Motorola G31 4/64GB - Mineral Grey

Product Information

This phone comes with built-in comprehensive hardware and software security features to deliver enhanced protection. While last year’s handset offered 90Hz refresh rates on its IPS screen, here we’re back down to 60Hz. While the Moto G30 played things safe with a budget Qualcomm processor – the 2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 662 – the G31 takes a risk by switching over to the MediaTek Helio G85. Detail and quality is generally decent from the main camera if you’re in good lighting conditions but it struggles when put in lower light situations – even if the 50Mp is 4-in-1 pixel binning to result in 12.

But it’s better to do three cameras well than four badly, and the specs of the Moto G31’s setup are still pretty promising. In our Geekbench 5 tests, the Moto G31 achieved a single-core score of 345, which is pretty low but beats the likes of the ageing Xiaomi Redmi Note 7.The Moto G31 really continues the journey that Motorola (via parent company Lenovo) has been on for several years now: making high-quality, low-cost Android smartphones that give you a lot of bang for your buck. Moto bundles a 20W fast charger with the phone and to tank up the entire battery, it may take some time. There's also a single loudspeaker down at the bottom of the handset, which produces a level and quality of sound that's satisfactory but no more than that. If you're considering spending a little bit more money and exploring the mid-range smartphone market, the main improvements you'll see over the Moto G31 will be the increased snappiness of moving between multiple apps, and the better quality of the photos and videos that you take (especially in low light).

There’s a slight but noticeable delay between pressing the shutter and the camera snapping, which can prove frustrating with timings, and this also makes it pretty easy to get blurry images, too. It comes complete with Google Lens and various different modes including spot colour which has been around for a while, allowing you to pick a colour out leaving everything else monochrome. In low light and at night, the Moto G31 tries its best, but it's here that the shortcomings of the rear camera really start to appear. In a market full of smartphones with heavily customised Android skins, Moto phones with light skin and minimal bloatware are a breath of fresh air.

Overall, the design and build of the Moto G31 doesn't really offer any surprises, but there are no disappointments here either.