Value is the one and only name of the game for the Moto G6 Play.
Motorola’s Thursday event in São Paulo, Brazil, saw the announcement of two entry-level Moto E-series devices and three Android mid-rangers launching as part of the new Moto G6 lineup – the Moto G6, Moto G6 Plus, and the Moto G6 Play. The latter model is the least powerful of the trio but also ships with by far the lowest price tag and largest battery, and is generally geared toward providing the maximum value for money, pursuing that goal even more aggressively than the already affordable Moto G6 and Moto G6 Plus.
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Moto G6 Play Specs
The vast majority of previous reports about the Moto G6 Play turned out to be correct, with Motorola now announcing a handset powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 427 chip, a quad-core silicon running at up to 1.4GHz with the Adreno 308 GPU clocked at 600MHz. The phone manufacturer will be retailing two versions of the device – a base model with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage space, and a more capable variant with twice as much flash memory and 3GB of RAM. Both come with an ambient light sensor and a microSD card slot allowing for up to 128GB of extra storage, though dual-SIM and NFC capabilities aren’t part of the package. Motorola’s new offering can instead deliver FM radio functionality and offers a 3.5mm audio jack, though its charging and data transfer port is still a Micro-USB affair, whereas the other two devices from the new lineup transitioned to a USB Type-C connector. All things considered, the Moto G6 Play is certainly not a phone that will dominate benchmark charts but given the highly advanced stage of mobile technologies, even its modest hardware should be more than capable of serving as a daily driver for most people, with the main allure of the overall package being its versatility and accessibility, i.e. affordability.
Moto G6 Play Display
Much like the regular Moto G6, the Moto G6 Play ships with a 5.7-inch IPS LCD panel with a tall aspect ratio of 18:9, i.e. 2:1. While Motorola is also advertising it as a “Max Vision” display, the screen of the Moto G6 Play isn’t an FHD+ affair but instead offers an HD+ resolution of 1,440 by 720 pixels. Other characteristics remain identical across both models, including Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 protection against scratches and relatively small bezels, save for the regular-sized chin which lacks a physical Home button that’s otherwise present on the other two Moto G6-series products.
Moto G6 Play Design
The polymer glass body of the Moto G6 Play is 155.4 x 72.2 x 9.1mm in size, weighs 180g, and boasts a p2i nano-coating layer that should make it resistant to water splashes and rain, though the device still isn’t waterproof. Regardless, the Moto G6 Play and the rest of the newly introduced Android series represent an obvious product design modernization on Motorola’s part, with the company now delivering a trio of pure mid-rangers whose aesthetic is largely in line with the latest industry trends, offering significant screen real estate with a relatively small physical footprint that’s still perfectly suitable for one-handed use despite being deeply entrenched in the phablet territory. The Moto G6 Play is the only member of the new series that lacks a physical Home button which doubles as a fingerprint reader and instead has that sensor mounted on the back, delivering it in the form of an embedded batwing logo. Motorola’s latest device has so far been confirmed as coming in Flash Gray and Deep Indigo color options.
Moto G6 Play Cameras
The Moto G6 Play is equipped with a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front sensor, with the former offering “rapid-focusing” capabilities and coming with the majority of imaging features supported by the regular Moto G6, including the ability to leverage artificial intelligence in order to recommend the best shot from a group of consecutively taken photographs. Both the front and back cameras of the Moto G6 Play are equipped with LED flash units and can be activated with a twist of a wrist, as is customary for Motorola’s Android smartphones. The main sensor is mounted behind an f/2.0 lens and supports phase detection autofocus, as well as slow-motion video capture and manual mode. The secondary camera ships with a revised Beautification mode and also offers some kind of slow-motion shooting capabilities, though Motorola has yet to elaborate on the matter.
Moto G6 Play Battery Life
While largely inferior to the Moto G6 in terms of hardware, one aspect in which the Moto G6 Play convincingly beats its sibling is its battery capacity as the handset is powered by a 4,000mAh cell as opposed to a 3,000mAh one. TurboPower charging support is still part of the package here and can be leveraged using the very same 10-watt charger that’s bundled with the device itself. Motorola claims the Moto G6 Play can offer up to 36 hours of regular use on a single charge and provide hours of operation after some 20 minutes of charging. All things considered, battery life is one of the main selling points of the new handset, with the Moto G6 Play catering to the demographic that wants a smartphone capable of getting through an entire day without recharging no matter what.
Moto G6 Play Software
The Moto G6 Play runs Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box, with Motorola’s custom implementation of Google’s operating system coming with Moto Actions, Moto Key, and other functionalities consumers have come to expect from the company’s contemporary smartphones. Google Photos is pre-installed on the phone as its default gallery app, with Google Assistant integration and voice commands also being part of the new mobile offering from the Lenovo-owned company, together with Bluetooth 4.2 and Dolby Audio.
Moto G6 Play Pricing & Availability
The base model of the Moto G6 Play has a suggested retail price of only $199 and is hence advertised as an extremely capable device relative to how much — i.e. little — it sets you back. The handset can already be bought in Brazil and will be released in Mexico next week, much like the rest of the new lineup. The Moto G6 Play will be coming to the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia Pacific, and other parts of Latin America “over the coming months,” so it will presumably be available globally by early summer. Motorola will be retailing its new Android smartphone directly through its online storefront and will also be offering it through both offline and e-commerce retail partners such as Amazon.
Moto G6 Play Gallery
