Moto G7, G7 Power, and G7 Play hands-on

Motorola’s 2019 Moto G series has officially been announced and competition in this mid-range market has only ramped up since the 2018 G line. The Moto G7 Play, G7 Power, and G7 sell for $199, $249, and $299, respectively, offering reliable mid-range devices that have matured with updated designs, bigger batteries, dual-cameras, and more.

The G7 Plus, packing the highest-spec’d camera of the four newly-announced phones, won’t be sold in the U.S. but consumers will still have plenty of variety even without it.

Design

Notches and teardrops adorn 19:9 displays

The latest G series takes Moto’s signature, rounded look and spruces things up with some modern design elements. These 19:9 displays feature rounder corners and the ever-popular notch cutout. While the G7 Power and G7 Play sport the more prevalent U-shaped notches, Moto’s opted for a teardrop shaped notch on the G7 – one of the first things you’ll notice that separates the G7 from the other two. They don't look terribly different from previous years, which we rather like for Moto's unique look, but they do look more modern.



Flipping them around, you’ll find plastic on the Power and Play while the regular G7 is constructed of Gorilla Glass all the way around. This comes in either Ceramic Black or a more ceramic-looking Clear White, which easily sets itself apart from the two lower-end G devices with its refined look. The G7 Power still has a nice, shiny, fingerprint-prone back with a shimmery Marine Blue color, though, making it look more like the regular G7 than the G7 Play does with its black or blue, textured-plastic back.

Power and Finesse (and Play)

Similar internals with a few key tweaks

On the inside, we’re looking at Snapdragon 632’s across the board but RAM comes in either 2, 3, or 4 GB’s for the Play, Power, and regular G7, respectively. Thankfully, the Power and Play don’t dip below 32 GB’s for storage while the regular comes with 64 gigs. Of course, all of which are expandable via MicroSD card up to an additional 512 GB’s.

Although the regular G7 has more memory and storage, the G7 Power sets itself apart with a massive 5,000 mAh battery compared to the 3,000 mAh juice packs found in its siblings. Still, the G7 Power and regular G7 both leverage Motorola’s TurboPower technology to charge at 15 watts, which the company says can get these handsets nine hours of use from only 15 minutes of charging. The G7 Play lacks such turbo-charged capabilities but is rated for 40 hours of use. Multi-day battery life is something we quite like to see in lower-end phones especially since the low-power internals can support it. We’re also very pleased to find USB-C charging across all three of these Motos.