Smart Android And Trik-Commenting on Andorid indeed never endless, because smart devices this one is often updated every certain amount of time. So that the market can always be garapnya menerinya with pleasure. And it is not denied if this device has become the lifestyle of each society. To not wonder if the 6th business information and many are turning to mobail smartphone. With Android which thoroughly dominated the mobile industry, choosing the best Android smartphone is almost identical to choose the best smartphone, period. But while Android phones have few real opponents on other platforms, internal competition is intense.
Introduction
Unlike the Moto G8, which felt more like a refresh than a real generational upgrade, the G9 Plus improves upon the G7 and G8 in almost every aspect.
The G9 Plus comes with a considerably more recent, and more advanced Snapdragon 730G chipset. It has a larger battery, bumps up the storage to 128GB, and gains a faster 30W charging. And as obvious by the Plus moniker, it also has a bigger display, too.
While the Moto G-series announcements in the past have traditionally revealed the whole family, the members of the latest Moto G9 lineup have been trickling slowly one by one. And Motorola hasn't even released them on all markets. So you may or may not be seeing these devices on your shores.
Motorola Moto G9 Plus specs at a glance:
- Body: 170.0x78.1x9.7mm, 223g; Glass front, plastic unibody design.
- Display: 6.81" LTPS IPS, 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 386ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SDM730 Snapdragon 730G (8 nm): Octa-core (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver); Adreno 618.
- Memory: 128GB 4GB RAM; microSDXC (uses shared SIM slot).
- OS/Software: Android 10.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide), 1/1.73", 0.8µm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 118˚ (ultrawide), 1/4.0", 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.2, (macro); Depth: 2 MP, f/2.2, (depth); LED flash, HDR, panorama.
- Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, 29mm (standard); HDR.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 30W.
- Misc: Fingerprint (side-mounted), NFC.
But as always, Motorola faces quite a bit of competition in this price range, mostly from Realme and Xiaomi. There are also a few Samsung options, and to our surprise, some older Motorola-made devices for about the same price.
That's a re-occurring theme for the last couple of Moto G generations. Is it going to be like this with the G9 Plus, and are there any compelling advantages that need to be explored? We try to find out on the next pages.
Unboxing the Moto G9 Plus
Aside from the usual user manuals, the box also contains the 30W charger, the corresponding USB-A to USB-C cable, and a transparent silicone case.
The retail package contents are what we would expect to see. We'll check out the phone itself on the next page.
Design and ergonomics
As one would expect from a 6.8-inch device, the Moto G9 Plus is an unwieldy phone. Sure, the curved edges to the side make a difference, but the rather thick top and bottom bezels and the 223g weight make up for a hefty chassis. Thickness might be an issue for some as well - it's 9.7mm. The extra battery, however, and the barely noticeable camera bump on the back are appreciated.
What we liked about the Moto G9 Plus is the unibody design approach. The entire back along envelops the sides of the phone. There are no gaps, sharp edges, or protrusions - it just feels nice holding the handset.
Unfortunately, the unibody design has been made possible by the fact that there is no glass and metal on the body. After the Moto G7-series, Motorola began cutting corners, and the backs of the G8 Plus and G9 Plus are made of plastic, and so are the frames. Motorola doesn't mention Gorilla Glass about the front glass either.
The camera design has changed drastically and is now a rectangular-shaped module housing all four cameras with the elongated flash. As we already pointed out, it's not protruding by much, so when placed on a flat surface, the wobble is barely noticeable.
The phone comes in two color variants - Rose Gold and Indigo Blue. From the official press renders, the Rose Gold variant looks intriguing, but we got the Indigo Blue variant. It looks good, it's simple, and it almost becomes a mirror when you turn the phone's back directly at you. This particular paint job makes fingerprints and smudges quite visible.
Going around the sides, we see more buttons than usual. On the left, we have the dedicated Google Assistant button, which is slightly textured. On the right, we have the power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader and the volume rocker right above it. The volume key requires some finger gymnastics to reach. On the other hand, the power button is well-placed, and we didn't have any issues reaching it.
