Motorola Moto G9 Plus Review

 

Moto G9 Plus design

The Moto G9 Plus is one pretty sturdy and big phone. With a 6.8-inch display and a body large one to accommodate a 5,000mAh battery, you will definitely know if it’s in your pocket or not. Despite the slightly intimidating size, the heft of the Moto G9 Plus feels reassuring and wasn’t that much of an issue, at least for me. However, I’m perfectly aware that 8 out of 10 people might find the phone just too big and too heavy for everyday usage.

The plastic phone is glossy and thus catches fingerprint smudges like crazy, but thankfully, Motorola has included a case in the box that kind of alleviates the issue. The grip with the device is sufficient even if you don’t use the provided case.

We’ve got a headphone jack positioned at the top of the phone as well as a fingerprint scanner embedded into a concave power button to the side of the device. The fingerprint is fast, and reliable, but if you’re not a fan of it, you can always go for the less secure but similarly quick face unlock.

Moto G9 display

The completely flat 6.8-inch display isn’t anything to write home about. For the most part, it’s pretty similar to all of the LCD displays that Motorola puts on its affordable and mid-range devices. With a resolution of 1080 by 2400 pixels, it’s okay in terms of sharpness and overall color reproduction.

The color reproduction of the display is generally true-to-life, not as punchy as an OLED but that’s to be expected. Viewing angles are okay, and the motion blur often associated with LCD displays isn’t prevalent at all. The display is quite legible under bright sunlight thanks to the maximum brightness of nearly 600 nits and I never had any trouble viewing content on it, even under the noon sun. The display is also quite color-accurate and warm in the "Natural" screen color mode that I recommend you choose no matter what. 

Moto G9 Plus performance

Performance is generally okay on the Moto G9 Plus thanks to the Snapdragon 730G on board, which is a very good mid-range processor. Sure, it’s not as snappy as a flagship chipset, but apart from the lack of 5G support or the slightly longer loading times, this chipset provides pretty adequate performance on the Moto G9 Plus. 3D gaming is mostly okay; don’t expect exceptionally high FPS in demanding mobile games, but the Moto G9 Plus does the job well for the most part. The phone generally stays cool during gaming, though longer sessions will normally increase temperatures.

There’s just 4GB of RAM on board the device, and it’s not enough, especially if you juggle between many apps on the regular. You have 128GB of storage but thanks to the hybrid SIM slot, you can throw in a microSD card for some extra storage as well.

Moto G9 Plus software and features

When you’ve used one Motorola, you’ve used them all. That generally sums up the software and features aspect of the Moto G9 Plus. The nearly stock Android 10 on board is just lightly sprinkled with a slew of custom Moto functionalities and features that enhance the overall user experience without standing in the way.

One of the cool new features that I really like is called Power Touch. By double-tapping the power button, the user is quickly presented with a pop-up box containing up to six app shortcuts that are available right next to your fingertip. It’s an easy way to access some of your favorite apps and saves you a thumb stretch here and there.