Moto G45 review: Mid-range performance, affordable price

The phone is available in 4GB+128GB and 8GB+128GB RAM and storage variants and is priced at Rs. 10,999 and 12,999 respectively. The company provided us with a Moto G45 5G review device with 8GB of RAM.

Moto G45 5G design: Looks familiar

• Dimensions – 162.7 x 74.64 x 8.03 mm
• Weight – 183g
• Colors – Bright Blue (in this review), Bright Green and Viva Magenta

If you put the Moto G45 5G next to the slightly older Moto G34, you’ll see a lot of similarities in terms of design. The back panel of the new phone has a vegan leather finish, making it easy to grip if you like to use your phone without a case.

The back panel of the Moto G45 5G has a vegan leather finish

There’s no mention of the Moto G45 5G’s name on the back panel, and the only way to tell it’s a Motorola phone is the batwing logo in the center of the screen. The phone has flat edges made of plastic and the top edge contains the Dolby Atmos logo.

The Moto G45 5G’s camera island is located on the top left edge of the back panel, and the phone wobbles slightly when you place it on a flat surface. Thankfully, this phone comes with a transparent TPU case that solves this problem. The bottom edge of the phone houses a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB Type-C port, and a speaker grille. The Moto G45 5G also comes with a USB Type-A to Type-C cable and a 20W charging adapter.

Moto G45 5G Software: Includes bloatware, spam

• Software – My User Experience
• Version – Android 14
• Latest security patch – June 1, 2024

Like Motorola’s other budget phones, the smartphone comes with the company’s Android 14-based My UX skin. The phone doesn’t appear to have any system-level bloatware that can’t be uninstalled, but it does download apps and place promotional apps in folders on the home screen (Shopping, Entertainment, GamesHub) – which can be manually disabled.

The phone also prompts you to turn on the Glance plug-in, which activates a permanent spot on the lock screen that displays weather and news updates. Even if you accidentally turn it on while setting up your phone, you can turn it off. You’ll also have to disable the MotoHub app to prevent your phone from sending you irrelevant news stories.

The Moto G45 5G runs Android 14 and comes with the company’s My UX interface

The Moto G45 5G comes with features from the company’s other smartphones, including Family Space, Moto Unplugged and Moto Secure. Some of the apps are very useful, especially the Secure Folder and phishing protection features and Moto’s quick gestures that let you toggle various functions or perform actions on the phone.

According to the company, the Moto G45 5G will be updated to Android 15 sometime in 2025, and the phone will receive two years of security updates every two months. Most phones in this price range are promised one major Android update, except for the Samsung Galaxy A15 5G, which will get two Android upgrades and four years of security updates.

Moto G45 5G performance: Above average

• Processor – Snapdragon 6s Gen 3
• Memory – up to 8GB
• Storage – 128GB (UFS 2.2)

Like the more expensive Moto G85, this phone is powered by the Snapdragon 6s Gen 3, a 6nm chipset from Qualcomm that is a rebranded version of the three-year-old Snapdragon 695 SoC. While it’s disappointing to see a processor on the Moto G85, it’s more acceptable in this price segment when rivals come with 4nm chips.

The phone handles day-to-day tasks with ease, including browsing the web and social media, responding to emails, and playing light gaming. Some apps took just over a second to open when first loaded, but there were no issues re-opening the app.

Moto G45 5G performance is on par with similarly priced phones

Games like BGMI run at HD settings and “High” framerates by default, whereas I could play Asphalt Legends: Unity at default settings. I didn’t notice any major issues with stuttering or sluggishness. The Moto Gametime feature automatically turns on and provides the ability to disable notifications, block calls, and optimize other features. You also have the option of Balanced, Turbo, and Economy performance modes, but there’s no noticeable change in performance when using them.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Moto G45 5G scores on par with smartphones like the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite and the iQOO Z9x. It also offers the same CPU and GPU performance as the company’s more expensive Moto G85 model.

