The Motorola Moto G9 Plus is an affordable smartphone with a large screen and complete specifications. Is that enough to prefer it to competing budget devices? Computer! Totally figured it out and catch up with you in this Motorola Moto G9 Plus review.
Motorola Moto G9 Plus
MSRP € 269,-Colors copper, blue
OS Android 10
Screen 6.8" LCD (2400 x 1080, 60Hz)
Processor 2.2GHz octa-core (Snapdragon 730G)
RAM 4GB
Storage 128 GB (expandable)
Battery 5,000 mAh
Camera 64, 8, 2 and 2 megapixels (rear), 16 megapixels (front)
Connectivity 4G, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC
Format 17 x 7.8 x 0.97 cm
Weight 223 grams
Other 3.5mm headphone port, splash proof
Website www.motorola.com 7.5 Score 75
- Pros
- Beautiful design with large screen
- Complete hardware
- Long battery life and fast charging
- Android without fuss
- Negatives
- Competitors have better screens
- Bad update policy
- Disappointing cameras
Motorola has been successful for years with its Moto G line, which consists of affordable smartphones with a competitive price-quality ratio. The latest model is the Moto G9 Plus, available for 269 euros. I tested the phone, having previously used the Moto G 5G Plus and Moto G8 Plus, among others.
Design
The Moto G9 Plus is made of plastic and has a blue or copper back. The material sounds cheap when you tap it but feels sturdy. In any case, the smartphone is well designed and looks modern. It is nice that it can withstand a small rain shower. It's also complete, with a nice fingerprint scanner in the power button (on the right side), a USB-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the right side you will also find the volume buttons. The left side houses a special button to start the Google Assistant. That button seems forced, because there are also other ways to summon the Assistant – just as quickly.
What is striking are the dimensions and weight of the smartphone. The Moto G9 Plus has a large screen – about which more in a moment – and a large battery, more about that later. The result is one of the largest and heaviest (223 grams) smartphones you can buy right now. I therefore strongly recommend that you first try the Moto G9 Plus in a store to see if you like the size.
Big screen, but not big
The screen of the Moto G9 Plus is 6.8 inches so huge and can not be operated with one hand. Not useful if that's important to you. The large size makes the smartphone ideal for gaming, typing with two hands and watching movies and series. Due to the full-HD resolution, the image looks sharp and the LCD panel shows nice colors. The contrast is on the low side, making black more like dark gray. Competing Samsung smartphones have a nicer OLED display. Other alternative devices, including the Poco X3 NFC, have a 120 Hz screen for a significantly smoother image. The Moto G9 Plus has a standard 60 Hz display. You won't notice this if your current smartphone also has a 60 Hz display, but once you get used to it, it is difficult to go back to 60 Hz. The maximum brightness of the screen of the Moto G9 Plus is lower than the competition, making the display less visible under bright (sun) light.
Hardware
The Motorola Moto G9 Plus runs on a Snapdragon 730G processor, which we know from competing Google Pixel and Samsung smartphones. It's a great processor, but not the fastest in this price segment. Motorola puts 4 GB of RAM in the Moto G9 Plus, which is average to below average today. There are plenty of comparable smartphones for sale with 6 GB of RAM. On paper, they have an advantage with multitasking and are more future-proof. The Moto G9 Plus is fast enough but does not stand out in terms of performance in this segment.
That applies if we look at the battery life and charging. The Moto G9 Plus has a large 5000 mAh battery and lasts one and a half days on a single battery charge. Two days is possible if you take it easy. It is nice that Motorola includes a powerful 30 Watt charger, which charges the smartphone in ninety minutes. Do you want to refuel quickly because you're going out the door? Fifteen minutes of charging lifts the battery from five to thirty-five percent. Wireless charging is not possible and that is a budget cut that applies to all affordable smartphones.
The large storage memory of 128 GB, which can be increased with a micro SD card, is nice.
Cameras are disappointing
The Moto G9 Plus has four cameras on the back. That looks very impressive, but says nothing about the quality. And it shows, because the camera performance is simply disappointing. Photos from the 64-megapixel main camera quickly look gray and dark, even when the sun is shining and the sky is predominantly blue. At other times the camera does better, but the results remain significantly less than those of the competition. The wide-angle lens is also mediocre. It is true that it shoots a wide photo, but it often looks washed out and contains little detail. Better is the depth sensor, which helps to blur the background to better show the person or object in the front of the frame. Finally, there is a 2 megapixel macro camera to shoot photos up close. That works properly, but due to the low resolution, the images look much less sharp than a normal photo. It is not possible to print a beautiful macro plate on canvas format.
The selfie camera of the smartphone is in a hole in the screen and works properly, without being noticed positively or negatively. Motorola's Moto G 5G Plus has two selfie cameras, including a wide-angle lens for group photos.
Software
I've been writing the same thing about the Android software on Motorola smartphones for years. Motorola doesn't adjust much, so you use almost stock Android and don't suffer from unnecessary apps or functions. The handful of functions that Motorola adds allow you to operate the phone faster with gestures, among other things. Nothing wrong with that. With the update policy, yes. Motorola has been guaranteeing only one version update for years and that is too little. Competing brands like Samsung and Nokia offer two or three years of updates. Many manufacturers also provide three years of security updates, something Motorola only does for two years.
In the case of the Moto G9 Plus, that means you can expect an update from Android 10 to Android 11. That's where it ends and that's extra sad when you consider that Android 11 was already out when the smartphone was launched. The update therefore feels only logical, and I would have liked to see at least an update to Android 12.
Conclusion: Buy Motorola Moto G9 Plus?
The Motorola Moto G9 Plus is a smartphone that does a lot of good, but certainly has points of attention. For example, because of its size, it is not the best buy for everyone, the cameras are disappointing and Motorola's update policy is moderate. If you can live with these points, the Moto G9 Plus is a great buy. Still, I think that most interested parties are better off with the Poco X3 NFC, especially because this smartphone has better specifications and gets longer updates. Other interesting alternatives are the Xiaomi Mi 10(T) Lite, Motorola Moto G Pro and Samsung Galaxy M31.
