Moto G7: 10 Things To Know Before Buying

There's a set of devices coming from Motorola this year, all in the Moto G family. The Moto G 7th-generation devices revealed this week follow the initial Moto G line, the original best-selling budget-friendly device that shocked us all back in December of 2013. Motorola continues that tradition here in 2019 with the Moto G7, Moto G7 Play, Moto G7 Power, and Moto G7 Plus.

Just as it was with the Moto G back in 2013 and each successive generation thereafter, the Moto G lineup is relatively affordable. That includes each of the several different iterations revealed today, all under the Moto G7 umbrella.

• Moto G7 Play: $200 USD

• Moto G7 Power: $250 USD

• Moto G7: $300 USD

• Moto G7 Plus: N/A in USA

The first three devices there are coming "in the coming month" to the United States – and North America in general. They've all launched today in Brazil and Mexico.

What's that, you say, there's no availability of the Moto G7 Plus inside the United States? That's right, the most expensive version of the device – the version with specs ever-so-slightly better than the rest – won't be coming to the USA.

The Moto G7 Plus has the same display as the G7, the same display resolution, and the same software. This phone is ever-so-slightly thicker than the G7 (by .02 inches) and it weighs a little more (by .13oz, or 4g). It has the same special features, same USB-C, fingerprint sensor, battery size, expandable storage, RAM, and internal storage as the G7.

So what's the deal, why does it cost about $45-$50 more than the G7? Because it has a better set of cameras on its back and a slightly more powerful processor. This device has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 instead of 632, and a 16MP primary camera on its back instead of a 12MP primary camera. Both devices still have the same secondary (depth sensing) camera at 5MP.

Differences between tiers here are only really going to matter at the split between cameras on the Moto G7 vs the others, and between the battery on the G7 Power vs the others. Otherwise we've got some very, very similar devices if you're considering how they'll function out in the real world, in practice.

The Moto G7 camera array at the back of the phone includes a 12-megapixel camera and a 5-megapixel camera. The smaller camera is used primarily for depth-sensing – for quick focus. There's also a 2x LED flash on the back. This system uses 1.25um pixel size capture – which is good for capturing more light than in previous models, which means we'll probably have better low-light performance here than in any Moto G out before.

The Moto G7 front-facing camera is 8MP, which is OK, and it's got a "new screen flash." That just means that when you take a photo, the display will flash all white for a moment. This should provide you with as much light as the display is capable of providing – effectively giving you a flash similar to that of the LEDs on the back.

The Moto G7's resistance to the elements is as follows: "Advanced water-repellent design creates a barrier to help protect against moderate exposure to water such as accidental spills, splashes, sweat or light rain. Not designed to be submersed in water, or exposed to pressurized water, or other liquids; Not waterproof." So it's not actually meant to be dunked, really.

All the Moto G7 phones have Pi2 water repellant coating. That's been true of the majority of Motorola phones for several generations, across the board. Nothing new here.

We're going to need to see how long these batteries last in real life before we pass judgement, but we've got their sizes already right this minute. The Moto G7 and G7 Play have 3000mAh batteries, while the G7 Power has a 5000mAh battery.

Both the standard Moto G7 and the Moto G7 Power have 15W TurboCharge brand fast charging. That means you'll be able to charge very fast. Motorola says you'll get 9 hours of phone time out of 15 minutes of charging. The Moto G7 Play has a slower charger at 10W and no guarantee of any sort of super-fast charging speeds.

There's an NFC sensor in the Moto G7 Plus, but none of the rest of the devices work with NFC. That's the long and short of that situation.

Goodness me! All of these Moto G7 units have that sweet, sweet headphone jack in full effect. That's a 3.5mm headphone jack – the standard kind. The kind everyone in the world uses. The kind this $1000 phone over here decided to nix. That jack is here in this $300 phone.

Generally when you've got a brand-name for a device, it's expected that the basic model is the model with the simplest name. In this case, that is not true. The Moto G7 is the second-most feature-packed model, just behind the Moto G7 Plus. At the same time, if you're looking for the biggest battery, you'll need to look to the Moto G7 Power, which is a phone with a pair of cameras that are not as impressive as those on the Moto G7 or G7 Plus.

The Moto G7 Play is probably the least desirable of the bunch – which makes sense then with its pricing. Then assuming you're not simply looking for the biggest battery, the Moto G7 Power is next. Then the G7, then the G7 Plus is the most of all things (save the battery).

Stick around for more information on these devices, including our inevitable review of the bunch. We'll check out those cameras and those batteries and all the ins and outs of the systems too, top to bottom.