I have become somewhat of a phone snob. It's not my fault. I've reviewed a LOT of phones over the years. As a result, I'm pretty fussy when it comes to what features I can and can't live without on a daily basis.

I'll go into some of my minimum requirements in more depth shortly but above anything else, the phone has to work.

"What are you talking about?" you may be asking. "Who would sell a phone that doesn't work? More to the point; who would buy one?"

Reasonable questions. And yet, in order to keep the price down I've seen phones that are so underpowered, so short of storage space and so limited in battery life, it's barely worth turning them on - assuming you can be bothered waiting for a phone like that to boot up at all.

Essentially, this is a warning - especially for people with elderly parents perhaps - when it comes to phones, cheap is almost never good and in many cases, it's actually a month or two of regret and frustration, followed by replacing a terrible phone with the better one you should have splashed out for in the first place.

But then, there's an exception to every rule.

In an age where $2,000.00 phones are commonplace and many high-specced handsets top out at over $3k, I think I can argue anything under $500 is cheap.

But I can assure you, even at NZ$499.00 the Motorola moto g85 5G is anything but nasty.

In fact, from the moment I took it out of the box and held it, I was kind of taken with the device.

To start with, the large, 6.7-inch pOLED screen is delightfully curvy. Sometimes called a waterfall display, or an infinity display, Motorola calls theirs an "endless edge" display, with the glass tapering away at the sides, making the moto g85 feel more comfortable in your hand.

Interestingly, this style of screen seems to have fallen out of favour with many other phone makers - possibly because they're more expensive to replace or perhaps because of the accidental touch issue; sometimes when you're holding a phone with curved edges like this, it's easy to have a fingertip or part of your hand resting on the screen somewhere, nullifying any deliberate touches you're trying to make with your other hand.

It's happened to me on the odd occasion over the years but I soon train myself not to hold the phone that way and it immediately becomes a non-issue. Motorola obviously feels this way too, as this is not the first "endless edge" device we've seen from them lately.

Anyway, I like it. Not only does it feel nice but I think it makes the phone look sexy - even when it's in the clear case included in the box. That's right; not just a free case but you'll also find a wall charger in there too. How quaint.

Although, if you're anything like me, you'll be in two minds about using the case, because the rear panel is vegan leather. Not only is this far less likely to pick up smudges and fingerprints than a glass-backed handset but it also provides good grip, which is important for a phone as slim and curvy as this is.

While the moto g85 comes in other colours and finishes elsewhere, in New Zealand the only colour available is Cobalt Blue - an attractive shade of blue leaning towards the violet end of the scale that seems to be quite in vogue right now.

The rear camera module is raised only slightly and the side rails are also coloured blue - every component flows smoothly into the next. In short, this is a very good-looking phone for 500 bucks.

The Full HD+, 120Hz display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5, so not only is it bright, clear and detailed but it's fairly durable too.

I don't normally pay too much attention to how a phone sounds out of its speakers - I usually listen via wireless earbuds. And yet, I have to admit, not only am I impressed by having a stereo speaker setup on a phone in this price range, it doesn't sound too bad either.

I have a set of moto buds+ and the Hi-Res audio can be tweaked to suit your content using the pre-installed Dolby Atmos app, or you can set it to adapt automatically. Not bad for 500 bucks.

The camera app is very full-featured, without feeling bloated. You can activate Shot Optimisation for automatic tuning and AI scene detection, or you can fiddle with the settings yourself. The rear-facing camera consists of a 50MP main shooter and an 8MP utrawide lens, with the emphasis on macro close-up abilities rather than any optical zoom option. Not that you can't zoom - I shot this rabbit at almost 10x...

I know it's not perfect, but it's not terrible and I was quite a long way away.

Here's an un-zoomed shot - check out the detail and colour accuracy, even in very bright conditions.

Conversely, this is a camera that works well in low light as well. 

The 32MP selfie shooter also provides stunning detail and when it comes to video, the digital stabilisation goes a long way to turning the moto g85 into an action camera - pretty fun for 500 bucks.

The thing that has impressed me most of all is the every day performance. As you would imagine, this phone is not powered by the latest and greatest chip out there, yet I found using it to be a very smooth, lag-free experience. Tasks like taking photos and even just opening the camera app can be frustrating on more budget-friendly devices but that just isn't the case here.

This may be in part be thanks to the the RAM Boost feature, which effectively expands the 8GB of built-in RAM out to 16GB, using available storage from the 128GB supply.

16GB of RAM is decent for a cheaper phone, even in this hybrid form factor. Pretty impressive for 500 bucks.

Another feature I was excited to see is eSIM compatibility. I hope this is indicative of a more widespread move to eSIM from all manufacturers as I ditched my physical SIM ages ago. The flexibility and security of eSIM is undeniable, making changing plans, phones and indeed carriers significantly easier. It's a much appreciated feature for 500 bucks.

Sadly, the premium perk party has to end somewhere. As surprised as I was to find both under-display fingerprint sensor and face unlock options, I have to admit, I was a little disappointed there's no wireless charging option. At least, as I mentioned earlier, there's a charger in the box and battery life is more than sufficient to get you through a long day. It's just that I have a lot of wireless charging accessories set up around my home, office and car and it's always a shame not to be able to put them to good use.

Finally, we can't forget AI. It is 2024 after all. And because this is an Android phone running Android 14, you now have the option of trading in Google Assistant for Gemini. Is Google Gemini the biggest boss in the AI Wild West right now? That all depends on which article or review you've just read or watched. It's certainly a very well-resourced project and seems to integrate well with this handset. Pretty smart for 500 bucks.

You will have noticed a theme developing here. Of course this isn't the most efficient, powerful, feature-packed phone on the market and while it takes great pics and vids, obviously it won't win any shootouts with phones that are two-thousand dollars more expensive. However, you might be surprised to see how it compares with some $1,500 competitors and personally, I think it looks better than a lot of them at the very least.

The moto g85 is a very capable performer with more than its fair share of flagship features. This is definitely not one of those cheap phones that immediately causes a case of budget buyer's regret. Far from it. Instead it's an attractive surprise package that delivers on what it promises.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Motorola moto g85 5G.