any fancy magnets) on any of the two models.
Conclusion
When buying a budget phone, you can’t have everything—but Motorola has made some smart trade-offs. Both the g05 and g15 feature very impressive battery life, a decent software experience and respectable build quality. We can’t ignore the triple SIM offering or headphone jack either, as these are features becoming increasingly harder to find as years go on. That said, performance isn’t the fastest, and at times, the phones can feel a little sluggish, even in day to day use. Camera performance also leaves a lot to be desired.
So, which phone is right for you?
- If you prioritise a more versatile and capable camera setup, the g15 is the way to go. With the aid of image stabilisation both stills and video come out a lot better. The ultra-wide can have its uses too. The higher resolution screen is just a bonus.
- However, for most people, the g05 is the better value. The 90Hz display makes a noticeable difference in daily use, and given that it’s the cheaper option, it’s the more compelling buy in our opinion. With steady hands (or just a tripod of some kind), the camera experience is no worse than its more expensive counterpart.
moto g05 is available in vegan leather from 20 February in Plum Red, Forest Green and Misty Blue at JB Hi Fi, The Good Guys, Officeworks, Big W, Harvey Norman, Bing Lee, Amazon, Mobile Citi, and motorola.com.au for RRP$179. Fresh Lavender is also available exclusively to Big W.
moto g15 is available in vegan leather from 20 February in Gravity Grey, Sunrise Orange and Iguana Green at JB Hi Fi, The Good Guys, Officeworks, Big W, Harvey Norman, Amazon, MobileCiti and motorola.com.au for RRP $229.
We would like to thank Motorola for loaning these units for review.
