All About Moto G7 Play: The Coolest Low-Budget Smartphone

The newly-announced Moto G7 Play offers some of the same upgrades as its sibling, the Moto G7, but at a much lower price. The upgrades are pretty significant when compared to last year’s Moto G6 Play, taking this phone from the “only if you’re on a strict budget” category into a great value option.

Just like the regular Moto G7, the G7 Play has received a pretty substantial performance improvement with its upgraded SoC. We’re talking about 110% faster overall performance compared to its predecessor. And, unlike the G7, there’s been no price increase. So you get even better value at the same great price, a win-win for anyone looking for a budget-friendly device.

Standout Features

The Moto G7 Play brings midrange performance at a very wallet-friendly price. It has a higher resolution and a much better SoC than last year’s Moto G6 Play, and it’s the cheapest phone running the latest version of Android, 9.0 Pie.

Important Dates

The Moto G7 Play was announced on February 7, 2019 alongside the Moto G7 and Moto G7 Power. Pre-orders start on March 15, 2019, with the official release on April 5. It will be available unlocked at Best Buy, B&H Photo, Amazon, and on Motorola’s official website. It will also retail through various wireless carriers and MVNOs, including Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, US Cellular, Republic Wireless, and Ting.

Release date: April 5, 2019
Preorder date: March 29, 2019
Announced: February 7, 2019

Storage Capacity

The Moto G7 Play comes with one storage option of 32 GB. It also supports microSD for expandable storage, up to 128 GB.

Storage available: 32 GB
Expandable storage: up to 128 GB with microSD card

Price for Everything

The Moto G7 Play will retail for $199. Currently, we don’t know the price of Moto Care Protection as it isn’t revealed until the phone’s release.

Price: $199
Moto Care Protection: Unknown

Body

The back cover is plastic. The front glass is protected by Gorilla Glass 3.I t comes in two colors: Deep Indigo and Starry Black.

Frame: Unknown
Back Cover: plastic
Front Cover Protection: Gorilla Glass 3
Finish: deep indigo, starry black

Basics

The G7 Play is taller and wider than its predecessor thanks to its larger display. However, thanks to its smaller battery capacity, it weighs much less and is a bit thinner. The G7 Play is splash resistant, allowing it to survive light rain, a little bit of sweat, or a splash of water. It is also SIM unlocked and compatible with both T-Mobile and AT&T networks.

Height: 5.80 inches
Width: 2.81 inches
Depth: 0.31 inches
Weight: 5.26 ounces
Dust/water resistance: splash resistant
Supported carriers: AT&T, T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Republic Wireless, and Ting
Infrared blaster: no

Software

The Moto G7 Play is running the latest version of Android, 9.0 Pie. It is essentially stock Android with the exception of a few features and apps such as Moto Display. And at that $199 price point, you won’t find a cheaper phone running this version of Android.

Version:Android 9.0 Pie

Skin

Motorola devices run a version of Android so close to stock Android, it is unfair to call it a skin. Motorola doesn’t give it a name. With the exception of Moto Display and few gestures and shortcuts, it’s a very similar experience to a Google Pixel device.

Version: N/A

Display

The G7 Play has received a slightly higher resolution of 1512 x 720 due to its 19:9 aspect ratio. It does use a fairly large notch, which reduces its screen-to-body ratio to 77.3%, the lowest of the G7 family.

Screen size: 5.7 inches
Screen resolution: 1521 x 720 pixels
Total pixels: 1,088,640 pixels
Pixel density: 294 ppi
Screen type: LTPS LCD
Notch: yes
Screen-to-body ratio: 77.3% percent
Aspect ratio: 19:9
Minimum brightness: Unknown
Maximum brightness: Unknown
Refresh rate: 60 Hz (## Hz for touch-sensing)
Color temp: Unknown
Color gamut: Unknown

All There Is to Know About the Moto G7 Play — *Image by Americanas/YouTube*

Performance

The G7 Play is 110% faster than its predecessor. Thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 (the same SoC in the G7 Play and G7 Power), it has true midrange performance. While this isn’t the best 600 series SoC, it is noticeably faster and more efficient than last year’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 427. Gaming is also much better thanks to the upgraded GPU.

