Motorola G31 4/64GB - Mineral Grey

Product Information

Right from mid-range devices to affordable premium phones, Moto phones are making their presence felt. Video is limited to 1080p and there’s no stabilisation so don’t buy this phone if you want super smooth clips of your kids running around the garden or such like. Battery Life & Charging 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. Fellow Motorola phone, the Moto G9 Power, comes in about the same at 311 and 1,371, but it's also older.Elsewhere, there are a few downgrades. The 2MP depth sensor has been dropped, and we’re left with a triple-camera array consisting of a 50MP main camera (down from 64MP), an 8MP wide sensor and a 2MP macro lens.

The Moto G31 has a few downsides, but they’re all ones you should expect at this price and are reasonable to live with.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.