Moto G82 5G First Impressions: Stretching Boundaries

The Moto G82 5G is the latest and the most premium addition to the G series from Motorola and it sits at the top of the stack. This smartphone also breaks the Rs. 20,000 price barrier, taking the G series to a higher price band for the first time. Motorola has equipped the G82 5G with a 120Hz pOLED display, stereo speakers, and a 50-megapixel camera with OIS. Powering it is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC, which makes for a very interesting combination of specs for its price. I got to spend some time with the Moto G82 5G and here are my first impressions.

Motorola claims that the Moto G82 5G is the slimmest and the lightest smartphone in its segment. It measures 7.9mm in thickness and weighs 173g. The Moto G82 5G has the same boxy design we've seen on Motorola's latest Edge series such as the Motorola Edge 30 (Review), and the recently launched Moto E32s (First look). The frame of the phone is flat and is made out of plastic.

It has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner on the right that's integrated with the power button. The volume buttons are also on the same side, but reaching them is a bit of a stretch. The volume buttons don't protrude much but offer decent feedback when pressed. The Moto G82 5G has a 3.5mm headphone jack, USB Type-C port, and a speaker at the bottom. On the top, it has an additional microphone and the earpiece acts as the secondary speaker for stereo sound. The Moto G82 5G also has an IP52 rating for resistance against light splashes of water.

The acrylic back on the Moto G82 5G gives it a premium look

The Moto G82 5G has an acrylic back panel that gives it a glass-like look, and should be more durable when it comes to surviving accidental drops. I found that it picked up smudges rather easily but the Meteorite Grey colour of my unit managed to hide them well. Motorola also offers the Moto G82 5G in a White Lily finish. You get a bundled case in the box which should help alleviate this problem.

Motorola provides a triple camera setup on the Moto G82 5G, consisting of a 50-megapixel primary camera with optical stabilisation (OIS), an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera which also doubles as the depth camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. The back panel is flat with curved sides, making it comfortable to hold the phone.

You get a 6.6-inch pOLED display on the Moto G82 5G with a full-HD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The display supports DC dimming for improved battery life and it has a 360Hz touch sampling rate. Motorola claims that the pOLED technology helps keep the thickness of the display low and allows for thinner bezels. The Moto G82 5G has a hole-punch for its 16-megapixel selfie camera.

The Moto G82 5G runs Android 12 out of the box and is guaranteed to get Android 13

Motorola has picked the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC to power the Moto G82 5G. This SoC is quite common in this price range and is also used in the Moto G71 5G (Review). There are 6GB and 8GB RAM variants of the G82 5G on offer, but the storage for both is 128GB. The 6GB variant is priced at Rs. 21,499, while the 8GB variant is priced at Rs. 22,999. Motorola is offering a cash back offer at launch on certain credit cards, which knocks off Rs. 1,500 from the price of both variants. 

You have the option to expand the internal storage further but since the Moto G82 5G has a hybrid SIM slot, it comes at the cost of a second SIM card. The Moto G82 5G supports Bluetooth 5.1, dual-band Wi-Fi, 13 5G bands, dual 4G VoLTE, NFC and six satellite navigation systems. The Moto G82 5G sports a 5,000mAh battery and has support for 30W fast charging. Motorola bundles a 33W TurboPower fast charger in the box.

The Moto G82 5G runs Android 12 out of the box with Motorola's custom MyUX UI on top. The interface is similar to stock Android and is very easy to use. It comes with Google's suite of apps and Facebook preinstalled. Motorola promises an update to Android 13 along with three years of Android security updates. I would have preferred support for an Android 14 upgrade too but Motorola is currently only offering the two major OS updates for its premium Edge 30 series.

The Moto G82 5G has a 50-megapixel primary camera

Motorola aims to widen the coverage of its G-series smartphones across price bands and the Moto G82 5G is the first example of this move. The new smartphone does face some stiff competition from smartphones such as the Vivo T1 5G (Review), OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G (Review), and the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (Review). These smartphones offer similar hardware and tend to undercut the Moto G82 5G in terms of pricing. However, can features such as the optically stabilised main camera and IP rating swing votes in the G82 5G's favour? I will be putting the Moto G82 5G through our battery of tests, so stay tuned for the full only on Gadgets 360.