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Continuing the frustrating grab bag nature of the Motos’ feature distribution, the G53 5G greatly outperforms the MediaTek Helio G85-powered Moto G23, with leads of 57% in the single-core results and 18% in multicore. The rest of the test group was mostly on a par, with the exception of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 11, which fell 45% behind the G53 5G in the single-core portion of the test. Looking at both the Moto G53 5G and Moto G23, I can’t help but feel that Motorola has taken an excellent phone and cleaved it in two, leaving a pair of devices that feel frustratingly close to exceeding the value offered by the Moto G62 5G but ultimately fall short.
I experimented using both modes and found Natural to be the better of the two. Saturated was just a little too ‘in your face’ and fake-looking for my liking. Compared to the G62 5G, the Moto G53 5G is quite a design departure, replacing the slightly curved, glossy rear panel with a flat, frosted number that runs fairly bluntly into the plastic edges. The Moto G53 runs the latest version of Android 13 and is kept largely free of any added bloatware. Motorola has its own app onboard, which you can use to customize various aspects of the phone, such as the color theme, the layout of the home screen (how many rows and columns of apps you can have displayed) and which gestures you want to use – if any – to open apps or enable features.The Moto G53 isn’t a bad-looking phone by any means, but it doesn’t quite have the wow factor of some other devices on the market. Having said that, I did let out a discernible gasp when I first took it out the box when I realized just how light it was. The screen has an HD+ 1600 x 720 resolution with 269ppi. It’s a bit upsetting that Motorola hasn’t fitted the G53 with a 1080p display, especially since you do get one with the Moto G62 (along with an extra camera sensor) without having to spend too much more money. Results taken on the front camera aren't overly terrible, although I did find I could look pale and overexposed in some instances. I also found that when I came to view the selfie I'd taken, some processing appears to take place on the image, which makes it look more blurred. I toggled the automatic HDR setting on and off, assuming this was the culprit, but the same effect was applied each time. There’s no mention of Gorilla Glass being used on the front panel in Motorola’s official specs list, so you’ll definitely want to invest in a tempered glass screen protector, and while an official IP rating is not offered, the company says it has a “water-repellant” design that can survive the odd splash or spill, but you’ll want to refrain from submerging it in water at all costs.
The G53 5G’s display is a 6.5in IPS LCD panel, which is the same as both the G62 5G and the G23. It has the same 1,600 x 720 resolution as the G23, but where the latter is capped at 90Hz, the G53 5G is 120Hz, just like the G62 5G (which also has a 2,400 x 1,080 resolution).
Wallet-friendly with incredible battery life
The 50MP main camera definitely puts in a better showing than the macro sensor, but it’s not without its own issues. Colour reproduction is comfortably neutral at times, keeping everything feeling realistic in the image, but contrast is often dialled up in places, giving everything a somewhat stylised pop-filter aesthetic.
Which is good news, because it takes a fairly long time to fully recharge the G53’s battery. The phone only supports up to 10 watts of maximum throughput from a wired charge, which meant it took just over two hours to top up to 100% from seven. I didn't use it to replace my usual phone, an iPhone, but I was still able to send messages to friends via social media apps when connected to Wi-Fi. I also used my iPhone as a means to compare picture-taking abilities, being well aware that the iPhone was going to take more impressive shots due to its more capable camera system. The G53 5G manages to put in a strong enough showing across performance, battery life and display quality to be a better overall proposition than the G23, but it still struggles to escape the G62 5G’s shadow. On Geekbench 6, the Moto G53 5G returned a single-core score of 719, a multi-core score of 1743 and 979 in 3DMark Wild Life. These are all pretty low figures, and you shouldn’t expect to do any intensive gaming on it, but in comparison with some of its similarly priced peers, the G53 actually fares pretty well.Motorola has fitted a 5,000mAh battery into the Moto G53 5G, which is something we’ve now pretty much come to expect in the G series. It’s a solid offering and one that should comfortably last you a day with moderate use, and with some battery life to spare. It’s a good job that the G53 5G has such excellent stamina, as charging speeds are pretty weedy. Where the Moto G23 supports 30W fast charging, like the G73 5G, and the G62 5G even came bundled with a 15W charger, the Moto G53 5G only supports 10W charging. From empty, the bundled charger can bring the battery to 50% in around an hour, but you’re looking at a little over two hours for a full 100% charge. Motorola Moto G53 5G review: Cameras In the gallery below, I've included images taken on the Moto G53 in good lighting, in low-lighting and some comparison shots of a leaf taken using the standard camera and macro camera. A 6.5-inch LCD display dominates the front of the Moto G53, with a small punch-hole cutout at the top to house the front camera. Bezels around the sides and at the top are kept relatively slim, but there is a slightly larger one at the bottom. I don’t think this detracts from the overall viewing experience because, since the screen is so large, my eyes were never really drawn to the chin at the bottom. The G62 5G has the best display, with both a 2,400 x 1,080 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, as well as a stronger selection of cameras and more powerful CPU. The screen doesn’t get as bright as the G53 5G, however, and it feels cheaper than its newer siblings. The G23, meanwhile, gets 30W fast charging and 8GB of RAM, but performance is weaker and storage can only be expanded up to 512GB, where the other two accept microSD cards up to 1TB.
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