After a couple of weeks of using the Moto G85 5G, and approximately two months after review its older sibling, the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion, I couldn’t help myself but ask this one question:
“Why?”
Why launch this phone when the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion is already out on the market, a mere NZD $40 more, but packed with more features inside than the Moto G85 5G? The only reason I could come up with is the magical number of 500 – NZD $500, to be exact. With phones easily crossing the $1000 mark nowadays, a phone that’s sub $500 would qualify as “mid range”, and even straddles that invisible threshold into the “budget” category of mobile phone (a look on the Spark website lists the Moto G85 5G as the 18th cheapest phone out of 48 devices, sitting somewhere in between the Samsung A-range phones). And so, this phone needs to be reviewed from two perspectives: one perspective is from the “budget” angle, which probably is any phone less than that $500 mark. The other perspective is from the “mid-range” angle, which starts at the $500 mark.
And for a phone that costs $499? It’s a great phone… if you are looking at it from the “budget” category perspective. If you are looking at it from a mid range perspective, it is a very “mid” phone. This became my biggest dilemma when reviewing this phone: Do I review the Moto G85 5G as a budget phone, or as a mid-range phone? I decided to assess a score based on the device sitting somewhere between a “budget” and “mid” category, in order to (try to) factor in consumers within both categories.
The Motorola Moto G85 5G arrives in a manner that is as no-frills (with a few surprises) as the phone itself: the phone arrived in a unbleached, kraft box, and comes with the phone, literature, SIM tool, phone case, USB cable, and a surprisingly decent 33W adapter. Not many phones come with a phone case (albeit a basic clear one), let alone an adapter. To provide a 33W adapter on top of that, it’s clear Motorola wants the user to have the full experience without feeling like they only purchased three-fifths of said experience..
This phone comes with a 6.7 inch, curved glass display, with very minimal bezels around the screen. A simple punch hole camera sits on top, and overall has a very clean, minimalist look like many other phones these days. The back of the phone is where Motorola injects some personality into the G85 5G: turning the phone over, you’re presented with a bluish-purple PU leather that bounds almost the whole back of the phone. Other than the flash and the two giant 15mm camera lens cut-outs, housed in a corner raised in a taper from the rest of the rear, the only other element adorning the back is the Motorola logo located in the centre. Overall, the phone is a very clean look, and the clear phone case ensures the purple on the back still stands out.
Weighing in at 168g without the case, and 178g with the case on, it is a very light, but rigid feeling phone. Once again, Motorola has achieved in making a phone that is ostensibly in a “budget” to “mid range” category, feel premium.
The two 15mm cameras in the back aren’t just for show, either: they house a 50MP wide lens and an 8MP ultrawide, and they shoot videos at 1080p, 60fps. While they aren’t as amazing as the cameras on my previous review, the Razr 50 Ultra, at this price, they do a very solid job, albeit take a bit longer to focus than I would like to prefer my cameras to. The front facing camera is surprisingly good, at 32MP. Both the front and rear-facing cameras shoot well under poor light conditions – it’s just a matter of taking the time for the cameras to focus.
Upon powering up the phone, I am presented with a very sharp P-OLED display, with a very fast refresh rate of 120Hz. The brains of the phone is powered by a Snapdragon 6s, using Android 14 OS. While Snapdragon has been getting a good reputation with its Snapdragon 7 and more recently, the Snapdragon X processors on newer, higher priced phones and PCs, the Snapdragon 6s feels like a step down: It’s perfectly functional, but there’s just a feel of lag to the operation of the phone. It operates a lot better than the previous Qualcomm 6 series processors, but it just can’t quite compete with the phones running on the Snapdragon 7 series.
Once again, I’m presented with Motorola’s Hello UI. It’s a competent UI that Motorola developed, but as I’ve said in my previous reviews, it’s a very basic, no-frills UI that doesn’t add too much functionality compared to other brands’ UIs. On higher priced phones, the Hello UI holds the good Motorola phones back from being a great phone, and the great phones from being an amazing phone, but in this case, for a budget to mid-range phone, the Hello UI does a fine job and wouldn’t be my main criticism of the phone.
What is my main criticism about the phone is how fast the phone slowed down after only a couple of weeks of use: Trying out various resource-draining software like Diablo mobile and PUBG mobile, I noticed it slowing down relatively quickly. The 128GB storage is enough, and the addition of a microSD slot is welcomed, but the 8GB RAM plus 4GB of VRAM seemed to be the bottleneck, and within two weeks, I noticed a lot of apps, from simple gaming apps like the Pokemon TCG app, to on-board apps like emails and camera apps, started to take a second longer to load than they did out of the box. Granted, I stress-tested the hell out of them with the two aforementioned games (and if you’re not a gamer, ultimately the difference shouldn’t be that noticeable), but if you do install a few resource-intensive applications, the speed and the manner in which this phone slows down is a real concern.
The Motorola G85 5G is in a bit of a no-man’s land when it comes to performance and price range: For a budget phone, the Motorola G85 5G is great: It has solid hardware, and one of the best cameras in this range. I would give it an 8 for those who are considering a phone under $500. For a mid range phone, there’s a lot more to want compared to others within this price range. For an extra $40, the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion is far and away a better choice, with newer processor, twice as much storage, and an all-around smoother experience. If you have leeway with a $500 budget, go with the Edge 50 Fusion over the G85 5G. Scoring the Motorola G85 5G under mid-range phones, I’d give this a 5.
Averaging the scores out, 6.5 seems appropriate for this phone overall. It falls under an “okay” to “good” grade in the grand scheme of things, but for a phone that is aimed towards the price-conscious that want a great performing camera, it’s a great choice.
