Motorola, a sub brand of Lenovo, have been looking to push more and more into the affordable market which has led the company to launch its latest offering, the Moto G14. It also no secret that we like Moto devices, with some of the ausdroid team owning and reviewing various Moto devices over the years, myself included.
The Moto G14 brings with it a very luxe design that won’t break the bank whilst also bringing with it some features from its mid-range devices.
So can the Moto G14 handle an Ausdroid review, let’s have a look shall we.
What’s in the box
In the box you get the device itself, clear plastic case, 10W wall charger, 1 metre USB-A to USB-C cable, SIM tool ejector an\d the usual safety, user manual and recycle paperwork.
The design
The Motorola G14 does look stunning and this front 6.5-inch display is just stunning despite the fact the display does not go fully to the edge of the device, meaning there are bezels surrounding the edge and display of the device. The bezels do become a little bit thicker down at the bottom with a 3-4mm bezel but this is just a minor design flaw that I can live with.
The display is very bright, clear and the colours are amazing. Located in a punch-hole in the middle top of the display, you will find the 8MP front facing camera. Granted is not a high resolution camera but will still offer some good selfies should you be that takes hea[s of selfies to share on social media.
The sides of the G14 are fashioned from aluminum, with the right hand side of the housing the volume rocker and the combined standby/power/finger-print sensor button located just underneath the volume rocker.
The bottom of the Moto G14 houses the USB-C charging port in the middle and to the right of this is the speakers and the left of the charger port is the microphone.
The left hand side of the device houses the dual-SIM and MicroSD card tray with the top of the Moto G14 houses the 3.5mm audio jack port.
The rear of the Moto G14 is made from plastic with a faux metallic leather like feel to it which I kind of like. The rear right hand corner (which is the left hand side on the back) there is the rear camera housing which protrudes out around half a millimetre or so and contains the dual rear camera set up which is a 50MP main sensor and a 2MP macro lens. The housing also has a single LED flashlight which is just to the right of the camera lenses.
The Moto G14 is powered under the hood by an Octa-core Unisoc Tiger T616 processor (2×2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55) alongside 4GB RAM and 128GB onboard storage which can be expanded to 1TB via MicroSD card. I will expand more on the performance including the processor and more further down in the review.
Lights, Camera, Action!
The Moto G14 comes with a dual rear camera set up made up of a 50MP sensor lens and a 2MP (f/2.4) macro lens.
Included features in the camera app include slow motion, video, photo, portrait, pro, night vision, panorama, dual capture (includes dual capture video) and timelapse.
Pictures taken with the rear camera are pretty decent, although some of the colours do seem a little dull than in life. However despite this small little issue the pics are still good enough to share on social media and with friends and family.
Front facing camera is a 8MP camera which is good and can still take some insta-famous selfie shots. Though I did notice with the selfie camera that there is a little bit of over exposure when taking selfies on very bright sunny days but again this can be somewhat edited out in your favourite photo editing apps.
Performance and Software
The Moto G14 is powered under the hood by an Octa-core Unisoc Tiger T616 processor (2×2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55) alongside 4GB RAM and 128GB onboard storage which can be expanded to 1TB via MicroSD card.
The Octa-core Unisoc Tiger T616 processor is good but it isn’t going to blow your socks off. There are a couple of times trying to play some games like Asphalt 9 I did notice the game occasionally have some small jumps or stuttering. Multitasking is also quite good though again I did notice some times where the device did slow down a little bit but not too much.
The Moto G14 comes with Android 13 right out of the box and during the review there were a couple of security updates. It is also worth noting that Motorola hasn’t provided any advice as to if and when the Moto G14 will get the software update to Android 14 but we have asked for this information and will keep this post updated once we know more. It is also important to note during the review there were two security patch updates which were downloaded to the device.
As part of the software, Motorola have included its unique My UX software, which provides access to an incredible range of shortcuts through Gestures designed to make everyday actions easier than ever by turning on the flashlight with a simple chop gesture or launching the camera with a twist of the wrist alongside additional personalisation features as well.
One thing to keep in mind is that the Moto G14 can only connect to 4G networks, which to be honest is still as good as 5G, but not just as fast, so if you´re after the faster 5G speeds then this might not be the device for you.
Battery
The Moto G14 comes with a 5000mAh battery which is more than enough when you think about it to get away with nearly a day’s worth of usage. With low to medium usage I could get away with more than 60%, having taken the device off charge at about 7a m and not returning home till after 6pm, however with more high usage this can dwindle down.
Of course, Motorola have included some battery saving features which could help make the battery last even longer which is always useful in those I forgot my charger or portable battery pack moments.
Should you consider buying one?
Honestly, for a budget device, the Moto G14 does offer a compelling option for those who might be looking to get their first android device or those who don’t want all the bells and whistles that say a more expensive mid range or high end device. It could also be a good option for those who want a dual SIM device that can be used for both work and personal mobile.
Yes there are some negatives but I feel for this device the positives such as a good display, great design, ok cameras, big battery and software and a really great price make this device worthy of consideration.
The Moto G14 can be purchased for $229 in either Pale Lilac and Steel Gray from the Motorola Australia website, alongside retail partners such as B HiFi, Harvey Norman, Australia Post, The Good Guys, Big W, Bing Lee and Amazon.
