Moto G 2021 and Moto One 5G Ace early Adopter Feedback Request

[southpaw]

Hi @Moto_G_2021_Beta early adopters (and those who have expressed an interest in joining this group).

As you receive and activate your phones, we’d love to know what you think! What are your first impressions of your new phone and its experience on our network?

1. How did activation go? Any problems? (We were not ready for activations on Thursday, 1/14, but have had everything in place early 1/15.)
2. Are calling and texting working as intended on both WiFi and cell? If you’re seeing some oddness with texting, please be sure RCS is disabled on both your new phone and especially on the phone it replaced.
3. How is the phone performing? How does it compare to your previous phone (and what were you using before?)
4. What do you think of the cameras?
5. Have you tried any Bluetooth connectivity? Calls over Bluetooth in the car? How does everything sound?
6. Have you tried the fingerprint reader? Is it consistent?
7. Any other thoughts you might want to share?
8. Having tried it, would you want to keep using this phone?

[kennyw.ec2x64]

I have a Moto G Power 2021 (XT2117-4)

1. Activation went smoothly on 1/15
2. Calling and texting are working without any issues
3. The phone performs well. I noticed some static on my only call and will report if it continues.
4. The camera is excellent
5. Will try bluetooth tomorrow
6. The fingerprint reader is working well
7. Everything seems fine
8. I like the phone so far

[jumphour]

Okay, got my Precious in the mail today, from Amazon.
Moto G Stylus 2021 XT2115-1 Black.

1. Activation went fine today (1/17/21). No problems. Must have a stub in the ROM…I never had to even go to the Play Store to get the app.

2. I’m gonna have to come back later and edit this after I make some calls. I did a test call to another phone I have, and that worked out fine, but I really didn’t have anyone I actually wanted to talk to today to try out the calling. LOL. Texting is working fine, both on wifi and cell. I actually had to turn off the wifi and uncheck the setting to automatically reconnect to wifi to see if it worked, and it was all good. I went into the Google messages app and turned off the chat feature, and then just installed Textra, which I love.

3. The phone seems to be performing very well, especially since I’ve been using older phones. The last phone I was using was my Moto X Pure, which is very old now, and this new one is pretty snappy. Even seemed to install apps quicker than I’m used to, thinking back to my beloved Galaxy S7 Edge that died on me…

4. I’ve only taken a couple of pictures. The macro camera did a good job on a fancy fountain pen nib close-up, so I’m happy with that. I’ll have to go take pics outside tomorrow. It’s nice having the Moto Actions with the twist to open camera, etc. I’m not a selfie person, but I’ll have to toy with that, and try out some video, which is another thing I just never really did on my old phones, but I should try all the stuff out.

5. I don’t have bluetooth in my old car, but after using my Moto X Pure with the busted bluetooth radio, I was thrilled to be able to connect the phone to my speaker setup in my room again to play music. Worked great. And it paired fine with my smart watch as well.

6. I’ve set up a couple fingers for the fingerprint scanner. It’s built into the power button on the side of the phone and seems to work great. My last phone that had a fingerprint sensor was the S7 Edge, which died a while back, so it’s nice to have that feature again.

7. More general thoughts about the phone. I LOVE the enormous screen. My Moto X Pure seemed like a behemoth, but this new one is maybe the same width, much taller, and ALL screen, so there’s no chin or top part showing like with my other phones. Just interrupted by the small front facing camera hole. It’s kinda hard to navigate one-handed, because it’s so big, but the extra real estate is fantastic to look at. And I noticed that it’s easier to see the rest of a page when the keyboard is present on screen, because there’s so much more space.
   I turned off the gesture navigation and use the more familiar home - back - app switching thingys on the bottom.
   And I’m VERY happy that I could put in my microSD card from my old phone, all loaded up with movies, shows, music, and pictures. My head almost exploded when I read that the new Galaxy S21 phones don’t have SD card slots now!!! Even with 128 GB of storage built in on this phone, I like having a card I can take out, drag and drop from my computer, etc. And if the phone dies, I still have all the stuff on a card I can pop into something else.
   Oh, and the stylus is pretty neat. From what I’ve read, with last year’s model, you had to kinda pry the stylus out with your fingernail. With this one, you can click it with your finger and it pops out a bit. Nice. The stylus experience is nowhere near as good as the one on my Samsung tablet, with the special Wacom stylus/screen tech, but it could be fun for notes and editing pictures. As soon as I opened the box, I put on a tempered glass screen protector and the ONE case that was available in stock on Amazon for this model. I really wasn’t expecting the stylus to work with the screen protector, but it did.

