Motorola Moto G60s Review - I expected much more

The front camera is sunk into a hole in the screen and takes up relatively little space - the frames around it are very modest in size. An interesting fact is a very bright lamp hidden in the upper frame (practically invisible), illuminating our face while taking a selfie. I myself had no idea about this lamp at first, so I almost dropped my smartphone during the first evening selfie, when it suddenly flashed in my face - so I advise you to be careful;)

Now it's time for the camera's rear island. This, of course, must protrude above the smartphone's housing, which - as always - irritates me extremely. In Moto, the lenses stick out only slightly, but I still feel quite uncomfortable putting my smartphone on its back. The arrangement of the three main cameras is vertical, and next to them we find a bonus (so-called decorative) lens for "catching the depth" and a bright LED. There is also a place on the island for an inscription informing about 64 Mpix in the main eye of the camera.

The sides of the smartphone are, unfortunately, the same as the back of the device, plastic, which complements its "plasticity". On the upper side of the "Motki" we find a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a microphone. At the bottom, there is also a microphone, as well as a grill that hides a single speaker and a USB-C connector. The left side is decorated only with a hybrid tray for SIM and microSD cards, while on the right edge there are as many as 4 buttons, at which we will stop for a moment.

First of all, all 4 keys are, in my opinion, placed too high and too close to each other, which is why I confused them until the end of the tests. What's worse, there are some 40 extra screenshots in the smartphone's photo gallery, which I took by mistake while pressing the lock and volume down key. In theory, the lock button has a different texture from the other keys, but it doesn't matter in the case - and it was in the silicone "suit" that I most often wore the Moto G60s.

The volume keys are, in my opinion, too shallow, and therefore not accurate, which I regret, because I often use them on my smartphone, not only to control the volume of music, but also to mute the smartphone. At the top we have a button for calling the Google assistant, which - firstly - is too high, and secondly ... it is completely redundant, at least in my opinion.

You can read on the web that the Motorola I tested here is IP52 certified, which in theory suggests that the smartphone is partially waterproof. I would rather not check it myself and treat it (as always in the case of this type of device) as an emergency security, not a smartphone feature.

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Display

As an AMOLED screen user, I always have a problem testing smartphones with IPS displays. Habits to Always on Display and perfect black reproduction are doing their job, which makes returns to less advanced IPS painful - especially at night, in smartphone dark mode. The Motorola Moto G60s - despite the IPS screen - has an ace up its sleeve.

This ace is the high refresh rate recently popular in smartphones and we are talking not about 90 Hz, but up to 120 Hz! Thanks to this, system animations and applications seem much faster and smoother, which improves the comfort of using the smartphone. Also compatible with higher FPS games, they look and run better than on traditional 60Hz displays.

This alone makes the Moto G60s screen defend itself in its price shelf, and that's not all, because the good color reproduction and wide viewing angles deserve praise. I cannot say a bad word about the resolution, which is 1080 by 2460 pixels, which gives us 396 pixels per inch, which I consider the most sensible value - at such an intensity it is difficult to see a single pixel, and a higher value would drain the battery unnecessarily.

Throughout the tests, I was only irritated by the maximum brightness of the Motorola display, which, even on an average sunny day, was disappointing with its relatively low level.

It's also hard not to notice that the screen has quite a size - as much as 6.78 inches, which, however, surprisingly did not interfere with its use, probably due to the use of rounded backs of the device. Of course, one-handed control is moderately comfortable, but I know many other smartphones of comparable size that were less comfortable in my hand.

So as a whole, the display is a strong advantage of the tested Motorola. Of course, the AMOLED screen would be even better here, but as for an IPS display, it is difficult to fault the G60s with something sensible, well, maybe in addition to the already mentioned maximum brightness.

Operation and software

This paragraph will be short compared to similar parts in other smartphone reviews of competing brands. The reason for this is very simple - Motorola still can't decide whether to make its own overlay or prefer to use Google's native system. At the moment, the company is somewhere in the middle, using pure Android with many proprietary additions.

The problem is that this solution works on average in my opinion. This combination combines all the biggest disadvantages of native Android with all the disadvantages of manufacturers' overlays. So here we have a scarcity of functions and practical solutions of the pure Google system, combined with the errors of the author's overlays. So here and there the text can overlap the selfie camera (so we cannot, for example, press the button because it is under the front camera).

Several times I was unable to turn off the flashlight with a gesture of "shaking" the phone. Once the smartphone did not completely respond to the volume down and up buttons (here the reset helped). Almost every time, the smartphone erroneously saved the cropped screenshots, moving the entire part of interest to me a few centimeters up.

