Motorola G6 Play

The Moto G6 Play is a budget-level device which is quite similar to the more expensive G6. However, it comes with a reflective back, single rear camera, small screen, and a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. It uses an entry-level processor compared to some of its competition. To know more, check out the Moto G6 Play Review.

Design and Build Quality of Moto G6 Play

Unlike its costlier twin Moto G6, the Moto G6 Play comes with what Moto calls a “Polycarbonate Glass”. It is nothing but a transparent plastic back design which mimics glass as seen on other devices like Realme U1 etc. Though it is plastic, it looks surprisingly premium when it reflects light almost like a real Glass back. Frame of this device is made of metal, giving a substantial heft to the device.

Considering the weight and the thickness of the G6 Play, it isn’t a light and slim device, more like average. It weighs around 175 grams and has a thickness of 9mm, which isn’t slim considering the modern devices. However, the device is still surprisingly comfortable to hold except the fact that it is quite slippery. Also, it picks up fingerprints and smudges quite easily, making it hard to keep the device clean.

The display is an 18:9 screen on the front with a selfie camera, earpiece, proximity sensor, and a Flash above it. On the right is the Power Key and Volume rocker, and on the left, you will find the SIM card tray which has a dedicated slot for MicroSD card as well. At the bottom, there is a MicroUSB port for charging, unlike the G6 which comes with Type-C charging port. The headphone jack is found right at the top, and the speaker is integrated into the earpiece. There is a single Camera with a Fingerprint scanner below is embedded in the “M” dimple at the back. The Moto G6 Play lacks Water resistance and Wireless charging which can be understood at this price.

Big Display with (No Notch)

The Moto G6 Play comes with a 5.7 inch 18:9 display. It is an IPS LCD screen with not notch having a resolution of 1440x720 pixels and a pixel density of 282 pixels-per-inch. Also, there is a Corning Gorilla Glass protecting the screen against scratches, but its version is unspecified. The bezels around the Screen aren’t totally slim, but they are OKAY except the chin which is big and unlike the G6, doesn’t have a Fingerprint sensor.

Well, the screen resolution of the G6 Play is HD+ which is decent for the price. The texts and images on the Screen look sharp until you look closely at which point you can notice the individual pixels. Apart from that, the colours look good, and the viewing angles are good too. However, the sunlight visibility is average which means you will have to cover the screen with your hand under direct sunlight. We watched some videos on the device, and the experience was good in particular. However, the Screen is not super immersive or anything.

Just like other budget devices, the Moto G6 Play also uses an entry-level processor. The chipset is a Snapdragon 430 Octa-Core SoC which is clocked at 1.4GHz. The device also comes with Adreno 505 GPU, which is also an entry-level graphics chip. While it may seem like Moto has used the SD430 to keep the cost low, but there are other smartphones in this same price range which comes with more powerful processors like Realme 1.

With that being said, the device works smoothly for most of the part except heavy gaming. Using the device for simple tasks like web browsing, watching movies etc. doesn’t slow down the device. However, playing heavy games like PUBG Mobile or Asphalt 9 is a completely different story. Even at low graphics setting, the frame rate isn’t consistently making the game completely unplayable. The Moto G6 Play comes in only a single variant with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage, although, there is a dedicated slot for MicroSD card with a maximum capacity of 256GB.

Moving on to the software, the G6 Play comes with near-stock Android 8.0 Oreo with minor additions. It comes with some pre-installed apps like PhonePe, Facebook etc. Also, there are a few extra features which you won’t find on stock Android like Always-On-Display, ability to add password through Fingerprint, Moto gestures like Double twist to open the camera app and more. Overall, the software experience is smooth, and the multitasking ability of the Moto G6 Play is around average.  Android Pie update is released by now.

Being a budget device, the Moto G6 Play comes with a single primary camera which is a 13 Megapixel sensor with f/2.0 aperture. The front camera is an 8 Megapixel wide-angle sensor with f/2.2 aperture. There are basic features like Panorama, HDR, Video recording etc.

The Camera performance of Moto G6 Play in good light is, the rear camera can capture some good shots with decent colours and details. However, in most of the cases, the images turn out to be overexposed. Low light shots are fairly bad, and the camera over brightens the images by pumping up the ISO. The front camera takes some decent images in good light, but in low light, the images are grainy. Both the front and rear camera, you can shoot FullHD videos @ 30fps, and the quality is pretty average.

The Moto G6 Play comes with a 4000 mAh battery which isn’t removable. Using the device for some time, I found that the battery life is pretty great. It provides around 6-7 hours of Screen on time, which means it can last around 1.5 days on heavy usage. Also, the device supports fast charging and comes with a 15W charger in the box, which can top up the device up to 50% in just 40 minutes.

More Features of Moto G6 play

The Moto G6 Play does come with Dual SIM slots which provide Dual Standby. Both the SIM slots have support for VoLTE. There is a dedicated slot for MicroSD card which can be used to expand the storage up to 256GB. There are other connectivity features as well as WIFI, Bluetooth and AGPS. The G6 Play comes with all the necessary sensors like Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, and compass. However, there is no NFC or IR emitter on the device.

The Fingerprint scanner is at the back embedded inside the “M” dimple. I always loved how the dimple felt on Moto devices, and since, it is now a fingerprint scanner, it is more natural and easy to reach. Apart from the placement, the scanner is quite fast unlocking the device with just a quick tap. Also, it is quite reliable as well as rarely missing the Fingerprint.

The speaker is embedded inside the earpiece, which might seem odd. The audio comes out from the front directly to your face making the listening experience much better but not Stereo speaker better. The headphone jack is always on the top so you can easily connect your wired headphone or earphones.

Verdict for Moto G6 play