Motorola Moto g34 5G review: Better budget options

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The Moto g54 is one of my favourite budget mobile phones. With an RRP of $299, it ticks so many boxes in the balance between price and performance and offers exceptional value.

So for Motorola to launch the Moto g34 5G, which costs $279 RRP, I have to wonder just how much value there is in those missing $20 to make this phone a viable option.

The answer is that the g34 isn’t just the Moto g54 5G with a slightly worse screen. There are several differences between the phones, and while I’ll break them down for you, the result is that I’d recommend just spending the extra $20 for the g54 5G.

What is the Moto g34 5G offering?

Motorola is pitching the g34 5G as a device with an affordable price point, high-res audio support and decent cameras. That doesn’t really tell us too much, though.

A look at the spec sheets for both the g54 and the g34 highlights many differences between the two phones. The most notable change from the $299 device to the $279 device is that the g34 5G uses a Snapdragon 695 processor, rather than a Media DImensity 7020 like the g54.

There’s also a “better” graphics chip, so the g34 manages to complete the GeekBench 6 GPU benchmarks, unlike the g54.

Bothe screens are 6.5-inches, but Motorola has cut back the resolution on the g34 to 720 × 1600. It also misses out on an adaptive refresh rate, and has a slightly larger bezel than the g54.

Camera-wise, Motorola has given both phones a 50 MP main snapper and a 2MP macro lens, though only the g54 offers optical stabilisation.

And both models feature a 5,000 mAh battery, though the g54 offers 33W fast charging vs the g34’s 18W.

Which all combines to a difficult proposition. I can’t foresee a single situation where it makes sense to buy the g34 over the g54. For an extra $20 (and excluding any online discounts you might find), you can get a much better phone for just an extra $20.

What does the Moto g34 5G do well?

All that’s not to say that the g34 is a bad phone. In fact, for its price, it’s quite a viable option.

For a start, there’s solid 5G connectivity out of the box, and the large 6.5-inch screen looks reasonable. If we forget about comparing it to the g54 for a moment, this display reminds me of HD screens from about five years ago.

It isn’t the most detailed out there, and it shows, but thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate support, it scrolls nice and smoothly.

When it comes to performance, there’s actually not a huge amount of difference between the Snapdragon 695 inside this phone and the MediaTek chip in the G54.

I found the phone good enough for pretty much all my usual usages, with only more serious gaming being a let-down. I couldn’t install Call of Duty: Warzone, though Call of Duty: Mobile downloaded fine.

On low-res settings it was actually okay to play as well. HD textures made it a little janky, so I’d suggest sticking with the basics for this one.

Other games like Marvel Strike Force fared better, as it put a bit less pressure on the processor and GPU.

Which all makes sense, right? You don’t buy a $279 phone expecting it to let you play high-end mobile games.

Solid battery life

I’m not big on trying to regiment battery test scores because how I use my phone carries so much from day to day.

But I do feel like the battery life on the g34 punches a bit above its weight.

Because I wasn’t really using the device for a lot of gaming, instead scrolling through the socials or checking emails, I could comfortably get through a day on a charge, sometimes close to two.

When things did get a touch low, the phone charged reasonably quickly too, thanks to the 18W TurboPower charging support. It’s nothing like the 125W found in the Edge 50 Pro, which is fine by me because the phone didn’t heat up like the sun while I was charging.

What could the Moto g34 5G improve?

I found the camera array of the g54 quite underwhelming when I tested it back in March, and given it’s mostly the same setup, I’m also quite underwhelmed here.

I found colours to be muted, and high contrast situations struggle in particular. It almost looks like there’s an Instagram filter on the camera lens by default designed to give the photos a washed out texture.

I also don’t understand the Macro lens inclusion. Macro photography can be spectacular, but very, very rarely from a smartphone lens.

I would much, much, much prefer to see an ultra-wide lens on here that gives the camera at least the impression of some zoom controls.

The other noticeable challenge with the camera is the processing time. When you take a photo — particularly a macro shot — and attempt to look at it, it takes a while to display the actual photo.

Instead, it shows a grainy low-res version, which makes you think you missed the shot and got a blurry image instead.

Rounded edged, please

While the g34 5G comes in a choice between vegan leather or a matte rear finish.

I really like the vegan leather on Motorola’s devices, and that’s true here, except that the design of the g34 doesn’t offer seamless curves.

What I mean by that is that the edges between the front display, the vegan lather backing and the phone’s frame, are all kinds of sharp.

Not sharp enough that you’ll cut yourself. But sharp enough to be uncomfortable to hold. Particularly on the back corners of the phone, and the front edges.

I’d love for the phone to just be slightly more refined around the sides.

Verdict

The Moto g34 5G is a reasonable budget handset in the sub-$300 price bracket.

But ultimately, you shouldn’t buy it. Not because it’s a bad phone, but because Motorola’s g54 is a much better phone, and only costs an extra $20. And that’s only if you’re paying full price – it’s actually cheaper than the g34 on Amazon as I write this.

And for that $20 difference, it feels as though Motorola has stripped out too much. The features not there will be some of the features you will miss.

Where to buy the Motorola Moto g34 5G online

Motorola Moto g34 5G

The g34 5G offers reasonable performance and specs for a sub-$300 smartphone, but it's not as good as the g54 which is only $20 more expensive.

Check Price @ Amazon