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Motorola Moto G31 128GB (6.4" FHD+, 4GB RAM, MediaTek G85) $237 (Was $278) + Delivery ($0 in-Store/ C&C/ to Metro) @ Officeworks

450

Been keeping my eye on this one for my 13 years old. Motorola G31, was $278, but for some reason has dropped in price.

Good phone for the price I think anyway. Comes in blue or grey.

6.4" FHD+ OLED display.
50 MP camera system with an 8 MP ultra-wide angle, 2 MP macro lens and LED flash.
4 GB of RAM.
128 GB of storage, expandable up to 1 TB via microSD card.
Android 11 operating system.
MediaTek Helio G85 processor with 2.0 GHz octa-core CPU and Arm Mali-G52 MC2 GPU.
Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity.
Connect to the network via a nano-SIM.
12 Month Warranty
Charging via USB-C.
This phone is unlocked so you can connect it to the Australian network of your choice.
Baby Blue design.
This phone is a genuine product, is brand new and is not a refurbished model.
NFC compatible

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closed Comments

  • +7

    amoled, acceptable ram for non-gaming, sd card, usb-c, 3.5mm jack, 5000mAh.

    Thats quite a killer device in that price bracket :)

    • I have a device with the same processor. It performs well for the price: responsive when web browsing, 60 fps or close to it at low settings in popular titles.

      An increase in RAM capacity won't improve your gaming experience, I'd be more concerned about the narrow graphics core.

      • For now 4gb is enough, but couple of years down the line 6gb is a good thing to have.

        • Depends how Android handle their memory managment.

          People were saying that to me in 2018 when I bought my Key2, and its still goin a-ok.

  • +1

    Great catch OP. Thanks.

  • +5

    Moto G50 5G version. $248 bucks at HN. Go Harney Go

    • Screen resolution is too low. Otherwise looks good.

      • -4

        MediaTek

        • +1

          MediaTek chips are now as good as snapdragon. Never thought this would happen.

          • +2

            @John Doh: Don't they all use the same basic ARM design then build on top?

            MediaTek problem always been power use and they don't release the code therefore no community development (xdadeveloper)

            • +1

              @netjock: Phones this price, the power use of the chipset is lower, not much of a problem. Community developement is only an issue for people who has the patience to find ROMs and flash them. I stopped doing that long ago due to each and every rom being buggy in one or the other way. I now am too old to do those anyway :)

              • @John Doh: I had a Xiaomi note 4 MediaTek and it heat up like there was no tomorrow. Xiaomi had a Snapdragon version which had no problems. Snapdragon version got more updates too.

                I would stay away from MediaTek at the same price.

                • +1

                  @netjock: I had an Mi3 Mi5 and mom had Redmi Note 3. I must say back then I hated Mediatek chips. Vastly because they underperformed, consumed more battery and game libraries were not optimised for them. Today, the leading mediatek chip is faster than latest snapdragon. Games are decently optimised for them and they are not as powerhungry anymore.

    • +1

      If you're not worried about warranty or 4G calling (aka VoLTE), then the Note 11.

      • Whats the issue with VoLTE? Doesnt it work?

          • @willyroo: I think they are referring to the dimensity version of Note 11. I also dont understand why the snapdragon version of Note 11 Pro 5G is also flagged as Volte not supported. The global version should support it I guess.

  • +3

    Factor in Motorola's update policy too, which is next to non-existent. Still a cheap phone approved for Australian networks.

  • -8

    Better go for used iphone, switching from Android to Apple will be a bitch after few years of data. Renewed Apple iPhone X Silver 64GB SIM-Free is $400 in Amazon Outlet Store, prob even less on eBay

    • +1

      Too soon yet.
      The whole legal arguments behind sideloading and admin rights on your own phone are still being fought.
      An iPhone is still stuck in Apples playroom right now. Hopefully in a year or so, we'll see more open iPhones.

      They still cant even bluetooth an mp3. File sending should be part of the core BT stack, but nope.

      • +2

        They still cant even bluetooth an mp3. File sending should be part of the core BT stack, but nope.

