Ultra-affordable Moto G22 goes official with 90Hz screen, Android 12, and stellar battery life
After generating an unusual amount of attention over the last few weeks with not one but two different Android high-enders, one of which is still most likely at least a couple of months away, Motorola is back to doing what it does best, officially unveiling yet another low-cost smartphone with surprisingly little fanfare.
Priced at €169.99 across major European countries like Germany or France, the Moto G22 is obviously no powerhouse, including however quite a few features you don't always get in the low to mid-end segment of the global handset market.
Sleek, smooth, and reasonably powerful
While US carriers have no problem selling new devices in the sub-$200 bracket with outdated waterdrop-style notch designs, Motorola is all-in on the hole punch trend (with the notable exception of the G Pure), although the G22 does still come with an annoyingly thick "chin."
On the bright side, the top and side bezels are pretty thin (for an ultra-affordable phone), and even more importantly, the 6.5-inch Max Vision display sports 90Hz refresh rate technology... and a decidedly modest resolution of 1600 x 720 pixels.
Basically, this is a not-so-sharp but impressively smooth (by sub-€200 standards) screen that promises to enliven your games, movies, and video calls and might actually deliver on that promise... to a certain extent.
A number of the other key specifications seem to fit essentially the same "mixed bag" label, including an octa-core MediaTek Helio G37 processor that also resides under the hood of the $200 Moto G Power (2022). Remarkably, the Moto G22 also borrows its 5,000mAh battery from the latest edition of a handset marketed first and foremost as an endurance champion.
For some reason, Motorola is advertising a battery life rating of 37.8 hours for its newest phone, which doesn't sound quite as mind-blowing as the "three days" of continuous use touted by the G Power (2022). Of course, all these numbers are relative (and, frankly, unreliable), but given the aforementioned screen resolution and the undoubtedly frugal chipset, the G22 is guaranteed to last a long time between (15W) charges.
Competition, cameras, and more
As you may have already guessed, the Moto G22 is unlikely to ever be officially released in the US, following in the footsteps of last year's G20... and G31, and G41, and a bunch of other G-series mid-rangers.
Over on the old continent, Motorola will of course face a lot of stiff competition in the sub-€200 segment from brands as diverse as Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, and even Samsung.
With no 5G support, the 6.5-inch G22 has to rely on an... unconventional-looking quad rear camera setup to make an impression. While two of those four imaging sensors are likely to prove largely useless in most everyday shooting scenarios and environments, with humble 2 megapixel counts, the main 50MP snapper and 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens could well help this thing crack our comprehensive list of the best budget phones available in 2022.
The 50MP cam comes with Quad Pixel technology, aiming to deliver the sharpest 12.5MP snapshots in its category, while on the front, you get a 16MP selfie shooter with f/2.45 aperture.
Coated in Cosmic Black, Iceberg Blue, and Pearl White, the Moto G22 pairs 64GB internal storage space with 4 gigs of RAM as standard while unsurprisingly housing both a microSD card slot and headphone jack, and on top of everything, running Android 12 software out the box.
That latter detail is something that will probably set the G22 apart from the upcoming €200 or so Samsung Galaxy A13, as well as the costlier new OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G and many other popular European phones priced at (way) more than €170.
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