Offering a few refinements on the entry-level Moto handset, the Motorola Moto G15 is for frugal shoppers able to splurge on a few luxuries.
While some smartphone makers believe that one size fits all, Motorola has always been big on choice. This year’s range of new handsets starts with the entry-level $179 Motorola Moto G05. The Motorola Moto G15 is the next step up, adding $50 to the price tag whilst sprinkling in a few key improvements.
Bucking the inflation trend, the new Moto G15 follows on from last year’s Motorola Moto G14 while managing to avoid a price increase.
Table of contents
Motorola Moto G15 first impressions
At first glance little has changed with the Motorola Moto G15 compared to its predecessor, bumping up the screen size slightly from 6.5 to 6.7 inches while retaining the same narrow 20:9 aspect ratio.
The G15 sticks with Motorola’s standard design, with a power button on the centre-right and volume buttons above. Across the top of the handset, you’ll find an old-school 3.5 mm headphone jack, meaning you can stick with cheap wired earbuds rather than investing in Bluetooth wireless headphones.
Across the bottom, you’ll find a USB-C port for 18W charging, but no luxuries like wireless charging support. There’s no AC charger in the box, but you will find a USB-C to USB-C cable – which is a hassle if you were hoping to reuse an old USB-A charger with your new phone.
Like most budget Motorola phones, the handset is built around a plastic frame with a shiny faux-metallic finish and ‘vegan leather’ textured coloured plastic back. This gives it a more slightly elegant look than many basic entry-level Android handsets.
Getting back to the power button, it also features a fingerprint reader rather than building it into the screen. To me, that’s more convenient, plus it reduces the chances of the handset overbalancing when you don’t need to reach down to the onscreen fingerprint reader. You’ve also got Face Unlock and the benefit of NFC for contactless payments.
Fire up the handset and you see one of the key improvements compared to the cheaper G05, with the G15 featuring a 2400×1080 pixel (1080p) display. It’s not the sharpest screen around, but for an extra $50 it’s a noticeable improvement on the G05’s lowly 1612×720 pixel (720p) display.
One trade-off is that the G15 screen only offers a 60Hz refresh rate, whereas the cheaper G05 manages to up this to 90Hz. That’s a surprise but, realistically, people shopping at this price range are unlikely to notice that difference.
Flip the handset over and you discover the other major improvement on the G05, with the G15 adding a second 5 MP ultra-wide angle lens alongside the 50 MP main shooter. Meanwhile, there’s still an 8 MP selfie camera around the front.
As usual, Motorola includes a transparent protective case, which offers some impact and scratch protection, but isn’t as robust as something like a Tech 21 case.
Motorola Moto G15 specifications and price
| Display size | 6.7-inch, 20:9 aspect ratio |
| Display resolution | 2400×1080 pixel (391 ppi) |
| Display technology | LCD, 60 Hz refresh rate |
| Bands | 4G LTE, 3G WCDMA, 2G GSM |
| Chipset | MediaTek Helio G81 Extreme processor with 2.0 GHz octa-core CPU |
| GPU | 820 MHz Arm Mali-G52 MC2 GPU |
| Rear cameras | 50 MP f/1.8 aperture0.64µm pixel size Quad Pixel Technology for 1.28µm PDAF |
| 5 MP f/2.4 aperture 1.75 µm pixel size Ultra-Wide Angle |
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| Front camera | 8 MP f/2.0 aperture 1.12 µm pixel size Fixed Focus |
| RAM | 4 GB LPDDR4X RAM, expandable up to 12 GB with RAM Boost |
| Onboard storage | 128 GB |
| microSD slot | up 1 TB |
| SIM | Dual SIM (2 Nano SIMs + 1 microSD) |
| Charging | USB-C 18 W |
| Battery | 5200 mAh |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac2.4 GHz | 5 GHzWi-Fi hotspot |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Operating system | Android 15 |
| Security | Fingerprint reader, Face Unlock |
| Ruggedness | IP52 |
| Dimensions | 165.67 x 75.98 x 8.17 mm |
| Weight | 190 gm |
| Colours | Sunrise orange, Gravity Grey, Iguana Green |
| Price | $229 RRP |
| Warranty | 2 years |
| Official website | Motorola Australia |
Features
The Motorola Moto G15 runs Google’s latest Android 15 smartphone operating system, with a clean interface and minimal bloatware to slow things down. Unfortunately, Motorola skimps on software updates in a way that will leave people in the lurch after a few years.
With the old Moto G14 from 2023, Motorola included one Android OS update and three years of security updates. Yet this new G15 (and the new G05) won’t get any Android OS updates and, even worse, will only get two years of security updates.
Even with a budget price tag, security seems the wrong area in which to short-change users. Especially considering that anyone with so little to spend will likely hope to use the G15 for more than two years.
There is some consolation in that Motorola has increased the warranty from 12 to 24 months. The handset has an IP52 ruggedness rating, which means it can probably survive a splash but not a swim.
Under the bonnet, Motorola has opted for the exact same power plant as the G05: an entry-level MediaTek chip. It’s accompanied by the same minimal 4 GB of RAM, expandable up to 12 GB using ‘RAM Boost’ which borrows some space from the onboard storage.
As a result, there’s no performance boost for your extra $50. You do however benefit from double the onboard storage at 128 GB.
As you’d expect, the G15 is only a 4G handset, which means you can’t tap into Australia’s superfast 5G mobile networks, but the trade-off is that this extends the battery life. The 5200 mAh battery is good for up to 40 hours, meaning it should easily go a day between charges.
Quality
It’s no surprise that the GeekBench 6 results tell an underwhelming story here, scoring 399 on the CPU single-core test and 1,342 on the multi-core, plus 950 GPU OpenGL. As a result, it falls a bit short of the old G14 on processor performance but steps up on graphics, ending up roughly on par with the G05 along with rivals like the Samsung Galaxy A05s.
| Device | CPU single-core | CPU multi-score | GPU (OpenCL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moto G55 5G | 1,016 | 2,304 | N/A |
| Oppo A79 5G | 718 | 1,836 | 1,163 |
| Moto G14 | 450 | 1,587 | N/A |
| Oppo A18 | 435 | 1,454 | 565 |
| Moto G24 | 411 | 1,405 | 549 |
| Moto G05 | 406 | 1,352 | 508 |
| Moto G15 | 399 | 1,342 | 950 |
| Moto G04 | 381 | 1,335 | 446 |
That’s enough power to handle basic everyday tasks, but there are moments when the phone hesitates – not helped by the fact it’s only blessed with 4 GB of physical RAM.
When it comes to photo quality, the camera produces reasonable results in good light. Outside, images are sharp although blue skies look a tad oversaturated while lacking in fine detail. Thankfully, switching to that 5 MP ultra-wide lens doesn’t come with a major impact on picture quality.
Portrait mode is a little underwhelming, with the AI-powered fake bokeh blur looking disappointing, but at least it avoids the excessive beautification applied by some handsets.
Who is the Motorola Moto G15 for?
If you can afford to spend a little more than $200, then the Motorola Moto G15 is certainly one to consider. You might argue the Moto G05 is better value at only $179, with roughly the same specs, but it depends on where your priorities lie.
If you’d appreciate the Moto G15’s sharper screen and make the most of its extra ultra-wide camera lens, then it’s perhaps an extra $50 well spent.
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