Moto G51 First Impressions: An Affordable Moto G with 5G

Motorola’s second attempt at a budget-friendly 5G smartphone is an interesting one.

By Sheldon Pinto | Updated: 10 December 2021 12:40 IST

Moto G51 First Impressions: An Affordable Moto G with 5G

Motorola's Moto G51 is priced at Rs. 14,999 in India

Highlights

The Moto G51 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480+ SoC
Its body is made of polycarbonate and it has an IP52 rating
Its LCD display has a 120Hz refresh rate

It's the end of 2021. 5G networks in the country have yet to go live, but we do have plenty of 5G smartphones in the budget segment that even offer dual-5G standby. Motorola might appear to have arrived quite late to the budget 5G party, but it did launch a smartphone back in 2020 called the Moto G 5G. Almost a year later, the company is now back with another budget 5G smartphone for its G-Series, and it is called the Moto G51.

The Moto G51 debuts the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 480+ processor in India, which has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the Snapdragon 480. This phone is only available with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, and is priced at Rs. 14,999 in India. Communications standards include support for several 5G brands, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, and the usual satellite navigation systems.

The Motorola Moto G51 has a 6.8-inch full-HD+ display with a thick chin at the bottom

The Moto G51 does look like the recently launched Moto G31 (Review), especially around the camera module, but has flatter sides. It also feels quite chunky at 208 grams. The unibody is IP52-rated and is made of polycarbonate. All the buttons are on the right side, including a Google Assistant key, volume buttons, and the power/unlock button which has a built-in fingerprint reader. There's a 3.5 mm headphone jack at the bottom alongside the Type-C USB 2.0 port, primary mic, and speaker. The Moto G51 has a hybrid dual-SIM setup which accepts microSD cards (up to 512GB) for storage expansion.

The Motorola Moto G51 has a dedicated Google Assistant key

There's a 6.8-inch full-HD+ LCD panel with a 120Hz screen refresh rate. Motorola also claims a 240Hz touch sampling rate, which gamers will find useful. You can charge the 5,000mAh battery using the bundled 20W charger. The Moto G51 offers a near-stock version of Android 11 with the usual Moto customisations, which include Moto Gestures. There are three rear-facing cameras: a 50-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 2-megapixel macro shooter. Selfies are handled by a 13-megapixel front-facing camera.

The Moto G51 has three rear-facing cameras

The strongest selling points of Motorola's recent phones are their near-stock Android software and IP ratings. The Moto G51 builds on this and offers the new Snapdragon 480+ processor, a 120Hz refresh-rate display, and 5G, which seems good enough for a budget 5G contender. Its Rs. 14,999 price tag also seems quite competitive. So how does Motorola stack up against existing budget 5G players including Redmi and Realme? Stay tuned for my detailed review.

Will Snapdragon's new 2022 chips make it more prominent as a brand? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Motorola Moto G51

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Crisp 120Hz display
IP52 rating
Near-stock Android software
No bloatware or third-party apps

Bad
Average low light camera performance
Bulky and heavy
Gaming performance is not up to the mark

Read detailed Motorola Moto G51 review

Display 6.80-inch

Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 480+

Front Camera 13-megapixel

Rear Camera 50-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel

RAM 4GB

Storage 64GB

Battery Capacity 5000mAh

OS Android 11

Resolution 1080x2400 pixels

More Motorola mobiles Motorola mobiles price in India

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Further reading: Motorola, Moto G51, Motorola Moto G51 5G Price in India, Motorola Moto G51 Specifications, Motorola Moto G51 Battery, Motorola Moto G51 Design

Sheldon Pinto

Email Sheldon Pinto

Sheldon Pinto is based in Mumbai, and has several years of experience in reviewing smartphones and gadgets. As a Senior Reviewer at Gadgets 360, you will always find him deeply immersed in his reviews, switching from one phone to another. When the battery dies out, Sheldon is always browsing the web for a good sci-fi movie or reading up on cars and bikes. He also loves creating lists of interesting places to eat and travel. Sheldon is available on Twitter at @shellshocd, and you can mail him at ...More