It’s been a less than a year since Motorola released its g6 line-up late last April, but today we see the company announcing new refreshes and a brand new generation of phones, introducing the new Moto g7s. The new line-up continues what seems to have become a quite established formula for Motorola, with the new phones each respectively having updated hardware and features to keep pace with the ever evolving mid-range smartphone segment.

A big change over last year’s setup is that the new Moto g7 plus and the regular Moto g7 now both come in the same form-factor, a marked difference to last year’s models where the g6 plus was a notably larger phone. The new Moto g7 power adds a new variant alongside the g7 play in terms of lower priced positioning – offering a similarly lower specced model, but which focuses on battery longevity.

Going over the specification of the new phones:

Motorola Moto g7 variants
  Moto g7 Moto g7 plus Moto g7 power Moto g7 play
SoC Snapdragon 632

  4x Kryo 250 (CA73)
@ 1.8GHz  

4x Kryo 250 (CA53) @ 1.8GHz
Snapdragon 636

  4x Kryo 250 (CA73)
@ 1.8GHz

4x Kryo 250 (CA53)
@ 1.8GHz
Snapdragon 632

4x Kryo 250 (CA73)
@ 1.8GHz  

4x Kryo 250 (CA53)
@ 1.8GHz
Display 6.2" 2270x1080 (19:9)
LTPS LCD
6.2" 1570x720 (19:9)
LTPS LCD
5.7" 1512x720 (19:9)
LTPS LCD
Dimensions 157.0 x 75.3 x 8.0 mm
172 grams
157 x 75.3 x 8.3 mm
176 grams
160.8 x 76 x 9.4 mm
198 grams
148.7 x 71.5 x 8.1 mm
168 grams
RAM 4GB 3GB 2GB
NAND 64GB 
+ microSD
32GB 
+ microSD
32GB 
+ microSD
Battery 3000 mAh (11.55Wh) 5000 mAh (19Wh) 3000 mAh (11.55Wh)
Front
Camera
8MP 1.12µm 12MP 1.25µm 8MP 1.12µm
F/2.2
8MP 1.12µm
F/2.2
LED selfie flash
Primary
Rear Camera
12MP, 1.25µm
DP-PDAF

F/1.8 lens
16MP, 1.22µm

F/1.7 lens
OIS
12MP, 1.25µm PDAF

F/2.0
13MP, 1.12µm PDAF

F/2.0
Secondary
Rear Camera
5MP Depth sensor

-

SIM Size

NanoSIM
(Dual-SIM in some markets)

NanoSIM

Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n,
BT 5.0 LE, NFC, GPS/GLSS/Galileo/
BDS
802.11a/b/g/n/ac,
BT 5.0 LE, NFC, GPS/GLSS/Galileo
802.11a/b/g/n,
BT 4.2, GPS/GLSS
Connectivity USB Type-C
3.5mm headset
Features Fingerprint reader,
face unlock
Fingerprint reader,
face unlock,
stereo speakers
Fingerprint reader,
face unlock
Fingerprint reader,
face unlock
Launch OS Android 9.0
Launch Price USD $299 EUR 299€ USD $249 USD $199

All four phone models come with major upgrades in the SoC: The new g7 and g7 power come with a Snapdragon 632, while the g7 plus comes with a Snapdragon 636. The SoCs share the same high-level CPU configuration: four Cortex A73 derived cored running at 1.8GHz, along with four Cortex A53 derived cores at also 1.8GHz. What is important to note here, is that compared to last year’s g6 offerings, all the g7 models now offer big CPU cores. In practical terms, this means that we should expect 2-2.5x performance increases in many workloads, a one-time generational jump we won’t see any time soon again in this price category.
 

g7 play

Motorola has streamlined the offerings in terms of DRAM and storage capacities, and as such we see both the g7 and g7 plus offered with 4GB and 64GB base options. The g7 power comes at a lower specced 3GB/32GB option, while the g7 play only offers 2GB.

As previously mentioned, a big change in the new line-up is the fact that the new g7 and g7 plus are now actually identical form-factor devices, both coming with 6.2” 2270x1080 LCD screens. It’s to be noted that the screen is of an 19:9 aspect ratio, so don’t let the wide diameter scare you as the phone’s body still is at a reasonable 75.3mm wide. Both these variants come with a 3000mAh battery.