These were not and maybe huge errors, but I would expect such "surprises" in the cheap overlay of a small Chinese manufacturer, and not in the allegedly pure Android from the legendary Motorola. There are, of course, some nice additions, such as Moto gestures, allowing us, for example, to quickly turn on the camera or flashlight, but for me, unfortunately, the proportion of "cool" to "crap" of the system clearly shows the victory of the latter.

When it comes to the speed of the smartphone, I have no major reservations. The responsiveness of the tested Motorola has remained at a satisfactory level, although it is not the level of flagships (which is understandable), but even of mid-range smartphones. Too many jams or "slow-wise" of the system may not have been here, but the phone manages the RAM quite aggressively, so it has often turned out that applications that were dormant in the background turned off completely after just a few minutes.

To make matters worse, this problem mainly concerned applications such as Spotify or Jakdoajde, i.e. programs that I often leave running in the background. The quintessence of "refining" the overlay / system is the change of the lens to the ultra-wide angle, when our eyes see ... ", 5x" instead of the information about the approximation power of "0.5x".

I did not like this mixture of pure Android with Motorola accessories, and throughout the entire duration of the tests I was catching my head when I saw how some - seemingly simple activities - are unnecessarily difficult here. Even the timer settings are terribly archaic here, so I was forced to install external basic applications.

If you want to read more about the features added by Motorola, I invite you to the Moto G100 review, in which Mateusz describes the Moto features in detail.

Moto G100 Review - Motorola, how you impressed me right now

Communication facilities

After testing my first 5G-enabled smartphone, I found out that my next phone will have to support the fifth generation cellular network. Despite the fact that the 5G network is not something for me that would convince me to immediately replace my phone with a newer one, I feel that my next smartphone will have to support 5G. Therefore, the Motorola Moto G60s has failed me in terms of its communication facilities.

Maybe 5G has not yet become a standard in smartphones, but in a device with a price above PLN 1000 (and in addition from a large manufacturer), I would already expect 5G network support. Unfortunately (including the processor used by Motorola), Moto G60s does not support the 5G network, which I consider this smartphone a minus, as well as the meager range in other networks.

I do not know if it is a matter of my Motorola Moto G60s, but being in the mountains for two days, I had a huge problem with catching the range with this smartphone near my hotel. Initially, I waved my hand at it, because most places in the resort had Wi-Fi access, but after a few hours I decided to transfer the SIM card to the private Xiaomi Mi 9 SE, which I kept in my bag "just in case".

And, as it turned out, in my "everyday" Xiaomi network access problems also occurred, but never once did the smartphone completely lose its range, which Motorola did notoriously and in the same places.

I also made similar simple comparisons in the center of Katowice and a few other places, and everywhere you could feel the significant advantage of Xiaomi over Motorola. This has already completely deleted my Moto G60s from the list of "potential future smartphones". However, I do not rule out that it was a problem of the test specimen only.

Other connectivity modules, such as Wi-Fi, GPS or Bluetooth, did not cause any problems, but the distaste for the troublesome cellular network remained and lasted until the end of the tests. On the plus side, NFC contactless payments and hybrid dual SIM, allowing you to choose between two SIM cards and a duo SIM card + microSD card.

Audio

The Moto G60s features only one single speaker on the lower edge of the smartphone, which boasts a high volume level and - unfortunately - a fairly average audio quality. It will be suitable for hands-free calls, but for listening to music or watching series on Netflix, I would rather connect headphones or an external speaker to the smartphone. The more that the built-in Moto speaker is very easy to cover (especially in the case) when holding the smartphone horizontally.

When it comes to the speaker for calls, I do not have much to complain about Moto G60s - the sound from the speaker is clean and loud enough, so I never had any problems with understanding the interlocutor. Also the built-in microphone for calls did not cause any problems, even with relatively loud sounds of the "urban jungle" - I was always well heard by the interlocutors.

Many will probably be pleased with the presence of a 3.5 jack on the top edge of the phone, which will allow us to connect wired headphones. However, I only used wireless Moto G60s and I was satisfied with the sound of this smartphone.

The Motorola I tested supports the aptX HD functions and a wide range of sound personalization, so that the sound of the smartphone can be adapted to ourselves. I am not just convinced of the maximum volume for audio reproduction on headphones - I would raise the upper limit of the volume by about 20%.

Biometric security

The location of the fingerprint reader is a completely subjective matter for each user. Smartphone manufacturers mainly choose three places for the reader: under the screen, on the side of the smartphone and on its back. Motorola quite consistently chooses the latter, which - I must admit - I am not the biggest fan myself. In my opinion, this is the least comfortable position of all of them and I prefer readers embedded in the screen or - as a last resort - on the side lock button of the smartphone.

