Getting back into the budget groove

Finding a good quality phone for under $200 can be difficult. As with any budget device, there are bound to be compromises to reach the desired price point. While that fact will never be one that can be ignored, as the buyer, you have to decide which choices you are willing to live with. With the new Motorola Moto G Play (2024), the company made the necessary cuts to reach the $150 price tag the device carries. But those choices are far better this round than last year’s variant. So much so that I can actually recommend the new Moto G Play (2024) for those on a tight budget — assuming you can accept what the phone offers.

Pricing and availability

Easy to find and easy on the wallet

The Motorola Moto G Play (2024) was announced on January 16, 2024, and became available on February 8, 2024. The phone is available in a single color option, which Motorola calls Sapphire Blue, and a single specification of 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. Regarding where you can purchase the phone, that can be done for $150 through Amazon, Best Buy, or Motorola.

Design and hardware

Simple yet meaningful changes

For the better part of the last decade, Motorola has been a leader among the best budget Android smartphones with its G line of devices. Because of this lineage, I was surprised at how poorly the Moto G Play (2023) performed when I reviewed it for XDA Developers last year. Due to this less-than-stellar showing, I didn’t have high hopes for this year’s model. However, Motorola made meaningful choices about improving the device, starting with the design.

The Moto G Play (2024) takes some design cues from the well-received Motorola Edge+ (2023), and though that design isn’t anything extraordinary, it is better than its budget-minded sibling. Motorola molded the camera housing into the back of the phone for a more seamless look and moved the capacitive fingerprint reader to the power button on the side rather than in the “M” logo on the back. The phone is also more squared-off than the previous model with flat sides.

Moto uses the same 6.5-inch HD+ LCD panel with a 90Hz refresh rate for the front of the phone. Unfortunately, the display tops out at only 500 nits of brightness and struggles mightily in bright environments. However, the bump in expandable storage to 64GB and RAM up to 4GB, supporting the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G, makes everything on the phone much smoother. These internal specs really hampered the Moto G Play (2023), as it only had 3GB RAM and ran a less powerful MediaTek Helio G37 processor that caused the phone to stutter no matter what you tried to do on it.

As you may have noticed, the processor is named Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G. So, that means you won’t have 5G support with Moto G Play (2024), and though that might be a bummer to some, at $150, it shouldn’t be too surprising. I am a bit surprised to see dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support in the device. The speakers do sound pretty decent but will distort at higher volumes. When you don’t want to listen out loud, there is a 3.5mm audio jack and Bluetooth 5.1 for connecting any number of excellent headphones or earbuds.

Battery life and performance

Battery beast and puppy-like performance

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G handles daily phone use pretty well. Swiping between pages on the homescreen, opening the app drawer, and switching apps for multitasking all work relatively smoothly. There can be a small stutter occasionally, partially depending on what else is going on in the phone’s background, but the general performance is significantly better than that of the 2023 model.

I was able to use all my favorite apps, from reading the news to social media apps, just fine. The Moto G Play (2024) also handles light gaming well. While you shouldn’t expect to run the best Android games on this device, less power-intensive games like the ever-popular Stack Bounce will have no issues. Some load times for launching an app from scratch could get a bit long compared to using one of the top Android phones, but that small addition in wait time comes at a heavy discount.

Keeping the lights on for the Motorola Moto G Play (2024) is a 5000mAh battery. I had no problems going to bed with at least 40% of the battery left with normal usage. This is partly achieved by the less power-hungry HD+ display and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G not jumping between 5G and 4G towers. Recharging the phone is a slight bummer as it only supports 15W of wired charging. While this is better than the 10W from the 2023 model, you’ll still want to leave plenty of time to get the phone charged back to full.

Camera

Nothing special, and that’s OK

Next to the change in processor, the biggest improvement comes to the camera. Now, keep in mind this is a $150 phone and isn’t going to compete with the best camera phones, but compared to last year — it’s fantastic. In 2023, Motorola went with a 16MP main sensor, a 2MP depth sensor, and a 2MP macro lens. The primary camera was OK, but the other two sensors were less so. For the Moto G Play (2024), Motorola chose a single 50MP f/1.8 sensor with Motorola’s Quad Pixel technology, which is better than all three cameras from last year’s model put together.

Not only did Motorola include a better camera on the Moto G Play (2024), but the phone also benefits from a better ISP from the Qualcomm processor and more shooting modes from the manufacturer. Along with basic photo, video, and portrait modes, the phone finally has Night Mode, Spot Color, Dual Capture, and more. Zoom is capped at 8x digitally, and the post-processing does a decent job of making the photo usable in most instances.

Here are some photo samples from the Moto G Play (2024):

Here are some zoom photo samples from the Moto G Play (2024):

Here are some low-light photo samples from the Moto G Play (2024):

As for the front-facing camera, the Moto G Play (2024) also gets a bump, going from a 5MP option in the previous model to an 8MP f/2.0 sensor. It does miss out on any autofocus feature, but the selfie camera does a serviceable job of taking photos.

Competition

Pick your compromise

As you might have guessed, picking a smartphone in the sub-$200 phone category will require some acceptance that it really comes down to which compromises you are willing to make to hit that budget. The Moto G Play (2024) is a big improvement over last year’s model, but for some, Motorola just might not be their preferred flavor of phone, or there are features you desire that aren’t a strong point for the Moto phone.

Perhaps you want a smartphone with a 120Hz display that’s slightly bigger at 6.72 inches and offers more performance power. You may want to consider the OnePlus Nord N30 5G. In our review, we found that the phone had some regression over its predecessor, but when comparing it to the Moto G Play (2024), it has some qualities you may prefer. The 8GB RAM and 128GB of base storage paired with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G offers improved performance over Motorola’s offering and an improved display.

You could also look at something like the previously mentioned Samsung Galaxy A14, which, like the Nord N30 5G, will cost you about $50 more than the Moto G Play (2024). It is more in line with the specs for Motorola’s phone than the option from OnePlus, but it could offer a better software experience for those who prefer more options on the software front. If you are really pinching for pennies, you could go for the entry-level smartphone in the Samsung Galaxy A04. But you are going to be making compromises all around to get a phone that is under $150.

Should you buy the Motorola Moto G Play (2024)?

For $150, it checks a lot of boxes.

If you stack this phone up against more expensive devices, and I’m not even talking $1000 phones, but some as much as $325, like the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G, you’ll get a more powerful and complete smartphone experience. But for $150 and even looking at $200, it’s a pretty solid device. Motorola made the right concessions in building a budget smartphone and learned from its mistakes in the 2023 variant. For someone on a tight budget or looking for a first phone for their kid, the Motorola Moto G Play (2024) can fit that bill.

The phone isn’t going to win any performance battles or wow everyone with its photography prowess. But it has great battery life, runs mostly stutter-free, and has a very serviceable camera. Pair those features with Motorola’s clean version of Android 13, and you end up with a reliable smartphone for less than a weekly trip to the grocery store.