The Moto G9 Play was released barely six months after the Moto G8 series. It’s the first (of three) phones in the G9 lineup, which also includes the Moto G9 Plus and the recently revealed G9 Power. The G9 Play, on the other hand, is the cheapest at £159.99. We put it through its paces to discover how much value it provides for your money.
What will you see here?
Design and build
The design seems sleek and simple right away – and dazzling, due to a vibrant, glittering Sapphire Blueback (though you can pick it up in Forest Green too). Even though it’s all slick plastic, it doesn’t feel cheap or tacky. The Moto G9 Play is light, weighing only 200g, compared to the bulky Vivo IQOO 3 (5G) gaming phone, and has a comparatively thin 9.18mm profile. While it is a tall phone, it is also easy to hold and operate with one hand.
There is a USB-C charging connector as well as a special Google Assistant button above the volume rocker. There’s also a headphone jack, which is welcome news for purists. The Moto G9 Play also has Bluetooth 5.0 and a dual-band Wi-Fi connection.
Despite its low price, the G9 Play includes either face unlock or a fingerprint reader, however, the latter is located on the back of the phone rather than under or behind the screen. Both are typically trustworthy for swiftly unlocking the phone, while the fingerprint scanner is more likely to be used in poor lighting.
Display:
While the Moto G9 Play features a huge 6.5 display, it will likely look uninteresting to anyone who has previously used an OLED-equipped phone. The G9 Play has an IPS TFT LCD display, which, while it may appear like a spoonful of alphabet soup, translates to a low-cost panel. LCD screens are inexpensive, but they sacrifice color fidelity. This is where the TFT comes in; it’s a low-cost add-on that allows you to modulate individual pixels to boost contrast.
This is evident on the Moto G9 Play, where the contrast is adequate but the colors and brightness are lacking. The display has a great screen-to-body ratio of 87 percent, although there is a little chin just at the bottom and a black border around the sides that swoops into a dewdrop notch just at the top for the camera. While the boundaries are rather small, it appears slightly antiquated.
In addition, the resolution is restricted to HD+ (1600 x 720). Yes, that’s an upgrade over ordinary HD (1280 x 720), but for £199, you can have a 120Hz display with FHD+ (1080 x 2400) and HDR10 in the Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC. This is presently the greatest cheap phone on the market. To be fair, it’s not an awful display for everyday use. Also, it looks OK when gaming most games offer bright colors and high contrast anyway – but it shouldn’t be the reason you buy this phone.
Disappointing cameras
The camera system is where the G9 Play’s inexpensive pricing shines through the most. While the phone has a 48Mp primary camera, the output is limited to 12Mp due to pixel binning. A process that merges four pixels (in the case of the G9 Play) into one. In principle, this helps to retain picture detail while preventing camera sensors from seeming ridiculously huge on a phone.
In actuality, the photographs on the G9 Play are drab and lack clarity. The quality is comparable to what you could have encountered in the early days of camera phones. Images have less contrast because of the low dynamic range. While the phone does a good job of brightening up low-light images. A lot of information is lost in the process.
A 2Mp depth sensor for portrait pictures and a 2Mp macro lens for closeup photography are also included in the triple camera configuration. The camera fails to clearly focus on things in the foreground, particularly in macro mode. Also rendering most efforts at such photographs hazy and worthless.
Software and UX:
The Moto G9 Play runs Android 10 and provides a clean experience with no bloatware or pre-installed apps.
The G9 Play, on the other hand, is set to “Gesture Navigation,” a button-free experience in which you may move about the Android experience with one hand. It was really perplexing and irritating to use (it turned out that the sensitivity level was set very high by default), but happily. You can switch to the familiar three-button navigation. Remember not to reinvent the wheel.
The G9 Play also has “Quick Gestures,” which allow you to snap a snapshot by holding down three fingers or switch on the flashlight with a karate chop gesture. These aren’t necessary, but they provide a pleasant touch to this low-cost phone.
Specs & Performance:
Despite its low pricing, the G9 Play features a mid-range Snapdragon 662 engine, 64GB of storage, and 4GB of RAM. The phone ran smoothly and without hiccups. The Moto G9 Play outperformed some of the market’s top budget phones.
The G9 Play was never far behind the Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC (from £199) or the Realme 7 (from £179.99). The two phones presently hold top and second position in our round-up of the finest budget phones on the market. In terms of performance. The Moto G9 Play is on par with the Redmi 9 (from £139) and Redmi Note 9 (from £179), both of which are listed in our top budget phones table. The G9 Play will not disappoint in terms of performance.
In terms of battery life, it outperformed all of the phones tested against, including the Poco X3. Motorola guarantees two hours of battery life, which looks to be accurate. With a battery capacity of 5000mAh, the G9 Play is ideal for power-draining activities such as gaming, video viewing, and social media.
Price and availability
The Moto G9 Play is available in Blue Blue and Lime Green and is priced competitively at £159.99.
Conclusion
The Moto G9 Play represents exceptional value for money. It delivers dependable performance equivalent to more costly budget phones while also outperforming them in terms of battery life – all for a low price.
The camera on the G9 Play is its most serious shortcoming, producing low-contrast, grainy photographs. The display is bright, but not particularly vibrant. It will also disappoint if you are accustomed to a more sophisticated screen. All in all, whether you need a simple phone for social networking and casual gaming. Also if you’re purchasing the first phone for your child, the Moto G9 Play is an excellent choice.
