With little to help it stand out from the crowd, the Motorola Moto G56 is the awkward middle child of the Moto range.
Following on from the steady-as-she-goes $299 Moto G55 5G, the new Moto G56 5G is available in two variants in Australia. There’s still a $299 option with the same 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage as the old G55, or you can step up to the $399 model, which doubles these to 8 GB and 256 GB.
Keep in mind that the old Moto G54 5G from two generations ago was Motorola’s first Australian sub-$300 5G handset, but these days the honour of cheapest 5G-capable Moto goes to the $199 Moto G35 5G, available from Optus.
Table of contents
Moto G56 5G first impressions
As with the Moto G55 before it, there are no big surprises with the Moto G56 5G. It bumps up the display size slightly to 6.7 inches and sticks with a tall 20:9 aspect ratio to ensure it’s not uncomfortable to hold.
You’ve still got 2400 x 1080 pixels at your disposal, resulting in a very slight drop in overall sharpness, slipping under the 400 mark to offer 391 ppi. You’re forgoing the extra brightness, HDR support and colour accuracy offered by more expensive Moto handsets.
When it comes to outward design, this year’s Motorola budget and mid-range handsets are all but identical. You’d struggle to pick this Moto G56 from the Moto G86 Power in a line-up, or even the Moto G35 apart from its smaller camera array.
You’ve got Motorola’s tried and true configuration of well-placed volume and power buttons on the right and a SIM card slot on the left, with the added advantage of eSIM.
The one aspect on which Motorola can’t make up its mind is the fingerprint reader.
With the Moto G56, it’s built into the power button, where it’s easily reached with your thumb (or pointer finger if you’re a southpaw). That’s the way I think they should all be, but alternatives like the Moto G86 Power insist on building the fingerprint reader into the display.
Across the bottom of the handset, Motorola has stuck with USB-C 2.0 30 W TurboPower charging, but no longer includes an AC charger in the box. You’ll also find an old-school 3.5 mm headphone jack for those who aren’t ready to part with their wired headphones or earbuds.
Motorola still throws in a basic transparent protective case, which offers limited protection. Thankfully, the screen steps up to a stronger Corning Gorilla Glass 7i and MIL-STD 810H6 ruggedness.
The handset also makes a big leap from a “water-repellent” design to decent IP68/IP69 underwater protection – meaning it can survive a serious dunking and blasts from high-pressure water jets.
Moto G56 5G specifications and price
| Display size | 6.7-inch, 20:9 aspect ratio |
| Display resolution | 2400 x 1080 pixel, 391 ppi |
| Display technology | LCD 120 Hz refresh rate |
| Bands | 5G: sub-6 4G: LTE 3G: WCDMA 2G: GSM |
| Chipset | MediaTek Dimensity 7060 processor with 2.6 GHz octa-core CPU |
| GPU | IMG BXM-8-256 GPU |
| Rear cameras | 50 MP Sony – LYTIA 600 sensor f/1.8 aperture 0.8 µm pixel size | Quad Pixel Technology for 1.6 µm Quad PDAF |
| 8 MP f/2.2 aperture 1.12 µm pixel size Ultra-wide angle |
|
| Front camera | 32 MP f/2.2 aperture 0.7 µm pixel size | Quad Pixel Technology for 1.4 µm |
| RAM | 4/8 GB (expandable to 12/24 GB) |
| Onboard storage | 128 or 256 GB |
| microSD slot | 1 TB microSD |
| SIM | Dual SIM (1 physical Nano SIM + eSIM + 1 microSD) |
| Charging | USB-C 2.0 30 W |
| Battery | 5200 mAh |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz Wi-Fi hotspot |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Operating system | Android 15 |
| Security | Fingerprint reader, Face Unlock |
| Ruggedness | IP68/IP69 |
| Dimensions | 165.75 x 76.26 x 8.35 mm |
| Weight | 200 gm |
| Colours | Pantone Black Oyster, Pantone Grey Mist |
| Price | $399 RRP (8/256 GB) retail $299 RRP (4/128 GB) Optus/Vodafone |
| Warranty | 2 years |
| Official website | Motorola Australia |
Features
The Moto G56 5G ships with Android 15, with minimal bloatware thanks to Motorola’s Hello UX (the artist formerly known as Hello UI).
