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Introduction
Seven generations into it, the Moto G is now a whole four-player lineup instead of just one phone like it was in the good old days. Here we'll focus on the namesake of the 2019 roster - the Moto G7 proper, to see if it still has some of that great value the original was famous for.
At first glance, the Moto G7 isn't missing any of the requisites of a modern phone, and it better not be - at $300 or €250 it's some 50% more expensive than the Moto G was in 2013, even accounting for inflation.
For your money, you'd be getting a 6.2-inch display, and to be fair that's 70-odd percent more screen area that the Moto G - on that metric alone, you could say the price increase is justified. It's a tall screen too, complete with rounded corners, waterdrop notch and minimal bezels, so it's perfectly in sync with the times.
Technically, so is the chipset, although the Snapdragon 632 is anything but exciting, even if it did come out in the second half of last year. The Android 9.0 OS is as current as you can get too, so more points to the G7 for not lagging behind.
With enough RAM and storage, plus a dedicated memory card slot, 3.5mm jack and an FM radio receiver, the Moto G7 checks pretty much every box that a savvy consumer is looking for in the midrange. Meanwhile, a 'depth sensor' on the back lets the G7 boast a dual camera while keeping costs down - you could say it's the norm in this segment.
Motorola Moto G7 specs
- Body: Glass back, plastic frame, 157.0 x 75.3 x 8.0 mm, 172g; Ceramic Black, Clear White color schemes.
- Display: 6.2" IPS LCD, 1,080 x 2,270px, 19:9 aspect ratio, 405ppi.
- Rear camera: Primary 12MP, 1.25µm, f/1.8 aperture; phase detect autofocus; secondary 5MP depth sensor.
- Front camera: 8MP, 1.12µm, f/2.2 aperture, fixed focus lens.
- OS/Software: Android 9.0 Pie.
- Chipset: Snapdragon 632: octa-core CPU (4x1.8 GHz Kryo 250 Gold & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 250 Silver); Adreno 506 GPU.
- Memory: 4GB of RAM; 64GB storage; dedicated microSD card slot.
- Battery: 3,000mAh Li-Ion (sealed), 15W charging.
- Connectivity: Dual SIM; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2; USB-C, 3.5mm jack.
- Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor; single, bottom-firing loudspeaker; three microphones (noise reduction).
Now, this being a whole lineup of Moto G7s, you can steer in different directions if this vanilla G7 isn't quite your thing. For example, the Plus will get you a faster chipset, higher-res cameras, and even faster charging, the Power will prioritize battery life, while the Play will come with significant savings to account for its lesser hardware.
Let's stay focused on the Moto G7, though, and leave the Plus, Power and Play aside. An unboxing is due.
Motorola Moto G7 unboxing
The Moto G7 comes in a green box that's color-coded to mean it's the G7 in particular inside and not any of the other three. Of course, you won't really know that it's just that we had all four at the office at one time, and they're all different, yet the same.
Remove the lid and the phone's right there already in a transparent silicone case - so that's what the tiny silver icon on the box meant. Other than the case, you'll also be getting a 15W charger that still has the TurboPower branding even if it's not quite as Turbo as the 27W unit that comes with the Moto G7 Plus. There's a cable too. No headset, though.
Design and 360-degree spin
The Moto G7 is a contemporary looking handset with what's become the defacto standard glass-on-both-sides build. It's virtually indistinguishable from its more upmarket sibling Moto G7 Plus, so effectively you'd be getting the premium build at a discount.
We say premium, but the frame is still polycarbonate as opposed to aluminum. Even so, it's well within reason in this price range.
We've asked Motorola reps if the back is made of Gorilla Glass 3 as is the front, and they've confirmed. That said, it's not stated explicitly on the official websites and we don't really have a way of testing it. In any case, the included... case will keep it safer.
What the specs do say is that the Moto G7 has a water repellent design that should keep it safe in case of accidental spills and light rain. The phone's not meant to be submersed, though, keep that in mind.
