The Motorola Moto G85 looks like an expensive smartphone, but it isn’t because of its price of 349 euros. In this review you can read what you get for your money.
Read about Motorola Moto G85 review
We’ve tested a fair few Motorola smartphones in recent months: from the Edge 50 Pro to the Edge 50 Ultra and from the cheaper Edge 50 Fusion to the very expensive (and foldable) Razr 50 Ultra. However, not everyone wants to spend a lot of money on a smartphone.
Then the devices in the Moto G line of Motorola are interesting. The latest creation of the company is the Moto G85, a phone with a suggested retail price of 349 euros. You can now buy it for a few tens of euros less. In this review you can read what you can expect for that money.
The review unit of the Moto G85 was provided by Motorola.
Design and screen
Let’s get straight to the point: the Motorola Moto G85 doesn’t look like a €349 phone. The whole thing is made of plastic, but the smartphone still exudes luxury. This is due to the sleek back, where we only see two cameras and the Motorola logo.
The back of our review unit has a matte finish, though the area around the cameras is glossy. At just over 170 grams, the Moto G85 is remarkably light, while also being a slim device at 7.6 millimeters. The device is quite slippery, but thankfully Motorola includes a silicone case that provides more grip.
We are also very pleased with the screen. In fact, this is one of the strongest points of the Motorola phone. The 6.67 inch OLED screen produces beautiful, clear images and can be very bright. Even when the sun is shining brightly outside, you will have little trouble reading the display.
The resolution is 2400 by 1080 pixels and that is enough to make everything look sharp. The 120Hz refresh rate is nice on paper, but is not always achieved by the Moto G85. This has to do with the speed of the hardware, more about that later. If you leave the refresh rate on ‘Auto’, the phone regularly switches back to 60Hz. That is a bit of a shame.
Not a speed demon
The heart of the Motorola Moto G85 is the Snapdragon 6s Gen 3. This may sound like a fairly new processor, but secretly it is a familiar beast. The Gen 3 is namely a slightly improved version of the Snapdragon 695. This is another older chip that we know well and has been used in mid-range phones for years.
What can you expect from the performance? The Moto G85 is certainly not slow, but also not a speed monster. Starting up some apps takes a while, while multitasking you regularly see mini-stutters and playing heavy games is difficult.
If you’re not a heavy smartphone user, the Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 will suffice. If you demand more from your phone, the Moto G85 might not be the best choice. We wonder how fast the phone will be in a few years, as it already struggles to maintain a consistent 120Hz refresh rate.
We have nothing to complain about the amount of working memory and storage. With the Moto G85 you get a spacious 12GB of working memory and 256GB of storage. There is also room for a micro SD card. In this area, the smartphone is clearly completely ready for the future.
Software and Update Policy
Motorola has been sticking close to the standard version of Android for years, and that is no different with the Moto G85. The Android 14 software is ‘clean’ and with that the smartphone resembles the Google Pixel devices in this area. Motorola does deliver bloatware: we see 1Weather, Opera, Adode Scan and some Moto apps.
The Moto G85 is pleasant to use. The interface looks clear and, as mentioned, does not contain too much frills. The Moto app offers useful extra features, such as the option to personalize the appearance of the software, and to use gestures to quickly start the flashlight or take a screenshot.
There are devices available that get updates for longer, but we wonder if you would want to keep using the G85 for more than four years. The security updates are released bimonthly.
Camera’s
The Motorola Moto G85 has a total of three cameras. On the back we find the most important one: the 50 megapixel main camera. Motorola puts pixel binning in order to achieve better 12.5 megapixel photos, and the company is succeeding quite well.
The camera takes beautiful pictures, especially in sufficient daylight. Snapshots have a lot of detail, look quite natural and can be used perfectly for Instagram, for example. The Moto G85 does not have a telephoto lens, but in the camera app you will find a button to zoom in 2x.
The smartphone then takes the middle part of the photo and that still looks good. Zooming in further is possible (up to 10x digital) but then the photo quality deteriorates rapidly. So don’t expect miracles from the main camera, but as long as you don’t get the image too close, there’s nothing wrong.
The 8 megapixel wide-angle lens is a lot less good than the main camera. Photos you take with this camera have less detail and look duller. You see a lot of distortion at the edges and it is really searching for details. It is also possible to take macro photos with the wide-angle lens and we think that is a nice extra.
Good battery life
Like many smartphones, the Motorola Moto G85 has a 5,000mAh battery. That’s more than enough to get most users through the day. During our testing period, we never ran into battery issues, often leaving us with around 40 percent left at the end of the day.
The Motorola Moto G85 charges at a maximum of 30 watts. That’s not necessarily impressive in 2024, but certainly not bad for a mid-ranger. A full charge takes about 75 minutes. If you only have 30 minutes, the battery is about half full. Enough battery juice to last a while.
Wireless charging is missing, although we rarely see this feature in this price range. We therefore do not really consider it a drawback. It is possible to charge other devices via the Moto G85 and that can sometimes come in handy.
Conclusion Motorola Moto G85 review
We are quite enthusiastic about the Motorola Moto G85. Especially the beautiful screen, slim design and the good battery life are appreciated. In addition, you get a great main camera and a lot of working and storage memory. The charging speed is also not bad.
The main downside of the Moto G85 is the speed of the hardware. The processor used is not that fast and sometimes has trouble keeping up with you. In addition, the update policy is not the best you can get in this price range, but not unacceptable either.
That’s actually how we feel about the Moto G85 as a whole. Due to the fierce competition from Samsung, Nothing and Motorola itself (with the Edge 50 Fusion) the smartphone is not the best choice, but we also think it’s not a bad buy for € 299, -.
Buy Motorola Moto G85
Are you looking for an affordable smartphone with a very good battery life and are you considering the Motorola Moto G85? The device has a suggested retail price of 349 euros, but currently costs € 299. The G85 is available both separately and in combination with a subscription. You can check the best deals in the price comparison below.
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Source: www.androidplanet.nl