When it comes to software updates, what you get depends on whether you step up to the $399 8/256 GB model. It gets two OS updates and four years of security updates, while the $299 4/128 GB model dials this down to just one OS update – so only Android 16 – and only three years of security updates. The difference is not a technical limitation but rather “based on value proposition”, according to Motorola.
Under the bonnet, the G56 5G sticks with MediaTek silicon, with a slight step up to the Dimensity 7060 chipset, which should deliver a bit of a performance boost on the G55 5G. The GPU remains the same.
Unfortunately, Motorola only offers 8 GB of physical RAM in the more expensive $399 Moto G56, plus the option to commandeer another 16 GB of virtual RAM from the internal storage. Opting for the cheaper $299 model leaves you with only 4 physical GB and 8 virtual to play with.
When it comes to bands, the Moto G56 supports Australia’s sub-6 GHz 5G networks but not faster millimetre wave 5G, as you’d expect at this price point.
Turning to the rear camera array, it looks more impressive than its predecessor, but it’s still dual lens – with a 50 MP Sony main shooter and 8 MP ultrawide, accompanied by a depth sensor and flash. Around the front, the selfie camera has stepped up to 32 MP.
These would all seem to be the exact same cameras as the $499 Moto G86 Power, apart from the lack of Optical Image Stabilisation, but (spoiler alert) the G86 Power produces considerably better results.
To keep things chugging along, there’s a 5200 mAh battery, up from the standard 5000 mAh, which should easily be able to go for 24 hours before recharging if you don’t push it too hard.
When it’s time to top up, you’ve got 30 W wired fast charging but no AC charger in the box. You still miss out on wireless charging.
Quality
The GeekBench 6 benchmarks reveal that the Moto G56 5G is roughly on par with the old Moto G55 5G, returning slightly higher scores of 1,039 on the CPU single-core test and 2,304 multi-core. It ran into trouble with OpenGL (“one or more workloads failed validation”), but based on the GPU, you’d expect it to score around the 2,000 mark.
| Phone | CPU single-core | CPU multi-core | GPU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy A56 | 1,364 | 3,898 | 6,539 |
| CMF Phone 2 Pro | 1,010 | 2,992 | 2,497 |
| Motorola Moto G86 Power 5G | 1,044 | 2,960 | 2,061 |
| Motorola Edge 50 Fusion | 1,016 | 2,937 | 1,802 |
| Samsung Galaxy A35 | 1,011 | 2,897 | 3,001 |
| Motorola Moto G75 | 1,022 | 2,874 | 1,801 |
| Motorola Moto G56 5G | 1,039 | 2,304 | N/A |
| Motorola Moto G85 | 943 | 2,099 | 1,609 |
| Oppo A5 Pro 5G | 783 | 1,988 | 1,412 |
All of that should be more than enough for basic day-to-day tasks, but it’s nothing to get excited about.
It’s a similar story when it comes to photography. I expected roughly the same quality as the decent Moto G86 Power, but it falls considerably short – even allowing for the fact that the G86 Power has a better screen on which to view them.
Comparing shots side-by-side on my MacBook Pro, the detail in photos is about the same, but the colours aren’t as impressive, and the G56 doesn’t cope as well with difficult conditions – suggesting the difference is in image processing. The shortcomings are particularly noticeable on the selfie camera.
Who is the Moto G56 5G for?
With a little bit more grunt, a little more battery life, and a lot more sturdiness than its predecessor, the Moto G56 5G is a reasonable upgrade but still feels like it sits in an awkward position amid the Moto lineup.
The price difference between the 4/128 and 8/256 GB variants might not seem like much, but $100 is a lot in this price range. If you can live with its shortcomings, which is arguable, the $299 Motorola Moto G56 5G probably stacks up better in terms of value for money.
Once you step up to the $399 model, you’re getting closer to mid-range territory, where your options extend to the likes of the impressive $449 Nothing CMF Phone 2 Pro. At this point, it feels like the $399 Moto G56’s primary job is to make the $499 Moto G86 Power look fancy and the $199 Moto G35 feel affordable.
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