Motorola Moto G9 Play Review; The New Budget Champ

In our previous Motorola Moto G9 Play article, we promised you to bring a complete review of the phone soon. Well, we have stood firm on the promise and here it is the “Moto G9 Play Review”. I had the pleasure to use Moto G9 Play as a daily driver for a whole week. During this span, I found the device to be the new best value budget midrange champ with SD 662 SoC, 5000mAH battery and Android 10 OS.

The performance, the camera as well the battery and software, all feel the best value for money. Let me share my experience with you through this Motorola Moto G9 Play Review and let’s get started with it.

The Good	The Bad
Long-lasting Battery	Slow Charging
Decent Camera Performance	Macro Camera feels average
Good Night Vision Performance	Inclusion of Ultra-Wide Angle Sensor could have been better
Good Performance	1080p supportive display could be great instead of 720p

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Motorola Moto G9 Play Review

What’s Inside The Box

The packaging was pretty good. The box itself has a minimalist design. Furthermore, the placement of the company logo and the Moto G9 Play label goes very well.

As soon as you open the box you will have your device. Beneath it, you will have a 20W Charging Adapter, Earphone, SIM Toolkit Ejector, USB Type-C connector as well as some paperwork and manual.

I was impressed when I found that the phone came with a transparent cover. Nowadays, most companies only give you a device with an adapter and cable but Motorola still provides you with earphones. But still, the device is a budget phone and you get this many accessories. Feels like old times when all accessories came out of the box instead of having them to buy afterward separately.

However, the earphone’s design reminisces wired Apple AirPods. As per my experience, the earphones performed decently. Furthermore, other accessories like 20W Charging Adapter, USB Type-C cable as well as SIM Toolkit Ejector feels to be of high quality.

HD+ Display And Solid Design

The viewing experience on Moto G9 Play’s magnificent display was amazing. I never found any issue while using it out in the sunlight. Of course, I had to put the brightness on max. Furthermore, the waterdrop never disturbs the experience.

But you can only play videos in 720p resolution at max on YouTube. The resolution and videos are crisp and clear but if the display could support up to 1080p resolution then that would great. However, this HD+ IPS LCD panel does its job at the best level and covers all the flaws.

The build of the phone stands out. When you hold the device, it feels solid and strong. However, sometimes the weight of the device and its bulkiness feels annoying. The placement of buttons, ports, and Fingerprint reading mount is just perfect. All are easy to reach and feel comfortable.

Talking about comfort, the phone is comfortable to hold in one hand. But this doesn’t mean one hand using experience is better. Moto G9 Play is a big phone. Therefore, one hand using experience is not good but using it with both hands is comfortable.

The rear panel’s finishing is shiny and glossy thereby making it fingerprint dents friendly. I got myself the Sapphire Blue one and yes it felt very much fingerprints-dents friendly. However, using a transparent cover made the problems go away.

Decent 48MP Camera Performance

Moto G9 Play features a decent performing Triple rear camera setup; 48MP Main Sensor, 2MP Depth Field Sensor as well as 2MP Macro Sensor. The 48MP sensor does a good job in terms of snapping quality photos.

Furthermore, the Night Vision capability of this setup is something else. The brightness and color tones are way good. However, it lacks in contrast as well as in saturation but overall the results are amazing. When it comes to snapping portraits, a 2MP Depth Field Sensor has your back.

The focus and background blur has a nice touch to them. You can even adjust the amount of blur you want in your Portrait. Furthermore, I was impressed with the edge detection in Portrait Mode. The algorithm used to detect edges while blurring the background is magnificent. I had no complaints.

Nevertheless, when it came to macro shots, it was very average. The focus is prolonged, as well as inaccurate. It takes some time for the perfect focus we all seek for Macro shots. However, color comes out vibrant but still lacks some contrast. Motorola should have gone for Ultra-wide Sensor rather than Macro Sensor. The ultra-Wide sensor comes in use more often than Macro Sensor does.

Coming to the front camera, the 8MP camera sensor does it well. You can adjust the Face beauty mode. While putting the smoothening level in mid, I got the best result. However, you don’t have the option to brighten your face up, just smoothening. For me, that’s more than enough.

In terms of video recording, both setups are good. The stabilization is good and even if there’s shaking while recording, videos don’t shake. Overall, during Motorola Moto G9 Play Hands-on review period, I found the camera performance to be decent. This setup surely is more than enough for an average person on a day-to-day basis.

Performance, Software and Storage

Moto G9 Play stands out when it comes to delivering performance. I never knew the all-new Snapdragon 662 chipset was this powerful. I played PES 2021, PUBG, and Asphalt 9 yet the phone always stood out in performance.

While playing Asphalt 9 and PES 2021, I switched to Facebook in mid-game just to check the smoothness. At first, it felt kind of slow but later after once, the transition between apps to apps and apps to game smooth as butter. While gaming for hours, I never found any heating issues. Motorola deserves a round of applause for this.

Combining this smooth performance with those great speakers, I must say my gaming experience elevated. Scrolling through a news feed and photos are also fun and smooth. Furthermore, the stock Android 10 Go Edition OS experience is always great. With the Moto app, you can further personalize many kinds of stuff such as Gestures, Fast Flashlight, Custom Theme as well as accent Colors, App icon layout, and much more.

I had my hands-on with a 128GB storage variant and found it plenty to store all of my stuff. Furthermore, an expandable option via a MicroSD card slot is the icing on the cake. when it comes down to Performance, Software as well as Storage, Moto G9 Play delivers more than what it promises.

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All Day 5000mAh Battery and 20W Fast Charging

The battery performance of Moto G9 Play is a beast. On a single charge in normal use, I got through 2 days of battery juice. I played PES 2021 for 1 hour and in the process, only 10% percent juice drained. PES 2021 is fully online gaming and is more hungry than PUBG. The way the giant battery handles the gaming and lasts for days is way more impressive.

However, charging is what disappointed me. Moto G9 Play supports 20W Fast Charging but during my charging test, the phone only charged 6 percent in one hour. It’s one of the slowest.

Conclusion

For me, Moto G9 Play delivers what it promises with its average hardware specs and Pure Android software. Of course, there are compromises but for the price, it’s one of the best value smartphones at Rs. 19,990.

You get the 48MP Triple rear camera setup with Night Vision feature, a battery that lasts long, stock Android 10 Go Edition software as well as 128GB storage. What more can you ask for in this price range. Furthermore, the solid build and attractive design is a plus. If you are looking for a budget midranger phone that stands out in performance then Moto G9 Play is the device to go for.

Would you buy Moto G9 Play if you had Rs. 20,000 in your pocket. Let us know in our comment box below. Furthermore, we will be back with complete Moto E7 Plus review. So, stay tuned for it.