Motorola Moto G34 5G Review

Verdict

Another cheap Motorola handset that’s worth a look for anyone buying for a relative or child, the Moto G34 5G is workmanlike but offers 5G capabilities for a very reasonable price.

Introduction

I recently reviewed the Motorola Moto G13, and at first glance, much of what I liked about that phone seems to have been shifted to the G34 5G.

This is still a nice-looking phone, with a decent enough battery life and enough performance for day-to-day activities that are largely down by a soft 720p display.

Much of what I said then applies now, but the G34 5G (as the name suggests) also packs 5G connectivity and a 120Hz refresh rate into a handset that costs just £150. That makes it a fantastic value for your child or elderly relative, or just as an additional work phone that can take advantage of 5G speeds.

If you can tolerate the pretty standard camera, average performance, and 720p screen, there are few better at this super budget price point.

Design

• Very similar to Moto G13
• 6.5-inch display
• 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD card support

It’s funny I should mention the Moto G13, because the external design of the G34 5G is remarkably similar. Gone is the ridged finish on the back, replaced with a smoother, more matte option that, at least for now, is less likely to accumulate fingerprints.

The front is, naturally, dominated by the 6.5-inch display (more on that shortly), while the bottom is just as predictable with a USB-C charging port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. There’s a speaker grille down there, too, which pairs nicely with the one at the top for a stereo speaker output. That’s something many phones in this price bracket tend to sidestep.

Grab the SIM ejector tool and you’ll find a microSD card slot within the SIM tray, as well as a volume rocker on one side. None of this is exciting, I know, but the look of the G34 5G is much more than the sum of its parts.

It’s not that long ago that phones at this price point looked and felt cheap, but Motorola has continued to hone its craft and I’d say this looks, well, good.

It’s not going to win any design awards with an all-plastic design that gives its budget nature away immediately, but it’s hard to argue that it isn’t clean, functional, or pretty smart, not looking too out place even compared to more premium alternatives. It’s also pretty light for a 6.5-inch phone, measuring in at just 179g. That plastic build has benefits after all…

Screen

• 6.5-inch IPS LCD display
• 120Hz refresh rate
• Soft 720p resolution

Like its sibling, the G13, the Moto G34 5G offers a 6.5-inch panel. It’s still LCD, too, which means that, as I did with its predecessor, I have to ding the Moto G34 5G for disappointing brightness and a flat range of colour. That’s expected at the price point, but it’s still worth mentioning for those new to the cheaper segment of the market.

The step up here is a 120Hz refresh rate that’s variable to save battery, though it’s still not as efficient as the LTPO tech from more premium alternatives. Still, many devices in this price bracket cap out around 90Hz at best, so for a phone in this category to hit 120Hz is a result, and it makes scrolling through nice and smooth. 

The bezels are uniform throughout, with a ‘hole-punch’ front-facing camera centrally placed under the top one. It’s a nice look, but the 720p resolution might diminish your enjoyment of video content on the go. Certain elements look a little too soft given the large screen size, and I can’t help but feel that 6.5-inch displays need to be 1080p at a minimum to deliver a largely crisp experience.

Screen tech aside, you’ll find a 3.5mm headphone jack for private listening – a benefit compared to most flagships – but if you forgo earbuds entirely, you’ll be pleased with the stereo speakers. They’re punchy, if a bit too focused on the mids, but they’ll do in a pinch.

Cameras

• 50MP primary camera
• 2MP macro is pointless
• Fine performance for the price

I’m of a certain vintage where I can remember phones with single-digit Megapixel counts being considered the future, but the democratisation of that technology now means a 50MP main camera on a £150 phone is no real surprise.

It’s basic in the best way when it comes to the G34 5G’s camera setup, with a 50MP primary snapper and a 2MP Macro counterpart. In decent light, the returns are solid, if unspectacular, from the main lens. It’s a little too opinionated on colours, almost as if it’s trying to showcase them at the cost of image accuracy, but it’s still better than the 2MP macro that should be avoided at all costs. You might as well think of this as a single-camera phone.

Portrait shots falter, sadly, whether you’re using the front or rear cameras. Both have trouble blurring the area immediately around the subject, making them look almost superimposed, but that’s not a surprise given just how cheap this phone is. ISPs need a lot of computational power to get the best portrait effects, and you won’t find that from the Snapdragon 695.

Low-light shots are lacking in detail, but they’re still not bad per se, especially when using Night Mode for a little less noise.

As with the G13, video is 1080p at 30fps and no more, no less. It does have better stabilisation than its sibling, though.

Performance

• Snapdragon 695 5G
• 4GB of RAM & 128GB of storage
• Virtual RAM boost up to 8GB

Many cheaper 5G phones tend to lean heavily on offering improved connection speeds at the cost of just about anything else, performance-wise.

The pairing of 4GB of RAM with the Snapdragon 695 5G chipset here gave me a bit of a scare at first (that does feel very low), but I was impressed at how my moment-to-moment usage of Google’s own apps and a few third-party options were pretty standard in the best way.

There are some hitches, for sure, especially when trying to shift from one app to another with any speed, but for the most part, things went as expected. My ongoing obsession, Marvel Snap, runs well, and League of Legends: Wild Rift is pretty playable on medium graphical settings. You’ll want to give Honkai Impact a miss, though.

Still, while I expected some low benchmarks, I was impressed at how far it was ahead of both the G13 and the G54. You can see those above.

There’s 128GB of storage from the off, and you can shift 4GB of it over to double the RAM which is handy. You can even upgrade the internal storage up to 1TB via microSD card.

Software

• Android 14
• Largely free of bloatware
• One OS upgrade

I’m pleased to see Motorola continue the trend of nice, clean Android installs. The G34 5G comes with Android 14 preinstalled, and aside from a few small outliers (TikTok being one of them, which may have to change soon), it’s almost all Google apps throughout with a smattering of Motorola options.

There’s a handy tutorial widget from Motorola that appears whenever you try and do something new, and while it’s easy to switch off, it could be ideal for a new Android user (or a younger or older one) to get to grips with the layout.

Sadly, there’s only a single guaranteed Android upgrade, but at this price, it feels churlish to ask for more. Motorola will offer security upgrades until 2027, though.

Battery life

• 5000mAh battery
• 20W charging
• Very slow to charge

Despite Motorola’s assurances that the device supports ‘TurboPower’ charging, and with a 20W charger in the box, the G34 5G charges glacially slowly – around 20% after 15 minutes and 35% after 30. Still faster than the G13, though.

That’s still very slow, although the battery itself is more than powerful enough to last a day and a bit on full charge. The 5,000mAh cell here powered day-to-day operations for a full working day and then some before needing to be charged up.

Latest deals