Beefing up the camera without breaking the bank, the Motorola Moto G55 5G remains a solid budget performer.
Motorola is certainly one of the world’s most prolific smartphone makers, leaving Australians spoiled for choice when it comes to finding the right phone to suit their exact budget and needs.
Last year’s $299 Moto G54 5G was Motorola’s first Australian 5G handset to break the $300 barrier, and this year the phone maker is back again with the Moto G55 5G.
The previous Moto G54 5G was a winner because it rectified many of the shortcomings of its predecessor, the lacklustre Moto G53 5G. The new Moto G55 5G takes a ‘steady as she goes’ approach, with a few tweaks that giveth in some areas and taketh away in others.
Motorola Moto G55 5G review
- Immersive Full HD+ display and Dolby Atmos
- 50MP camera system with OIS
- Elegant, eye-catching design
- Massive battery and blazing-fast charging
- 128GB built-in storage
First impressions
There are no big surprises with the Motorola Moto G55 5G, sticking with the tried-and-true 6.5-inch display with a tall 20:9 aspect ratio. The width ensures the handset isn’t too wide to hold comfortably, while the height ensures it feels well-balanced in your hand and doesn’t want to topple backwards.
You’ve got the standard configuration of well-placed volume and power buttons on the right, with the fingerprint reader built into the power button where it’s easily accessible with your thumb (or pointer finger if you’re a southpaw).
Likewise, the Moto G55 5G sticks with the G54’s sharp 2400×1080 pixel screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate, after the G53 scaled it down to a very disappointing 1600×720 pixels.
Turning the phone in your hands, you find a USB-C port for charging at the bottom of the handset, along with an old-school 3.5mm headphone jack for those who aren’t ready to part with their wired headphones or earbuds.
The earpiece doubles as a second speaker for stereo sound, with support for Dolby Atmos, with the tall aspect ratio ensuring good stereo separation and a wide soundstage when you turn the phone on its side to watch video.
As you’d expect at these prices, the body is plastic rather than aluminium. Three models are available: Forest Grey which comes with a PMMA premium matte finish, as well as Smoky Green and Twilight Purple, which come with a more textured vegan leather finish.
Motorola throws in a basic transparent protective case, which offers a little protection but means you lose the feel of vegan leather in your hands. The screen steps up to a stronger Corning Gorilla Glass 3, but unfortunately the phone still only has a “water-repellent” design, so it might survive a splash but won’t be happy with an unexpected dip.
Motorola Moto G55 5G specs and price
| Display size | 6.5-inch, 20:9 aspect ratio |
| Display resolution | Full HD+ 2400×1080 pixel, 405 ppi |
| Display technology | IPS LCD, 120 Hz |
| Bands | 5G sub-6 |
| SIM | Dual SIM (1 physical Nano SIM + eSIM) |
| Chipset | MediaTek Dimensity 7025 with 2.5 GHz octa-core CPU |
| GPU | IMG BXM-8-256 |
| Rear cameras | 50 MP sensor – f/1.8, Quad Pixel technology for 1.22 µm, PDAF, Optical Image Stabilisation |
| 8 MP sensor – f/2.2, 118˚ (ultrawide), 1.12µm, AF | |
| Front camera | 16 MP sensor – f/2.4, 1.0 µm/2.0 µm Ultra Pixel |
| RAM | 4 GB |
| Onboard storage | 128 GB |
| microSD slot | up to 1 TB microSD card expandable |
| Charging | USB-C 2.0, 30 W TurboPower charging (30 W AC charger in box) |
| Battery | 5000 mAh |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac | 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz | Wi-Fi hotspot |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 |
| Operating system | Android 14 |
| Security | Fingerprint reader, Face Unlock |
| Ruggedness | Water-repellent design |
| Dimensions | PMMA: 161.56 x 73.82 x 8.09 mm Vegan leather:161.56 x 73.82 x 8.19 mm |
| Weight | PMMA: 179 gm Vegan leather: 182 gm |
| Colours | Smoky Green, Forest Grey, Twilight Purple |
| Price (RRP) | $299 |
| Warranty | 1 year |
| Official website | Motorola Australia |
Features
The Motorola Moto G55 5G ships with Android 14, with minimal bloatware thanks to Motorola’s new Hello UI. Motorola says it will receive two years of OS updates and four years of bi-monthly security updates, up to September 2028.
That’s not bad, and certainly an improvement on what was offered in the past, but it still falls short of the five OS upgrades and six years of security upgrades offered for the new Moto G75 5G.
Under the bonnet, the G55 5G sticks with MediaTek, with a slight step up to the Dimensity 7025 chipset which should deliver a bit of a performance boost on the G54 5G. Relying on MediaTek, rather than a Qualcomm Snapdragon powerplant like in the Moto G75 5G, is quite possibly the reason why the G55 5G has a less generous roadmap for OS and security updates.
As you’d expect, the Moto G75 5G is a 5G handset that supports Australia’s sub-6 GHz 5G networks and not faster millimetre wave 5G. You’ve still got 128 GB of onboard storage, with a microSDXC expansion slot that handles up to 1 TB cards.
The big frustration is that Motorola has backed away from 8 GB of RAM, going for the less impressive 4 GB + 4 GB: that’s 4 physical gigabytes and an optional extra 4 virtual gigabytes which can be commandeered from the internal storage. Forgoing 8 real gigs of memory is disappointing for those who tend to push their handset.
The good news is that, on the back of the phone, Motorola has done away with the 2 MP macro camera in favour of a more useful 8 MP ultrawide lens with its own macro mode. It’s still accompanied by a 50 MP main shooter which retains optical image stabilisation to help with clearer images. Around the front, you’ve still got the advantage of 16 MP for sharper selfies.
Motorola continues to offer a generous 5000 mAh battery, which should easily be able to go for 24 hours before recharging if you don’t push it too hard.
When it’s time to top up you still miss out on wireless charging, which is disappointing but not unforgivable in this price bracket. On the plus side, the handset steps up to 30 W fast charging and Motorola includes a 30 W charger in the box.
Quality
The GeekBench 6 benchmarks reveal that the Motorola Moto G55 5G is roughly on par with the Moto G54 5G, returning 1,016 on the CPU single-core test, and 2,304 on the multi-core. So it’s no slouch, but remember those tests just focus on the chipset and don’t reflect the fact you’re now relying on only “4 GB + 4 GB” of RAM.
When it comes to photography, the results are pretty good, although switching across from the 50 MP main shooter to the 8 MP ultrawide sees a drop in sharpness and contrast, along with more muted colours. Low-light performance is not bad – there’s still a little noise but far more detail and less murk than you got from Motorola handsets in this price range a few years ago.
Around the front, the selfie camera delivers great results, with natural skin tones and plenty of detail. By default, Motorola tones down the aggressive beautification settings that plague the selfie camera in some smartphones.
Who is the Motorola Moto G55 5G for?
If you’re looking for a decent all-rounder on a tight budget then the Motorola Moto G55 5G should certainly be on your shortlist. The switch to an ultrawide rear camera and those faster charge times are certainly appealing.
If you tend to push your phone then you might wish for a proper 8 GB of RAM, but in that case, you quite possibly have more expensive taste in phones anyway.
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