The Motorola Moto G Play is the Worst Phone Of 2023 🏆

Summary

In this Tech Daily review, Wade harshly critiques the 2023 Motorola Moto G Play, deeming it the 'worst phone of the year.' He argues that despite its low cost, the phone's outdated hardware, poor software experience, and lack of updates make it an unwise purchase. Wade highlights the phone's subpar display, slow performance, and outdated camera, urging consumers to consider other budget options that offer better value and updates.

Takeaways

• 😟 The 2023 Motorola Moto G Play is considered the worst phone of the year by the reviewer, Wade from Tech Daily.
• 💰 Despite its low cost, the phone is deemed not worth purchasing even for those on a tight budget or receiving it for free.
• 📱 The Moto G Play is criticized for using cheap or outdated components, making it a 'parts bin special'.
• 📺 The phone has a large 6.5-inch display but with poor resolution and brightness, and a low screen-to-body ratio.
• 🔒 The fingerprint sensor is outdated, resembling designs from a couple of years ago, and does not align with current Motorola devices.
• 📀 The internal storage is a meager 32GB, with half used by the OS and pre-installed apps, necessitating an SD card for most users.
• 🔌 It has a headphone jack and USB-C charging, but the latter is not remarkable as even the cheapest competitors have moved on from Micro USB.
• 🔋 The phone's battery life is praised for lasting two days on a single charge with light use, despite the slow charging speed of 10 watts.
• 🤖 The MediaTek Helio G37 processor and 3GB of RAM result in a sluggish and unresponsive user experience.
• 📱 The Moto G Play is still running on Android 12, with no update to Android 13 in sight, making it feel outdated in terms of software.
• 📷 The camera setup is underwhelming, with a 16MP main lens and additional low-quality sensors, resulting in poor image and video quality.

Q & A

What is the main issue with the 2023 Motorola Moto G Play according to Wade from Tech Daily?

The main issues are that it is a parts bin special with cheap or outdated physical components and it has the slowest and clunkiest software experience with Android 12, which is unacceptable at this point.

Why does Wade consider the Moto G Play to be the worst phone of the year?

Wade considers it the worst because it combines outdated hardware with poor software performance and lacks modern features and updates, making it a frustrating and outdated experience for users.

What design elements from previous years does the Moto G Play retain?

The Moto G Play retains the Motorola dimple fingerprint sensor, a design from a couple of years ago, and a large bottom chin with thick black borders, which are outdated design cues.

What is the screen resolution and pixel density of the Moto G Play, and how does it affect the viewing experience?

The screen resolution is 720p with a pixel density of 270 pixels per inch, which results in a pixelated and not very bright display, making the viewing experience poor.

How does the Moto G Play's internal storage compare to what Wade considers acceptable for a modern smartphone?

The Moto G Play has only 32 gigabytes of internal storage, with 50% used up by the OS and pre-installed apps, which Wade finds unacceptable as storage is not expensive and should be more generous.

What processor is used in the Moto G Play, and how does its age affect the phone's performance?

The phone uses the MediaTek Helio G37 processor, which is an entry-level chipset launched in 2020, making it nearly three years old and significantly affecting the phone's performance.

Why does Wade believe the lack of a major Android update for the Moto G Play is a significant problem?

Wade believes it's a problem because it shows Motorola's lack of support for its customers and leaves the phone with outdated software, which can lead to security issues, app compatibility problems, and other software bugs.

What alternative options does Wade suggest instead of the Moto G Play for a budget-conscious consumer?

Wade suggests considering renewed Samsung A51, other Samsung smartphones, a used Pixel 4A, or the Nokia G10, all of which have better specs and are updated to Android 13.

How does the Moto G Play's battery life compare to its charging speed, and what does Wade think about this aspect?

The battery life is good, lasting two days of light use, but the charging speed is slow at 10 watts, taking 3-4 hours to charge fully. Wade finds this inconvenient.

What are the camera specifications of the Moto G Play, and how does Wade evaluate its camera performance?