The headphone jack is positioned at the top, whereas the bottom is reserved for the USB-C connector and the speaker grille only.
All and all, the Moto G9 Plus doesn't stand out with build quality or looks, and it definitely isn't a device for small hands. The 6.8-inch display on board gave enough headroom for the G9 Plus' body to grow quite a bit compared to its predecessors.
It's also unusual to see the latest addition to the Moto G family going backward in the choice of materials and the fact that there is no Gorilla Glass on the front and no water-repellent coating.
Huge 6.8-inch display with an off-centered punch-hole
This year's Plus has grown in size quite a bit now offering a big, 6.8-inch display using a tall 20:9 IPS LCD panel with 1080 x 2400px resolution. There's also an off-centered punch-hole for the front-facing camera in the upper-left corner. There are also no additional features like HDR10 support or high refresh rate. And typically for an LCD, there are some small halos around the bottom bezel and the hole for the camera. They can be seen only with bright-colored background.
Speaking of brightness, we were able to record a maximum 427 nits with the slider cranked up while in auto mode, the display peaked at 522 nits. Not the best result around but it should still be enough to provide relatively comfortable viewing experience outside.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0.315 | 427 | 1356:1 | |
| 0.39 | 522 | 1338:1 | |
| 0.332 | 473 | 1425:1 | |
| 0.469 | 590 | 1258:1 | |
| 0 | 442 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 610 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 424 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 596 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 459 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 585 | ∞ | |
Color accuracy with the default Saturated mode is acceptable (average dE2000 is 5.0) but the whites and grays are straight up blue. Going for the Natural preset will bring down the average dE2000 to a respectable 2.3 with whites and grays getting really close to what's considered natural.
Battery life
We were expecting good runtimes given the generous 5,000 mAh capacity but it seems like Motorola has worked hard on optimizing its software and also improving the standby, which has been an issue with Motorola phones for a long time. Since the chipset and the battery capacity of the Moto G9 Plus and the Motorola One Fusion+ are identical, it's no surprise that the overall score of 136h matches.
The screen-on times and the off-screen times are both great, even higher than expected. Usually phones with larger batteries post the same or slightly higher score.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Motorola Moto G9 Plus for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Charging speed
The phone ships with a compatible 30W charger branded as TurboPower but can also charge over the Power Delivery 3.0 charging standard. In any case, with the provided charger, the G9 Plus got 54% of its battery in just 30 minutes while a full charge from 0 took about 1:15h. Compared to its rivals, this is about what you'd expect with the small exception of the Realme 7 Pro, which is doing exceptionally well in this regard.
30min charging test (from 0%)
- Realme 7 Pro
94% - Motorola Moto G7 Plus
79% - Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
55% - Motorola Moto G9 Plus
54% - Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
53%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
- Realme 7 Pro
0:37h - Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
1:14h - Motorola Moto G9 Plus
1:15h - Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
1:16h
Speaker test
We've already expressed our disappointment about not bringing back the stereo loudspeakers from the Moto G7 but the single, bottom-firing one isn't impressive itself either. At least as far as loudness goes. Otherwise if you are not cranking up the volume slider near maximum, you will be pleased with the clarity of the sound. Expectedly, the bass is virtually non-existent and the music lacks fullness .
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
Audio output quality
We've recently discontinued our audio output quality test.
The reason for that is that most phones that arrived for testing were already excellent in this regard. Whatever difference there was, it was marginal and probably indistinguishable to anything but our lab equipment.
Android as Google intended
We've always praised Motorola for offering a clean and clutter-free Android experience - the way Google intended. Even if you are a die-hard fan of a certain Android branch, that's totally fine. But Motorola has always cared for the "vanilla" crowd.
Our experience with the vanilla Android 10 on the Moto G9 Plus has mostly been positive. It feels familiar, and Motorola has added a couple of cool features and customizations, although rather limited.
Home screen, app drawer, notification shade, recent apps
You will be prompted with two messages once you open up the general settings menu for the first time. Tapping on them will take you through some of the Moto-specific features.