The rear is a classic Moto design with a large circular camera bump that houses the two modules and the flash. The face now has a domino across its eyes, nice.
The fingerprint reader is below the camera assembly with an 'M' logo printed on it. It's recessed a bit, plus it's placed conveniently, so you won't be fumbling to find it when unlocking.
Down on the bottom of the back panel there's a pinhole for one of the three microphones. It's a solution we saw on the G6s, but we still feel it looks a little weird. It's not a common design, that's for sure.
The Moto G7 comes in its own two distinct paint jobs that aren't available on the Plus. Or rather, the Moto G7 doesn't get the gorgeous Viva Red of the Plus. Then again, you can't have the Plus in the Clear White that you can get on the vanilla model. The Ceramic Black of our review unit is the other color the Moto G7 is available in.
Over on the front, there's no telling the Moto G7 apart from the Moto G7 Plus. That means a tall LCD with rounded corners and a larger-than-usual waterdrop notch. Above and to the right of the camera is a sensor array that holds the proximity and ambient light sensors. Higher up, where the front glass meets the frame, there's an earpiece slit. The earpiece doesn't double as a second speaker as it does on the Moto G7 Plus, though.
Folks with mild OCDs would be irked by the fact that the top bezel is ever so slightly thicker than the ones on the sides (which themselves aren't among the thinnest), but those are niggles that quickly disappear with actual use.
The chin below the display is noticeably thicker than the rest of the display outline, but as chins go it's reasonably svelte. There's still enough room to spell out a motorola logo in there. The primary mic is behind what looks like a nick in the display glass.
The right side of the polycarbonate frame is home to the power button and volume rocker. The power button is textured so there's no mistaking the two, but it could have been a bit larger. The clicky action is positive on both.
Up top there's another microphone and the card slot. As was the case on the previous model, the Moto G7 comes with a triple slot - two nano SIMs and microSD card can be used at the same time.
Down on the bottom, there's a USB-C port in the middle with a 3.5mm headphone jack and a loudspeaker to either side. It's the only loudspeaker the Moto G7 has, while the Plus rocks a stereo setup.
The Moto G7 measures 157 x 75.3 x 8 mm which is what you should expect for its display size. It's also reasonably light at 172g, though it doesn't have a very high-capacity battery, in all fairness. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 is only 0.1mm thicker for a whole 1,000mAh larger battery, though the difference does show in the weight - 186g for the Redmi. The Galaxy A7 (2018) is both thinner (7.5mm) and lighter (168g) than the Moto G7, yet it does pack a bit more juice (3,300mAh).
6.2-inch LCD is about good enough
The Moto G7 is equipped with a 6.2-inch display of the IPS LCD variety. A FullHD+ resolution in 19:9 aspect ratio means 2,270px on the long side, while pixel density works out to 405ppi. Rounded corners are par for the course too, and the Moto G7 also has a notch in the middle - a rather large waterdrop one.
All the above specs are the same as on the Moto G7 Plus, but this vanilla G7 managed a slightly higher maximum brightness - 20nits isn't all that much, but it's something. We also measured lower illumination of the blacks, so the cumulative effect is about 10% better contrast ratio - again, not a huge difference, but still an unexpected advantage of the lower-priced phone. Sample variation and different panel suppliers are both possible explanations.