The camera setup includes a 16-megapixel main lens, a 2-megapixel macro, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor, along with a 5-megapixel selfie camera. Wade evaluates the performance as poor, with no detail, over-processed images, and choppy, out-of-focus video.

What is Wade's final recommendation regarding the purchase of the 2023 Moto G Play?

Wade strongly advises against purchasing the Moto G Play, calling it a cash grab and a waste of money, and urges Motorola to stop releasing such outdated and frustrating phones.

Outlines

00:00

😟 Disappointment: The 2023 Motorola Moto G Play Review

In this paragraph, Wade from Tech Daily expresses his dissatisfaction with the 2023 Motorola Moto G Play, dubbing it the worst phone of the year. He empathizes with those who have purchased it but emphasizes that even as a budget option, the phone is not worth the investment. Wade notes the phone's outdated physical components, slow software experience with Android 12, and lack of a refreshed design. He also points out the phone's large size with a low screen-to-body ratio, poor display quality, and minimal internal storage, which necessitates the use of an SD card. Despite these shortcomings, Wade acknowledges the presence of a headphone jack and USB-C charging as minor redeeming features.

05:02

😡 Performance and Software Lament for the Moto G Play

The second paragraph delves into the Moto G Play's subpar performance and outdated software. Wade criticizes the phone's use of the MediaTek Helio G37 processor, a nearly three-year-old chipset, and the insufficient 3GB of RAM. He highlights the phone's inability to handle multiple apps effectively, resulting in a slow and unresponsive user experience. Furthermore, Wade expresses frustration over the lack of a major Android update, noting that the phone still runs Android 12 despite being a 2023 model. He compares the Moto G Play unfavorably to other smartphones that offer better specs and updated software for a similar price, arguing that the phone is a poor value even when offered for free or at a discount.

10:03

😞 The 2023 Moto G Play: An Outdated, Uninspiring Choice

In the final paragraph, Wade concludes his review by summarizing the摩托 G Play's numerous shortcomings, including its outdated camera setup, poor battery charging speed, and lack of modern features. He reiterates that the phone is a poor choice for consumers, regardless of the price, and criticizes Motorola for releasing a device that is essentially a collection of old parts and software. Wade implores viewers not to purchase the Moto G Play and urges Motorola to cease producing such inferior devices. He invites viewers to share their thoughts in the comments and reminds them to follow Tech Daily on social media and subscribe to the YouTube channel for more content.

Keywords

💡Motorola Moto G Play

The Motorola Moto G Play is the subject of the video, identified as the 'worst phone of the Year' by the speaker. It is a smartphone released by Motorola in 2023, which the speaker criticizes for its outdated components and poor performance. The term is repeatedly used to refer to the specific device being reviewed, setting the central theme of the video.

💡Parts bin special

A 'parts bin special' refers to a product that is assembled from existing or leftover components. In the context of the video, it is used to describe the 2023 Moto G Play as being made from cheap or outdated parts that Motorola had from previous models, suggesting a lack of innovation or quality in the phone's design.

💡Android 12

Android 12 is the version of the Android operating system that the Moto G Play is running, which the speaker deems unacceptable given the release of newer versions like Android 13. It is a key point in the critique, as it highlights the phone's outdated software experience.

💡Screen to body ratio

The screen to body ratio is a measure of the size of the screen in relation to the overall dimensions of the phone. In the video, it is mentioned to criticize the Moto G Play for having a low ratio, indicating a large phone with significant bezels and a large 'chin' at the bottom, which is considered an outdated design.

💡Internal storage

Internal storage refers to the memory within a device for storing apps, photos, and other data. The video criticizes the Moto G Play for having only 32 gigabytes of internal storage, which is considered insufficient for modern smartphone use, especially with the operating system and pre-installed apps occupying a significant portion of it.

💡Mediatek Helio G37

The Mediatek Helio G37 is the processor used in the Moto G Play, described as an entry-level chipset launched in 2020. The speaker uses this term to emphasize the phone's outdated hardware, which affects its performance and makes it a poor choice for consumers even at a budget price point.

