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Motorola Moto G phones occupy a broad range of the low-end of the smartphone market, but the Moto G100 is something of a breakthrough. With a Snapdragon 870 5GSoC, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a price tag of 449.99 (VAT included), this is definitely a mid-range phone. The Moto G100 is also equipped with a dock that will hold the phone in portrait or landscape mode, which gives it the potential for desktop viewing, including use in video calling, and a USB-to-HDMI cable.
The Moto G100 is available in select Latin American and European markets (at 499.99), but has not been released in the United States.
Moto G100: A 6.7-inch mid-range phone powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 870 5G SoC with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage (expandable via MicroSD card at the expense of a SIM slot). Notice the cutouts of the dual front cameras on the screen.
Image: Sandra Vogel / ZDNet
Motorola gave the Moto G100 an eye-catching color scheme, with the back reflecting color shifting between shades of blue and purple on my Iridescent Ocean review unit. A more subdued Iridescent Sky finish is also available.
Four cameras on the back (Iridescent Ocean): 64MP wide angle; 16MP ultra wide angle; depth 2MP; Flight time (ToF).
Image: Sandra Vogel / ZDNet
The four cameras on the back are housed in a slightly raised square lozenge on the left side, with three of the lenses surrounded by a turquoise bezel. The back is less slippery than some, even though it slipped off the arm of my sofa during testing.
This is a large phone with a 6.7-inch screen sitting inside large bezels all around. It measures 168.38mm high by 73.97mm wide by 9.69mm thick, weighs 207g and the screen-to-body ratio is a moderate 84.2%.
The fingerprint sensor is built into the power button on the right edge, which also houses a fairly small volume rocker. The left edge has a button that invokes the Google Assistant, and there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack next to the USB-C charging port on the bottom edge. If you’re looking for water and dust protection, you won’t find it here – on its website, Motorola claims the G100 has a “water repellent design,” but there is no formal IP rating.
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The supplied dock and HDMI cable are part of Motorola’s new Ready Forsystem, which focuses on sending the phone screen to a monitor and using Bluetooth to connect external devices such as a keyboard, mouse, or game controller. You can also use your phone screen as a touchpad to control an app running on an external monitor. Motorola suggests that the phone can be used for traditional productivity tasks, although more realistic use cases include video calling, screen sharing and media retrieval, rather than serious application-based work.
The Moto G100 comes with a Ready For dock and software that allows you to use your phone in desktop mode along with an external monitor.
Images: Sandra Vogel / ZDNet
The dock also has a much less sophisticated but important use: with the Moto G100 docked, incoming messages, sequenced content, even your social feeds, are all easy to view. The dock itself, albeit made of plastic, feels sturdy.
The 6.7-inch IPS screen has a 90Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 2,520 by 1,080 pixels (409ppi). It is sharp and bright and perfect for watching videos. The only downside is the two holes that house the front cameras on the top right edge – the edges of both lenses are large and very annoying.
The phone can accommodate two SIMs or one SIM and a MicroSD card. There is 128GB of internal storage, 18GB of which is used immediately, leaving 110GB free. The chipset is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 870 5G, with 8 GB of RAM. UnderGeekbench 5, this platform scored 969 (single core) and 2889 (multi core), which is the average score for the mid-range in terms of CPU performance.
The PCMark battery life test for AndroidWork 3.0 kept the 5,000mAh battery running for 12 hours and 28 minutes, which is respectable. And when I asked the phone to stream YouTube videos non-stop for three hours, it dropped 24% from a 100% charge, again suggesting a battery life of around 12.5 hours.
These tests were with the phone dynamically adjusting the screen refresh rate. If you force it to stay at 90Hz, battery life will suffer. Everyday life may still be achievable, but if you routinely run demanding apps, including games, daytime battery upgrades may be needed.
The Moto G100 has two front cameras: 16MP f / 2.2 wide angle and 8MP f / 2.4 ultra wide angle (118). Switching between them is a simple matter of tapping an icon on the screen under the screen viewfinder and the ultra wide angle lens definitely gets a lot more subject. It’s nice to have more selfie options, despite the distraction of the two on-screen lens cutouts.
The four rear cameras are: 64MP f / 1.7 wide angle; 16MP f / 2.2 ultra wide angle (117); a 2 MP f / 2.4 depth sensor; and a time of flight (ToF) sensor. Test shots were bright and were within the acceptable range for point-and-shoot. There’s nothing spectacular here, but the photos are perfectly passable.
Motorola doesn’t use bloatware on its phones, and the extras are mostly limited to specific tweaks accessible via a single Moto app. This allows you to set gesture controls, customize game settings, set wallpapers, and so on. You can play around with what’s on offer, but if you’re only interested in using the phone “as is” out of the box, the Moto app is easily ignored.
Conclusions
The Moto G100 is a mid-range phone that sits at the top of Motorola’s affordable G range. It supports 5G, has a large screen that’s pleasing to the eye, the two front cameras add more selfie flexibility than usual, and general use is, as usual with Moto phones, pleasantly bloatware-free. The Ready For dock and supplied HDMI cable should also come in handy.
The key problem with the Moto G100 isn’t the phone itself, but the competition. The mid-range market is crowded and there are many alternatives to choose from. None come bundled with a dock and desktop mode features, but some may have that dash of panache you’re looking for.
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