Friends+Design
- One of the best-looking phones in this class - even though the back is plastic it looks classy with reflective elements under the top layer responding well to light
- Easy to use with one hand
Display
- The trendy new 18:9 extra-tall display adds to the looks too
- The display is pretty good otherwise too - it has decent brightness, contrast and sunlight legibility - the only thing you are really loosing compared to the regular G6 is resolution
Software
- Software continues to be Motorola's strong suit with a a fine blend of vanilla Android and just the right amount of useful proprietary customizations (like Moto Actions)
Performance
- Decent day-to-day performance backed by a Snapdragon 430 - it’s not a super-powerful chipset but does get you more-than-acceptable performance in most areas, including simple gaming
- The performance is decent in day-to-day use, but there are some phones with better CPUs now in this price bracket (though that is likely to matter only if you are into gaming)
Camera
- Good rear camera, especially in daylight - the default Auto HDR mode works well, and colors are well-saturated and natural (the only place really where the Moto G6 Play camera loses out to its senior cousins is the absence of a secondary camera for bokeh effects, and somewhat worse low light performance)
- Decent front camera too, with a relatively subtle Beauty mode to zap your eye bags
- Camera, though decent, is a bit on the slow side too - you can only take roughly one shot a second
Audio
- Decent, clean audio quality through the 3.5mm jack
- The speaker is not the most loud or clear
Battery
- Great battery life - the 4000mAh unit lets the Motorola Moto G6 Play plough on through a full day of intensive use - with lighter use you should find you have 40-50% left by bed time
- Supports fast charging (which is uncommon at this price point) - gets you from flat to 100% charge in under two hours
- Has a micro USB charge socket rather than the newer USB-C on the senior Moto G6 phones
More
- It's also likely to be more durable in the long run, compared to it's senior G6 series cousins with all-glass bodies
- EIS for video is a great little bonus and it works surprisingly well
- There's a dedicated MicroSD cars slot on the SIM tray, so you can have to SIM cards and and SD at the same time
- Lacks the water repellent nano-coating of the senior Moto G6 phones
- On the whole, the Moto G6 Play is a pretty decent phone on its own, especially because of it's fuss-free software, but it will face some stiff competition from Xiaomi, Asus and Realme phones, which offer significantly more powerful devices in this price bracket
