The Moto G Play for 2023 prices $170 (and even much less at Amazon), making it one of many most cost-effective new telephones you will get proper now, and with out the bloatware or wi-fi service restrictions we typically see on lower-priced units. With an honest set of specs for the value — together with a triple digital camera system with a 16-megapixel principal digital camera, a 6.5-inch show with a 90Hz refresh price and a 5,000-mAh battery that gives practically three days of battery life — this could have been a horny possibility for anybody searching for an honest, no-frills telephone.However, this telephone has various efficiency points that make it irritating to make use of. And on prime of that, Motorola selected to drop one in every of its greatest Moto gestures: twisting the telephone to shortly open its digital camera. While some would possibly take into account these gestures a gimmick, they’ve been a signature factor of Motorola’s telephones for practically a decade. Other gestures like “chop to turn on flashlight” are nonetheless right here, making the absence of the digital camera gesture much more obvious.Despite these vital drawbacks, the 2023 Moto G Play does have some optimistic attributes. The battery life is nice, the software program is a reasonably clear model of Android 12 and you will find uncommon ports like a headphone jack and microSD card slot for storage growth. But the telephone will solely get one main software program replace to Android 13, which is lower than I’d prefer to see however typical for this worth vary, in addition to three years of safety updates. Yet each perk I listing comes with one other drawback, which is vital to contemplate if you happen to’re tempted by the Moto G Play due to its low worth.
LikeLong battery lifeClean model of Android 12Three years of safety updates
Don’t LikeFrequent lag, points loading softwareQuestionable refresh rateNo “twist to open camera” gesture
Moto G Play design and efficiencyThe Moto G Play seems good for a telephone that prices simply $170. The Navy Blue shade of its plastic physique supplies a touch of character, whereas the telephone’s low-resolution 720p show features a display screen cutout for the 5-megapixel front-facing digital camera. The fingerprint sensor is positioned in my favourite spot on an Android telephone — the again. But the issues start when you begin utilizing the telephone. The telephone’s MediaTek Helio G37 processor and 3GB of RAM weren’t highly effective sufficient to juggle a number of apps simply. In some circumstances, it would not even load sure apps. This was notably weird contemplating it loaded a 3D sport like Crazy Taxi (admittedly an oldie however nonetheless a goodie), however could not run different trendy 2D video games like Exploding Kittens. With the telephone’s tiny 32GB of storage, I’m fortunate to even match a pair video games onto the Moto G Play, though there’s a microSD card slot for storage growth.
Geekbench V.5.0 single-core
Note:
Longer bars point out higher efficiency
Geekbench V.5.0 multicore
Note:
Longer bars point out higher efficiency
Email, information and video-streaming apps fared higher when it comes to efficiency, however not by a lot. Even although the Moto G Play touts a 90Hz refresh price, which ought to clean out animations, there’s plenty of noticeable lag. I could not even inform when the refresh price reached 90Hz. The Settings menu allows you to select between “Auto” and “60 Hz,” with the previous dynamically altering the refresh price primarily based on what you might be doing. Having an auto setting does make sense, however plenty of the cheaper Android telephones I’ve used additionally embody the choice to set the telephone to a constant 90Hz, alongside a 60Hz possibility for preserving battery life.This brings me again to the telephone’s 5,000-mAh battery — a vibrant spot contemplating it simply lasted two days on a full cost throughout my testing. I feel it is potential for the battery to make it to a 3rd day, largely due to how underpowered this system is. I usually acquired round three hours of display screen time per day on the system throughout my testing, which included streaming, capturing photographs and attempting to play video games for this evaluate.During a extra energetic session on the telephone, through which I streamed 22 minutes of a TV present at 100% brightness after which took a 24-minute video name, the battery dropped from 59% to 46%. On much less energetic days, through which the telephone was used primarily for listening to music whereas commuting, studying information articles and lightweight texting, I might finish the day with simply over 50% remaining.Charging instances for the telephone are typically much less spectacular than battery life. With the included 10-watt charger, it usually took simply over an hour to cost from zero to 50%. Getting to 100% would take simply over 2 hours, 30 minutes. When I examined charging speeds with my 18-watt charger, the outcomes had been barely quicker. The telephone would get from zero to 66% after an hour and end charging simply previous the two-hour mark.The Moto G Play has three cameras, anchored by a 16-megapixel principal digital camera.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET
Moto G Play camerasThe Moto G Play has a triple-camera system anchored by a principal 16-megapixel digital camera, which is accompanied by a 2-megapixel macro digital camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. But photographs are constantly fuzzy, whether or not I took them indoors, open air, in vibrant environments or in the dead of night.A foggy day in New York, taken on the Moto G Play.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET
While it was good to see Portrait mode on a telephone at this worth, I can barely see a lot of a bokeh impact in my photographs. This is very true when utilizing the 5-megapixel front-facing digital camera, through which my photographs regarded constantly muddy.My good friend took a photograph of me on the Taco Bell in Times Square utilizing Portrait Mode, however it’s difficult to see if it made a distinction.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET
