Motorola is one of those companies that always seems to be announcing new handsets, and its latest is the Moto G22 – a super-cheap phone with a 50MP main camera.
The price coupled with that camera are the main highlights here. It’s set to cost just £139.99 (around $185 / AU$255) when it lands in the UK in mid-March, with no news on US or Australian availability.
For that you get a phone with a quad-lens camera, including a 50MP f/1.8 main sensor, an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide, a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor, and a 2MP f/2.4 macro snapper. As usual on cheap phones those probably won’t all be very useful, with the 2MP sensors sounding like filler, but having a 50MP one at this price is notable.
The Moto G22 also has a big 5,000mAh battery – a size which isn’t uncommon on affordable phones but is still nice to see. That supports 15W charging, and the phone also has a 16MP front-facing camera, a 6.5-inch 720 x 1600 LCD screen with a 90Hz refresh rate, 64GB or 128GB of storage, and a 3.5mm headphone port.
It’s powered by a low-end MediaTek Helio G37 chipset coupled with 4GB of RAM, and it runs Android 12.
Rounding out the specs there’s a microSD card slot, a fingerprint scanner, and a water repellent build, with the Moto G22 coming in a choice of Cosmic Black, Iceberg Blue or Pearl White, though only the first two shades are mentioned for the UK. There’s also no 5G of course.
Analysis: sitting below the Moto G31
In terms of its position in Motorola’s extensive smartphone range, it seems the Moto G22 sits just below the Moto G31.
That phone costs slightly more but comes with a sharper 1080 x 2400 screen and a faster Helio G85 chipset. It also has an AMOLED rather than LCD screen. However, the refresh rate is lower, and while this phone also has a 50MP snapper, it only has three lenses on the back – lacking the depth sensor found on the Moto G22.
In most other ways the two phones appear similar, so it might not be as clear cut as saying that the Moto G31 is the better handset. Rather, it might depend on what you most want from your phone.