Display test | 100% brightness | ||
Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
0 | 602 | ∞ | |
0.465 | 600 | 1290 | |
0.29 | 526 | 1814 | |
0.283 | 518 | 1830 | |
0.315 | 493 | 1565 | |
0.377 | 490 | 1300 | |
0.358 | 479 | 1338 | |
0.332 | 473 | 1425 | |
0.322 | 468 | 1453 | |
0.313 | 460 | 1470 | |
0 | 455 | ∞ | |
0.344 | 441 | 1282 | |
0.325 | 437 | 1345 | |
0.346 | 427 | 1234 | |
0 | 418 | ∞ | |
0 | 402 | ∞ |
Under direct light the G7's contrast turned out virtually identical to the G7 Plus's and both are about average as far as LCDs go.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Apple iPhone XS
5.171 - Apple iPhone X
5.013 - Huawei Mate 20 Pro
4.965 - OnePlus 5T
4.789 - Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Asus ROG Phone
4.765 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S9
4.63 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung Galaxy S9+
4.537 - Samsung Galaxy Note9
4.531 - Apple iPhone XS Max
4.516 - Sony Xperia XZ3
4.502 - Motorola Moto Z2 Play
4.459 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - Oppo RX17 Pro
4.434 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - Google Pixel 3
4.35 - Huawei Mate 20 X
4.337 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
4.324 - OnePlus 6
4.321 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
4.291 - vivo NEX Dual Display (second display)
4.289 - HTC One A9
4.274 - LG V40 ThinQ
4.256 - Oppo R15 Pro
4.251 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update)
4.234 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
4.22 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
4.148 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - OnePlus 6T
4.138 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - vivo V11
4.113 - vivo NEX Dual Display
4.108 - Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal)
4.096 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei P20 Pro
4.087 - Xiaomi Mi 8
4.086 - Meizu 15
4.082 - Nokia 6 (2018)
4.052 - Google Pixel 2 (pre-update)
4.023 - LG V30
4.022 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - vivo NEX S
4.012 - Honor Magic 2
4.01 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.998 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - LG G7 ThinQ (outdoor)
3.978 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone)
3.957 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Oppo Find X
3.954 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
3.901 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Motorola Moto G6 Plus
3.865 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
3.842 - Apple iPhone 6
3.838 - Microsoft Lumia 950XL
3.837 - Samsung Galaxy A6+ (2018)
3.834 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Sony Xperia XZ1
3.765 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Nokia 8 Sirocco
3.745 - Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
3.729 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)
3.725 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Sony Xperia X Compact
3.694 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Huawei P20
3.683 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact
3.675 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Huawei Honor View 20
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - Sony Xperia XZ2
3.58 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - Nokia 7 plus
3.479 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Motorola Moto G6
3.448 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
3.445 - Sony Xperia XA2 Plus
3.445 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
3.419 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
3.397 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
3.393 - LG G7 ThinQ
3.39 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.378 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor Play
3.349 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo F7
3.333 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Archos Diamond Omega
3.305 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Oppo Realme 2 Pro
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - BlackBerry KEY2
3.212 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
3.19 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Oppo R11s
3.153 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - Honor 8X
3.113 - HTC U11 Life
3.108 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
3.087 - HTC U12+
3.085 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
3.077 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Oppo F9
3.069 - Huawei P Smart 2019
3.069 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Xiaomi Mi Max 3
3.061 - Xiaomi Pocophone F1
3.059 - Huawei Mate 20
3.052 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
3.051 - Motorola One (P30 Play)
3.026 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
3.019 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Motorola Moto X4
3.012 - Motorola Moto G7
3.011 - Motorola Moto G7 Plus
3.01 - Oppo Realme 2
3.006 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - LG Q6
2.987 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
2.966 - Huawei P20 Lite
2.952 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
2.951 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Sony Xperia XA2
2.938 - Oppo Realme 1
2.932 - Razer Phone 2
2.932 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - Huawei Honor View 10
2.896 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium
2.867 - Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite
2.862 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Nokia 3.1
2.837 - Realme U1
2.815 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Nokia 7.1
2.804 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Honor 10 (Vivid)
2.757 - Nokia 2
2.752 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Huawei Mate 10 (normal)
2.742 - Motorola Moto G5S Plus
2.737 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Huawei Honor 7X
2.734 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Xiaomi Mi A2
2.696 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Mi A1
2.689 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - vivo V7+
2.671 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
2.654 - Oppo F5
2.653 - Doogee Mix
2.642 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Xiaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Sony Xperia Z3
2.618 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard)
2.616 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Huawei P Smart
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - HTC U11+
2.556 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
2.556 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - Huawei Honor 10 Lite
2.497 - BlackBerry Motion
2.494 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - Xiaomi Mi 4
2.424 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto)
2.417 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406
Just as you would find on a Pixel, the Moto G7's display options let you select between Natural, Boosted, and Saturated colors. Out of the box, it's set to Saturated and that's pretty self-explanatory. Measuring against an sRGB target we got an average DeltaE of 6.1. Neither Natural (5.4), nor Boosted (5.3) gave us a truly accurate sRGB rendition, and in all three modes the whites were particularly bluish with a DeltaE of around 8.
