Motorola G31 4/64GB - Mineral Grey

Product Information

If you're considering spending a little bit more money and exploring the mid-range smartphone market, the main improvements you'll see over the Moto G31 will be the increased snappiness of moving between multiple apps, and the better quality of the photos and videos that you take (especially in low light). A more expensive phone will have a more premium feel, and you'll also get access to extras that the Moto G31 doesn't offer, such as waterproofing, 5G and wireless charging. A few years ago 6.4in would be one of the biggest phones around but is very much the norm now – of course better screen-to-body ratios have helped a lot here, stopping phone chassis also getting too big.

In our Geekbench 5 tests, the Moto G31 achieved a single-core score of 345, which is pretty low but beats the likes of the ageing Xiaomi Redmi Note 7. The multi-core score was slightly better sounding at 1,311, but could still only beat the likes of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7. Display quality is too good and colour combination is too much better than other mobile in this price segment @-****🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 Moreover, for a phone priced at Rs. 16,000, a display of 90hz refresh is a must and the Moto G31 misses on that primarily because the chipset supports a maximum of 60Hz. Looking at the competition, Moto should feel this to be a missed opportunity. Performance and Battery

Inexpensively simple and competent

The most demanding games is the only area where the handset starts to struggle, though we were able to run the fairly intense Asphalt 9 racing game without any real problems. Geekbench scores of 346 (single-core), 1283 (multi-core) and 1174 (OpenCL) confirm that the phone is down at the lower end of the performance spectrum, and you'll have to do without 5G as well – perhaps not a disaster, considering that 4G is still rather speedy. There is a vertically aligned triple rear camera setup in a dual-toned camera island and the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor is housed underneath the bat-wings logo.

We should also point out that the Moto G31, like many other Motorola handsets, comes with a basic, clear plastic case. It's pretty standard as cases go, but it's nice to have it included – it offers a decent level of protection for your new handset at no extra cost. There's also a single loudspeaker down at the bottom of the handset, which produces a level and quality of sound that's satisfactory but no more than that. It’s hard to keep up with Motorola phone releases, even when you follow the tech landscape daily. Gone are the days of neat G models in different variants. Still, the Moto G31 is another interestingly specced handset for not much money. Other specs are reasonable across the board if you don’t need things like 5G. You get dual-band Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS and the aforementioned fingerprint scanner. There’s also Dual-SIM if you need it but one will take up the microSD card slot. Cameras

Compact phone with day-long battery

It would be nice here as the faster refresh makes using the phone smoother, especially when scrolling and gaming, but it seems Motorola has focused on photography instead. The main rival around this price with a 90Hz screen is the Xiaomi Redmi 10. The Moto G31 has a battery of 5,000mAh, which means it lasts a good couple of days without too much trouble, unless you're using it a lot. Although it comes with an optional transparent plastic case for added grip, it’s not really necessary, as Motorola has replaced the smooth plastic finish with one that’s finely textured, with curved thin lines cascading out from around the camera section. It’s not the kind of thing you notice unless you’re looking closely, but it’s a nice touch and extra grip is always welcome. The Moto app on the main homescreen is where you’ll find a bunch of things to explore including gestures, display options and entertainment controls. It’s a sort of settings menu if you like but presented in a much nicer way to help you discover features. But it’s better to do three cameras well than four badly, and the specs of the Moto G31’s setup are still pretty promising. The main 50MP camera features an f/1.8 aperture, and it’s supported by a 8MP wide lens with a f/2.2 sensor. The final 2MP lens is for macro photography, and while the specification sounds limited, in truth it’s not the kind of thing you’re likely to use much.