General settings
The gestures aren't different from the stock ones with the small exception of the back gesture sensitivity. You can adjust the tolerance of the back gesture to prevent any mistouches. The good old software buttons are also an option.
Anyway, the Moto features are split into several categories. Moto Actions holds a rather long list, although not as long as the Moto G 5G Plus. The usual ones are still there - like the chop motions to turn on the flashlight or the twisting one to launch the camera app.
Since the G9 Plus also comes with a side-mounted fingerprint reader, the Power touch is also available. Double tapping on the power button will bring out a handy pop-up window with your favorite apps. Short tasks are also available - searching on YouTube directly, for example.
The ability to control your music playback using the volume rocker while the device is locked is still available on this Moto.
Setting up the Lift to unlock function in combination with face unlock will surely speed up the process of unlocking the device. It's a useful feature, so you should definitely try it out.
Customizing the looks of your UI is a relatively new thing for Motorola. You can change the accent color, the font, the icons, and the shape of the icons (quick toggle icons from the notification shade included).
UI customizations
The other category of features is Moto Display, which consists of three functionalities - enhanced screenshot functionalities, Peek Display, and Attentive Display. The former is similar to OnePlus' Ambient Display except that you can interact with the notifications. The display will light up with the app's icon and the clock with the iconic circular design. Tapping on the icons will open up the app, and you will be asked for credentials if you've set up a lock screen, of course. Replying or dismissing notifications don't require unlocking the screen.
Moto Display
Attentive Display will keep the display as long as you are looking at it. The front camera will look for your face and keep the lights on. It's a useful feature when reading long articles, for example. No need to touch the display every 30 seconds to keep it awake.
The fingerprint, on the other hand, is a mixed bag. We didn't have any major issues with misreads, but we expected faster readings and faster unlocks overall. It feels like it takes almost a second to light up the screen.
Also, having your fingerprint reader side-mounted can be troublesome. Carrying or handling the phone when locked can often be the reason for touching the fingerprint reader with your palm or the base of your fingers, and this will quickly cause the fingerprint unlocking to block temporarily due to multiple unsuccessful attempts. So more often than not, we were entering our PIN codes as if it was 2012 all over again.
Overall, the operation of the phone feels snappy and fluid. No major complaints or hiccups. Depending on where you are coming from, the stock Android experience can be either a pro or a con if you are used to more heavily-customized ROMs with tons of features.
Performance
Motorola may have used yet another old chipset on its new phone, but this time around, last year's Snapdragon 730G is no slouch. It's based on an 8nm manufacturing technology and employs an octa-core CPU consisting of 2x2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold cores and 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver cores. The Adreno 618 takes care of the graphically intensive tasks.
A nice surprise was the memory configuration. Well, to some extent. The only storage option is 128GB, and the amount of RAM is 4GB.
GeekBench 4.4 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
7963 - Motorola Moto G9 Plus
6642 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
6639 - Samsung Galaxy M31
5487
GeekBench 4.4 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
2863 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
2429 - Motorola Moto G9 Plus
2425 - Samsung Galaxy M31
1510
GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
1927 - Realme 7 Pro
1811 - Motorola Moto G9 Plus
1695 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
1694 - Samsung Galaxy M31
1315
GeekBench 5.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
616 - Realme 7 Pro
576 - Motorola Moto G9 Plus
525 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
521 - Samsung Galaxy M31
349
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
318117 - Realme 7 Pro
278414 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
253271 - Motorola Moto G9 Plus
253105 - Samsung Galaxy M31
195284
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
21 - Motorola Moto G9 Plus
18 - Realme 7 Pro
18 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
17 - Samsung Galaxy M31
10
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
17 - Motorola Moto G9 Plus
15 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
15 - Realme 7 Pro
14 - Samsung Galaxy M31
9.2
3DMark SSE Vulkan 1440p
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
3080 - Realme 7 Pro
2358 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
2248 - Motorola Moto G9 Plus
2241 - Samsung Galaxy M31
1559
As you can see, the Snapdragon 730G holds up well, losing the race only to a single phone in the price segment - the Mi 10 Lite 5G, which employs a more recent, 5G-capable Snapdragon 765G chipset.
