Motorola is more known for its affordable smartphones than its high-end smartphones, and it’s no surprise. The company has saturated the market with mobile phones worth enough to secure the #3 position in the US. His 2022 model wasn’t bad and gave us hope for 2023. But the new Moto G Play (2023) seems to have dashed those hopes, not a strong start for Motorola.
The company skipped releasing a successor to the Moto G Play in 2021, so launching the device in 2023 will likely bring in a number of upgrades to catch up with many other Android phones under $200. However, there are some upgrades but not enough improvements after a year long break. In fact, there are also some very noticeable downgrades.
Moto G Play (2023): Pricing and Availability
The Moto G Play (2023) was announced on December 8, 2022 and launched on January 12, 2023.
The phone retails for $169.99 and is available online at Motorola.com or through retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy. The phone is also available on carriers such as T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile.
Moto G Play (2023): What I Like
Fortunately, not all is bad. The Moto G Play (2023) has some advantages, but first is its design. Not the flashiest smartphone has a giant chin under the display. The plastic back is a very attractive navy blue colorway that feels great in your hand. There are far better looking phones, but there are certainly worse ones.
| Category | Moto G Play (2023) |
|---|---|
| screen | 6.5 inch HD+ (1600×720), LCD, 90Hz refresh rate |
| chipset | MediaTek Helio G37 |
| depository | 32GB, expandable |
| memory | 3GB |
| software | Android 12 |
| Rear camera 1 | 15MP wide angle, f/1.22, 1.0μm |
| rear camera 2 | 2MP macro, f/2.4, 1.75μm |
| rear camera 3 | 2MP depth, f/2.4, 1.75μm |
| selfie camera | 5MP, f/2.4, 1.12μm |
| water resistant | IP52 |
| battery charging | 5,000mAh, 10W charging |
| connectivity | LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 5 |
| NFC | ❌ |
| Size | 167.24×76.54×9.36mm |
| weight | 203g |
| colour | navy blue |
The Moto G Play (2023) has a rear fingerprint sensor, apart from the camera housing (more on that later), but we don’t see it much these days. It’s very fast, works well enough, and can even pull down the notification shade in response to a flick of your finger. This is always useful (pun intended).
The phone runs Android 12 right out of the box and has a 5,000mAh battery to keep you going all day long. Motorola he touts three days of battery life, which may be possible with light usage, but I averaged about 1.5 days. Other Motorola phones I’ve tested over the past year typically run fine for two days.
Unfortunately, that’s what’s good about this phone.
Moto G Play (2023): What I Don’t Like
My experience with the Moto G Play (2023) was pretty frustrating. The phone has a slow MediaTek chip paired with 3GB of RAM, and few things I do, no matter how basic, can keep up.
Typing can be frustrating, the phone seems to struggle to keep up with me, and I often miss whole words. An absolute chore for the phone. What scares me is that despite the upgraded LCD that is now a 90Hz panel, the phone is very jerky and this is over a 60Hz panel I don’t even know.
When the app finally opens, it crashes very frequent. Whether you’re reading articles on websites or swiping through dating apps, the Moto G Play always says “[This app] Not Responding]Warning. After that, when I try to exit the app, the phone completely freezes and asks me to perform a hardware reset to get it back on.
The software experience was also fairly bare-bones. Motorola sticks with a fairly “stock” version of Android, which is fine, but they usually add a lot of useful features and gestures to improve the experience. These are severely limited on the Moto G Play, and some of my favorite features like Quick Capture, which lets you open the camera with a twist of your wrist, and Power Touch, which double-tap the power button to open a small shortcut menu. had been removed.
That said, there are still some handy gestures that let you chop your phone twice to turn on the flashlight or swipe the screen to open split-screen mode.
As for the camera, Motorola has “improved” the latest G Play with a 16MP primary sensor and a new macro sensor, but don’t expect much from these images. The 5MP front-facing camera is also pretty terrible.
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You can also expect the storage to fill up fairly quickly, given the phone’s meager 32 GB of storage. I haven’t used the phone for a long time and have minimized my downloads and already he is down to 4GB. It’s useless for the system to take up 11GB, so if you buy this phone you should expect to spend a little more money on a good microSD card.
Battery life is pretty good, but Motorola is known for cheapening charging specs on its affordable Android phones, and the Moto G Play (2023) is no exception, opting for 10W “TurboPower” charging. If the phone is in the final stretch, expect it to take up to two hours to fully charge.
Another problem with Motorola phones is poor software support. We’ve seen that start to change on devices like the Motorola Edge (2022), but the Moto G Play won’t get the same treatment. So Android 13 will be the last. Given that the changes between the two versions are minor, don’t expect too much. It has three years of software updates, which is a nice gesture, but there are phones in this price range with better support for OS upgrades and security updates.
Moto G Play (2023): Competition
The Galaxy A14 5G launched around the same time as the Moto G Play (2023), but Samsung’s phone is considerably better than Motorola’s device. Comes with excellent software support. It runs Android 13 out of the box and receives two OS upgrades and four years of security updates. That said, the phone has an unsightly notch and costs a little more than the Moto G Play. Plus, if that’s not to your liking, stick with Samsung’s One UI.
The OnePlus Nord N300 5G is a great looking and affordable device from OnePlus. It definitely has a better camera, a sleeker design, and decent battery life with support for fast charging.The software also offers plenty of customization options to make the phone your own . That said, the Nord N300 runs his OxygenOS, which isn’t for everyone. Also, the OS upgrade is only one time and performance can be degraded. The phone is also a little more expensive at over $200.
If you don’t mind a little splurge, the TCL Stylus 5G is a great option for anyone looking for an Android smartphone under $300. It has a great UI, a decent camera, decent battery life, and a built-in stylus his pen for all your productivity needs. That said, the phone costs almost $100 more than the Moto G Play and initially suffered from app compatibility issues.
Moto G Play (2023): Should You Buy It?
You should buy this…
- You are looking for a very cheap phone.
- You are more concerned with battery life.
- I prefer the fingerprint sensor on the back.
It’s better not to buy this kind of person…
- I need good performance.
- I’m looking for multiple OS upgrades and long term software support.
- I want a 5G mobile phone.
Needless to say, my experience with the Moto G Play (2023) was less than ideal. The phone struggles with basic tasks, lacks 5G, and has subpar camera performance at best. Not a good way to start the new year. When Motorola launched the Moto G Play after a short hiatus, I was really hopeful.
The fingerprint sensor on the back is still a nice touch (pun intended…again) and the battery life isn’t bad. These are both features that some consumers really care about and definitely It helps enhance the experience. But the performance issues mostly ruined my experience and I can’t recommend this phone to anyone.
It’s a shame because I’ve been pretty impressed with Motorola’s 2022 models, including the Moto G Stylus 5G (2022) and Moto G 5G (2022). These phones weren’t perfect, but they worked well enough and had decent cameras. These phones are often offered at discounted prices, so if you’re lucky you can find one priced at just over $200.
With any luck, the Moto G Play (2023) doesn’t represent what we can expect from Motorola in 2023.
The Moto G Play (2023) could be a decent option for those looking for a cheap Android smartphone. It has great battery life and a rear fingerprint sensor that you don’t see very often these days.
