This $180 Motorola Phone Has The Display And Battery To Convince You To Go Budget

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Moto G Play (2026) is Motorola's latest fund phone, priced astatine conscionable $180.
• It offers bright, colorful visuals, an awesome artillery life, and powerful speakers that make nan telephone awesome for movie watching.
• However, its low-resolution surface and anemic camera capacity successful low-light environments clasp it back.

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Even though we're still successful 2025, Motorola isn't slowing down. The institution has kicked disconnected its 2026 lineup, starting pinch nan Moto G Play. I antecedently covered nan announcement of these fund handsets and noted really overmuch they resembled past year's lineup. After spending a week testing nan Play, it's clear to maine that similarities tally deeper than appearances.

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Internally, nan Moto G Play has overmuch of nan aforesaid hardware arsenic nan 2025 Moto G, while introducing only a fewer meaningful improvements. Sharing definite strengths isn't needfully a bad thing, but successful this case, nan overlap feels excessive because galore of nan aforesaid weaknesses are back. Although I will opportunity that it is priced better.

If it ain't broke, don't hole it

Similar to nan 2025 Moto G, nan Moto G Play features a 6.7-inch touchscreen and a bladed furniture of faux leather connected nan back, providing a soft, premium feel. This material, mixed pinch nan rounded edges, makes nan mobile instrumentality a well-built telephone that's comfortable to hold. The surface itself is simply a mixed bag. It runs astatine a humble HD+ solution (1,604 x 720 pixels). As a result, on-screen items look somewhat blurry astir nan edges, and games deficiency good detail.

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However, nan show makes up for this deficiency of precocious value successful different areas. Colors are vibrant, brightness peaks astatine 1,000 nits for clear outdoor viewing, and nan 120Hz refresh complaint makes scrolling buttery smooth. Even thing arsenic elemental arsenic browsing nan net for Black Friday deals felt awesome connected this panel.

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Complementing nan show are a brace of Dolby Atmos speakers delivering amazingly rich | audio for a fund phone. The sound output moreover has a spot of punchy bass and depth, outperforming what I get from my pricier OnePlus 13R. What's absorbing to maine is that nan Moto G Play isn't being marketed arsenic a "mini movie theater", but it manages to execute nan aforesaid goal. It's an fantabulous telephone for streaming and consuming media.

Powering nan Moto G Play is nan MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC (system-on-a-chip) paired pinch 4GB of RAM, which tin beryllium expanded to 12GB utilizing nan RAM Boost characteristic for improved performance. When nan 2026 lineup was announced, I afloat expected Motorola to move up to nan newer Dimensity 6400 chipset. However, it appears nan institution adopted nan "if it ain't broke, don't hole it" attack and stuck pinch nan 6300. To beryllium fair, it still performs beautiful well.

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The SoC handles astir apps without issue. Jumping betwixt Chrome, YouTube, and nan camera app felt seamless. Streaming movies connected Netflix went disconnected without a hitch. Performance did falter successful nan look of demanding mobile games. I tested titles for illustration Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact to spot if this exemplary could grip nan games amended than nan 2025 instrumentality did; unfortunately, it didn't.

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If anything, it sewage worse. The mobile instrumentality stuttered much often while moving nan games, and moreover froze a fewer times, though I judge nan poorer capacity is owed to nan graphical load. Recent updates person ballooned nan record sizes for nan 2 titles.

However, if nan crippled is little demanding, things are overmuch better. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: a 2D side-scroller disposable done Netflix's arcade service, ran perfectly. It's clear that Motorola's latest telephone is designed for casual entertainment, alternatively than dense gaming.

Improved camera

One area wherever nan Moto G Play saw large changes was its camera system. On paper, it whitethorn look for illustration a downgrade compared to nan erstwhile model, but I really liked it more. The rear camera now features a 32MP sensor, down from 50MP, while nan beforehand camera is equipped pinch an 8MP lens.

One of my main complaints astir nan 2025 Moto G was its inclination to oversaturate colour successful photographs, making them look overly agleam and unnatural. That rumor has been addressed connected nan Moto G Play, pinch nan instrumentality now producing amended color-balanced images. The telephone does struggle successful low-light environments. Photos taken nether those conditions grounds noticeable noise, particularly erstwhile zoomed in. It doesn't ruin nan shot, but nan quality compared to daylight photos is significant.

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Under optimal lighting conditions, nan pictures taken by nan Moto G Play look fantastic. I took nan smartphone to my section parkland and beach, wherever I took galore photos during nan midday and sunset hours. Everything looked great; pictures came retired highly detailed. Below is 1 of nan pictures that I took pinch nan Moto G Play.

Our website compresses images, truthful nan value whitethorn not beryllium nan aforesaid arsenic erstwhile viewed connected a phone. Still, I deliberation it looks awesome and showcases what nan Play is tin of.

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

As for camera features, nan Moto G Play keeps astir of what nan 2025 Moto G had, though immoderate of them aren't listed connected Motorola's website. Burst Shot, for example, is present. It's activated erstwhile you clasp down nan shutter button. Tools for illustration nan Assistive Grid and Leveler are back, arsenic well. The only existent omissions look to beryllium nan small extras, for illustration nan barcode scanner and Face Touch.

Battery life is besides rather solid. During testing, I utilized nan exemplary arsenic my superior device, watching videos, making calls complete WhatsApp, and browsing nan internet, among different activities. Motorola's telephone managed to past good complete 24 hours connected a azygous charge. Recharges are a small slow. After being plugged successful for 30 minutes, it went from a dormant artillery to 25%, which is decent erstwhile successful a pinch, but obscurity adjacent a full-day battery.

ZDNET's buying advice

The Moto G Play presently retails for $180 done Motorola's website, Amazon, and Best Buy. It comes successful a azygous color, PANTONE Tapestry (a grayish blue). I'd urge this fund smartphone to anyone successful nan marketplace for an affordable, dependable mobile device. It delivers astir nan aforesaid acquisition arsenic past year's model, each astatine a little cost.

If you're consenting to salary a more, see the Moto G Stylus. It comes pinch a 6.7-inch AMOLED Super HD touchscreen and a 50MP Sony LYTIA 700C camera.