Moto G37 Power review: sticks to a tried and tested formula

Taking cues from last year’s Moto G57 Power and G67 Power, the Moto G37 Power recently launched with a heavy focus on battery endurance, strong and stylish design, and suitable performance for everyday use starting at Rs 15,999. That said, in a market where smartphone prices are seeing a steep rise due to the memory shortage, does the Moto G37 Power offer enough value to be considered by those seeking a reliable budget smartphone? Find out in this detailed review.

Quick verdict

The Moto G37 Power is a reliable phone with excellent multi-day battery life and comfortable handling despite its hefty weight. The handset delivers solid daily performance and immersive stereo sound. However, it falls short in software update longevity, and the main camera tends to output dull tones.

Design: hefty yet comfortable to hold

At first glance, the Moto G37 Power’s design can easily be mistaken for previous Moto G series phones, such as the Moto G57 Power or G67 Power, both from the front and rear. That being said, the smartphone punches above its weight by featuring a vegan leather back panel that no other smartphone is currently offering at around Rs 15.000. This adds a smooth grip, while the protruding camera module helps in resting your index finger when holding the phone upright.

Coming in at 215g, the Moto G37 Power certainly feels hefty in the hand, but over time, I did get used to the weight. Towards the bottom, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, while the earpiece also acts as a loudspeaker when watching content. Assisted by Dolby Atmos, the speakers delivered loud and crisp sound levels in my experience.

Motorola is highly emphasising the phone’s MIL-STD-810H military-grade durability and IP64 rating, the standard level of protection also found on the higher-tier Moto G67 Power. While I didn’t test the phone’s drop resistance, it easily survived heavy water splashes under a running tap.

Display: LCD panel offers sufficient vibrancy

The Moto G37 Power flaunts a 6.7-inch HD+ (1604 x 720) IPS LCD display with up to 120Hz refresh rate, the common set of specifications found on all smartphones released around Rs 15,000 as of late. While I wish the side bezels and bottom chin were narrower, the punch-hole cutout that houses the 8MP selfie camera helps in giving the display a slight modern touch, which is not the case on phones with U-shaped notches, like the Realme C83.

Moving on to the actual viewing experience, the display does its best to offer a sufficient level of detail for an HD+ panel, while the colours produced in the “Vivid” setting are well-saturated for an LCD display. Last year’s Moto G57 Power offered a 1080p display at a similar price point, but the Moto G37 Power gets a 720p panel. This is likely a cost-cutting measure by Motorola to keep the price in check amid rising component costs in the smartphone industry.

Unlike ColorOS, Realme UI, HyperOS, and XOS-based smartphones in the budget segment, the Moto G37 Power runs all third-party apps at a 120Hz refresh rate by default, leading to a cohesive, smooth scrolling experience. With 1,050 nits of high brightness level, the display gets optimally bright indoors, while outdoors, the screen’s legibility is just up to the mark.

Lastly, even with the Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protective layer on the display, the Moto G37 Power has endured several visible scratches during a week of use. Hence, it’s highly recommended to install a third-party screen protector as soon as you get the device.

Performance: handles daily operations well

The performance and gaming side of things on the Moto G37 Power are taken care of by the MediaTek Dimensity 6400, an octa-core chipset based on a 6nm process paired with 128GB UFS 2.2 storage and either 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, depending on the variant you opt for. During regular use, the smartphone holds up decently well even with multiple apps running in the background.

However, once you start engaging in games, the Moto G37 Power may not offer the most ideal results. For instance, while playing Subway Surfers, the game ran smoothly at the start, but showed noticeable frame rate drops after reaching higher scores. In Call of Duty: Mobile, at the “Low” graphics and “Max” frame rate settings, the phone can run the game at up to 60FPS. As for the actual results, I tried playing two Multiplayer mode matches of around 10 minutes each, during which the phone delivered an average frame rate of 58 FPS in one and 55 FPS in the other.

During a 30-minute Classic mode BGMI gameplay session with ‘HDR’ graphics and ‘Extreme’ frame rate settings, the Moto G37 Power achieved an average frame rate of 37.3, per the Scene8 app. For comparison, the OPPO K14x and Realme C83 delivered average frame rates of 35.6 and 39.4, respectively, on the same settings and duration. Lastly, since the RAM boost is enabled by default, the 4GB of RAM was able to keep apps in memory, but it may become a bottleneck in the long term.

In benchmarking tests such as AnTuTu and Geekbench, the Moto G37 Power delivers scores comparable to the OPPO K14x and Realme C83, both of which are powered by the Dimensity 6300 processor.

Software: some nifty new additions on board

Just like every other Motorola smartphone released recently, the Moto G37 Power runs on Android 16 with Hello UI layered on top. However, even though the company doesn’t reveal the iteration of Hello UI the smartphone gets, I found several new and advanced software additions that enhance the user experience.

Just like the Motorola Razr Fold (review), the Moto G37 Power supports Android 16’s Live Updates feature, which displays live activities as compact pills in the status bar. For example, turning on the flashlight shows a ‘Torch’ pill, while playing music on Spotify or YouTube Music displays the song title in a tappable pill that opens the playback controls. In terms of customisation, Motorola has finally added a wide variety of new clock styles on the lockscreen, something that was one of my major gripes when I reviewed Motorola’s Android 16 update late last year.

The usual chop chop gesture to turn on the torch and twist the wrist to summon the camera are present on the Moto G37 Power, while Motorola’s advanced features like Moto Connect for running apps on a PC and Moto Secure for enhanced privacy and security are also here. Google’s Circle to Search and Gemini also make the cut on the G37 Power.