Motorola Moto G7 battery life
The Moto G7 relies on a 3,000mAh battery for autonomy and it's not a particularly big number these days. For perspective, the Galaxy A7 (2018) has a 3,300mAh power pack for a smaller 6-inch display, while the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7's capacity is a generous 4,000mAh. Then again, if you're looking for more juice, there's always the Moto G7 Power with its 5,000mAh cell.
Anyways, the Moto G7's battery life is alright, but not great. We measured 9 hours and change in our video playback test, and close to 11 hours of running our web browsing script. The Redmi Note 7 has 14 hours in either discipline, while the Galaxy A7 (2018) can do 15 hours in video and 12 hours in web browsing. We clocked 25 hours of talk time over 3G on the G7 - virtually identical to the Galaxy, and some 7 hours short of the Redmi's time.
Overall, accounting for the less than stellar standby endurance, the Moto G7's Endurance rating works out to 66 hours.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Motorola Moto G7 for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
The Moto G7's bundled 15W charger will do zero to full in 1:34h while a 30-minute stint will get you from flat to about 47% - pretty good numbers, but nowhere near the crazy fast charge times of the Moto G7 Plus.
Loudspeaker
The Moto G7 has a basic loudspeaker setup - just one driver, ported downwards. For a stereo configuration you'd need to step up to the Moto G7 Plus.
The Moto G7 came a couple of decibels short of an 'Excellent' rating in our three-pronged test, for a 'Very Good' mark. The sound quality is pretty good too, with no distortion at max volume and adequate reproduction of the entire frequency range, including some decent lows.
Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
67.9 | 71.6 | 73.7 | Good | |
68.6 | 73.4 | 72.4 | Good | |
68.3 | 73.8 | 75.8 | Good | |
69.4 | 70.9 | 79.9 | Very Good | |
67.1 | 72.9 | 81.6 | Very Good | |
67.8 | 70.0 | 84.2 | Very Good | |
67.5 | 77.8 | 77.6 | Very Good | |
70.7 | 73.8 | 80.7 | Very Good | |
69.1 | 74.8 | 81.4 | Very Good | |
70.2 | 71.9 | 84.6 | Very Good | |
71.7 | 74.4 | 81.6 | Very Good | |
70.8 | 72.4 | 84.9 | Excellent | |
69.5 | 73.6 | 86.0 | Excellent | |
70.0 | 73.8 | 87.0 | Excellent | |
69.8 | 71.5 | 90.5 | Excellent | |
75.6 | 76.0 | 81.1 | Excellent |
Audio quality
The Motorola Moto G7 did well to keep up with its G7 Plus sibling in terms of the clarity of its audio output. It was just as flawless with an active external amplifier and the difference with headphones was a slightly bigger increase in stereo crosstalk, but all in all the G7 will reproduce tracks the way they were meant to sound.
Where the vanilla G7 wasn’t able to match the Plus is volume. Whereas the more premium of the two blew our minds in both parts of the test, the G7 was below average, which may prevent it from driving higher impedance headphones to sufficient loudness. Still, the overall performance is par for the course for the price range and while it won’t earn the G7 any extra points, it won’t be held against it either.
Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
+0.04, -0.04 | -93.6 | 90.9 | 0.0034 | 0.0100 | -94.8 | |
+0.06, -0.03 | -90.5 | 93.2 | 0.0036 | 0.048 | -62.5 | |
+0.04, -0.00 | -93.3 | 93.2 | 0.0029 | 0.0077 | -93.8 | |
+0.07, -0.01 | -92.9 | 93.2 | 0.015 | 0.076 | -68.8 | |
+0.04, -0.04 | -90.7 | 90.7 | 0.0015 | 0.014 | -94.5 | |
+0.05, -0.29 | -92.5 | 92.5 | 0.024 | 0.296 | -55.0 | |
+0.02, -0.02 | -93.1 | 93.0 | 0.0039 | 0.0088 | -81.9 | |
+0.64, -0.38 | -88.6 | 91.9 | 0.0069 | 0.606 | -50.6 | |
+0.04, -0.04 | -93.5 | 93.4 | 0.0011 | 0.0070 | -93.4 | |
+0.45, -0.18 | -93.4 | 93.4 | 0.021 | 0.457 | -54.9 | |
+0.01, |
Motorola Moto G7 frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Moto-modded Android 9.0 Pie
The Moto G7, in typical Moto fashion, runs near-stock Android and it's 9.0 Pie in this case. Again, typically, a set of customization options is neatly arranged in a Moto app of sorts.
Those are neatly grouped into Moto Actions, Moto Display and Moto Voice, and the first category is the largest. It includes universal classics like 'Flip for DND' and 'Pick up for silence', as well as Moto-specific Moto Actions like the wrist-twist 'Quick capture' gesture to open the camera.
Chief among the Moto Actions is the One Button Nav, which replaces the three-button navigation bar with a wider single button that you swipe here and there to get stuff done. By default, you swipe left on the bar to go Back, swipe right to quickly switch between the last two apps, swipe up for the task switcher, tap the bar to go Home, and tap-hold for Google Assistant. The left and right swipes can be switched around.
It's a slightly different implementation than what Google's done with the Pixel launcher and if you're coming from a Google handset it can be infuriating switching back and forth. To be fair, though, Motorola was already doing a similar gesture based navigation as far back as the Moto Z2. If anything, the latest version they have in place now on the G7s is more logical than Google's own, where they have a back button that's a bit out of place.
Then again, the One Button Nav bar is still a nav bar and takes up the same space as the classic solution, and it that sense it's not as forward as fully gesture-based UIs like Xiaomi's MIUI, for example.
Moto Display consists of just two options on the Moto G7 and the more important one is Peek Display - the not-always-on display. It'll display notifications and let you interact with them right there on the lockscreen plus it'll wake up when you approach your phone. Moto Voice's Talk to me feature will announce incoming calls and texts - helpful if your hands are full for some reason.
All of these aside, the rest is pretty much Android 9.0 Pie as Google intended it to be - well, there's also the greenish hue of the quick toggles.
Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • App drawer • Task switcher • Notification shade
When it comes to multimedia, it's all in the hands of Google and its default apps. Google Photos is in charge of gallery-related tasks and video playback, while Google Play Music is the audio player. There's an FM radio too, with RDS and recording capability.
Google Photos • Google Play Music • FM Radio apps is excellent
Performance and benchmarks
Unlike the G7 Plus with its Snapdragon 636 chipset, the plain Moto G7 comes with the Snapdragon 632 - same as the Power and Play variants. The CPU packs eight Kryo 250 cores, four Gold ones clocked at 1.8GHz and four Silver ones at... 1.8GHz - yay, Qualcomm naming!
The GPU is Adreno 506 and it's here that the marginal difference in naming compared to the Adreno 509 of the Moto G7 Plus will have a more meaningful impact on performance than the Kryo 250 vs. 260 processor cores.
