Computer Shopper - UK (2021-01)

ISSUE395|COMPUTER SHOPPE 33

CLEARLY,AWORLDWIDEpandemichasn’t
interruptedMotorola’susualbarrageof
smartphonelaunches.Ifanything,theMoto
G9Playcomesevenearlierthanexpected,
only mere months after the MotoG8
(Shopper391).
What’s more,thisseems simply to be a
rebranded Moto G9,withexactly thesame
specs as the handset that’s launched in
India. Whetherthis means we just won’t
get anon-PlayMotoG9inthe UK remains
to be seen.

THICKENTHIN

Intrigue aside,Motorola has mixed up the
design once again,most notably whenit
comes to the rearcamera placement. Now
situated in amuch tidier square in the
top-centre portion of the phone, the three
cameras andLED flash module arespaced
evenlyapartina2x2 grid, with asensibly
placed circular fingerprint reader sitting
just underneath.
The 6.5inscreen is mostlybezel-free,with
slim black bars acrossthe topand side edges,
although there is acomparatively chunky
chin bezel at thebottom. The handset’s
dimensionsare rather brutish, too, with the
MotoG9Play’s 9.2mmthickness and200g
heftpresumably aresult of itsmassive
5,000mAh battery andlarge display.
Build quality, however, is impressive,and its
hardy constructionisreminiscent of much
pricier handsets,ifwith the exception of any
kind of certifiedwater-ordust-proofing. NFC
also makes awelcome return,having been
painfullyabsent from the
G8 generation.
The Moto G9 Playisa
bit datedinthe display
department, however.
With Full HD handsets
coming from thelikes of
Xiaomi,Realme and
Samsung in thisprice
bracket, theMotoG9
Playsimply makesdo
with a1,600x720 IPS
panel, stretched across
alarge 6.5inscreen.
Our display calibrator
reported an sRGBgamut
coverage of 84%inthe
phone’sNatural display
setting, with atotal
volume of 90%. Colour
accuracy is abit off,too,

MOTOROLA MotoG9Play

★★★★★

£159•From http://www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT

Arepackaged MotoG9for Europe,the MotoG9Playismuch
the same as the G8, with afew changes and alower price

ANDROID 10 SMARTPHONE

withanaverage delta-E of

2.65, and it doesn’t get

particularly bright either,

withameasured peak

luminance of 376cd/m2.

Thetwo other display

modes on offer –Saturated

and Boosted –tinkerwith

the vibrancy of certain

colour tones, butthese are

abit toosaturatedand

candy-coloured forour tastes.

One saving grace, however,is

thatthe MotoG9Play’s

contrast ratioisrather good,

at ameasured 1,999:1.

AFAMILIAR FEELING

As forthe MotoG9Play’s internals, it uses a

Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 chip,which from

atechnical standpoint is pretty much identical

to the Snapdragon 665 that powered the

MotoG8: both are11nm, octa-core chips with

2GHzclock speeds.

Perhaps inevitably, then, the Moto G9 Play

posted extremely close scores in Geekbench 5

–288 in thesingle-core and 1,357inthe

multicore test –but before youstart worrying

about alackofprogress,it’sworthnoting

that theXiaomiRedmi Note 9isalso in this

ballpark, while the Samsung Galaxy A21s sits a

little behind. As farasthe competition goes,

then, theMotoG9Playatleast meets

standards even if it doesn’traise them.

Gamingperformanceisalso neckand

neck with the Moto G9 Play’s rivals, too. In

GFXBench Manhattan, it

produced 33fps in the

onscreen test and 19fps in

the1080p offsceen,only

1fps behind the Nokia5.3

on both counts.

When it comes to

battery life,however,the

Moto G9 Plus begins to

pull ahead.Lasting 19h

46m on asingle charge in

ourvideo rundown test,

theMotoG9Plus’s

staminaisincreased by

roughly 8% when

comparedwith the Moto

G8,and it lasted longer

than both the Nokia5.3

and Xiaomi Redmi Note9.

The triple-camera array

on the rear comprisesa

main 48-megapixelsensor,a

2-megapixelmacro lens anda

2-megapixeldepth sensor.

This last lens replacesthe G8’s

wide-angleshooter,whichisa

shame,and the mainsensor

actually only takes

12-megapixel shots through a

process called pixel binning.

Even so,stillslooklovely

when there’s plentyoflight

to work with –colours look

pleasingly neutral and lots of

detailiscaptured.

TheMotoG9Playisn’t

very good at accurately

judging exposurelevels,

however,and we often hadto

use the on-screenexposureslider to boostthe

overall brightness of aphotograph. Low-light

performance is pretty dire,too,witha

noticeable amount of visual noise and a

distractinglywarmhue to images shot

indoorsunder less than ideal lighting.

Finally, the Moto G9 Play canonlyrecord

videoatupto1080p resolution at 30fps.

There’snooptiontorecord at 60fps or

higher resolutions, butthe footageisfully

stabilised, at least.

BACK SO SOON

The Moto G9 Playabsolutely hits the nail

on theheadinanumber of areas,but it also

fails to represent anotableimprovementon

the MotoG8, whichitself only launched

relatively recently.

With respectable performance,subtle

design changes, aslightly improved battery life

and the return of NFC, the MotoG9Playis

still astandoutphoneinthe budget category,

but sincethe addition of NFCisthe only

meaningful upgrade,the MotoG9Playfeels

abit toosamey to be truly great.

NathanSpendelow

Battery life

0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100

Seepage62for performancedetails

PROCESSOROcta-core 2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon662•

SCREENSIZE6.5in•SCREENRESOLUTION1,600x720•

REAR CAMERAS16 megapixels, 2megapixels, 2megapixels•

STORAGE64GB•WIRELESSDATA4G•NFCNo•

DIMENSIONS165x76x9.2mm•WEIGHT200g•OPERATING

SYSTEMAndroid 10•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILS

http://www.motorola.co.uk•PART CODEPAKK0015GB

SPECIFICATIONS

19h46m