Whatever you say, the fingerprint reader used on the Motorola Moto G60s back works without any problems. During more than two weeks of testing, the smartphone incorrectly read my finger only four times, which I think is a great result. Also, the speed of unlocking did not raise any of my objections, and I consider the merging of the Motorola logo with the reader a very tasteful addition.

It is a pity that Motorola has not attempted any additional gestures related to the fingerprint reader board. In other smartphones, we can sometimes use the reader to, for example, lower the notification bar or take a screenshot. This is especially useful for large smartphones, and the Moto G60s is one of them - unfortunately, there is no such addition here.

The smartphone also has the option of unlocking the smartphone with the help of our face recognition and the Smart Lock function. As always in the case of "scanning" the face with a regular front camera, I advise against this function, not only because of the poor level of security (it is quite easy to deceive this method of blocking), but also low efficiency, especially in poor lighting conditions.

Working time

It's finally time for a paragraph in which I will not have any major reasons to complain. The battery in the Motorola Moto G60s is certainly the biggest advantage of this smartphone, not only because of its long battery life, but also very fast charging - the device can be charged with a power of up to 50 W!

It may not be a record number in the world of smartphones (Xiaomi Mi 11T Pro can be charged with a power of 120 W), but it should be noted that probably no close competitor of the Moto G60s can boast of similar performance.

Importantly, in the set with the smartphone we will find a 50-watt charger that will easily charge the smartphone with full power. Well, I also used this charger to charge my Nintendo Switch or Macbook and these devices did not have any problems with it, charging with "full power".

In addition, the charger has a bonus USB-A port that allows you to charge two devices at the same time, thanks to which I could charge both my smartphone and my smartwatch from one charger.

The compact dimensions of the charger also deserve a compliment, as well as a decent (though not so long) USB-C - USB-C cable included in the set. It's a bit sad, but in the case of the Motorola Moto G60s, I will miss the charger more ... than the smartphone itself.

Motorola Moto G60s is equipped with a 5000 mAh lithium-ion cell, which in my case usually meant about 1-1.5 days of very intensive use of the device.

This is a great result, bearing in mind that I very often use my smartphone outside my home with enabled data transmission, Bluetooth and local Wi-Fi sharing. After turning on the energy saving mode, I could rather easily reach two days of use.

You can view a few examples of battery cycles (including SoT) below:

One of the main promotional slogans of Motorola Moto G60s is "Get 12 hours of operation after 12 minutes of charging", which of course I decided to take a look at. In my case, after 12-15 minutes of charging the smartphone, the battery filled to about 40%, which indeed (after switching on the energy saving mode and using a few other tricks), can allow for 12 hours of economical use of the device. It took an average of 55 minutes to fully charge the battery.

I must also note that charging and using a smartphone at the same time - obviously - slows down the charging process, and also causes the Motorola Moto G60s to heat up even more than usual. Because, yes, during 50 W charging, the smartphone can significantly raise the temperature, which was noticeable even in the included silicone case.

Of course, there is no inductive charging (and thus also reverse), but I will notice that hardly any other competitor of this Motorola model offers this method of charging. It is a pity, I hope that it will slowly become a standard in smartphones above PLN 1000.

The camera

The photographic possibilities of the Motorola Moto G60s are a bit of a nail in the coffin of this smartphone. This device often had a problem with taking a good photo even on a relatively sunny day, which even much cheaper constructions have no problems with.

However, when the photo turns out to be clear, its quality can be satisfactory, the only problem is that about 1/3 of the photos I take during tests have poor focus or are partially blurred. And - let me emphasize - we are talking about photos taken during the day. So if in relatively good lighting conditions such problems can already appear, then, as you probably guessed, it is even worse after dark, despite the dedicated night mode.

As you could read in the specification, there are four lenses on the smartphone's backs, of which only three have a real function. Out of these three, only two will really be useful to you, because the third macro lens has a rather symbolic function in order to increase the number of camera eyelets. The other two are the main camera and the ultra-wide angle eyepiece - unfortunately my beloved telephoto lens is missing.

App

A small postscript for the software focused part of the review. The camera application is fairly standard software that is relatively easy to use. On the plus side, the presence of the Pro mode, which will allow slightly more advanced users to increase the quality of photos.

I will only note that the application is quite unstable as the preview was often frame-heavy, and turning on the HDR mode made taking photos a lot longer. In my opinion, the preview of recently taken photos also takes much too long.

And how are the photos taken from specific lenses?

Main lens

When the weather conditions are favorable, both for us and Motorola, and when the object / scene we are photographing is static, there is a chance that the photo taken by the Moto G60s will be of satisfactory quality.