8. I definitely would want to keep using this phone. It’s very nice, and hope it lasts for a few years. I’m sure I’ll come back and add whatever else I’ve tried here, but so far, so good. I love toys, so this has been quite a treat today!

edit- Last time I went out and took pictures, the Moto G5 Plus I was using magically stripped out every gorgeous color of the sunset. Tonight with the new camera was really nice.

[kennyw.ec2x64]

Sending texts when not on wifi is not working very well. I keep getting “not sent” errors. Eventually, I can get them to send, but it takes a few tries.

[southpaw]

Is this new to this phone, or have you seen the same thing on the phone you were using prior to the Moto G Power?

I’m thinking this may be a coverage issue for you. The next time you see it happen, could you make sure the LTE symbol is showing and perhaps see if you’re able to open a website you’ve never opened before?

I’d love to hear from some other G Power (2021) users, though.

[jasii]

Moto G Power(2021)
Southeast Florida

1 – How did activation go? Any problems?

Migration and activation went quickly and smoothly. Used Google Cloud to migrate apps/data from Moto G5+, custom app to migrate messages, and file system to migrate photo/video. Swapped out SIM & MicroSD. Turned on. Started Republic App, kept same number, so a couple of clicks and I was in business.

2 – Are calling and texting working as intended on both WiFi and cell?

Calling and texting seem to be working as before (limited test time :-).

RE: Calling.
Started call in house by main WiFi, walked to end of house, switched to WiFi extender, walked outside with no WiFi and it switched to cell. I then reversed path and all was good. The call did not drop. Note: there was a subtle chime at the time it switched from WiFi to cell and then back again. Not bothersome.

RE: Texting from cell vs. WiFi.
From my yard, with the G5+, I could not send texts w/image. I had to wait until I reconnected on WiFi and then it would send. With Power (2021) I was able to send both text and image from cell outside. So unless T-Mobile just erected or boosted my tower, this phone has better reception.

3 – How is the phone performing? How does it compare to your previous phone?

Previous phone; Moto G5+, Android 8.1.
The Moto G Power(2021) has so far either equaled or excelled in every area I have tested. After getting over the initial shock of the size (vs. the G5+) it would be hard to go back. The size issue was gone after about ten minutes of using the phone. Besides, it still fits in all of my pockets!

4 – What do you think of the cameras?

I will be a little different here in reviewing. In perspective, I bought a ‘phone’ that has cameras. If I wanted a ‘camera’ that was also a phone to take studio quality pictures/video then I would have spent +/- $1000 on a different device. That being said, I used the 1x, zoom and macro to take various pics and send via text which is more than adequate. Note: I do make studio quality videos and do large format prints but I have a 4K/3D video camera and a digital SLR for that. No comparison to any phone:-)

5 – Have you tried any Bluetooth connectivity? Calls over Bluetooth in the car? How does everything sound?

The Bluetooth connects flawlessly so far to my in-house devices. Much more reliable and consistent than the G5+. Due to Covid, I have only put about 100 miles on my vehicle since March 2020. So I do not know when I will get to test the mobile/car side.

6 – Have you tried the fingerprint reader? Is it consistent?

Fingerprint reader is very consistent. Just have to get used to side slide vs. front slide.

7 – Any other thoughts you might want to share?

Reviews are going to be relative based on what environment each user is coming from. As stated, mine is G5+ to Power(2021), so this is like a 4 release difference for me. Meaning, I may have more praise for this phone than others, but it is warranted.

8 – Having tried it, would you want to keep using this phone?

Absolutely! In fact, if the early-adopter testing proves to make Republic choose not to support this phone then I might have to look for another carrier who does! Just kidding… or am I?

More to come as I put it through daily use.

[johnny5]

• How did activation go? Any problems? (We were not ready for activations on Thursday, 1/14, but have had everything in place early 1/15.)
  Activation was problem free and easy.

• Are calling and texting working as intended on both WiFi and cell? If you’re seeing some oddness with texting, please be sure RCS is disabled on both your new phone and especially on the phone it replaced.
  Yes, calling and texting work well both on WiFi and cell.

• How is the phone performing? How does it compare to your previous phone (and what were you using before?)
  The phone is performing well. It’s responsive. My only complaint is the phone and I disagree on how bright the screen should be. This is especially true in lower-light conditions. Adaptive brightness is turned on. My previous phone was a Samsung Note 20.