Our review unit is equipped with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage and to the best of our knowledge that's the only existing configuration. Motorola can always come up with some other regional options, however.
To illustrate our point about the chip differences, let's first have a look at some GeekBench scores. In the single-core test the Moto G7 is only 6% behind its Plus stablemate, which is practically tied with a couple of other S636 phones. The relative gap is even smaller in the multi-core test. Naturally, smartphones with higher-tier chips like the S660 an S710 show more meaningful performance advantages, but within the G7 lineup the difference is minimal.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
1890 - Oppo RX17 Pro
1835 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
1650 - Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite
1628 - Honor 8X
1618 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
1611 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
1595 - Realme U1
1567 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
1524 - Oppo F9 (F9 Pro)
1497 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
1342 - Motorola Moto G7 Plus
1334 - Nokia 6.1 Plus
1331 - ASUS ZenFone Max M2
1257 - Motorola Moto G7
1255 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (Redmi 6 Pro)
881 - Motorola One (P30 Play)
867 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
733
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Realme U1
6004 - Oppo RX17 Pro
5944 - Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
5908 - Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite
5894 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
5763 - Oppo F9 (F9 Pro)
5673 - Honor 8X
5651 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
5574 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
5411 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
4933 - Nokia 6.1 Plus
4929 - Motorola Moto G7 Plus
4927 - Motorola Moto G7
4755 - ASUS ZenFone Max M2
4744 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
4446 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (Redmi 6 Pro)
4388 - Motorola One (P30 Play)
4183 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
3718
It's the GPU on the Moto G7 that proves underpowered compared to the one the G7 Plus is rocking - the Plus posts significantly higher fps numbers in all tests. Competition from other chipmakers is also coming strong, with the Galaxy A7 (2018)'s Exynos 7885 on par with the G7 Plus's S636, and the Kirin 710 in the various Huaweis being even better.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
23 - Oppo RX17 Pro
23 - Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite
15 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
15 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
15 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
14 - Honor 8X
14 - Realme U1
13 - Oppo F9 (F9 Pro)
12 - Motorola Moto G7 Plus
10 - Nokia 6.1 Plus
10 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
10 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
10 - Nokia 5.1 Plus
9.6 - Motorola Moto G7
6.9 - ASUS ZenFone Max M2
6.9 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (Redmi 6 Pro)
6.5 - Motorola One (P30 Play)
6.4 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
3.2
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
22 - Nokia 5.1 Plus
20 - Oppo RX17 Pro
19 - ASUS ZenFone Max M2
14 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
14 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
13 - Honor 8X
13 - Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite
13 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
13 - Motorola One (P30 Play)
13 - Realme U1
12 - Oppo F9 (F9 Pro)
11 - Motorola Moto G7 Plus
9.7 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
9.7 - Nokia 6.1 Plus
9.6 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
9.4 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
6.7 - Motorola Moto G7
6.4 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (Redmi 6 Pro)
6.1
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
13 - Oppo RX17 Pro
13 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
9.1 - Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite
9 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
9 - Realme U1
7.9 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
7.6 - Honor 8X
7.6 - Oppo F9 (F9 Pro)
7.5 - Motorola Moto G7 Plus
6.3 - Nokia 6.1 Plus
6.3 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
6.3 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
6.3 - Nokia 5.1 Plus
5.9 - ASUS ZenFone Max M2
3.9 - Motorola Moto G7
3.8 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (Redmi 6 Pro)
3.6 - Motorola One (P30 Play)
3.6 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
2
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
12 - Oppo RX17 Pro
11 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
8.3 - Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite
8 - ASUS ZenFone Max M2
