I've been a Moto fan since 2015. I decided to never spend more than 300 bucks on something that could potentially get replaced in 2-3 years. The gestures are especially great of you're into IT. The shake gesture to turn on the flashlight is clutch, and the phone is very durable and reasonable snappy while providing an adequate duration of use between charges

The information below still holds true. However, after several weeks with this phone, I actually like it better than my Samsung A54. When the screen is locked and off, you get these little information dots. Based on the dot symbol, I can tell whether it is a text from someone, or just a notification from an app.
I can touch the little dot symbol, it will give me a little bit of information. I can swipe from that dot, to dismiss, close out or respond. I like that. Lastly, I have noticed the battery life is better than the Samsung A54. Not fantastic like my old Moto G Power, that would last three days easily, without needing a charge. But, this one last about 20% longer than the Samsung A54. Other than that, both phones (the Samsung A54 works just fine), are pretty good for the price.
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This is an early review of the Moto G Power 5g-2023 model. Just got it yesterday.

First, I have a Samsung A54, that I purchased least Christmas season and it works fine. No broken screen, no scratches. But the battery life on it (the A54) did not impress my at all. Felt the same about the Nord 10, which also is in perfect working condition.

Realized that I had been spoiled. By my 4 or 5 year old, Moto G Power 2019 or 2020 phone. I could easily go three days, without having to worry about constantly looking at the battery state, with normal use.
Yes, it still works, too! Oh yes, I wanted a headphone jack again, which the Samsung doesn't have.

Yes, I have blue tooth headphones (not earbuds), but a set of good corded earbuds, is easy to take out of your pocket and pop into your eye, when you are mobile.

So getting the new Moto G Power 5g 2023, at $200 was what I was waiting for. Here's what I have noticed:
a. The screen is cleaner and brighter than my Samsung A54, at a lower setting.
b. It is actually a little taller and thinner than my Samsung A54, and not at wide. So it is easier to hold in my hands.
c. Charging time is similar when I put them on two chargers of the same brand, type and wattage.
d. The front facing camera lens hole is definitely wider on the Moto G, I barely notice it on the Samsung.
e. Setup was very easy. I connected a USB-C, cord between the Samsung and Moto G, and all of my account information was transferred. I could select NOT to transfer media from the old phone to the new one, since I had inserted, a micro sd slot into the new phone, with what media I always wanted to keep.
f. The fingerprint reader is on the side of the phone, vs, in the screen like the Samsung. Which I actually prefer.

Here are the disappointments:
1. This phone is newer than the Samsung A54. Yet, when I did the Geek bench Test series on it, the final results were that the Moto G Power 2023 is about 20% 'slower' than the Samsung. Oh, according to Geek Bench, they have the same processor.

2. I'm only seeing a slightly better battery performance than the Samsung, which is very disappointing, because of the POWER name, that is slapped on it. Definitely no where close to the battery longevity of my old Moto G Power 4g.

3. When I tested the wifi speed, the Samsung A54, downloaded faster, by about 20%.

4. This might be user error. But I can't figure out how to get 5 app icons in a row, compared to my other phones. The Samsung gives me a grid option, in home screen settings. But I do not see that in the menu of the Moto G Power 2023, even though they 'both' have Android 13.

Yes, I know 5g drains the battery faster than 4g, when all things are the same. I didn't expect it to quite match my old Moto G Power. But I was extrapolating that it would be at least 30% better than the competing Samsung A54, which last about a day, before I have to recharge it. It seems 10% at best of an improvement.

So if you have a Samsung A54, and you are looking for performance improvement, I would not buy this phone.

BUT, if you have an older phone, like the Samsung A52 (which I had traded in for the Samsung A54), this is definitely a good upgrade at this price, since it was originally about $299. Especially, if you don't want to have to be bothered with wireless headphones, or fancy 'tiny' wireless earbuds, whose batteries, barely last a few hours.

Perception-Someone with 'wired' earbuds walking around in public, are because of industry image, perceived as cheap. That is the image that I want.

Will I return them? Nope, too much hassle and they do give me the headphone jack, that I wanted. But I know that POWER meaning of the past phones, is not the POWER meaning of the newer ones.

Attached photo, sorry about it being sideway. The Nord plus phone is at the top (different wallpaper), the Samsung is in the middle and the Moto G Power at the bottom. Same wallpaper because it copied over in the transfer.

That's it.

I replaced my Moto G Power (2020) with this Moto G Power 5G (2023). It has a better screen. It is faster and has more storage. It comes with Android 13 and is upgradeable. The battery life is a little less, but acceptable, and if I turn off 5G which uses more power and is only beneficial when surfing the internet or streaming video the battery life is about 85% of the old phone, and 4G LTE is more than adequate

Had it for a couple days. Loved how long the battery lasted (12+ hrs). Didn't quite make it past the 1 day mark even though it says a 2 day battery, but no worries. I tend to charge my phone at the end of my day anyway.

I didn't like the "bloat". Lot of unecessary apps and folders and "Hubs". It was kind of overwhelming...felt worse than my samsung. I would get random ad like pop ups or pop ups of news stories I do not care for.

The phone is huge, I knew it would be big, but I wasn't quite expecting it to be so gigantic since I'm used to more compact phones (still holding onto my samsung s10e I was trying to replace) Great if you wanna watch videos on it, but unfortunately it was too much for my small hands to deal with. Additionally, I know the phone would not at all fit in my pockets.

I do like that almost everything else was simple and pixel like. I originally was going to get a pixel, but given all the mixed reviews I've heard about them I decided to try Moto instead for a stock android experience.

It's also a very sleek and thin (to me) phone. Very pretty, and pretty snappy. There were a few hiccups here and there where it would take a a bit of a long time loading a page or opening an app, or even just starting up but that's okay.

I'm not a photo person, but the camera looks kind of poopy. Then again, it's a cheap phone not an expensive camera. If having a good camera is important to you, I would probably skip this phone.

For use of watching videos or listening to music, I say it's pretty solid. You could watch hours and hours of Netflix and hardly make a dent in the battery. The screen is great and the speakers are nice and clear as well.

The phone doesn't have NFC, I don't use that because I prefer to use physical cash and or cards, but I know it's a big deal to many who like the convenience of being able to leave their physical wallets at home.

The phone does have a 3.5mm jack and expandable storage which is great ðŸ‘

Overall, if the phone wasn't too big and bloated, I'd keep the phone. However, I would still recommend it as a nice budget phone under 200.

***edit to let y'all know I'm keeping the phone it's grown on me 🤭

*Update* I decided to revise my review and stars based on the actual phone build and performance. Just keep in mind that you may not receive a charging block, only a cable.

After setting the up the phone and using it, I think this phone is a really great value. It looks great and performance is very good for this price point. The only thing that could have been a little better is the display, but this display is pretty good.

The camera is very good. I've had a lot of phones over the years from many different manufacturers. This phone has one of the best cameras I've had. I have not tried the macro camera yet though.

I also wanted to mention that Motorola did eventually push out the promised Android 14 upgrade after a few days along with security updates. Nice.

The phone performs well and the Wi-Fi and 5G work well and are faster than my prior phone. The Bluetooth has better range than my other phones, so I can move around with headphones or earbuds without having to keep the phone with me.

The bottom line is, I would definitely recommend this phone. I am not disappointed. In fact, for the price I am impressed.