• What do you think of the cameras?
  My limited picture taking have been fine. If it was warmer out I would be happy to test more.

• Have you tried any Bluetooth connectivity? Calls over Bluetooth in the car? How does everything sound?
  I have an old car but have a widget recommended by @Burusutazu that connects to my phone via Bluetooth and then broadcasts an FM signal my car radio can pick up, This works well. Pairing is consistent. Sometimes the widget and phone even remember to pair when I get into the car.

• Have you tried the fingerprint reader? Is it consistent?
  I do not use finger print readers.

• Any other thoughts you might want to share?
  I like the blue color. The phone fits easily in my hand.

• Having tried it, would you want to keep using this phone?
  I would be willing to use this phone. I’m not a real power user. However at the end of this test, I plan to go back to my Samsung Note 20.

[trappleton]

• How did activation go? Any problems? (We were not ready for activations on Thursday, 1/14, but have had everything in place early 1/15.)
  Activation was a little baffling, although my circumstances were less than ideal.

I have 2FA set up on my Google account; however, I bought this phone because my previous one died. It died dead. It just refuses to power on no matter what I do.

So when I tried to log in to my Google account on the new phone (Moto G Power 2021), I could not.

Ordinarily it would be no problem to receive an authentication code via text message, but I couldn’t do that. I put my old SIM card into my new phone, but I was not allowed to read text messages sent to the device until I downloaded the Republic Wireless app. You might be able to see where this is going.

I couldn’t download the Republic Wireless app from the Google Play store because I couldn’t log in to my Google account. I was trapped in an infinite causality loop.

The weird thing was, at some point, the RW app did appear on my phone. I’m presuming the SIM card must have had something to do with it? I’m glad that happened, because otherwise I would’ve needed to embark upon a days-long account recovery process with Google. (With most other companies, like Discord, if you reach the point where you can’t access 2FA codes, you’re just ■■■ – your account is useless.)

Everything turned out just fine in the end, but it was looking dicey for a few minutes there. It seems like maybe there’s no actual problem here, except in communicating the process to users who, like me, can’t access their old devices.

• Are calling and texting working as intended on both WiFi and cell?
  Calling and texting are working perfectly on both wifi and cell networks. I’ve been using Signal as my default SMS app and haven’t experienced any issues.

• How is the phone performing? How does it compare to your previous phone (and what were you using before?)
  The phone is a dream. Previously I was using a Google Pixel 2 XL, and before that, an original model Moto X. While using the Pixel, I really missed the Moto-exclusive features, like twisting to quickly open the camera app. Chop-for-flashlight and double-tapping the power button for shortcuts are great new additions.

Plus, the battery life is unbelievable. After a full day of moderate use, my charge is still above 90%. I take manufacturers’ battery life claims with a grain of salt, but this might actually last longer than Motorola claims.

I’ve seen reviews complaining about certain specs that are a downgrade over last year’s model, namely the screen resolution. I think the lower res is actually a boon. Fewer pixels directly translates to longer battery life, and my human eye sure can’t tell the difference between 260ppi vs. 290ppi (or whatever the difference actually is).

• What do you think of the cameras?
  I actually haven’t used the camera very much yet, but it seems better than decent. Like most other things with this phone, I actually like Motorola’s implementation of the camera app better than the Google default.

• Have you tried any Bluetooth connectivity? Calls over Bluetooth in the car? How does everything sound?
  I don’t have Bluetooth in my car, but I use a Bluetooth headset. It works just fine!

• Have you tried the fingerprint reader? Is it consistent?
  The fingerprint reader is consistent and fast. Far fewer misfires than I experienced with my last phone, although I’m sure the technology has just become more reliable in the past few years.

• Any other thoughts you might want to share?
  I know this is a midrange phone, but it punches way above its weight.

• Having tried it, would you want to keep using this phone?
  Absolutely. I’m hoping this phone lasts a relatively long time.

[christophero.j9ew3v]

Moto G Play 2021:

After the help here the rest of activation went flawless. As of right now the phone itself preforms as expected. Bluetooth works in car both phone and audio, the finger print reader is fairly consistent(minus my fast fingers). The texting issue I had was fixed with the above mentioned steps for turning off the RCS. WiFi calling is similar to older moto phones as is the regular cell calls. The camera I have seems to be picky on when to focus. Gonna play with it more but it’s still good. All in all the phone does everything I need it to do. I would recommend it to anyone. Thank you again for the assistance on getting up and running. If I notice anything out of the blue I will post here.