💡Geekbench scores

Geekbench scores are performance metrics used to measure the computational power of a device's processor. The video mentions these scores to illustrate the poor performance of the Moto G Play's processor, reinforcing the argument that the phone is not worth purchasing.

💡Android updates

Android updates refer to the release of new versions of the Android operating system that provide new features, security patches, and improvements. The video criticizes Motorola for not providing a major Android update to the Moto G Play, suggesting that the company does not support its customers well and leaves them with an outdated software experience.

💡Battery life

Battery life is the duration a device can operate before needing to be recharged. The video mentions the Moto G Play's battery life as a positive aspect, stating that it can last for two days of light use, which is a common requirement for budget smartphones.

💡Camera setup

The camera setup refers to the configuration of lenses and sensors in a smartphone for photography and videography. The video criticizes the Moto G Play's camera setup as being outdated and of poor quality, with low-resolution lenses and lacking advanced features like night mode or video stabilization.

💡E-Waste

E-Waste refers to electronic products that are discarded and contribute to environmental pollution. In the video, the term is used metaphorically to describe the Moto G Play as a product that is essentially wasteful, being composed of outdated parts and not providing value to the consumer, which aligns with the video's overall negative assessment of the phone.

Highlights

The 2023 Motorola Moto G Play is considered the worst phone of the year.

The phone is a parts bin special, assembled with cheap or outdated components.

It features the slowest and clunkiest software experience with Android 12.

The Moto G Play lacks a refreshed design and resembles older Motorola models.

The phone has a large 6.5-inch display with thick borders and a low screen-to-body ratio.

Internal storage is a mere 32 gigabytes, requiring an SD card for minimal app installation.

A headphone jack and USB-C charging are included, but the screen resolution is a low 720p.

The 90 Hertz display doesn't provide a smooth user experience due to poor performance.

Powered by a nearly three-year-old MediaTek Helio G37 processor and only three gigabytes of RAM.

Performance is frustratingly slow, with the phone struggling to handle multiple apps.

The Moto G Play has not received a major Android update, remaining on Android 12.

Other budget phones offer better specs and have been updated to Android 13.

Motorola promises only one major update for the Moto G Play, making it outdated upon purchase.

The phone's battery life is long, lasting two days of light use, but charging is slow at 10 watts.

Camera quality is poor, with outdated sensors and no advanced features like night mode or stabilization.

The Moto G Play is criticized as a cash grab, offering outdated technology at a deceptively low price.

The phone is not recommended, with better alternatives available even at a similar price point.

The video concludes with a call for Motorola to stop releasing such low-quality devices.

