Motorola Moto G6: a quality smartphone at a contained price

Presentation

Iconic range in the world of smartphones, the Moto G is distinguished by Motorola's ambition to deliver interesting performance at an affordable price. And despite the years, the range has not lost its superb. In May 2018, the Moto G6 Play and the Moto G6 is coming. If the first, launched at 200 €, offered an overall experience despite an autonomy of champion, its big brother wants to be slightly more efficient, from the top of its 250 €.

The Moto G6 is thus positioned as a competitor to the Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 or the Nokia 6 2018. Does it have anything to outdo them? Answer in this test.

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Ergonomics and design

With its 167 g, the Moto G6 offers a suitable finish. Its polymer glass shell is pleasing to the eye while its 18: 9 screen occupies 76% of the front panel. If the unlock button, positioned on the edge of the phone, falls easily under the finger, the volume buttons are positioned a little too high. So you often have to stretch your fingers to reach them.

Unlike its little brother, the Moto G6 incorporates its fingerprint sensor at the front, under the screen. The choice of placing the sensor at the front may seem confusing at first if you are used to finding it on the back, but it can be practical, when the phone is placed on a table for example. This sensor is combined with a tactile function: thus, a simple press will bring the user back to the home screen of the phone; swiping to the left acts as a "back" button, while the reverse will display all open applications. This navigation system works rather well and reacts precisely to requests.

Finally, the Moto G6 is capable of accommodating two nano SIMs as well as a microSD card to expand its internal memory. It is not waterproof (no IP certification) - waterproofing is certainly still very rare on entry-level smartphones. However, this point, as well as the misplaced side keys, is enough to make the smartphone lose a few points.

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Screen

With its 5.7 inch (14.5 cm) IPS panel with an 18: 9 ratio displaying in Full HD + (2,160 x 1,080 px) with a very good resolution (424 ppi), the Moto G6 presents a screen of good quality. However, as on the G6 Play, it will be necessary to have a look at the settings to get the best out of the panel, by default in "Standard" mode. You just have to change the color temperature from "Neutral" to "Warm". Note, a "Bright" mode is also part of it, but it offers colors that are far too flashy and too far from reality.

After this little dive into the parameters, the slab reveals its true capacity. And we must admit that its results are satisfactory. Its average delta E, measured at only 2.5, attests to a very good overall transcription of the colors, even if certain shades (dark green, indigo ...) are a little less faithful. The color temperature, at 5.865 K, is not so far from the reference value (6.500 K).

At 1.698: 1, the contrast ratio spoils the party a little. Same observation regarding the maximum brightness which, far too low, peaks at 413.8 cd / m². Suffice to say that the use of the Moto G6 in the summer sun will not be optimal. The terminal is doing better at night, enough to delight fans of reading under the duvet, since its 5.2 cd / m² will not risk burning your retina.

The Moto G6 screen finally offers a low reflectance of 11% - a pleasant result. Difficult to say as much of the afterglow, around 130 ms.

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Performances

Armed with an 8-core Cortex A-53 Snapdragon 450 chip and 4 GB of RAM, the Moto G6 has no problem running Android. The terminal easily juggles between several applications launched simultaneously.

In hand, the Moto G6 also heats very little, even after filming. Very localized, its tips do not exceed 34.2 ° C and will not be revealed until after intensive use of the rear camera.

Finally, with regard to video games, the equipment on the Moto G6 cannot provide a maximum gaming experience. However, although the graphics sin a little and the fluidity is sometimes undermined, playing is still possible. However, we advise you to favor titles that do not require too many resources, 2D games for example.

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Audio

The audio output of the Moto G6 is in line with what we used to Motorola (with the exception of the Moto G6 Play, a little less convincing on this point). The jack output shows rather interesting qualities: the distortion remains minimal, the dynamic range is very wide; as for crosstalk, it stands at more than appreciable levels, especially for an entry-level smartphone. Only downside, which is also the big weak point of its little brother the Moto G6 Play: the output level remains very low. It is therefore difficult to recommend it to people listening to their music on an energy-consuming headset, who would eat it raw.

In audio performance, the jack of the Moto G6 is slightly below the Nokia 6 2018, roughly equivalent but still much more powerful, therefore more pleasant to use.

If the Moto G6 shares the weaknesses of the Moto G6 Play, it also shares its qualities. Thus, its speaker located on the upper part of the facade proves to be fairly well made. The sound is mastered, the dynamic range rather wide and the output volume relatively powerful.

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Photo

The Moto G6 carries a double back photo module. Its main 12 MP sensor is combined with a lens opening at f / 1.8, while the second 5 MP sensor is associated with a lens opening at f / 2.2. The photo application, which is rather intuitive by the way, offers the basics of declutching, by offering users control over ISOs, the presence of HDR or focusing.

Unsurprisingly, this is not a real photophone that Motorola gives us here: the photo quality of the G6 is average. On the shots taken in bright light, the tones remain very pale and the contrasts limited. However, many details enhance the image and give it consistency. Image processing does not smooth the whole too much and preserves the roughness that the subject of the photo may contain. Finally, the loss of quality at the periphery is minimal.

In low light, as often, it's another story, but the device still manages to make its competition in this area fade. Indeed, even if the pictures suffer greatly from the lack of light, the APN of the Moto G6 succeeds in delivering rather readable content. Certainly, electronic noise multiplies and colors are felt even less, but in view of what a Nokia 6 2018 offers, the Moto G6 is doing very well.

At the front, it's an 8 MP sensor coupled to a lens opening at f / 2.2 which is used to take selfies. If the overall rendering is rather pale, the tracking of the focus and the exposure are suitable. Note, a flashlight is also present on the front of the phone to allow you to take a photo even at night. Face tracking on front and rear cameras is fairly average. You will need faces from the front for it to work, since a three-quarter angle will be enough to make it forget its mission.

Finally, in terms of video, the Moto G6 is capable of shooting in 1080p at 30 or 60 fps. It thus presents honest performances, being rather fluid in its light transitions or focusing.

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Autonomy

The autonomy, real strong point of the Moto G6 Play, is much less impressive on the Moto G6. It opts for a much more traditional 3,000 mAh accumulator (compared to 4,000 on the G6 Play), but perfectly suitable. Simulating standard use (with sending texts, standby, playing videos and music), our SmartViser protocol took 13 hours 30 minutes to exhaust the machine. The Moto G6 will therefore last a little more than a full day in normal use. However, care should be taken not to spend too much time in front of a series during the day so as not to have to start looking for a catch in the evening.

On the other hand, the Moto G6 recharges very quickly. With the supplied charger, it will only take you an hour to see its battery reach 80%, and 1 hour 30 to fully reinvigorate the beast.

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Conclusion

If some faults come to spoil the party, the Moto G6 is a quality smartphone for its price. It therefore comes seriously to compete with the Nokia 6 2018, but remains a bit below overall.

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