        One of my gripes with iphone. They are breaking what is an established industry standard.

        • My only real gripe is exactly that.
          Standards being ignored. No USB sharing, no BT Stack.
          There are more, but they're geek-specific.

          The lack of USB and BT sending has impacted multiple of my dads 70yo mates, just trying to send building plans and car photos to each other.

          None of them have a 'data plan' they all phone each other. The fact that these lockdowns would have cost them multiple dollars in data to send files from within the same room was painful.

          The 3 or so iPhone users switched away.

          Honestly, I always pictured the "70yo touch screen novice" to be an ideal market, but turned out to be the opposite. The 'oldschool' features they were familiar with on Nokias was lacking.

      • An iPhone is still stuck in Apples playroom right now. Hopefully in a year or so, we'll see more open iPhones.

        That is actually the best part of it, all apps properly vetted by Apple, less scams, less private data leaks. Android looks like wild west if compared.

        And lets not forget that Google, data holder, is an advertising company by main income.

        • +1

          No.
          Nobody needs to be inspecting my data or apps, other than me.
          Thats the worst part about Apple.
          My money. My device. My rules.

          I agree though that Google Android isnt much better, better off with Android Open Source.

          • -2

            @MasterScythe: no such thing as "Android Open Source". You mean LineageOS? Good luck giving this to a kid

            • +1

              @[Deactivated]: No I don't.
              Lineage is just one example of a project BASED on Android Open Source Project.
              Here you go, compile at will.
              https://source.android.com/

              Regardless, LineageOS is more than usable by a kid; I can confirm this first hand, from providing phones to them.
              What limitations would you expect?

              Even apps that 'need google services' run fine with microG
              https://microg.org/

              • @MasterScythe: Yea, common mistake thinking android is open source. Have you rooted it and disabled Goggle Play Store? Because if you did not, Google Play Services is running on it, controlling the device, and is totally closed source. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Play_Services

                • @[Deactivated]:

                  Because if you did not, Google Play Services is running on it, controlling the device, and is totally closed source

                  It's not even installed, it can't be running.
                  I didn't "root it" I am root when I compile it. I just never installed it.
                  Pure AOSP.

                  MicroG is on the kids devices, but it doesn't continue as a background service once the dependant library is unloaded.

                  • @MasterScythe: "MicroG…" now lets look back at what OP wanted, simple first phone for a kid :))

                    • @[Deactivated]: Are we reading the same OP?

                      Where do they state it needs to be simple?
                      Or that it's a first phone?
                      Or that the "kid" (who is a teenager) isn't capable of installing an app without a google or apple hand-holding?

                      Most teens know how to load an app anyway!
                      The fact that MicroG is launching the PlayStore, instead of GooglePlayServices shouldn't even be noticed.
                      The 8-11yo's in my family sure don't notice.

                      User level functionality, it's identical.
                      The difference is in the data collection and background services.

                      • @MasterScythe: Yep, just a simple phone for the 13 year old. I was wanting one under $300, which put me at oppo A54, Vivo y33s or this. Don't need 5g and have a sim only play with 5g data/month.

      • ITunes Match is $35/year. I uploaded all my music and im not paying any other sybscription

        • But compared to paying zero and having my whole library on my SD card?

          Unfortunately itunes match needs to include a data plan, or the iphone needs to extend its storage.

          • @MasterScythe: no data phones exist, and its not iphone nor the subj android. Its Nokia 3310, lol

            • @[Deactivated]: Pardon? 3310? Are you saying iTunes Match is available on YunOS?

              They do take MicroSD I suppose…

  • -4

    Motorola is a dead brand.

    Save your 💵 and buy something that is going to be around for at least a few years.

    • +4

      Lenovo/Moto arent going anywhere. They're huge.

      • -3

        Motorola used to be an innovator. They're now just another el-cheapo junk brand.

        Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and BlackBerry were the kings of mobile phones once upon a time. These brands are now dust. Just ask Gen Y or Gen Zoomer if they know them and they'll say wot?.