Transcripts

what's going on guys my name is Wade

with tech daily so this is the 2023

Motorola Moto G play and it is the worst

phone of the Year by far I'm sorry if

you bought this I'm not trying to be

mean or make you feel bad about your

purchase even the cheapest lowest spec'd

smartphone is still useful for some

people I totally get that it's just even

if you only have a hundred dollars to

spend or even if you're getting this

phone for free from a major carrier it's

simply just not worth it when you

consider all of the other smartphones

both new and old that you could buy

instead now I also know that this isn't

a new phone it's been out for like eight

months already but the thing about

Motorola devices is that they tend to be

heavily promoted on Amazon they always

seem to be on sale for a big discount

which probably entices people the

holiday shopping season is fast

approaching and these phones are sold

for a long period of time sometimes over

the course of two or more years from the

major carriers all of this is a recipe

for Motorola to wind up attracting a ton

of customers to this phone over the next

few months and Beyond and I want to make

sure a potential purchaser has all the

information also if you already watched

marquez's video on this phone from a

while back a lot of his thoughts and

information are now totally outdated

this phone is an even worse buy than it

already was when it first launched and

I'm gonna explain why there's really two

main issues with the 2023 Moto G Play

It's a parts bin special a phone that

was put together with cheap or outdated

physical components Motorola probably

had lying around from previous phones

over the years and it also has the

slowest and clunkiest software

experience still Android 12 by the way

which at this point is just unacceptable

physically the Moto G play looks like a

Motorola device from a year or two ago

it didn't get the refreshed design like

all the other Moto G devices so it

doesn't even fit in the lineup and more

closely resembles the design of the 2021

G stylus or 2022g power perhaps Motorola

did in fact use the actual rear cover of

a smartphone from a couple of years ago

for this G play at 6.5 inches it's a

pretty big phone I know a lot of people

will appreciate the big display but with

those thick black borders and huge

bottom chin there's a ton of wasted

space and the phone feels a lot bigger

but a lot taller than it probably should

but such a low screen to body ratio the

design overall mimics a budget device

from a number of years ago the final

outdated design cue is that Motorola

dimple around back that's the

fingerprint sensor something Motorola

had on their smartphones for a long time

but not within the last year or two

except for this phone the fingerprint

sensor works just fine and I actually

don't mind the placement it just doesn't

align with anything that's been released

this year the gplay does have a couple

of other physical things that people

might appreciate like an SD card slot

but this phone only has 32 gigabytes of

internal storage it has to have an SD

card if you want to install any more

than like a dozen apps on it or if you

wind up taking a couple hundred pictures

I'm honestly stunned that Motorola

shipped a phone with this little

internal storage it's not like storage

is all that expensive nowadays anyway

and I mean 50 of it is used up right out

of the box by the OS and pre-installed

apps it's crazy there's a headphone jack

on this phone which is nice I guess and

it charges via USBC which might seem

like an odd thing to say but the

cheapest Samsung a series phones

sometimes still have Micro USB ports

seriously so at least it's not that bad

now for as nice as the big screen might

seem on this phone it's actually a

pretty poor viewing experience overall

this is a 720p resolution screen which

means at this size you can literally

pick out the pixels from a normal

viewing distance you get a pixel density

of just 270 pixels per inch so it's not

sharp by any means and it's also not

very bright at all all in fact I found

it to be the dimmest Moto G device by

far at 60 or 70 brightness this phone is

comparable to other Moto G devices set

to 20 or 30 brightness off axis viewing

is also quite poor and all this is

because it's an IPS LCD display and not

a new one at that there aren't any specs

that stand out with the display and it

doesn't seem to be covered in any

notable current Gorilla Glass so the

glare is pretty bad too it is a 90 Hertz

display though which theoretically would

mean that it's fast and fluid and snappy

with your Taps and swipes but the phone

performs so poorly that it never

actually looks like it's running at 90

Hertz there's never a smooth scroll or a

Seamless app transition at all so I

don't even understand why they bothered

with 90 Hertz naturally we need to talk

about performance now and the software

experience and this is actually where

marquez's original thoughts on this

phone have sort of become outdated

inside this phone is powered by The

mediatek Helio G37 processor which is an

entry-level chipset that was originally

launched in 2020. so we're talking a

nearly three-year-old low level

processor inside this phone you also get

three gigabytes of RAM which is one gig

less than what I would consider to be

the bare minimum for any smartphone

nowadays and worst of all as of August

when I'm filming this video the Moto G

play is still running Android 12. so the

hardware is bad enough here are the

geekbench scores but you don't need a

complicated performance test to show

that this phone can't handle much just

open three or four apps and you'll

quickly see that it's slow and clunky

and oftentimes totally unresponsive is

it usable sure I guess if you like just

need a phone to make a phone call or to

look something up on the internet from

time to time then yeah it's a phone it's

at least going to keep you connected to

the world but I wouldn't say that it's

real liable I wouldn't say that you

could do anything quickly or efficiently

