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AT&T Motivate 3 Review: Essentials Smartphone For All Your Needs

Getting rid of your smartphone is easy, but looking for a new one is tricky. That’s why you need to read this AT&T Motivate 3 review to not have a quick judgment about the device.

ATT Motivate 3 Review

The AT&T Motivate 3 smartphone was released in September 2023. This device specifically aims at people who want a modern gadget but with a tight budget. It all comes with some essential features that have become a standard in many smartphones.

What do you hope from a smartphone? Gigantic display screen? Immersive viewing experience? Or, the NFC feature to make it easy to buy something from your local markets? This device has it all.

Priced under $100, the AT&T Motivate 3 deserves attention. Here we will take you on a device tour. So, you aren’t only familiar with what you can see on the surface and deeper than that. Ready to follow the journey?

Key Specs

Weight186g
Dimensions169.9 x 77.4 x 8.8mm
OSAndroid 12
Screen size6.5-inch
Resolution720 x 1600
ProcessorMediaTek Helio A22 MT6761V/WB
CPUQuad-core (4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A53)
RAM3GB
Storage32GB
Battery3,550mAh, Non-removable
Rear camera8MP
Front camera5MP
FeaturesFingerprint Reader, Face Unlock, NFC

Design

ATT Motivate 3
AT&T Motivate 3

Comfortable at its finest. The AT&T Motivate 3 smartphone comes with a slim and lightweight design that is quite nice in terms of ergonomics. Thanks to its 169.9 x 77.4 x 8.8mm dimensions and weight of 186g, we are comfortable grabbing the device with our hands without feeling bulky or slipping.

It has signature rectangular and curved edges, just like the other mainstream smartphones. At the front area, a 6.5-inch screen comes out perfectly without any hassle of the bezels – it comes with thin bezels that give our fingers enough room to explore the screen. A teardrop-style camera appears at the top of the screen without turning off the overall aesthetics.

A major downgrade is on the back of the AT&T Motivate 3. It is very plain and, honestly, lacks modern taste. The layout is so old–like the device from years back; a single camera with LED flash at the center with a strange-looking rectangle as its frame. Here, you will also see the graystone color that looks dull with cingular textures that we’ve found unnecessary.

Read also: ANS Artia Phone Review

Display

ATT Motivate 3 Display

A 6.5-inch display screen becomes the all-you-can operating for your daily needs. This is the AT&T Motivate 3 plus point from giving us an ideal size screen. Users can experience the phone’s journey easily and comfortably with this, from basic activities like typing messages, or scrolling social media, to more complex activities like playing games.

As a big-screen smartphone, it needs to be boosted with a high-quality screen. Thankfully, the AT&T Motivate 3 gets along with 720 x 1600 pixel resolution. It is an HD+ screen quality that offers us a crisp yet colorful display.

All the above, combined with a 20:9 aspect ratio, means you can enjoy binge-watching your favorite Netflix series without having trouble with its quality. Gaming also becomes satisfying since the screen will deliver a well graphic output.

Camera

ATT Motivate 3 Camera

The AT&T Motivate 3 doesn’t mind giving users a great camera experience. Sadly, the camera on this smartphone is not something we love to see. In the smartphone world full of double or triple cameras, they only give us the single one.

Not only is the setup disappointing. The quality is also a bare minimum for an entry-level smartphone. It only comes with an 8MP camera with AI technology. Even though we can still capture moments with this, it isn’t as great as the other smartphones.

The front-facing camera also does not have that great performance. It is a 5MP camera that is only enough for a practical selfie. This quality produces a grained and slightly blurred output. Please don’t bother to take a selfie under low light, too, because it won’t work.

Storage

The AT&T Motivate 3 has a low-quality camera. With this, what can we expect from their internal storage aspect? This phone is equipped with a 32GB internal capacity, which is standard for any entry-level smartphone.

Even worse, those are not the actual size that you can get in reality. Since pre-loaded apps and system junks consume the capacity, you are only served with around 16GB.

That is a wreck, but you can always boost the size with the help of external storage. The AT&T Motivate 3 smartphone supports a MicroSD card of up to 128GB to be installed inside the device to make the room more spacious.

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Performance

ATT Motivate 3 Side View

The AT&T Motivate 3 smartphone is powered by a Quad-core MediaTek Helio A22 MT6761V/WB. It is a popular chipset and is mostly designed for entry-level smartphones. This chipset prioritizes a seamless experience with limited speed and ensures the battery is still efficient.

Those chipsets only run on a 2GHz clock rate. Don’t wish for speedy performance with this. At least, it is fast enough for operating basic activities or lightweight apps.

Besides, the AT&T Motivate 3 is installed with 3GB RAM to store all the temporary caches from the phone’s traffic. In a budget phone, this RAM size is considered decent enough. We can still experience optimal performance.

Multitasking is okay. It doesn’t feel heavy when we open below ten apps simultaneously. But the burden comes while we are trying to handle more than that. The device starts coming slowly, and lags happen. Launching heavy apps is also not as smooth as we hope. Still, it is okay, though.

The manufacturer of the AT&T Motivate 3 is embedded with Android 12 as the phone’s operating system. This Android version lets us enjoy its newest capability regarding the phone’s user interface. It allows us to have a touch of our personal appearance’s liking.

Importantly, Android 12 also put some updates on its users’ security and privacy. Users have full control over what they want to share. We can choose whether the apps can access our personal information or not.

As a budget smartphone, the AT&T Motivate 3 surprises us with its two security sensors. It has face recognition and a fingerprint reader on the back. These two work the same; both are for most securely and conveniently unlocking the device.

Connectivity

The AT&T Motivate 3 relies on 4G LTE connectivity. It is a standard connection for communicating and browsing the internet, and we don’t regret it at all. As you know, 4G LTE is still being used by anyone, anywhere. So, if you’re going to the other part of the world, you can still connect with your close ones with this device.

Wi-Fi is also available as the network alternative – just in case you’re in an area that doesn’t support your network. Bluetooth and USB Type-C are other connectivity that comes on the AT&T Motivate 3.

Battery

The AT&T Motivate 3 smartphone is powered by a 3,500mAh battery capacity. It’s small if we’re compared with competitors. Moreover, this phone has a huge and high-quality screen that will consume power very fast.

On the paper, the AT&T Motivate 3 tells us it will last in continuous talk time up to 26 hours, and while on standby, it can last up to 40 days. The device will take around 2.8 hours to fully charge from its zero states.

Verdict

The AT&T Motivate 3 is sold for $50. See? It is budget-friendly for those looking for a new smartphone but don’t want to spend much money.

This AT&T Motivate 3 review examines all of the phone’s pros and cons. One of the pros is its display screen, that comes really great. But, we also notice some cons to it. Those include the camera, battery capacity, and design, which are slightly off.

AT&T Motivate 3 Pros:

  • Budget-friendly
  • Great display screen
  • Face unlock and fingerprint reader
  • NFC connectivity

AT&T Motivate 3 Cons:

  • Low camera quality
  • Small battery capacity