Quad-camera setup with a depth sensor
Motorola has taken a new route this year by axing the dedicated ultra-wide Action Cam from the G8 Plus and replacing it with one that can take stills. The new camera is an 8MP f/2.2 camera with a 1/4.0" sensor and 1.12µm pixels. This sensor is a frequent sighting in this price range, though.
The main camera has had an upgrade, now using the 64MP sensor with 0.8µm pixels and measuring 1/1.73" in size. The sensor is coupled with an f/1.8 lens.
The other two shooters on the back are 2MP each - one is supposedly used for depth information while the other is dedicated for macro stills and has f/2.2 aperture with AF too.
On the front, we have a 16MP unit with f/2.0 aperture - a downgrade in resolution compared to the 25MP snapper on the previous iteration of the phone.
Camera menus
Motorola's default camera app is quite different from most of its rivals. Swiping left and right cycles through only three modes - the default photo mode, video recording, and the last used special mode. Tapping on the squares icon lets you access the full list of camera modes, including manual, portrait, and night.
Moto Camera app
The familiar settings icon in the upper-right corner of the viewfinder lets you adjust video resolution, aspect ratio settings, etc.
Daylight samples
Main camera
When it comes to daylight performance, the Moto G9 Plus offers slightly above-average image quality, with sharpness and detail standing out the most. There are some sharpening halos around the buildings' edges and some fine detail, but only if you look close enough.
From afar, the pictures look solid and ready for social media posting. What we mean by that is that the sharpening isn't over the top. In fact, it's just the right amount.
16MP main camera samples
Additionally, colors are punchy, and the dynamic range doesn't disappoint. Small details don't get lost in the shadows, and clipped highlights are hard to find.
Ultra-wide camera
To be honest, we weren't expecting much from the 8MP ultra-wide shooter, but we were expecting decent good light performance at the very least. However, the images coming out of the ultra-wide camera are soft, muddy, with no detail whatsoever. Colors look anemic, and the sharpening halos stand out more without doing much in return too.
Ultra-wide camera samples
On a more positive note, the HDR seems to be doing a pretty good job of balancing out the highlights and shadows. The lens correction is doing a fine job, too, and we didn't notice any color fringing or extreme edge softness. Issues that usually plague low-end ultra-wides.
Macro
We were pleasantly surprised by the autofocus capability of the macro camera. It makes it so much easier to lock onto a subject and estimate if it focuses just from the viewfinder. And if there's sufficient light, you will be able to capture some cool macro stills with vibrant colors but don't expect too much from the 2MP sensor - detail isn't its strongest suit.
Macro samples
Low-light samples
Main camera
The low-light shots aren't particularly impressive, but they seem to be mostly on par with what the competition has to offer. You can say that there's a bit too much noise in some spots, but the detail is still there and isn't crushed by the noise reduction algorithm. Colors are natural-looking, with a tendency to lean towards a warmer appearance.
16MP main camera samples
The dynamic range isn't amazing by any means, but we were surprised by the amount of detail in the shadows, whereas highlights can sometimes be clipped, mostly around strong street lights, for example. That doesn't happen too often, though. Speaking of lamps, light sources are generally well-contained, suggesting there's some HDR working behind the scenes.
Switching on the dedicated night mode called Night Vision will only give you positives. Photos with the night mode are considerably sharper, extract a lot more detail from the shadows, fixes the clipped highlights, and make light sources look better in general. Interestingly enough, unlike most night modes, this one doesn't make the whole photo look brighter. It just balances out the highlights and shadows.
Night Vision mode samples
Moreover, the algorithm eliminates most of the noise without crushing the details along the way. And since it doesn't take too much time for the Night Vision to stack all the images, you might be better off using it instead of the standard Photo mode. In almost all situations, the dedicated night mode will produce better low-light pictures.