I'd even go as far as to say it's an

outright frustrating experience just

trying to do those basic tasks and I'm

not sure why even for a hundred or so

dollars or even for free that anyone

would subject themselves to something

like this the lack of a major Android

update though is what really grinds my

gears in marquez's video one of the

points he made was that even for his

cheap and as low spec as this phone is

it's still modern and current and it'll

get Android updates that like a two or

three year old smartphone that might

also be 100 to 200 bucks wouldn't

otherwise get but now eight months later

after that video we see that that's

literally not the case this phone

doesn't have the Android 13 update even

though we're weeks away now from Android

14 launching on Flagship devices so

buying the Moto G play right now

literally means you're buying a 2023

device with a 2022 software experience

and like internal specs from 2020. it's

unequivocally not a modern Android

device by definition certainly not in

software and especially not in hardware

and this is where the argument of buying

a couple years older device that does

get Android updates is even stronger for

a little more than 100 right now you

could get a renewed Samsung A51 which

has Android 13. it also just has better

specs across the board or you could get

like 20 other Samsung smartphones I mean

even the a03s for as bad as those are at

least got updated you could also get a

used pixel 4A for 130 bucks even the

Nokia G10 has Android 13. and I know

what you're thinking well all those

phones be done getting updates after

this year while the Moto G play gets

more updates in the future uh literally

no Motorola promises only one major

update for this phone so whenever it

does get Android 13 that's it and is it

really an update if Motorola is already

a year behind anyway they're basically a

year behind right now and look I know

not everyone even cares about Android

updates but you should a little bit

because at a bare minimum it shows that

any company like Motorola cares about

supporting its customers during the

duration of time they own their products

and it also protects the consumer from

security issues and app compatibility

problems and other software bugs to

Motorola's credit there have been some

minor software updates for this phone up

to this point but I think the

combination of old underpowered internal

components and last year's software just

leads me to believe that this phone is

more or less a quick cash grab from an

unsuspecting customer who just needs any

phone and Motorola isn't concerned with

what happens afterwards but that really

isn't how you should be treating a

customer on the bright side since this

phone has a dim low resolution display

the least powerful processor available

and basically one-year-old software if

you do end up actually using this phone

it'll last for forever the 5000 million

amp battery inside this thing easily

carries the phone through two days of

light use which is probably how most

people would use this phone anyway but

the few times it does need to be plugged

in well with just 10 watt wired charging

speeds you'll be waiting around three or

four hours at least before it juices

back up to a hundred percent and last

but not least the cameras are also bad

that shouldn't be surprising at this

point essentially Motorola just took all

the spare old camera Parts they had

lying around the cheapest ones possible

and used them here you get a 16

megapixel main lens and then the two

megapixel macro and 2 megapixel depth

sensor both of which are the

quintessential budget phone camera

add-ons that are basically worthless the

selfie camera is also a rough five

megapixel shooter the camera features

include portrait mode Pro controls

Panorama and time lapse and that's

basically it no night mode no slow-mo no

video stabilization no video shooting

Beyond 1080 30 no wide angle I mean can

you take a picture or video with this

phone yes is it going to look good no

not at all there's no detail at all in

any shot it's a ridiculously over

processed image with smoothed out bits

in some areas and choppy bits and other

areas way too saturated the dynamic

range is awful video is so incredibly

choppy and out of focus this just is not

a camera setup you'd expect to have on

any phone in 2023 regardless of the

price point now look I know I'm probably

sounding pretty harsh but here's the

bottom line Motorola a company that

seems to want to be environmentally

friendly with their soy ink and minimal

cardboard boxes with no charging

accessories or at least a phone that is

arguably E-Waste it's a phone that

consists of parts and pieces from

devices that launched two or three years

ago they have up to this point not even

bothered to keep the phone updated

software wise but yet they originally

launched and sold this thing for 107 70

dollars it obviously wasn't worth that

price it's not even selling at that

price anymore and even at its Perpetual

discount of like a hundred or so dollars

there's 20 other smartphones I would

recommend instead of this one even older

budget phones that are at least updated

to Android 13. this phone to be brutally

honest is just a cash crab deceptively

aimed at individuals who just need a

cheap phone to stay connected to the

world but who wind up wasting their

hard-earned money on something that's

outdated frustrating to use won't ever

get updated seemingly and is just a

total waste of money it won't last a

person more than a year anyway so please

don't buy this thing and Motorola quit

releasing phones like this there's no

reason to so there you go those are my

honest thoughts on the 2023 Moto G play

what do you guys think am I being too

harsh let me know in the comments down

below I'd love to hear your thoughts of

course hopefully you guys did enjoy this

video though or at least found it

somewhat helpful be sure to follow Tech

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haven't already

I'll see you guys later