The Moto G Play’s front-facing digital camera had a troublesome time protecting me in focus, even in a restaurant with first rate lighting.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET
I took the Moto G Play with me to Taco Bell — as a result of sure, I’m going to go eat low cost meals whereas reviewing an inexpensive telephone. I had my good friend take photographs of me utilizing the telephone’s Portrait setting. You can kind of see a lightweight blurring impact within the background, however it’s laborious to understand. In one other selfie taken at a restaurant with higher lighting than the Taco Bell, I discovered the selfie digital camera to have a troublesome time protecting me in focus.And when taking photographs of my good friend’s canine Daisy, the rear cameras struggled to seize a lot element of her fur, even when she sat nonetheless. In one of the best of situations, the telephone’s cameras wrestle to take sharp photographs.Daisy the canine sat comparatively nonetheless for this picture, however the Moto G Play’s digital camera captures minimal element.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET
I in contrast the photographs taken on the Moto G Play in opposition to the identical pictures taken on the $160 Samsung Galaxy A03S, and located the image high quality to be roughly comparable for easy static pictures. When capturing a bookshelf at CNET’s workplace, the Moto G Play acquired barely extra element of the e book covers than the Galaxy A03S, with the latter telephone’s picture showing a bit darker. However, in the case of a photograph with a number of element and shade, similar to with this plant wall, the Moto G Play struggles to discern between the completely different shades of inexperienced. Meanwhile the Galaxy A03S performs significantly better with discerning the darker inexperienced shades from the lighter ones, making for a dramatically completely different picture.Neither telephone’s digital camera performs particularly nicely, which is a standard theme amongst telephones that value below $200. For me, this locations the Moto G Play’s digital camera photographs squarely into the class of being acceptable for group chats, however not a lot else. It’s going to take plenty of actually good lighting and regular fingers with a purpose to benefit from these cameras, and that is extra effort than most individuals are going to wish to make.There are higher choices, even once you wish to get monetary savingsEven once you’re searching for the most cost effective potential telephone, your system nonetheless must run most apps with out difficulty and take decent-looking photographs. I would not count on a telephone that prices lower than $200 to run Fortnite on the highest graphics settings, however I’m anticipating to make use of apps with minimal lag. While telephones at this worth are additionally usually lighter on options, the perks which can be accessible ought to deliver noticeable worth to the expertise. The Moto G Play’s Portrait mode and excessive refresh price do not succeed on this regard. Instead of shopping for the Moto G Play at $170, you are in all probability higher off saving $10 and getting the $160 Samsung Galaxy A03S. While that telephone additionally has unimpressive cameras, it was a minimum of in a position to multitask extra simply.Although I have never reviewed it but, you may additionally take into account the $199 Samsung Galaxy A14 5G, because it has 64GB of storage and 5G connectivity. Later this 12 months, various TCL 40 telephones will arrive within the US, which is able to embody 5G and 128GB of storage for below $200. Those units is likely to be value ready for if you happen to aren’t in dire want of an inexpensive telephone proper now.
Moto G Play (2023) vs. Samsung Galaxy A03S, TCL Stylus 5G, OnePlus Nord N300 5G
Moto G Play (2023)
Samsung Galaxy A03S
TCL Stylus 5G
OnePlus Nord N300 5G
Display dimension, sort decision, refresh price
6.5-inch IPS TFT LCD; 1,600×720 pixels; 90Hz refresh price
6.5-inch LCD; 1,600×720 pixels
6.81-inch; 2,400×1,080 pixels
6.56-inch IPS LCD show; 720p decision; 90Hz refresh price
Pixel density
269ppi
269ppi
395ppi
269ppi
Dimensions (inches)
6.58 x 2.95 x 0.36 in
6.5 x 2.9 x 0.3 in
6.67 x 3.01 x 0.35 in
6.4 x 2.9 x 0.3 in
Dimensions (millimeters)
167 x 77 x 9.4 mm
165.8 x 75.9 x 9.1 mm
169.6 x 76.5 x 8.9 mm
163.8 x 75.1 x 7.99 mm
Weight (ounces, grams)
203 g (7.16 oz)
202g (7.13 oz)
213g (7.51 oz)
190g (6.7 oz)
Mobile software program
Android 12
Android 11
Android 12
Android 12
Camera
16-megapixel (principal), 2-megapixel (macro), 2-megapixel (depth sensor)
13-megapixel (principal), 2-megapixel (depth), 2-megapixel (macro)
50-megapixel (principal), 5-megapixel (large), 2-megapixel (macro), 2-megapixel (depth sensor)
48-megapixel (principal), 2-megapixel (depth lens)
Front-facing digital camera
5-megapixel
5-megapixel
13-megapixel
16-megapixel
Video seize
720p at 30 fps
1080p at 30fps
1080p at 30fps
1080p at 30fps
Processor
MediaTek Helio G37
Octa-core processor
MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G
MediaTek Dimensity 810
RAM, storage
3GB + 32GB
3GB/32GB
4GB/128GB
4GB/64GB
Expandable storage
Up to 512GB
Up to 1TB
Up to 2TB
Up to 1TB
Battery, charger
5,000 mAh; 10W charging
5,000mAh; charger not included, doesn’t help wi-fi charging
4,000mAh; 18W charging
5,000mAh; 33W charging
Fingerprint sensor
Rear
Side
Side
Side
Connector
USB-C
USB-C
USB-C
USB-C
Headphone jack
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Special options
3-day battery life, Moto Gestures, Auto Smile Capture, Portait Mode
Stylus with built-in storage, producitivity software program, NxtVision HDR mode
Dual audio system, NFC, Face Unlock, HDR, Portrait, Face retouching
Price off-contract (USD)
$170
$160
$258
$228