The g7 power also comes in a similar form-factor, but it is quite bulkier in all metrics, especially in terms of thickness as the phone figures in at 9.4mm. The bigger thickness serves to house the new 5000mAh battery of the phone, undoubtedly the feature that made Motorola market the phone as the “power” variant of the new g7 series. This variant also comes with a 6.2” 19:9 screen, however it features a lower resolution coming in at 1570x720.

The g7 play has the same low-resolution screen, but in a 5.7” diameter which makes this the smallest of the series with a lesser width of 71.5mm. The play’s smaller size also applies to its thickness which is of a more normal 8.1mm and housing a 3000mAh battery.

g7 plus

Camera wise, it looks like both the g7 and g7 power feature 12MP sensors with 1.25µm pixels – on the former we find a dual-pixel PDAF sensor while the latter only has a more traditional PDAF sensor. Other differences are an f/1.8 aperture lens on the g7 while the g7 power’s lens comes in at f/2.0.

The g7 plus is actually the model with the highest grade camera system: a 16MP sensor with 1.22µm pixels and an f/1.7 aperture lens. This is also the only model whose camera module offers OIS. Like on the g7, we find a 5MP depth sensor alongside the main unit.


g7 play

The g7, g7 power and g7 play come with an 8MP front camera – while the g7 plus upgrades this to a 12MP unit with bigger pixels. The g7 play offers a front-facing LED flash for selfies. This latter feature is house in a display notch – the g7 plus and g7 play come with a notch design more similar to that of an iPhone X, while the g7 power has one more reminiscent of an OnePlus 6. The regular g7 comes with a teardrop notch, actually offering the highest screen-to-body ratio of the series.


g7 power

The g7 becomes available today in Brazil and Mexico, and will follow up in a few day in Europe. It will also be rolled out in other global markets including North America over the coming months at a price of $299 USD. The g7 plus comes at 299€ EUR and won’t be available in NA, the g7 power and g7 play come at respectively $249 USD and $199 USD with the same global roll-out as the g7.

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  • SquarePeg - Friday, February 8, 2019 - link

    Because of the elongated 19:9 aspect ratio these 6.2 inch phones are only the size of 5.5 inch 16:9 phones. The G7 and G7 Plus models are actually smaller than a 5.5" iPhone 8 plus.
  • BPB - Thursday, February 7, 2019 - link

    Looking forward to reviews of the g7. It's now on my shortlist for replacement phones for a couple of family members.
  • Xex360 - Thursday, February 7, 2019 - link

    I had (still have) the Moto X Style, it was magnificent because it had very decent hardware for the time (the same SOC as an LG G4), better front camera for video chat, good enough rear camera and unlike these new devices it had a high resolution screen, why on hell Motorola is using such a low resolution screen in 2019?
  • MrSpadge - Thursday, February 7, 2019 - link

    Because it's good enough for many?
  • Calin - Friday, February 8, 2019 - link

    I have just bought a 32", 1440p monitor and the resolution seems fantastic.
    A 6" 720p display has three times the dpi.
    There are things where display improvement would be much better received - high contrast, inky black, high brightness, longer battery life, better framerate in some games.
  • Valantar - Saturday, February 9, 2019 - link

    3x the DPI, sure, but the desktop monitor is also viewed at (at least) 3x the distance, making it actually look sharper. Smartphone viewing distances are less than 1', monitor viewing distances are ~3', though often more at larger sizes. DPI alone is meaningless, DPI/viewing distance is the useful metric.
  • Metroid - Thursday, February 7, 2019 - link

    Motorola wants to charge $299 for a snapdragon 632 14nm? Why they dont put at least a snapdragon 710 10nm? I mean, xiaomi is selling phones with snapdragon 845 for $299 and motorola wants to charge you the same $299 for 4 times less the performance, what the hell is that?
  • haukionkannel - Friday, February 8, 2019 - link

    That would cost 500-600... Different soc, different price...
  • Tams80 - Friday, February 8, 2019 - link

    It doesn't really need a 710.
  • Jad77 - Thursday, February 7, 2019 - link

    The one to get is the one they aren't selling in the US, AGAIN! That said, the one with the big-ass battery looks Okay, if it were $50 cheaper.

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