Motorola Moto G100 review...

Image
Share Mobile phones, Gadgets and Accessories details here.
Post Reply
User avatar
sanjay kumar
Posts: 30100
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2020 11:26 am
Location: india
Has thanked: 16955 times
Been thanked: 1283 times
Contact:
India

Motorola Moto G100 review...

Post by sanjay kumar »

Motorola Moto G100 review the smartphone that tries to be a computer too.
download (1).jpg
download (1).jpg (6.94 KiB) Viewed 393 times
In the box of the Moto G100, there is a desk stand and an HDMI cable. With this novel proposal, Motorola is trying to reinvent the boundaries between mobile and PC. This pack costs 549 euros and it is not possible to buy the smartphone separately.

Faced with the rise of Chinese manufacturers, Motorola is resisting. Even if it is, technically, also Chinese (Lenovo is its parent company), the smartphone manufacturer is banking on its seniority and its great notoriety to return in force to the smartphone market, while playing the card of Americanization. .

Its headquarters are in Chicago and Motorola is enjoying great popularity across the Atlantic. Recently, the manufacturer announced its intention to gain market share in Europe by returning to the front of the stage thanks to new teams and a more complete range of products.

With the Moto G100, Motorola offers us a first glimpse of its new ambitions. Marketed at a price of 549 euros, this mid-range smartphone has the particularity of being delivered with a magnetic desk support and an HDMI to USB Type-C cable. In this age of telecommuting, Motorola is trying to make you use your smartphone differently.


A still experimental experience

If you follow the news of new technologies, the concept of Motorola is probably no stranger to you. This is normal, other manufacturers like Samsung and Huawei also offer special modes to transform their smartphones into mini PCs when they are connected to a screen.

The difference here is that at Motorola everything is included in the box. Samsung and Huawei bring these experiences to the most seasoned users, Motorola wants everyone to use them.



The Motorola dock can work with any USB Type-C smartphone, as long as it has an HDMI output mode.


In the box of the G100, there is a bulky dock that you have to assemble yourself. Nicknamed "Ready For", it incorporates a magnetic holder designed to easily detach the phone if desired.

It's clever, even if this solution has the main drawback of being heavy and therefore, in the event of a fall, of being able to fall on the smartphone and break it.

We advise you to always move the dock with both hands. On the back of the stand, there is a USB Type-C port to connect the cable provided in the box which, on the other side, offers an HDMI port (and a dedicated USB Type-C port for power, which does not is not necessary for everything to work).
download (3).jpg
download (3).jpg (4.97 KiB) Viewed 393 times
The other end of the Motorola cable.


When connecting the Moto G100 to a screen, four modes are offered by Motorola. One allows you to simulate the OS of a PC (desktop mode), the other three are, in our opinion, more than dispensable since they allow you to quickly sort between its streaming applications, its games and its software for make video calls.

The whole thing makes the user experience quite confusing, a desktop mode and a "favorite applications" mode would have seemed much easier to understand.
download (4).jpg
download (4).jpg (7.05 KiB) Viewed 393 times
The four modes offered by Motorola.


In desktop mode, you can connect a keyboard or mouse via Bluetooth to control the screen like a PC. Otherwise, a virtual trackpad is available on the smartphone screen, but makes pointer control very complicated.

On the desktop, there are icons, its application launcher, the notification center and we have the possibility of launching several applications simultaneously in the form of windows.

Motorola replicates Samsung and Huawei's DeX and EMUI Desktop modes.
All of this has its advantages and disadvantages, such as the behavior of certain large-screen applications that are not at all suitable for this use.

. On YouTube for example, the presentation of videos takes up the entire screen. It is impossible to have several suggestions at the same time.

Screenshot of desktop mode.


Finally, we must admit that we are rather disappointed with Motorola's proposal. We've regularly wondered if an HDMI to USB-C cable in the box wouldn't have been enough.

The use of the dock is optional (plugging in the cable is enough), Motorola in a way makes obtaining a large accessory mandatory.

Ecologically (there are three boxes in a big box), this choice is quite questionable. We also wonder who is really going to walk around with this big dock.

The cable is more practical although the usefulness of a smartphone on the big screen is still very questionable, except for watching movies.

We also regret the absence of a wireless desktop mode. Installing a small utility on your PC or Mac to allow a Wi-Fi connection would have been smart, especially to transfer files from your smartphone to your computer. It is not possible today.

download (5).jpg
download (5).jpg (7.33 KiB) Viewed 393 times
An LCD screen rather than OLED

In terms of design too, the Moto G100 is quite original. With a 6.7-inch screen with a 21: 9 ratio, this smartphone is rather exotic and gives the impression of being stretched in length.

