Home
News
You are here

Motorola's newest low-cost phone comes with a 'super premium' design and a pretty great camera

By Adrian Diaconescu

Published: Aug 01, 2023, 5:22 AM

2comments

Motorola Android

Motorola's newest low-cost phone comes with a 'super premium' design and a pretty great camera

Even though Motorola already sells a boatload of different low to mid-end phones at various reasonable price points in most major markets around the world, an extra model available for the rough equivalent of $120 can't hurt, further boosting the brand's appeal among budget-oriented consumers... in India.

Yes, we're afraid the brand-new Moto G14 only has an official release date (of August 11) and a recommended price (of Rs. 9,999) attached to its name in the world's second largest smartphone market (and second most populous country), at least for the time being.

Too good for the US?

While we could definitely see the ultra-affordable 6.5-incher reach other countries and regions a little further down the line, history and common sense suggests a US launch, for instance, is probably not in the cards, which will come as sad but wholly unsurprising news to Motorola's hardcore fans stateside.

Obviously, the G14 has quite a few things in common with the Moto G13 (which was also never released in the US), replacing however the MediaTek Helio G85 processor with a... similarly unimpressive octa-core Unisoc T616 chipset.

Meanwhile, the closest equivalent we can find for the Moto G14 stateside right now is probably the Moto G Play (2023), which unfortunately costs a little more than 120 bucks (at least outside of promotional periods) and yet offers humbler overall specifications.

For one thing, the G14 comes with a 50MP primary rear-facing shooter, and although that's backed by a... largely useless 2MP secondary macro sensor, cash-strapped shutterbugs should still find this phone's photography skills to be satisfactory (at the very least) for its price point.

The 4GB RAM count and especially the 128 gigs of internal storage space are also pretty impressive (and unusual) endowments for a sub-$150 handset today, and on the software side of things, you get Android 13 out the box and a guaranteed Android 14 update... someday, which is a good but not great promise for any price bracket.

Many apparent strengths, just a few glaring flaws

Interestingly, Motorola appears to be billing this thing's "super premium & colorful design" as a major selling point (perhaps even the number one selling point), which is certainly an original marketing approach. You don't see a lot of dirt-cheap smartphones advertised as "premium" in 2023 (in any market), although unsurprisingly, the claim feels a little... debatable and hyperbolic, with the Moto G14 rocking "high-quality Acrylic Glass materials", which is definitely not as premium as what the Galaxy S23 Ultra or Motorola's own Edge+ (2023) flagship are made of.

For a $120 device, the G14 does look distinguished and elegant, at least at first glance, also sounding like it will impress you with how light it feels in the hand, tipping the scales at 177 grams and sporting a 7.99mm waist.

Available in "steel gray" and "sky blue" colorways, the budget-friendly phone is also water "repellent", which is not technically the same thing as water resistant, but still pretty good for the rough equivalent of 120 US bucks.

The 5,000mAh battery under the Moto G14's hood has essentially become a Motorola trademark (yes, even for its humblest and cheapest Android soldiers), and in combination with a 6.5-inch HD+ IPS LCD screen, it should be capable of delivering uninterrupted running times measured in days rather than hours.

Of course, the HD+ (1600 x 720 pixels) resolution and 60Hz refresh rate support of said 6.5-inch display can hardly be considered strong points from a content playing perspective, but the overall value proposition of Motorola's latest contender for the title of best budget phone in the world remains undeniably solid.

View Full Bio

Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.