Unfortunately, often taking photos with this smartphone is pure roulette, in which it is very difficult to predict whether the photo taken by us is clear and sufficiently lit - and this is a great obstacle in mobile photography, from which I do not expect the highest quality (this is what SLR and other cameras are for). professional cameras), but as practical and convenient as possible.

However, when the photo is successful, we can appreciate the vivid and very pleasing colors, not the worst detail and low noise. The smartphone quickly catches the focus, and the HDR mode - despite its subtlety - can further increase the dynamics of the photo.

The options include several modes, including the (obligatory for some time) night mode or the ability to take photos in full resolution. However, do not count on good photos after dark, because when there is less light, the photos lose a lot of quality. Even the aforementioned night mode does not help, which only brightens the photo a little, at the cost of even more noise.

Unfortunately, the lack of repeatability and certainty of taking photos, mentioned at the beginning, made me reluctantly take the smartphone reviewed here from my pocket to photograph something, or rather, I belong to large enthusiasts of mobile photography.

Of course, it is worth mentioning here - the Moto G60s can take a good quality photo, but in this price range most of its competitors can boast better and / or more repeatable photos.

Ultra wide angle lens

As is always the case with smartphones, the ultra wide-angle camera is slightly worse than the main matrix. It is no different with the Motorola Moto G60s, whose ultra-wide angle lens only aggravates the problems of the main camera. You can see it mainly at night, when I do not recommend using this lens at all - just like Motorola itself. Why? This is because in the camera application we cannot even turn on the night mode in the ultra wide-angle camera - this is probably a sufficient summary of this lens.

I also recommend taking a look at the photos comparing the two "main" lenses - you can see a clear difference in the colors of the wide and ultra-wide camera, as well as the amount of noise. In order not to be so strict, I will notice that the difference in the width of the photos between this and the main camera is quite large (approx. 38 degrees), so sometimes it is really worth (on a sunny day!) To use this lens.

Macro lens

I don't know why, but the presence of macro lenses in smartphones attracted my attention from the very beginning. On paper, it is a pretty cool "gadget", which can even be useful sometimes when traveling, or its presence could stimulate our creativity by playing with new types of shots.

Unfortunately, as I have emphasized many times, smartphone manufacturers rarely approach the subject of these cameras seriously, squeezing any low-resolution macro lenses of even lower quality on their backs. It is no different in the case of the tested Motorola, with which you have to sweat a lot to take a "ok" macro photo.

Front lens

In the front, a 16 megapixel camera is staring at us, which is unlikely to be a dream come true for selfie fans. Here, too, unfortunately, a large part of the photos came out blurry, not very detailed and, unfortunately, often overexposed.

Speaking of light - in complete darkness, we can use the optional front illuminating lamp mentioned at the beginning, which surprisingly effectively illuminates our face. The photos, of course, still come out of poor quality, but at least you can see something on them - so I count it as a tiny plus.

Video

And the last disappointment for us - video recording. For some reason, the Motorola Moto G60s doesn't allow you to record videos in 60 FPS, or in 4K - which I could forgive - or even in 1080p - which I can't forgive anymore. In return, Motorola offers us a slow motion mode, a sports color (averaging highlighting of one specific color in the recording), time-lapse video, as well as double recording, allowing for simultaneous video recording from the front and rear cameras.

The quality of the recordings is at a certain level, but the lack of 60 frames per second and average video stabilization (which is especially noticeable in 4K mode) completely spoil the impression. On Instagram or TikToku, the recordings will probably work, but the video quality of Samsung or Huawei - in this price range - of Motorola is still a long way off.

Summary

I expected much more from the Motorola Moto G60s. On paper, this smartphone looks good: an efficient processor, a lot of built-in memory, a capacious and very fast-charging battery, a 64-megapixel main eye of the camera, and a clean Android system, were to be a guarantee of the smartphone's success. Unfortunately, from the counting device mentioned now, the only really noteworthy feature is the battery and its fast charging.

All the rest of the Moto G60s attributes are painfully average, not to say mediocre. The camera is failing for this price range. The system is neither practical nor stable, and it is full of errors of various kinds. In terms of efficiency, this smartphone also does not knock down, counting a lot of slowdowns during the tests, and all this is also added to the lack of support for the 5G network and - in mine - poor workmanship and average design.

And the price. If this was a few hundred zlotys lower, I could still somehow argue for a few Motorola shortcomings. Unfortunately, in the end I cannot do it, and - as we well know - the competition is awake, which means that we can easily find much better designs on the market at a similar (and sometimes even lower) price - look at, for example, realme 8 5G.

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