The Moto G31 managed nearly a full day of looped video in our standardised test, and while none of the handsets we’re comparing it to is exactly weak on the stamina front, it’s a clear win for the Moto if battery is most important for you. Motorola Moto G31 review: Camera You don't get the very latest Android 12 with this handset, but the one before it, Android 11 – and there's no indication from Motorola as to when an upgrade might appear. Thankfully there's very little in the way of bloatware and other pre-installed apps (Motorola is usually pretty good in this regard), so when you start up the phone for the first time you're not overwhelmed with a pile of apps you don't need.

Despite that, there's a certain sense of reliability to the Moto G31. It certainly won't wow you but if you're looking for a cheap and competent phone, it does the job. That said, it has its share of limitations like the 60Hz refresh rate which for a few could be a downside while the rest might consider it a reason why the phone offers slightly longer battery life. The phone impresses in terms of battery life, meanwhile. We streamed a video for an hour, with the volume set low and the display at maximum brightness, and the battery level dropped from 100 percent to just 94 percent – that suggests you'll get 16-17 hours in total, which is way above average. In general use the handset held its charge well too, and we think the 5,000mAh battery will get you up to two days of use if you're careful with it. The (wired-only) charging is disappointingly slow though, at only 10W. There are two ways of painting the results above. On one hand, while it’s marginally slower on the multicore benchmark, there’s not enough in it that you’d actively notice the difference between the two. The 6.4-inch AMOLED panel boasting FHD+ resolution is the highlight of the Moto G31. It is interesting to note that Moto has decided to add an AMOLED panel on this phone which makes it a worthy contender on the best devices under Rs. 15,000 list.

Easy on the Wallet

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. In general usage, things were remarkably swift for the price. There’s the odd micro pause when opening more intensive apps but for the most part, scrolling through social media and switching between apps is suitably fluid. 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. The Moto G31 uses the MediaTek Helio G85 chipset, which is fine. Just plain old fine. It's supported by 4GB of RAM so it's far from a speedy phone, but it's also not the slowest either.

The phone's 6.4-inch AMOLED display looks bright and vibrant most of the time, even if it misses out on having a refresh rate any higher than 60Hz. The rest of the build is fairly standard, with volume, power, and a fingerprint reader all on the right edge of the phone. However, it's fair to say that the significantly better color reproduction and the higher brightness speak for the Moto G31's display. Moreover, the phone is also a bit more compact and lighter than some of its rivals, which is convenient for users with smaller hands. Like the Snapdragon 662 inside the Moto G30, this is another octa-core 2GHz chip, so performance should be mostly similar on paper. It's possible to buy the Moto G31 in either 64GB or 128GB varieties, with the latter costing a modest amount more. Battery lifeThere's also minimal water resistance, with a mere IPX2 rating meaning you don't want it anywhere near water if you can help it. Display 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. 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. The Moto G31 has a triple-camera module with the primary sensor being a 50MP snapper coupled with an 8MP ultra-wide-angle shooter which also works as a depth sensor and a 2MP sensor for macro photography. Though on paper you’d find that Moto has slightly downgraded the camera sensors when compared to the predecessor, however, we are still evaluating the camera performance and will be in a better position to tell you more in some time. The camera app though has a plethora of options available like dual capture, night vision, portrait, live filter, cinemagraph, cutout, pro, panorama, and spotlight. There is even slow-motion and time-lapse mode for videos. Early verdict

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. While colours are vibrant and sharpness is aplenty, it could’ve been slightly brighter as sunlight legibility wasn't the best. The Moto G62 5G runs on an octa-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 Plus processor, which is the beefed-up version of the Snapdragon 480 used by both the Moto G50 and Nokia G50.

Inexpensively simple and competent

Motorola has slightly trimmed down the camera system compared with the Moto G30: The main camera only has a resolution of 50 megapixels, so it takes 12-megapixel photos with pixel-binning for higher brightness by default. In addition, the depth-of-field auxiliary lens has been dropped, but this is probably a tolerable loss that will hardly be noticeable in terms of image quality. Fellow Motorola phone, the Moto G9 Power, comes in about the same at 311 and 1,371, but it's also older. Performance is similarly sluggish. The Moto G31 is powered by a MediaTek Helio G85 chipset with 4GB of RAM, and while it's not the slowest of phones out there it's still woeful if you expect too much of it. Our colorimeter confirms the huge improvement, measuring 92.6% of the sRGB gamut covered with a volume of 93.5% and an average Delta E (colour variance) score of 1.46. That means you’re getting a tonally accurate screen for the price, and as it’s OLED you’re also getting infinite contrast, which IPS can’t beat. It’s also over 100cd/m² brighter, at 440cd/m² – which isn’t always what you’d expect from a switch to OLED. The Motorola Moto G31 is a budget mid-range smartphone that is quite interesting in itself. It features a high-quality Full HD AMOLED display, which is by no means common in this price range.

In low light and at night, the Moto G31 tries its best, but it's here that the shortcomings of the rear camera really start to appear. It is possible to get okay-looking photos in dim light – actually quite an achievement at the budget end of the smartphone market – but they're blurred and fuzzy a lot of the time. As you can see from the Pixel 6 Pro comparison shot in the gallery above, if phone photography is important to you (especially in low light) then you might want to consider getting a more expensive handset. As you can see, graphical performance is a bit hit and miss, too. With a standardised 1080p resolution offscreen, the Moto G31 is marginally better than the Moto G30, but there’s again very little in it, and it’s still leagues behind the Nokia G50, Realme 7 and Poco X3 NFC. This isn't really a phone for multitasking, but it can do it in a bind. Similarly, heavy-duty gaming can take a while to get going, and the phone can get quite hot when doing so, but it works.While the Moto G50’s 720p screen helped it last for over 25 hours in our test, the improved 1080p panel used here is more power hungry. Coming in at a hair over 21 hours, the Moto G62 5G still puts in an impressive display, edging just ahead of the Nokia G50 and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 11. The provided 15W fast charger isn’t particularly flashy but should still take the massive 5,000mAh battery from empty to full in less than two hours. Motorola Moto G62 5G review: Cameras Justifying its price compared to the now-discounted Moto G62 5G will likely be the biggest struggle for the G53, as the other specifications are either the same or slightly inferior. The battery is 5,000mAh, but fast charging is only 10W, compared to the G62 5G’s 15W, and while the 6.5in display has a 120Hz refresh rate, it only has an HD+ resolution. The main camera is again a 50MP sensor, though the superfluous 2MP macro lens has been dropped, folding those duties into the 8MP ultrawide lens. 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. But this doesn’t tell the full story. There’s a slight but noticeable delay between pressing the shutter and the camera snapping, which can prove frustrating with timings, and this also makes it pretty easy to get blurry images, too. The Moto G31 comes with Android 11 as standard and is fairly bloat free. The only additions here are Motorola's Moto Actions - which are often-useful gesture controls, and a few other minor tweaks, but the additions are easy enough to ignore and don't take up much space.