Motorola Moto G86 Power review: Built for battery life above all else

Design and build

Thanks to its Pantone partnership, unboxing a Motorola smartphone in any segment will never get old. My review unit came in Pantone Golden Cypress. If you’re not familiar with what that looks like, I would describe it as a bright chutney green. The G86 Power also comes in Pantone Spellbound, Pantone Cosmic Sky, and Pantone Chrysanthemum.

Vegan leather finish on the back. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express)

The vegan leather finish on the back makes it an even greater attention magnet. Having reviewed more than a few Motorola phones by now, I have been warming up to textured backs of phones on a sensory level. But the G86 Power also comes with a simple plastic case for those who may not necessarily appreciate my personal quirk.

In terms of the build, the G86 Power may not be the lightest and most compact phone around. But it doesn’t look nearly as bulky, considering that it houses a mammoth battery. The phone’s curved edges also ensure a comfortable grip. While it does not give off a premium look by any means, the IP68/IP69 certification for water and dust resistance, along with MIL-STD-810H compliance, shows that the G86 Power is a well-constructed and durable smartphone.

Performance and display

Motorola has a track record of offering some of the better displays in the budget segment, and the Moto G86 Power stays true to that reputation. It features a 6.67-inch Full HD+ pOLED screen with support for 1B colours, up to 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ colour certification and 4500 nits of peak brightness. Colours look bright and vibrant, making the screen appropriate for streaming your favourite YouTube podcast as well as everyday scrolling. The claimed peak brightness kept the screen legible upon testing it under Delhi’s harsh sunshine.

It features a 6.67-inch Full HD+ pOLED screen. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express)

Since the Moto G86 Power has a clear focus on battery life, there are bound to be some compromises. One such potential trade-off is the lower-end MediaTek Dimensity 7400 chipset, which is paired with 8GB RAM. It is combined with Motorola’s Hello UI based Android experience.

It packs a massive 6,720mAh capacity cell. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express)

While the phone can handle casual indie games with ease, it showed signs of struggles when subjected to graphics-heavy titles. To be sure, this may not be a dealbreaker for some. But Motorola only promising a single OS upgrade for the Android 15-based Hello UI interface and three years of security upgrades is not enough.

Camera

For a budget smartphone, the Moto G86 Power comes with a decent set of cameras. It has a 50MP main sensor with OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation), along with the 32MP selfie camera and ultrawide 8MP sensor. While this is perfectly adequate in the budget segment, digital zoom is capped at 10x and post-processing also tends to oversaturate the colours.

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(Image resized for web.)

(Image resized for web.)

(Image resized for web.)

(Image resized for web.)

Battery

Saving the best for last, I can confirm that the Moto G86 Power delivers on the battery without hesitation. Even with moderate to heavy use, the phone’s massive 6,720mAh capacity cell ensures that it is impossible to run the device out of charge regardless of any combination of tasks.

In terms of the charging, the Moto G86 Power comes with a 33W charging adapter in the box that is not particularly quick at top-ups as it takes over 1.5 hours for the battery to go from zero to full tank. But given the endurance level of the battery, perhaps the trade-off here makes sense.

Should you buy the Moto G86 Power?

If there’s one reason to buy the Moto G86 Power, it’s the battery. If you are looking for reasons beyond that, they may be harder to come by. At Rs 17,999, it delivers outstanding endurance along with a bright and capable display, clean Android software, and sturdy build. Performance and cameras are firmly average, and keep in mind that long-term software support is limited. That said, if you just want a smartphone under Rs 20,000 that you can charge once and not have anxiety about the battery draining, the Moto G86 Power would be the right purchase.