7.7 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
7.7 - Nokia 5.1 Plus
7.4 - Motorola One (P30 Play)
7.2 - Realme U1
7.1 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
6.7 - Honor 8X
6.7 - Oppo F9 (F9 Pro)
6.5 - Motorola Moto G7 Plus
5.9 - Nokia 6.1 Plus
5.9 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
5.9 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
5.7 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
3.9 - Motorola Moto G7
3.5 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (Redmi 6 Pro)
3.4
In Antutu, where everything comes into play, the Moto G7 again trails the G7 Plus by a small margin. Other S636 phones are also ahead of the vanilla G7, as expected.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
170218 - Oppo RX17 Pro
154861 - Realme U1
144436 - Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite
143257 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
140500 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
139075 - Honor 8X
137276 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
136583 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
123883 - Nokia 5.1 Plus
119428 - Motorola Moto G7 Plus
117829 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
115605 - Nokia 6.1 Plus
115571 - Motorola Moto G7
106292 - ASUS ZenFone Max M2
103243 - Motorola One (P30 Play)
81024 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (Redmi 6 Pro)
77964 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
63632
12MP main snapper with a 5MP helper
The Moto G7 is equipped with a rather standard midrange camera setup - a primary 'real' camera plus a second, lesser module for depth effects. The main cam in this case consists of a 12MP sensor (1/2.9", 1.25µm) and an f/2.0 aperture lens. There's no optical stabilization - it's one of the features that add up to make the Plus part of the Moto G7 Plus. The depth-only module is 5MP.
The Moto G7's software may be mostly stock Android, but the camera app is entirely Motorola's own. You get a swipe action for switching between stills, video, and assorted modes (tapping on the icons works too). To get access to the settings, you need to go to those extra modes, which is a little counter-intuitive and it's one extra step, but let's not make a huge deal out of it.
The Manual mode is accessed from a toggle in the viewfinder - not the extra modes. It lets you dial in your own ISO (100-3200), shutter speed (1/6000s-1/4s), or exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV in 1/6EV increments), as well as pick a white balance preset (or light temperature) and manually adjust focus - all pretty standard. There's also a tiny live histogram.
Spot color is one of the proprietary modes - it lets you capture only a certain color from the spectrum, leaving the rest of the photo black and white. A slider allows you to select how close the colors in the frame need to be to the one you picked, so they don't turn monochrome. Cutout mode can isolate a subject based on the depth detection and superimpose it on a different photo. The novelty of either quickly wears off.
Image quality
In day light, the Moto G7 delivers sharp and detailed photos. There's some noise, but it's not the first thing you notice, so it's not an issue. You won't, however, fail to notice the pretty narrow dynamic range - this is one of the most severely blown out renditions of the snail, and it's not like the photo is overexposed.
We do particularly like the Moto G7's colors which give the images just the right amount of pop, while staying close to reality.
To combat the limited dynamic range, you can choose to engage the HDR mode, and since it's not too trigger-happy in Auto, forcing it On could be the wiser move.
HDR: Off • Auto • On • Off • Auto • On
Night-time shots out of the Moto G7 aren't amazing with the already limited dynamic range becoming even more apparent and colors get washed out too. For what it's worth, there's decent amount of detail.
Once you're done examining the real-life samples you can have a look at our Photo compare tool for some studio shots. We've pre-selected the Redmi Note 7 and the Galaxy A7 (2018) but you can pick any other set of phones to compare once you're there.
Motorola Moto G7 against the Redmi Note 7 and the Galaxy A7 (2018) in our Photo compare tool
The Moto G7 takes okay portraits though it does sometimes fail with the subject separation in difficult combinations of subject and background - so pretty much like most phones.
Portrait samples, non-human subjects
8MP selfies
The Moto G7 is equipped with an 8MP selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture lens - nothing out of the ordinary. While the Moto G6 had a flash, this year it's only the Play that has an LED on the front.
In well-lit, but also balanced scenes, you can get some respectable selfies out of the Moto G7, with good detail and pleasing skin tones. However, in even slightly lower light images quickly turn soft, while harshly-lit high-contrast scenarios will leave you with blown highlights.
