Motorola is back in the budget smartphone space in India with the launch of the Moto E7 Plus. The smartphone comes a year after the brand launched the Moto E6S in the country at Rs 7,999. The Moto E7 Plus can be seen as a successor, bringing budget features at an affordable price point. The Moto E7 Plus price in India is set at Rs 9,499 and the device brings specifications like 48MP dual cameras, Snapdragon 460 SoC, and 5,000mAh battery, among other things. The phone slots in between the Moto G8 Power Lite and the Moto G9, which are available at Rs 8,999 and Rs 11,499, respectively. So, does the Moto E7 Plus offer the best of both worlds? We review to find out.
Verdict
The Moto E7 Plus is definitely one of the better sub-Rs 10,000 phones in the market right now. The phone’s USP is that it gives you a 48MP camera system at an affordable price point. On top of that, you get clean Android 10 software and a terrific battery life. The Moto E7 Plus is a budget phone that you can easily recommend to your friends and family.
Design and display
- Display: 6.5-inch HD+ (720 x 1,600) LCD
- Refresh rate: 60Hz
- Connectivity: Hybrid dual SIM slot, micro-USB port, 3.5mm headphone jack
The Moto E7 Plus feels like a quintessential Motorola smartphone. There is some heft and thickness to the build, which is due to the 5,000mAh battery packed inside. The phone comes with smooth matte-finished rear polycarbonate panel that curves around the edges. The panel feels nice to touch, and does not register fingerprints or smudges. The unit we received was in Navy Blue colour, which offers an attractive gradient that moves from light blue to dark blue. The phone is also available in an Amber Bronze colour option.
The Moto dimple on the back has a fingerprint sensor embedded. It’s ideally placed allowing you to reach it easily with your finger. Above the fingerprint sensor are dual cameras and an LED flash housed in a square-shaped module. The right side of the frame has the volume buttons, a power button with a rugged finish, and a Google Assitant button way up top. The Google Assistant button is a tad difficult to reach, so it’s doubtful many people would use it. The bottom of the phone bears a micro-USB port and a speaker grille. The 3.5mm headphone jack is found on the top of the frame and a hybrid dual SIM tray is placed on the left side.
At the front, you get a 6.5-inch HD+ (720 x 1,600) LCD display with a 20:9 aspect ratio. There’s a waterdrop notch for the selfie camera. The display offers rich colours and decent brightness levels indoors, but we found the screen quite dull under bright sunlight. Due to the standard HD+ resolution, the screen doesn’t look very sharp. You’ll notice some pixelation when reading text and around app icons. Video content on streaming platforms like YouTube and Netflix will not be very sharp, but we were happy with colour reproduction and viewing angles.
Cameras
- Rear cameras: 48MP (f/1.7) primary sensor, 2MP depth sensor
- Front camera: 8MP sensor
The Moto E7 Plus does not keep with the current industry trend of offering triple or quad cameras on smartphones, but we’re not complaining. The phone offers a good primary camera, which is what matters. You don’t get macro or wide-angle lenses, which is fine because they rarely impress in this segment. The dual-camera setup also means the camera app is pretty minimal and easy to use.
The 48MP primary camera with default pixel binning captures good-looking daylight photos with balanced exposure and good colour accuracy. Photos appear rich and vibrant, and HDR does well with shadows and highlights in tricky lighting conditions.
What really impressed us, however, was the night mode on the Moto E7 Plus. Compared to regular night shots, the night mode photos look brighter, clearer and more detailed. This tells us that the Snapdragon 460 chipset does have the processing chops for nighttime photography and yet the more expensive OPPO A53 was launched without a dedicated night mode. We feel the Moto E7 Plus is one of the better phones in this segment when it comes to low-light photography.
Performance and software
- Chipset: 1.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 SoC
- RAM: 4GB RAM
- Storage: 64GB built-in (up to 512GB expandable)
- Software: Android 10
Powering the Moto E7 Plus is the 1.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 chipset based on the 11nm process. We last saw this chipset powering the OPPO A53. It’s an entry-level processor that we expect to see power more budget phones in the near future. The chipset does not really look impressive in benchmarks as you can see below, bu the scores are better than what the OPPO A53 managed. It is not really a processor that is meant for gaming, but it gets day-to-day tasks done.
The Moto E7 Plus with the Snapdragon 460 chipset holds up well enough when it comes to basic day-to-day tasks like messaging on WhatsApp and social media browsing on Instagram and Facebook. The phone will feel sluggish as apps take a second or two to open up. With 4GB RAM onboard, we were able to easily switch between apps but they don’t stay open too long in the background, especially heavier apps like games.
We played a few rounds of Call of Duty Mobile on the maximum available graphics settings and the phone surprisingly held up well. While you won’t get the best graphics here, you will be able to win battles without seeing many lags or stutters, which is probably the best possible thing to hear from a phone in this segment. After a 30-minute gaming session, the phone felt mildly warm and the battery dropped just 5 per cent, which is impressive.
The Moto E7 Plus runs Android 10 and our review unit was on the September 2020 security patch. This is as close to stock Android as it gets, which means you won’t find any unnecessary third-party apps and bloatware. Just good old Google apps and some Moto-specific features like gestures that allow you to quickly turn on the flashlight by chopping the phone in the air two times or enabling DND by flipping the phone over.
The lack of third-party apps also means you won’t see spammy notifications or ads appearing on the UI. What remains to be seen is whether Motorola plans to deliver quick and regular software updates.
Battery life
- Battery: 5,000mAh
- Charging: 10W standard charging
- PCMark Battery test: 24 hours and 10 minutes
Another impressive aspect of the Moto E7 Plus is the battery life. The phone houses a 5,000mAh battery, which can take you through a day and a half on moderate usage. On days with heavy usage that involves a few hours of gaming and video streaming, the phone will still last through the day and overnight, but will need a charge the next day morning. In our PCMark battery drain test, the phone lasted an impressive 24 hours.
You get a standard 10W charger in the box that takes over three hours to fully charge the phone from zero to 100 per cent.
Final verdict
The Moto E7 Plus is yet another dependable budget smartphone from Motorola with more than a few good features to keep you happy. The sub-Rs 10,000 segment is a pretty competitive space, especially with the likes of newly-launched phones like the Redmi 9 Prime (review). The budget Xiaomi phone is currently the best you can find under Rs 10,000 as it offers an FHD+ display, good performance, and solid battery life. But the Moto E7 Plus proves to be a worthy challenger.
While the Moto E7 Plus doesn’t offer an FHD+ display, it excels in the camera and battery department. The 48MP primary camera and Night mode feature makes the phone stand out in the segment. The Moto E7 Plus also delivers a long-lasting battery life and a clean, ad-free Android experience, which are features consumers in this segment will appreciate.
Editor’s rating: 3.5 / 5
Pros:
- Excellent battery life
- Capable cameras
- Clean Android 10 platform
Cons:
- HD display lacks sharpness
- Brightness levels could have been better
- Not the best chipset for gaming
 Moto E7 Plus |
vs |  Xiaomi Redmi 9 Prime |
| Moto E7 Plus |
vs |  Samsung Galaxy M01s |
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