Moto G9 Play review
Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
On a budget, and don’t care for 5G? Then, the Moto G9 Play covers all the essentials – barring a good camera.
The Moto G9 Playarrived just six months aftertheMoto G8 series was on the scene. It’sthe firstof threephones in the G9 range (so far),which includestheMoto G9 Plusand the newly-announcedG9 Power.
The G9 Play, however, isalso the cheapest at £159.99. We test it out to see just how much value it offers for your money.
Design and build
Straight out the gate, the design looks clean and minimalist – and bright, thanks to a vivid, scintillating Sapphire Blue back (though you can pick it up in Forest Green too). It’s all smooth plastic, mind you, but it doesn’t feel cheap or tacky.
TheMoto G9 Playislight,at just 200g,especially in comparison to thechunkyVivo IQOO 3 (5G)gaming phoneI usually use,andoffers a relatively-thin9.18mmprofile.While it’s a tall phone, itiscomfortable to hold and use one-handed, too.
As for ports and buttons,there’s USB-C for charging as well as a dedicated Google Assistant key above the volumerocker. And good news for traditionalists:there’s a headphone jacktoo.The Moto G9 Play also supportsBluetooth 5.0 connectivity, along with dual-band Wi-Fi.
Despite its tiny asking price, the G9 Play offers both faceunlock and afingerprintscanner,thoughthe latter ispositioned on the backof the phone instead of under the screen or behind the display.
Both are generally reliable in unlocking the phonequickly, though you’re more likely to rely on the fingerprint scanner in low lighting.
Big Display – but could be better
While theMoto G9 Play offers a large 6.5indisplay, it’ll likelyappeardullto anyone who has used an OLED-toting phonein the past.
The G9 Play uses an IPS TFT LCDdisplay–while that might look likeaspoonful of alphabet soup,what it translates to, ultimately,isabudget panel.LCD displays are cost-effective,but at the cost ofcolouraccuracy. This is where theTFT comes in– it’sacheapadd-on that helpsmodulate individual pixelsto improve contrast.
You can see thisin actionontheMoto G9Play, where the contrast is decent, butwherecolours and vibrancy remainlacklustre.
Thedisplay does boasta decent87% screen-to-body ratio, but there is a slightchin at the bottom and a black border around the edges which swoops into a dewdrop notch at the top for the camera. While the borders are fairly narrow, it does look slightly dated.
Theresolution isalsolimited to HD+ (1600 x 720). Yes, that’s abump up from standard HD(1280 x 720) butyou can also get 120Hzdisplay withFHD+(1080 x 2400),and HDR10 for £199 intheXiaomi Poco X3 NFC, currently the best budgetphone on the market.
Let’s be clear: it’s not a bad display for day-to-dayuse, anditlooks fine ifyou’re gaming– as most games feature intensecoloursand high contrast anyway, but the display shouldn’t be why you buy this phone.
Disappointing cameras
The G9 Play’slow price ismost apparent in the camera system.While the phone boasts a 48Mp main camera the output is restricted to 12Mp withpixel binning –a process thatcombinesfourpixels (in the G9 Play’s case) into one. This,in theory, helps preserveimage detail while keepingcamera sensors from looking comically large on a phone.
In practice on the G9 Play, the imagesjustlook dulland lackdetail–the quality is similar to something you might have found in the early days of camera phones. With poor dynamic range, there’s not much contrast in images either.
While the phone does an okay job of brightening up low-light shots, you do lose a lot of detail in the process.
The triple camera setup also offers a 2Mp depth sensorfor portrait shotsand a 2Mp macro lensfor closeup photography.In the macro mode, particularly, the camera fails to sharply focus on subjects in the foreground, leaving most attempts at such photos blurry and unusable.
Software and UX
The Moto G9 Playoperates on Android 10 and the experience is clean; no bloatware or pre-installed apps here.
By default, though, the G9 Play is set to “Gesture Navigation”, a button-less experience where you can swipe around with one hand to move through the Android experience. I found this wholly confusing and frustrating to use (it turned out the sensitivity setting was set too high by default), but thankfully you can opt for the three-button navigation we all know and love. Lesson: don’t reinvent the wheel.
The G9 Play also offers “Quick Gestures”, which allow you to take a screenshot by holding down three fingers, or use a karate-chop motion to turn on the flashlight. These aren’t essentialbut are nice flourishes that make this budget phone more unique.
‘Gametime’mode
I should point out the G9 Play is nottechnicallypowerful enough to be agaming phone,even though it’s called the “Play”.Dedicated gaming phoneshave more powerful GPUs and RAM, along with specialised features, likehigher touch responserates.See our rundown of the best gaming phones here.
The G9 Play does pivot towards gaming though, with excellent battery life (more on this below) and a dedicated ‘Gametime’mode thatlimits on-screen distractions. Apop-up dash lets you quickly accessup to twoappsin a smaller picture-in-picture frame,so you don’t have to quit what you’re playing to respond to friends. You can also use it to block calls and notifications.
Specs & Performance
Despite a budget price, the G9 Play offers a mid-range Snapdragon 662 processor with 64GB storage and 4GB RAM. In my experience, the phone operated smoothly, without any hitches and this was reflected in our benchmark tests, where the Moto G9 Play performed as well as some of the leading budget phones on the market.
In our gaming benchmarks, the G9 Play was never severely lagging behind theXiaomi Poco X3 NFC(from £199) or theRealme 7(from £179.99) – the two phones that have respectively currently nabbed first and second place in our round-up of thebest budget phones on the market. Performance-wise, our Geekbench 5 test revealed the Moto G9 Play to be fairly on par with theRedmi 9(from £139) andRedmi Note 9(from £179), both which also feature in our leading budget phones chart. You won’t lose out on performance with the G9 Play.
In terms of battery life, it outshone all the phones we compared it to, including the Poco X3.Motorola promises two days of battery longevity – and this claim appears to ring true.With 5000mAh to spare, the G9 Play is optimised for battery-draining uses like gaming, video-watching and social media.
Price and availability
The Moto G9 Play is competitively priced at £159.99 and is available in Sapphire Blue and Forest Green. You can order it fromAmazon,Argos,Carphone Warehouse,Laptops DirectandVery.
Verdict
The Moto G9 Play offers excellent value for money. It packs reliable performance that’s comparable to more expensive budget phones but outdoes them too with incredible battery life – all at a humble price.
The G9 Play’s biggest flaw is its camera, which produces low contrast, grainy images. The display is bright but it’s not the punchiest. It will disappoint if you’re used to a more sophisticated screen too.
All said, if you need a simple phone for social media and casual gaming, or are buying the first phone for your child, you can’t go wrong with Moto G9 Play.
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Specs
Moto G9 Play: Specs
Author: Somrata Sarkar, Contributor
Previously a Tech Advisor Senior Staff Writer, Somrata researches and writes about the best tech deals to help readers make smart, informed buying decisions. She’s an expert on accessories and also reviews laptops, phones, audio and other devices.