This could make it quite complicated to get started, we encourage you to try it in store before purchasing to make sure it is right for you.

All this is all the more regrettable that with a thickness of 9.8 mm and its 207 grams, the Moto G100 is quite bulky.

Its colored glass back is not very discreet while its fingerprint sensor, located on the right side, is not very easy to handle (the button sinks in strangely). In short, it is not intended for everyone.

The back of the Moto G100.


What bothers us the most with this smartphone is its screen. If its format is rather practical (especially for streaming movies or for viewing applications in the form of lists), we have a lot of trouble with Motorola's choice to use LCD rather than OLED.

In recent years, almost all smartphones over 300 euros have switched to OLED. At 549 euros, Motorola offers a smartphone with a contrast ratio of 1636: 1 which, logically, makes it worse than most of its competitors when you watch a movie or play.

The fidelity of its colors (Delta E by default of 6.3, in natural mode of 5.15) is also disappointing.

Fortunately, the Moto G100 is saved by its very satisfactory maximum brightness of 713 cd / m 2 , according to the measurements of our laboratory. Still, you should find much better at the same price from the competition.


Powerful but not very durable

All this is all the more unfortunate that, on paper, Motorola's proposal with its Moto G100 is quite interesting. The smartphone uses the Snapdragon 870 processor,

an evolution of last year's Snapdragon 865+. This SoC, which belongs to the high-end category, gives the device above-average performance and allows it to run everything smoothly, while being 5G compatible. The presence of a jack should also delight audiophiles.

Still on paper, the presence of a 5000 mAh battery inside the device should have given it excellent autonomy. Our use of the past conditional probably helps you guess the rest, the Moto G100 is really not durable.

The device withstood our versatile battery life test at 12:26 and 10:46 in video streaming, which is really very little for a device with such a large battery.

We believe that its LCD screen (90 Hz) is at the origin of this overconsumption, the device keeping in communication extremely long when its screen is off (45h52).

In use, the Moto G100 battery depletes quite quickly. You can finish a whole day with the device, but don't expect to go beyond it.

The Moto G100 is charged by USB Type-C.


Finally, on the back of the Moto G100 there is a triple camera module (even if the camera module has four holes).

The main 64 Mpix smartphone sensor (f / 1.7) has the reinforcement of an ultra wide-angle module (16 Mpix sensor) capable of taking macro photos and a depth sensor.


taken with the Moto G100. We don't really like the yellow side of the skin colors, but the clipping is quite successful.


Without being up to the best smartphones on the market, the Moto G100 is doing pretty well in photos.

It logically experiences more difficulty at night but should satisfy users with moderate use. It is however not the device we recommend photographers (the Pixel 4a 5G 499 euro remains our favorite heart!)



Most


+ A powerful smartphone
+ The HDMI cable in the box


The lessers


- An LCD screen for more than 500 euros!
- Desk support too bulky
- Desktop mode still too limited
- Too average autonomy
- Value for money



The verdict of the

Motorola Moto G100 test

With the Moto G100, Motorola is taking a risk. Not to do like the others, the manufacturer relies on accessories included in the box (dock and HDMI cable) capable of transforming the smartphone into a PC, once connected to a screen.
Does the magic work? Not really. While the Moto G100's desktop mode works well, it is almost unusable without a real mouse or keyboard, which makes its value very limited. Very bulky, the dock provided by Motorola should in our opinion have been offered as an option. The HDMI cable would have been sufficient.
Beyond all these criticisms of the concept of this pack, one wonders above all who is the Motorola G100 intended for. At 549 euros, brands like OnePlus and Google offer excellent devices ( OnePlus 8T , Google Pixel 4a 5G ). The Moto G100 is a good smartphone, but nothing great. However, we applaud this risk-taking from Motorola which will hopefully translate into an excellent Edge lineup in the coming months.


Rating
3.8 / 5
Performance
5/5
Battery life & charge
4/5
Display
4.5 / 5
Photo & video
3/5
pgeneral appreciation
3/5
download (2).jpg
download (2).jpg (6.47 KiB) Viewed 393 times
- No Card sharing discussion allowed on this forum.
- Note: Viewing Pay TV without a valid subscription is illegal.
- All the files available here are kept for experimental and educational purpose only.
Post Reply