Home Mobiles Moto G73 5G review: a capable sub-20k contender

Moto G73 5G review: a capable sub-20k contender

Here's my take on Moto's new G-series smartphone - Moto G73

By Ashish Kumar -

Published On: March 23, 2023

Review Summary

Expert Rating
★
★
7.0/10

The Moto G73 5G is Motorola's first G-series smartphone in India this year. Aimed at photography enthusiasts, the handset packs a 'flagship-grade Ultra Pixel 2um camera' that promises stunning images with outstanding clarity, detail, and colour accuracy. The Moto G73 5G is also the first smartphone in the country with MediaTek Dimensity 930 SoC. Other key specs of the Moto G73 include support for 13 5G bands, 120Hz refresh rate display, stereo speakers, and a 5,000mAh battery.

To learn more about this device, including how the phone performs in real life and whether is it better than its competitors, read our Moto G73 review.

Verdict

The Moto G73 5G has been launched with the same sticker price in India as its predecessor, the Moto G72. The new phone may not have the best display and also misses out on a high-res 108MP camera offered by the older model, but it is still a capable device for its price. More importantly, the Moto G73 is 5G-ready.

The lowdown

The Moto G73 design is in line with many other smartphones you will find in the segment. The handset has an all-plastic design, utilising a solid body that doesn't creak when pressure is applied, a matte finish back, and a glossy camera module. The module is compact, but it protrudes from the surface and makes the phone wobble while lying flat on a surface. That said, the handset offers a nice in-hand feel and is easy to manoeuvre. The phone only weighs 181 grams and comes with chamfered edges. The USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer is on the bottom, along with the 3.5mm headphone jack and a speaker grille. The volume rocker and power button can be found on the right spine of the phone. The power button has a fingerprint scanner built-in that unlocks the device in a jiffy. Be that as it may, the volume buttons are not easy to reach unless you resort to finger gymnastics. The handset is IP52 rated, which offers basic protection against water.

The Moto G73 packs a 6.5-inch LCD display that bears FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The bezels are not razer thin, and the screen has a centred punch-hole setup for the selfie camera. Despite that, the handset offers a respectable viewing experience. The colours look sharp and punchy, and the display is legible outdoors too. The experience of playing games and watching movies might not be the best, but you will have no trouble responding to texts, using apps, and doing a lot more under direct sunlight. The 120Hz refresh rate works fine across the UI and supported apps. The phone has the option to lock the screen refresh rate at 60Hz or 120Hz or keep it at auto where the system automatically adjusts the refresh rate based on the content running on the screen. This helps save some battery.

Speaking of which, the Moto G73 packs a 5,000mAh battery with 30W TurboPower fast charging support. The latter takes anywhere from 60-90 minutes to juice up the device. Once charged, the phone can last up to a day on average to moderate usage. In the PCMark benchmark, the handset returned a score of 10 hours and 10 minutes. I was getting close to 7 hours of screen-on time, which is decent for a mid-range phone. Moving on, the G73 runs Android 13 out of the box to take care of the software side of things. The software is close to stock, with Motorola's MyUX custom skin running on top. It's a light custom Android skin that comes with a handful of proprietary apps and offers the usual Moto shortcuts such as chop-chop to turn on the flash and twist to open the camera app. There are a few customisation options as well, and a new Family Space app, which allows you to choose apps that only your kid or loved ones can see and use. It also allows you to set app usage limits. The handset also has a Moto Secure app for added security from malware, phishing and other threats.

Coming to performance, the Moto G73 is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 930 SoC paired with 8GB RAM and 128GB user-expandable storage. The handset offers snappy performance for the most part while launching apps and playing graphically-demanding games such as Asphalt 9 with moderate settings. The multi-tasking remains decent on the device as well. However, under intense loads like running games for half an hour or so, the handset may slow down and heat a little. The CPU Throttle benchmark result shows the phone's performance throttles to 66 percent running 50 threads for 30 minutes. That said, the G73 has a significant lead over its rival Redmi Note 12 5G on Geekbench and AnTuTu. The Moto handset scored 4,22,696 points on AnTuTu, while its Geekbench multi-core score was 2,272. In similar tests, the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1-powered Redmi Note 12 5G scored 3,66,146 points and 1,991 multi-core points, respectively.

The Moto G73 sports a dual rear camera setup with a 50MP 2µm primary sensor, which has large pixels that capture more light. This is paired with an 8MP ultra-wide lens and an LED flash. The handset captures detailed shots in daylight. The 12.5MP images from the primary camera have good dynamic range and well-exposed highlights. The HDR mode over-sharpens the details, but the colours look balanced and close to reality. The 8MP ultra-wide lens, which offers a 118-degree field of view (FoV) offers usable shots, at least when the sun is out. The dynamic range and colours are acceptable, but there is visible barreling in the corner, which is common in the smartphones in the segment. In low light and indoors, the camera's performance drops a little. There is a slight delay in capturing images, and the cameras also take time to focus. The images look grainy and less detailed, but if you are in a well-lit environment, the results might look decent. Otherwise, use night mode which reduces the noise, making the images more appealing.

The portrait mode in the Moto G73 does well with edge detection and separating the background from the foreground in daylight. The bokeh effect also looks natural. The macro mode is average at best. It requires extremely stable hands and strong lighting to get an impressive shot. Up front, the Moto G73 packs a 16MP snapper for selfies and video calling. The snapper delivers likeable selfies with ample details and colour accuracy as long as the sun is out or there is enough lighting.
In terms of connectivity, the Moto G73 features dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.3, dual SIM standby, 4G LTE, and 5G. The handset supports as many as 13 5G bands. For an immersive listening experience, the G73 packs stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos, which is loud and crisp.

Final verdict

Rs 18,999. That's the Moto G73 price in India. For a similar outlay, you have the Redmi Note 12 5G (review), which was launched earlier this year and packs an AMOLED screen. The handset also offers a better battery life than the Motorola smartphone. However, the Moto G73 manages to trump the Redmi phone with its performance, speaker output, and the latest software, which is closer to stock. The handset also offers impressive photography in daylight, while the battery life is decent as well. All these things make the Moto G73 a reasonable buy.