        • +2

          My experience discussing phones with my kids and their friends isn't anything like that.

          The Moto Edge series was one they all wanted.
          Vanilla android, good thermals for gaming.

          And if you know kids who dont recognise the 'Sony' brand, well, they're just not into audio I guess.

          • +5

            @MasterScythe: Gen Y here, I think gone are the days where people considered 'Apple & Samsung' were the only brands. The issue, was the consistent updates and the value that came with it. Too many where they just used their phones for calls, texts, FB and instagram, it just wasn't worth paying $1700 - $1800 especially when inflation is there for me just to use a couple apps. With Apple not supporting updates for certain models either, it makes more sense to source a more valuable phone and sell it off in 3 years time. As people previously & currently monitoring their spendings, I'd say theres already a shift from iPhone/Samsung handheld devices already. Hence why, Oppo, Xiaomi, Moto etc. are more seen in public than ever before. Gen Z's will most likely consider looking for alternatives to Apple & Samsung phones once they consider moving out from their parents and cost monitoring becomes for prevalent in their lives. Why pay $1700+ for a phone when a $200-$300 phone meets your needs and saves you $1500. Technically all I'd want is a phone lasting me 3 years, the more, the better. $200 - $300 phones will do that for many now. I'd like to see a chart of the bigger retailers (Optus/Tesltra) report stats on their phone+sim plans. My guess is, over the years, theirs a decline as people monitor their spending and opt out and consider their options elsewhere.

            • +4

              @Beezum: EXACTLY, it's honestly more the (and I hate this term) 'boomer' generation who think that "The big brands, are the only brands".
              Younger folks are more than happy (hell, likely!) to watch youtube videos about the latest no-name flagship-killer and hunt that out at half the cost.

              My guess is, over the years, theirs a decline as people monitor their spending and opt out and consider their options elsewhere.

              I have access to some (admittedly incomplete) Vodafone sales data through my job, and I can confirm OPPO appears to be taking bigger and bigger handfulls from the competition.
              Personally, I'm not thrilled it's Oppo that's making those gains, but hey, any competition is good competition.

              The 'A' series of Samsung needs more praise.
              They're always well specced for the price, and they always allow easy bootloader unlocking to put a rom of your choice on it.

  • +1

    Thx OP, just grabbed one.

  • Does anyone have any views on whether this would be an upgrade, downgrade or sidegrade from an LG V30+?

    • i have a v30 and i also have a tcl10pro and the tcl20l (yes I know I have a problem)

      i personally am not a huge fan of the MTK set… and really would much prefer any SDM600+ phone over these…

      i dont even have to look at this motorola to know the tcl20 w/ 6-256gb is superior…

      there's a long day in hell before i go motorola or mtk again

      the v30 is completely oos but i think the performance is still fine (i think it rocks a sdm825?)

      imo none of these is a full upg to the v30+ but then $200 for a tcl isnt a big deal

  • How's the amoled screen quality

    • Afaik samsung are the only manufacturers of amoled panels; everyone else is oled.

      If my memory is correct, then it should be just as good as any other amoled you've seen.

  • +4

    I came from a Pixel 3XL to this phone. It's a very similar experience from the pixel to the moto g31 which I find astounding. Screen is great. Battery is excellent. Speed is just fine for my use (no gaming). Installed Nova Launcher and all's good. I'd actually recommend this phone. Bluetooth sound is great (Dolby Atmos). Has a 3.5 jack but I haven't used it. IR Blaster. Dual Sim Or Sim and Expander storage. Speak is loud and single not stereo. Cameras are surprisingly good - considering I'm coming from a 2018 pixel camera.

    Spoke to a mate (late 30s) he said "older people" he knows seem to be buying phones like this as they meet their simple needs. I like a flagship device and probably would have bought one but I needed a phone quickly and flagships don't quite fit my checklist at the moment. (no rounded edges, stable vanilla software, good telephoto).

    If you're in the market for a brand new $230 phone that works fine this will float your boat and if it doesn't, return it. Moto has done a good job.

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