Ultra-wide camera
Sadly, there's nothing much to say about the ultra-wide cam. The daylight performance wasn't satisfactory, so the low-light performance is expectedly worse. There's no night mode to at least fix some of the issues too. Photos come out muddy, detail-less, with narrow dynamic range and with washed-out colors. Not as noisy as we expected it to be, though.
Low-light ultra-wide camera samples
Once you are done with the real-life photos, take the time for some pixel-peeping using our photo compare tool.
Motorola Moto G9 Plus vs Xoami Mi 10 Lite 5G and the Realme 7 Pro in our Photo compare tool
Portraits
The Moto G9 Plus offers portraits with convincing bokeh-like effect, and scenes with sufficient light will come out sharp and detailed. Tends to capture the right skin tone unless you are shooting indoors in a poorly-lit environment. Then the software tends to go for a little lighter tone. Also, sharpness begins to suffer a lot, and noise starts to creep in.
Portrait samples
Selfies
The 16MP front-facing camera is doing a fine job considering its position in the segment. Selfies are generally sharp and relatively detailed. The HDR seems to be competent enough to keep the subject's face well-exposed even in more challenging conditions.
Selfies: Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait
Switching to portrait mode will disable the HDR burning the bright background as a result. Portrait selfies are generally softer, too, while edge detection is rough around the edges.
Videos
The handset can record 2160p videos at up to 30fps, which are stabilized as well. Unfortunately, though, we were expecting sharper 4K footage. Dynamic range isn't wide either - notice how the bright buildings and cars look clipped. Livelier colors would have been greatly appreciated, too, along with a bit more contrast.
At least the 4K stabilization is doing mostly a good job. It may get a bit shaky at times, although it's always better to keep it on.
Here's a non-stabilized 4K footage to see the difference for yourself.
To see how the Moto G9 Plus fares against some of its competitors, take a look at our video compare tool.
2160p: Motorola Moto G9 Plus vs Xoami Mi 10 Lite 5G and the Realme 7 Pro in our Photo compare tool
Competition
The Moto G9 Plus is priced around €260 on the European market. Outside of Europe, it's also sold in some Latin American countries. It doesn't appear to be available in either the US or Asia. We could see some gray imports in US online stores, so you might be able to buy it there after all. It appears to be a very good proposal there, but the European market is much more saturated with plenty of good competition.
In Europe, €260 buys you the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite. A phone packing the same Snapdragon 730G SoC, an identical camera setup, similar charging, and battery capacity, but it also has one big advantage - an OLED panel with HDR10 support. Also, configurations start at 6GB of RAM, and it has a metal/glass chassis. However, the Moto G9 Plus has a larger screen size and (mostly) clutter-free stock Android experience.
We can't go by without mentioning the similarly priced Mi 10 Lite 5G. For a few more euros than the Moto G9 Plus, Xiaomi's offering has a more recent chipset supporting 5G; an OLED screen, and mostly similar camera experience. And even though the battery is smaller and the charging speed is slower, this is an excellent choice if you are looking for future-proofing
Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G • Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite • Samsung Galaxy M31s
Samsung's Galaxy M31/M31s can give you an OLED display too, coupled with a massive 6,000 mAh battery with, unfortunately, not the fastest charging solution around. The camera setups are almost identical, but the Snapdragon 730G inside the Moto G9 Play holds the better value. It also has a noticeably larger screen.
Verdict
We appreciated the large screen and the very good main camera, and the Snapdragon 730G still holds up pretty well. The large battery with fast charging is quite competitive, too.Even though there is no sign of the G7 Plus' premium build and loud stereo speakers, the G9 Plus appears to be positioned quite well feature/price-wise and we're happy to give it our recommendation.
Pros
- 6.8-inch screen - one of the biggest in town
- Outstanding battery life with moderately fast charging
- 128GB base storage
- Mostly dependable main camera performance
- A clean Android experience
Cons
- Disappointing ultra-wide camera performance
- Underwhelming video recording quality
- Just 4GB of RAM
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