Selife portraits have good subject separation and convincing out-of-focus area rendition. There's no escaping the limited dynamic range, of course.
Video recording
The Moto G7 records video up to 4K at 30fps - in fact, even the most affordable Play version does UltraHD recording. Oddly enough, regardless of resolution or frame rate the video bit rate on the Moto G7 us the same 17Mbps for 4K, and 1080p at 30 and 60fps. Audio is always encoded at 128kbps in stereo.
Predictably, it's not the best 4K footage we've seen, with compression artefacts clearly visible, and even distracting from the video. As with photos, dynamic range is unimpressive and you can count on blown out highlights. On a positive note, the colors are nice.
1080p at 30fps is comparatively better in terms of detail - 17Mbps is practically the standard bit rate for that mode across phones. 1080p at 60fps brings the expected trade-off of extra smoothness vs. absolute detail. Our words on dynamic range and colors stand.
Electronic stabilization is only available in 1080p/30fps and it does a very good job of smoothing out motion. The pans will look jerky while you're shooting them, but will actually be fluid in the video file.
Here's how the Moto G7 stacks up against the competition in our Video compare tool.
Motorola Moto G7 against the Redmi Note 7 and the Galaxy A7 (2018) in our Photo compare tool
Competition
When the original Moto G came out in 2013, it was essentially without competition in its segment, offering unmatched price/performance ratio. Six years later, the Moto G7 aims to do a bit of the same, only now other makers are in on it too.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 • Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) • Honor 8X • Oppo F9 (F9 Pro)
Xiaomi was barely making its first steps back then but now has a firm grasp on the low-to-mid range. The Redmi Note 7 is the latest in a line of successful Redmis and will give you much longer battery life than the Moto G7 and superior CPU and GPU performance. However, the Redmi's MIUI can't be further removed from the stock-ish Android of the Moto.
The Galaxy A7 (2018) is similarly non-stock, plus it's still on Oreo, and then it's a little more expensive, yet it has a dated microUSB port and no fast charging. On the other hand, it's got a much better display overall, will comfortably outlast the Moto in a battery contest, plus it packs an ultra wide angle camera on top of the main+depth combo.
The Honor 8X is another of the more powerful competitors thanks to the Kirin 710 inside, while it's also got better endurance than the Moto G7. The Moto's display is slightly better, its Android is more recent (not to mention near-stock) and it's got faster charging over a future-proof USB-C - both missing on the Honor.
The Oppo F9 is, again, significantly more powerful than the Moto, has better endurance and charges even faster than the G7. It does it over microUSB though, it's a bit more expensive, and it runs heavily-skinned ColorOS on top of older Android Oreo.
An advantage of the Moto G7 over all four of these and generally over phones in this class is the splash resistance (that's admittedly hard to quantify). There's also the matter of 4K video recording, which none of the above supports, but then it's not particularly good-looking on the Moto either.
Verdict
We had a particularly tough time populating the lists below, and that's probably a good thing - the Moto G7 doesn't really shine, yet it doesn't necessarily disappoint in any particular area. Isn't that what the definition of a successful midranger should be?
While not a dealbreaker strictly speaking, the battery life of the G7 is perhaps the first thing that'll have us exploring other options, because other options do rank higher on this front. The other complaints we have are likely to even go unnoticed by a lot of what we imagine is the G7's target audience.
And for a budget-conscious shopper that still wants a well-rounded and dependable smartphone, the Motorola Moto G7 delivers. It's almost like it's 2013 all over again.
Pros
- Design is easy on the eyes, camera bump is a nice signature in a sea of unrecognizeable phones.
- Latest Android 9.0 Pie, useful Moto customizations.
- FM radio, dedicated microSD slot, and a headphone jack - why doesn't every phone have all of these?
Cons
- Overall unimpressive battery life, poor standby times in particular.
- Underpowered GPU.
- Mediocre 4K video (though competitors don't have it at all).
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