Introduction
A flagship of sorts, within its own family at least, the Moto G6 Plus is the best equipped among the G6 brethren with a specsheet that covers all the bases and a price tag that won't break the bank. Another in a line of successful Moto Gs then? We'll get to that.
The Moto G6 Plus has a 5.7" 18:9 IPS display, 0.2 more than the non-Plus. It's naturally in an 18:9 aspect, so you can't blame Motorola (yes, well, technically Lenovo, but still) for not keeping up with the trends. There's no notch though, yay for that.
Another area where the Plus comes with improvements is the chipset - a Snapdragon 630 replaces the 400-series silicon in the other gee-sixes. A fraction more light makes it to the G6 Plus' main camera than it does on the G6's (an f/1.7 vs. f/1.8 aperture) but it's still a 12MP dual pixel affair with an additional 5MP cam for depth sensing. The 8MP front facing shooter is shared in the family, complete with a flash too.
Powering things is a 3,200mAh battery - 200mAh more than the vanilla model, but not quite as much as the Play's 4,000mAh. Then again, the Play's chips are made on a dated 28nm process, and the more efficient S630 can make do just fine with less juice. Plus, the near-stock Android Oreo should be easy on the battery anyway. And when it does eventually die, the bundled TurboPower charger is good for quick top ups.
Motorola Moto G6 Plus specs
- Body: Gorilla Glass 3 front and back; 160x75.5x8mm; 167 grams; p2i water repellent nano coating.
- Display: 5.9" IPS LCD, 2,160x1,080px resolution, 407ppi.
- Rear cameras: Main camera: 12MP, 1.4µm pixels, f/1.7 aperture, dual pixel autofocus; dual tone, dual LED flash; 2160p video recording. Secondary camera: 5MP, f/2.2 aperture.
- Front camera: 8MP, f/2.2 aperture; fixed focus; single LED flash; 1080p/30fps video recording.
- OS/Software: Android 8.0 Oreo; Moto experience customizations.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 630: octa-core 2.2GHz Cortex-A53 CPU, Adreno 508 GPU.
- Memory: 4GB/6GB of RAM; 64GB/128GB of storage; dedicated microSD slot.
- Battery: 3,200mAh Li-Ion (sealed); 15W TurboPower fast charging (Qualcomm QuickCharge 4 compatible).
- Connectivity: Single SIM and dual SIM versions, market dependent; USB Type-C (v2.0); dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS, GLONASS; NFC; Bluetooth 5.
- Misc:Front-mounted fingerprint sensor, FM radio, 3.5mm jack, front-firing single speaker.
There's just a single speaker, but as single speakers go, this one probably makes the most sense - it's the earpiece that handles the task and is, by definition, front-facing. There's an FM radio too, and a 3.5mm jack - midrangers are still a safe space where this sort of goodies are more or less standard.
Motorola Moto G6 Plus unboxing
We didn't quite get a retail package with the Moto G6 Plus, strictly speaking. We did, however receive one with the Moto G6 and we got confirmation that the Plus will come with the same accessories. Those include the mentioned 15W TurboPower charger (USB cable too, naturally), and a clear silicone protective case. No headphones, though.
No accessories in these Moto envelopes
With no accessories to fumble with, we might as well get on with the review. Let's have a look at the design on the next page.
Design and 360-degree spin
You can't mistake the Moto G6 Plus for a phone by any other maker - the confused o_O face in the circular camera bump on the back can pretty much count as a signature. The circle has been around since the Moto Z in mid-2016, but it's the Moto X4 that lends the G6 Plus its flasher watch-like bezel with a radial pattern combined with concentric circles on the inside.
If the camera assembly is not enough, the stylized M on the back settles it pretty quickly - it's a Moto, alright. Like on the Moto G6, the Plus' M logo is just a drawing underneath the glass panel, Gorilla Glass 3 panel. The G6 Play is the outlier here, its logo printed on the recessed fingerprint sensor.
