Motorola Moto G24 smartphone review – An attractive phone with a 90 Hz display

The Moto G24 follows Motorola's design philosophy of this year by integrating the phone's camera module very seamlessly into the top left of its case: The material and color around the lenses are the same as the rest of the case and a slight curve embellishes the transition between the flat back and the slightly thicker camera module. The material used is plastic, which has a matte shimmer in all three color variants: black, light green and rosé.

The case is stable and can only be dented slightly in the middle. It isn't possible to twist the phone and it doesn't creak with pressure applied to it. The manufacturer has given the phone an IP52 certification, so it can withstand dust and splashes of water but shouldn't be submerged in any liquids. The Moto G24 is ever so slightly thinner and 5 grams lighter than the Moto G24 Power and in general, it is a compact phone.

Until a year ago, significantly less storage was standard within this price range; this year, 128 GB of flash storage is the norm. 8 GB of RAM should be sufficient for most applications. Fortunately, the Moto G24 also comes with NFC, so you can use mobile payment services or interact with other devices nearby. A 3.5 mm jack makes it possible to connect headphones and other audio devices.

Our test device can handle two SIM cards at once, whereas it doesn't feature eSIM support. In addition, there is a separate slot for a microSD card. The card reader worked quite fast during our test using the Angelbird V60 as a reference card.

The Moto G24 doesn't support 5G, so it is a pure LTE phone. The frequencies available on our test device are limited to the bare minimum to ensure operation in Central Europe, where this test was carried out. The same applies to models purchased in other parts of the world, which are limited to the common local frequencies. If you want to use your smartphone abroad to access the web, then you may have to look for a different phone.

Reception was quite good during our test using several random samples, but it couldn't come close to high-end smartphones.

In terms of Wi-Fi, the Moto G24 supports Wi-Fi 5 as the fastest standard and, as a result, achieves the expected 300 - 350 MBit/s that is usual for the price range. The transmissions ran at a fairly constant speed, even with the test repeated several times.

On the software side, Motorola has installed fairly pure Android 14 and has made additional functions accessible via the Moto app. This is clever, as additional features can be easily added via app updates. The latest security patches are from March 2024, so still reasonably up-to-date at the time of testing. Motorola has promised updates every two months until January 2027. It is not known whether the phone will see any further operating system versions.

The phone is DRM L1-certified, so you can stream content from most major providers in HD.

Its screen can display up to 90 images per second, meaning it reacts quickly to inputs. The touchscreen works very precisely—even in the corners and along the edges. A fingerprint sensor is integrated into the standby button on the right-hand side of the case. It recognizes fingerprints very precisely after one or more prints have been saved and there is only a minimal delay when unlocking the phone.

Facial recognition is also possible which works via the front-facing camera without an additional sensor. It is also fairly accurate. In darker environments, the screen light is usually sufficient for recognition.

A MediaTek Helio G85 is used as the phone's SoC. It is a popular choice within this price range and is also used inside the Xiaomi Redmi 13C, for example. The processor is by no means capable of miracle performance levels, but it is sufficient for smooth navigation through the device's menus in most cases. However, more complex apps reveal where its performance limits lie. The Samsung Galaxy A15 4G, for example, offers significantly more power.

The SoC doesn't do well with complex graphics either, but that isn't to be expected in this price range. It is annoying that Motorola has also chosen to use very slow storage: Although eMMC flash is the standard inside inexpensive phones, the Galaxy A15 4G shows that much faster storage modules enable shorter loading times and a generally smoother system.

After 1 hour of our stress test, we measured the Moto G24's surface temperatures. The result: 39.1 °C was the maximum value we noted—this is noticeable but not critical. However, we measured this at room temperature, so it could easily be even higher in the summer or in hot environments. The SoC's performance isn't throttled even after prolonged full load scenarios.

The speaker on the bottom edge of the phone does not have to do its job alone, as it is supported by the phone's earpiece, making stereo sound possible. The sound is quite good for the price range and even a few low mids are audible. External audio devices can be connected via the 3.5mm audio jack or Bluetooth. Lots of codecs are available for wireless audio transmission, including hi-res-audio-capable ones such as LDAC and more exotic variants such as Opus.

The phone's 5,000 mAh battery is exactly 1,000 mAh weaker than that of the Moto G24 Power. This made itself noticeable during our WLAN test: Its runtimes turned out to be over 2 hours shorter, but they are still decent compared to the rest of the comparison field. 16:09 hours of continuous use without needing to recharge the phone should make it well-equipped for everyday use.

It should be noted that its charging speed is reduced compared to the Moto G24 Power, with a maximum of only 15 watts. This means that it takes up to 2:30 hours for the battery to be fully charged again.

The Motorola Moto G24 can currently be found on Amazon for US$195.