Memory:3 GB RAM
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 632
Chip size: 14 nanometer
CPU frequency: 1.8 GHz
CPU cores: 8 Kryo 250
GPU: Adreno 506 GPU
GPU cores: Unknown

Battery

The battery capacity has received a huge downgrade to 3,000 mAh. We speculate that because of the power efficiency of the Snapdragon 632, Motorola felt the price increase for a higher capacity wasn’t worth it, but this isn’t confirmed. However, Motorola is claiming 40 hours of power on a single charge.

Battery: rechargeable lithium-ion
Capacity: 3,000 mAh
Wired charging: yes, 10W USB-C rapid charger
Wireless charging: no

Front Camera

The front camera is once again 8 MP. And thanks to larger display notch, it is able to house an actual LED flash, unlike the G7.

Resolution: 8 MP
Aperture: f/2.2
Sensor Size: 1.12 µm
Zoom: Unknown
Flash: yes, LED
Image stabilization: no
RAW support: no
Object detection: Unknown
Formats: Unknown

Rear Camera

Once again, the Moto G7 Play will have a single 13 MP camera. It has an f/2.0 aperture and uses phase detection autofocus. It is able to shoot RAW photos and includes Google Lens support.

Resolution: 13 MP
Sensor size: 1.12 µm
Aperture: ƒ/2.0
Zoom: yes
Flash: yes, LED
Image stabilization: no
RAW support: yes
Lens cover: Unknown
Object detection: Unknown
Formats: JPEG, RAW

As for its video performance, the G7 Play is limited to only 30 fps video on all resolutions. It does support slow-motion video but we’re currently unsure at what frame rate and resolution.

Resolution: 720p, 1080p, and 4K
Max frame rate: 30 fps for 720p, 30 fps for 1080p and 30 fps for 4K
Slow motion: yes, Unknown
Time-lapse: yes
Zoom: Unknown
Flash access: Unknown
Image stabilization: yes, electronic
Object detection: Unknown
Autofocus: yes, phase detection
Audio: Unknown
Formats: Unknown

Audio

The G7 Play is one of the few phones which still retains the headphone jack. It has a single speaker and includes support for FM Radio.

3.5 mm headphone jack: yes
Stereo speakers: no
Mics: 2
FM Radio: yes
Max speaker volume: Unknown

Sensors

There are no noteworthy omissions or inclusions when it comes to sensors. Expect the usual assortment that you’d find in most smartphones.

Accelerometer: yes
Ambient light: yes
Barometer: no
Color temperature: no
Compass: yes
Gravity: no
Gyroscope: yes
Hall: no
Infrared: no
Laser: no
Pedometer: no
Proximity: yes

For location detection, note that GPS works in the US, but in other regions, the G7 Play lacks BeiDou (China’s version of GPS) and Galileo (Europe) radios.

GPS: yes
aGPS: yes
Glonass: yes
BeiDou: no
Galileo: no
QZSS: no

Connectivity

Wi-Fi is limited to 802.11n (aka Wi-Fi 4), which is a bit disappointing as 802.11ac (aka Wi-Fi 5) is pretty common. Bluetooth is also limited to 4.2 LE. Audio is also limited to aptX and not aptX HD. There is also no NFC, so those using Google Pay are out of luck.

Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz)
Bluetooth: 4.2 LE, aptX
NFC: no
Cellular: Cat 7 (downlink), Cat 6 (uplink)
Port: USB Type-C

Since the Moto G7 Play is sold SIM unlocked, it has all the bands for both T-Mobile and AT&T. However, because it is also will be sold through Google Fi, it does have CDMA bands for when it needs to switch to the Sprint network. Surprisingly, there is support for T-Mobile LTE Band 71, allowing the G7 Play to enjoy better coverage even in rural areas.

Model number A

CDMA BC0/BC1/BC10
GSM band 2/3/5/8
WCDMA band 1/2/4/5/8
LTE band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/14/17/20/25/26/29/30/66/71
TDD LTE band 38/39/40/41/41 HPUE

Security

A rear fingerprint scanner is available for biometrics-based authentication. You can use face unlock, but it is less secure, as it works using the front facing camera which makes it easily fooled by a picture.

Fingerprint scanner: yes, rear mounted
Face scanner: no
Iris scanner: no
Manual authentication: password, PIN, passcode, pattern, swipe

Box Includes

In the box, you will receive the phone, the USB-C rapid charger, USB-C cable, a SIM tray ejector tool, and guides.

Moto G7 Play
10W rapid charger
USB-C Cable
SIM tray ejector tool
Guides

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Cover image via GadgetMatch/YouTube

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