As for the software support, the phone is stated to receive just the Android 17 update, which is on par with the Realme C83, while other rivals like the OPPO K14x and Redmi 15C are assured of at least two OS upgrades.

Battery and charging: stellar endurance for moderate use

With the spotlight firmly on its massive 7,000mAh battery, the Moto G37 Power excels in delivering exceptional endurance. While the company vaguely claims the battery can last up to three days without providing any usage scenarios, I did manage to run the phone for three days on a full charge, while achieving a respectable screen time of 10 hours and 15 minutes.

As for my use case, it included several hours of using WhatsApp and scrolling Instagram reels, watching videos on YouTube, capturing camera shots, playing games like Brawl Stars and CODM, and hours of streaming music in the background through Spotify. During this particular battery run, the phone was connected to Realme Watch S5 via Bluetooth, and mobile data, WiFi, and location services were enabled throughout.

Given the battery results, it’s safe to say the Moto G37 Power can easily last over 1.5 days with moderate to heavy use for most people, which could largely be attributed towards its HD+ only display and entry-level processor. For battery top-ups, Motorola bundles a 33W TurboPower charging adapter even though the phone supports up to 30W charging.

During my testing, I plugged the phone in at 20 percent and it took 1 hour and 18 minutes to reach 100 percent. Given the massive battery size, this charging speed is acceptable for a phone priced around Rs 15,000. Notably, the Realme C83 took longer for a full charge in our in-house tests. On the other hand, the OPPO K14x with a smaller 6,500mAh battery charges from 20 to 100 percent in 1 hour and 28 minutes

Camera: colours and tones need some work

The Moto G37 Power is equipped with a 50MP primary camera with f/1.8 aperture and a 2.-in-1 light sensor to capture accurate colours and tones. Upfront, there’s an 8MP selfie camera. Users can record videos in up to 2K resolution at 30FPS using both the rear and front cameras. For an enhanced photography experience, Motorola has thrown in a couple of AI features like Shot Optimisation for capturing ideal pictures and Auto Smile Capture, which can click photos with a smile.

Now let’s talk about the camera outputs. Unlike previous Motorola smartphones, which generally delivered poppy reds and greens, I found the G37 Power’s colour processing a bit different. While the primary camera results in natural tones, the colours may at times appear washed out to the point that the images look dull. So, if you prefer vibrant and saturated images, you may need to tweak or edit the photos to achieve your desired results.

The Moto G37 Power delivers decent detail and clarity for its price segment, but the dynamic range and highlight control need improvement. In low-light and night conditions, the images turn out soft, but the results show a major improvement when clicking in “Night vision” mode, where it also manages to have better control over the exposure.

Here’s how the Moto G37 Power fares in photography in various conditions compared to its close rivals, such as the Realme C83.

Daylight

In the daylight comparison, the Realme C83 takes the lead with sharper details, better dynamic range, and more accurate exposure. It also delivers more natural colours compared to the Moto G37 Power. However, the Moto G37 Power shows better highlight control in areas with strong sunlight.

Portrait

The Moto G37 Power makes a strong comeback in portrait shots. The Realme C83 suffers from inaccurate contrast, poor lens flare control, unnatural highlight rendering on skin tones, and weak edge detection. Even though the Moto G37 Power’s shot isn’t ideal either, it has produced a somewhat usable result.

Selfie

In selfies, the Moto G37 Power closely depicts the actual sunny afternoon scene by rendering warm tones on the skin tone, while the Realme C83 blows out the highlights on the face. Unlike the rear camera, the selfie camera of the G37 Power produces better details than the C83, while the Realme smartphone outputs better dynamic range by maintaining consistent colours in the foreground and background.

Low-light

In a low-light scene, the Realme C83 exposes the entire frame noticeably better; however, its image shows heavy grain. On the other hand, the Moto G37 Power’s output is slightly more detailed and also depicts the real colours of the actual scenario.

Night mode

Upon enabling night mode, the Realme C83’s shot sees an improvement in terms of details, but the Moto G37 Power’s image continues to have better exposure and sharper details.

Final verdict: Is the Moto G37 Power a decent pick at around Rs 16,000?

The Moto G37 Power keeps up with the competition, courtesy of the MediaTek Dimensity 6400 chipset, which is a slightly advanced version of the Dimensity 6300 powering the Realme C83 and OPPO K14x under Rs 16,000. The software is not only well optimised to deliver sufficient performance for daily use, but also gains a few new additions compared to the previous Motorola releases, such as Live Updates, a host of lockscreen customisability, and a new notification panel.

Coming to the star of the show, the 7,000mAh battery delivers exceptional battery life in moderate use, including camera use and gaming, while the hefty weight is somewhat offset by the soothing vegan leather back, which aids in delivering a comfortable grip. Even though it features an HD+ LCD panel, the handset excels at delivering a solid audio experience with stereo speakers, which remains rare in this price bracket.

Furthermore, I wish it offered the standard two major OS upgrades in the segment instead of just one. That said, if you can live with the primary cameras occasionally delivering dull tones in daylight scenes, the Moto G37 Power is a great grab starting at Rs 15,999 for its comfortable in-hand feel, top-class battery life, and reliable daily performance.

Editor’s rating: 8.1/10

Reasons to buy the Moto G37 Power

• Stellar battery life lasting up to 3 days on moderate use.
• Hefty yet comfortable and durable build and design.
• Stereo speakers offer an immersive sound experience.
• Gains enough performance for daily operations.

Reasons to skip the Moto G37 Power

• Set to receive just one OS upgrade, while rivals offer at least two.
• Primary camera tends to produce dull tones, which may not sit well with everyone.