Here’s a handy table that lets you compare Moto G45 5G benchmark scores with other similarly priced smartphones.

The smartphone comes with a 6.5-inch HD+ (720×1,600 pixels) IPS LCD display, which is not bright enough when using the phone in bright sunlight. Adaptive brightness mode is highly responsive and quickly adjusts to ambient lighting levels.

The display has a 120Hz refresh rate, feels smooth, and is optimized for everyday use. The “Natural” display mode looks a little warmer than on other Motorola phones, such as the Moto G85, and I ended up selecting the “Saturated” mode on the Moto G45 5G.

Moto G45 5G camera: slow but steady

• Main camera – 50 megapixels, up to 1080p/30fps video
• Macro camera – 8 megapixels, fixed focus
• Selfie camera – 16 megapixels, up to 1080p/30fps video

During the day, the Moto G45 5G lets you capture decent images in plenty of natural light, but the camera takes a little more than a second to capture each image. There is some noise and softening when zooming in. In extremely bright scenes, dynamic range suffers somewhat, with the sky appearing brighter than when the image was captured. There’s plenty of detail to see when zooming in, without too much noise or softening.

Moto G45 5G camera sample. From top to bottom – day, night, macro (click on image to expand)

Delay in capturing images is more noticeable in low-light scenarios, with the Moto G45 5G taking a few seconds to capture a photo in Night Sight mode and then process it. This can be troublesome if you try to click on a picture with a mobile theme. However, if you can hold the phone long enough, the phone can capture bright images with plenty of detail.

You can also capture images with the 8-megapixel macro camera, allowing you to get even closer to your subject. Sometimes it’s difficult to focus on the subject and you have to keep moving the phone until the image in the viewfinder is clear. Color reproduction is on par with the main camera – colors are more saturated, while some brighter areas are overexposed.

The 16-megapixel selfie camera on the Moto G45 5G works well in daylight, capturing detailed images. The Beautify feature is also disabled by default, and the camera app offers built-in filters when you click on a selfie. The selfie camera leaves a lot to be desired in low-light scenes, producing images that are noisy and smooth.

Moto G45 5G comes with dual rear camera setup

Both the main rear camera and the selfie camera support 1080p/30fps video recording, although the former offers better video quality. If you want to record your own videos, it is best to use a tripod or Gorillapod to use the rear camera as it provides better white balance, contrast, and clarity compared to the rear camera. Even with built-in stabilization mode enabled, low-light video recording isn’t great.

Moto G45 5G battery: very reliable

• Battery capacity – 5,000mAh
• Wired charging: 18W USB PD
• Charger: 20W (included)

The Moto G45 5G weighs just over 180 grams, thanks in part to its 5,000mAh battery, which should last more than a day if you’re not staring at the phone. During my time testing the phone, I was able to get about 7 hours of screen time and 15 hours of standby time before the phone needed to be charged again.

This included approximately two hours of social media apps, text messages, and an hour of Asphalt Legends United. This is normal for budget smartphones, as their displays are lower resolution and not very bright.

In our HD video battery loop test, the Moto G45 5G lasted about 23 hours before the battery drained completely. It takes approximately two hours and five minutes to fully charge the phone using the charging adapter that comes with it.

Moto G45 5G review: Conclusion

The budget 5G smartphone market is highly competitive and the Moto G45 5G is one of the few phones that offers a good experience at a price below Rs. 12,000. It doesn’t have any standout features, but the Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 chipset delivers performance that’s comparable to more expensive smartphones.

Lagging camera software, a sub-par macro camera, and spammy notifications are three reasons to avoid buying the Moto G45 5G. It provides reliable battery backup, but it would be nice if the phone charged faster.

If you don’t like the Moto G45 5G, you can consider other smartphones in this price segment with similar specs, including the iQOO Z9x (review), Realme C65 5G, Realme Narzo N65 5G, Infinix Hot 50 5G, or the older Samsung Galaxy A14 5G.