Moto G Play 2021 - Blue - Made for US
$129.99
$169.99
24% off
Reference Price
Condition: New
Color: Blue
Carrier: Unlocked
Capacity: 32 GB
Screen Size: 6.5"
Top positive review
264 people found this helpful
Actually a great phone
By Brandon A. Stecklein on Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2020
I am a mobile apps developer. I purchased this phone with no intention whatsoever to use it as my daily phone, put to debug Android applications. For that purpose, it works great. But as I got used to the phone, I found myself liking it more and more, to the point where I ultimately removed my SIM card from my iPhone 7 (AT&T) and am now using the Moto G Fast as my primary device. Compared to my aging iPhone 7, the battery life is great. I had almost forgotten that a smartphone could actually last the entire day without a recharge. The screen is also phenomenal at the price point. Granted, it does not get quite as bright as my iPhone 7 does (that phone actually hurts my eyes if I turn the brightness all the way up), but beyond that it's a great screen and the phone bezels basically do not exist. Performance is great. I have noticed no slowdowns whatsoever, and I would rate it as being at least on-par with the iPhone 7. Now, the iPhone 7 is an older phone so that might not be saying a lot, but to me that phone is snappy as well. I am not doing any gaming or heavy tasks with these devices, so neither phone has slowdowns in my everyday usage. I said I do not do much phone gaming, but I did test it out on a couple of games. I installed Minecraft, which runs great on the phone. The only issue I had is that i find the larger screen size uncomfortable to hold while playing a game in landscape mode such as Minecraft. Maybe uncomfortable is not the correct word, but there are instances where I have to let go of the phone with my right hand to tap on something towards the left side of the screen. Maybe it's just the way I hold it though, again I am not really a gamer. I also tested streaming my son's Xbox One to the phone using the Xbox app and a bluetooth controller, and it worked without issue. Camera quality is hit or miss, possibly the only major con of the phone. If camera is your #1 concern then look elsewhere, of course if that is the case you probably are not shopping in this price range anyway. In well-lit conditions, the camera quality is about on par with my iPhone 7. In poor lighting though, pictures are not that great. It can theoretically record 4k video, but I honestly did not think that the 4k videos looked any better than the 1080p videos, so I kept the setting on 1080p. Built in storage is a weak 32mb, but unlike many "high end" models out there, you can add a Micro SD card, making the low storage basically a non-issue. I put in an old 64gb card I had lying around, and you can have the phone format your card to use it as additional internal storage. The phone charges via USB Type C, and charging seems fast enough, although I've really only had to charge it a few times in the week and a half I've had it, and I've done at it night time so the charge time was largely unnoticed and irrelevant. The phone also includes the illusive headphone jack, which is always welcome these days. There is almost no bloatware included with this device, just a couple of Motorola apps. It is mostly stock Android with minor Motorola customizations. I installed an AT&T SIM card and I am getting good reception and good data speeds. WiFi connectivity is also good. I have not tested out hotspot tethering yet. All in all, I am blown away by how much phone you can get now days at this price point. I was planning on upgrading to an iPhone 12, but I think I am going to stick with this cheap Motorola for the time being. For the price of a new iPhone, I could just get a brand new Motorola every single year for the next six years, at which point the iPhone would be long past due for a replacement anyway. If you are looking for a good budget phone, or even just a good phone period, I would save your money and not hesitate to get this thing. I don't see any reason whatsoever to shell out upwards to a thousand dollars (and even more now days) on a "flagship" phone, when a sub-200 phone works perfectly fine.
Top critical review
It was awesome for about a year...then died after year two. :(
By Kerri on Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2024
I was so looking forward to my first moto. And super happy that it was a stylus. I was a Blackberry user since 2002. Even though my Z10 was still working, RIM stopped supporting the Blackberry in 2021, so it was time for a new phone. I took a long time to figure out what I was going to get. I had lots of time because my Blackberry was still working. Since smartphones are no longer new technology and they are still being made in countries that allow them to exploit their workers, I was not going to drop $1k on a new phone. In fact, I will never drop $1k on a new phone as my goal in life is not to make the rich richer. All socio-economic discourse aside, onto the phone review... Late January 2022, I got the Moto G Stylus, applied a screen protector and a case. It was such a nice feeling to start the year with a new phone. It was even fun to turn on the gestures and play with all the features. The phone is packed with some really nice features. Quick camera and flashlight are two that I used a lot. My Blackberry Z10 had NFC which I loved. The Moto G Stylus does not. I cannot open hotel room doors with my phone. At first, I didn't think it wasn't a detriment to the phone. But now that I am traveling more, it is a hindrance when I am arriving late in a city and just want to go straight to bed. The stylus is not as big of a draw as I thought it would be. I can count on one hand the number of times I have used it. My kid, who got the same phone as me one month later, uses it to play tic tac toe. After less than a year, my kid traded in their phone for a second-hand iPhone. I guess the stylus wasn't as much of a draw afterall. Every other thing about the moto seems the same as any other android. I do like androids. The app opportunities are endless! They let me identify birds by their sounds, plants by their leaves and all the constellations in the sky. Actually, Blackberry had a contellations app too. :) Now, onto the not so great. The last few months, I have been unable to answer any calls on my phone. The button did not work. Luckily, the caller could leave a message and I would have to call them back. However, when I am in my car, and bluetooth my phone, I can pick up calls on my car screen. The call app is problematic on the phone, but works great bluetoothed to my car. I use Android Auto. For the last few days, the charging port has been an issue. The phone would charge up to 10% then stop charging. Today, it died. Over the last few days, as it was dying, I started backing up my phone when I could. What a shame. But guess what? I popped my sim card back into my Z10 and it worked! Now I feel like I have time traveled to late 2021, searching for another phone to replace my faithful but unsupported Z10. It is a huge disappointment to me that the Moto G Stylus couldn't even last three years. Is this the world we live in now? Was this some sort of a planned obsolescence? Even more of a reason to lower the amount I will pay for a new phone.
Sort by:
Filter by:
Sorry, no reviews match your current selections.
Try clearing or changing some filters.Show all reviews
Show more reviews