Motorola Moto G Play (2023) Review: Don't Buy This Android Phone - WIRED

In the past week, I've borrowed my fiancée's telephone astir 4 times. The archetypal fewer were erstwhile we visited The Met Cloisters depository successful New York City. I similar taking photos, truthful I borrowed her Pixel phone to drawback immoderate beauteous scenes. The adjacent clip was erstwhile we decided to bid immoderate delicious buffalo chickenhearted tenders successful the mediate of a canine walk. I don't transportation my wallet erstwhile I locomotion my canine and often wage with my phone, and I couldn't bash that with the $170 Moto G Play (that besides meant she paid, heh). 

The past clip was yesterday erstwhile we some went to a Joe Hisaishi Candlelight performance and heard the fantastic Highline String Quartet recreate beauteous Studio Ghibli soundtracks (yes, adjacent the classical “Merry Go Round of Life” from Howl's Moving Castle). I nudged her to springiness maine her telephone truthful I could grounds a abbreviated clip of the past track—the lone 1 everyone was allowed to record.

It's understandable that a sub-$200 smartphone volition marque compromises, particularly with its camera. The Moto G Play is terribly slow, but it's not the worst enactment connected the market, and I was different capable to get by. But I bash consciousness obligated to accidental that aft I switched to different inexpensive telephone from Samsung, it's hard to recommend. 

Play It Safe

The Moto G Play is simply a plasticky telephone that looks dreary, similar astir different fund handsets. At slightest integrative means the backmost won't shatter if you driblet it. This telephone does not enactment 5G networks, truthful you're relegated to 4G LTE, but it volition enactment with each large US network. 

Motorola is powering the Play with MediaTek's Helio G37 chipset with 3 gigabytes of RAM, which is the aforesaid processor it utilized successful past year's Moto G Power 2022. I detested it erstwhile I tried it due to the fact that it was markedly slower than the anterior model, truthful it's not overmuch of a astonishment to spot the caller Play performing successful a likewise frustrating manner. 

It has its moments wherever it tin tally conscionable fine, but excessively often, you volition hold respective seconds for the keyboard to look erstwhile you privation to benignant thing into the hunt bar. (It besides likes to skip the archetypal connection I swipe-type with the keyboard, prompting maine to commencement again.) Switch apps and you'll wonderment whether the intermission means the telephone froze, truthful you'll swipe again, lone for it to abruptly registry 2 abstracted swipes, and present you're successful an app you didn't privation to open. 

In my benchmark test, it delivered 1 of the lowest scores I person ever seen successful caller memory. Yes, I've been capable to work my emails, respond to messages, and browse Reddit successful my downtime; conscionable adhd a dose of lag betwixt astir of those tasks and that's the experience.

If you tin basal that sluggishness, past you mightiness not find excessively overmuch responsibility with the remainder of the hardware. The 6.5-inch 720p surface doesn’t look excessively pixelated and has been good to look astatine for astir tasks, though it tin beryllium hard to work erstwhile it’s agleam out. There’s a 90-Hz surface refresh rate, but I’m not adjacent going to fuss counting this arsenic a positive—the telephone isn't truly almighty capable to consistently present the “smooth” acquisition you’re expected to get with a precocious refresh rate.   

The 5,000-mAh artillery is the standout feature, arsenic I've been capable to get astir 2 days connected a azygous complaint with mean usage (likely a small much if you're adjacent much conservative). It's truly bully not having to plug successful each night. There's a reliable fingerprint sensor connected the backmost and adjacent a headphone jack. It lone comes with 32 GB of interior storage, truthful you'll privation to instrumentality vantage of the microSD paper slot—just aft 1 week of usage I'm seeing “storage low” alerts, and that's with a small implicit 100 apps (including the preinstalled ones).