Family shot: Plus and Play
The Moto G6 Plus has a fingerprint reader of its own (of course it does), but it's on the front. It's a thin strip of a sensor that stretches wide along the bottom bezel enabling gesture navigation, but more on that in the software section.
Above the sensor there's a Motorola logo in classic Motorola font - a perfect premise for a fight between logo haters and brand loyalists. There's a mic to the left of the fingerprint reader, the primary one.
The almost-6-inch display has rounded corners and is covered with a Gorilla Glass 3 layer, perhaps our favorite variety of Corning's products. Above the display there's the earpiece/loudspeaker in the middle - again, potentially the best place for just one speaker, yet not quite as good as two speakers, obviously.
A host of other typical top-bezel is around as well - there's the selfie camera on the left, and the ambient light and proximity sensors on the right. Oh, but there's also a not-so-typical feature - a front-facing flash. That is, not-so-typical for most makers - all three Moto G6s have it, as well as 21 more Motos in our database at the time of writing. That's all the LEDs on the front though - no notification/status light.
GG3-covered 18:9 display • Fingerprint reader and mic • Front-facing flash along with the usual stuff
The frame of the phone is made of plastic - the resemblance to the aluminum one of the Galaxy S8+ is there, but it's skin deep.
The power button and the volume rocker are on the right - pretty high up, but high is better than low. The power button is textured and your right thumb will infallibly tell it apart from the volume rocker, so that's good too. There's absolutely nothing on the left side.
Up top is the card slot and it takes a lot of cards - our dual SIM model's tray has cutouts for two nano SIMs and a microSD card. We like memory card slots and we're particularly fond of dedicated ones on dual SIM models, if you've somehow missed that bit. There's another mic here as well.
Down on the bottom, there's no loudspeaker - for those that aren't following along. There is, however, a 3.5mm jack in the corner and a USB-C port dead center.
Controls on the side, card slot up top • One large card tray • USB-C port and 3.5mm jack on the bottom
The Moto G6 Plus measures 160 x 75.5 x 8 mm which is slightly taller than ideal (we blame them bezels), but not really huge. At just 167g it's also objectively light, plus it feels even lighter - maybe it's the plastic, maybe it's the sloping sides, likely it's both.
A lotta nits, white whites and no notch
Motorola could have stretched the Moto G6 Plus' display diagonal a tiny bit to 6 full inches, but no - 5.9 it is. It's all display, though - there are no notches on the IPS panel, just gently rounded corners. Resolution is FullHD, with a plus, of course - 2160x1080px in an 18:9 aspect ratio, making for a 407ppi pixel density.
In our tests, the Moto G6 Plus proved to be an excellent performer pushing close to 800nits in Auto brightness mode. Flick the auto toggle to its off position and you'd be getting a little over 600nits - not half-bad either. Blacks get a little more illumination than ideal, but even so contrast is a respectable 1400-ish to 1.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.418 | 610 | 1459 | |
| 0.564 | 776 | 1376 | |
| 0.339 | 476 | 1404 | |
| 0.419 | 554 | 1321 | |
| 0.352 | 483 | 1372 | |
| 0.455 | 616 | 1354 | |
| 0.257 | 476 | 1852 | |
| 0.236 | 458 | 1941 | |
| 0.548 | 555 | 1013 | |
| 0.404 | 631 | 1562 | |
| 0.367 | 469 | 1278 | |
| 0.228 | 446 | 1956 | |
Out in the sun, the Moto G6 Plus fares very well too, posting contrast numbers typical of the AMOLEDs of yesteryear - a fine achievement for an LCD. In fact, sunlight legibility on the Moto G6 Plus is better than on the iPhone 8 Plus, if only marginally so.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Apple iPhone X
5.013 - OnePlus 5T
4.789 - Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S9
4.63 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung Galaxy S9+
4.537 - Motorola Moto Z2 Play
4.459 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Oppo R15 Pro
4.251 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update)
4.234 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
4.148 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal)
4.096 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei P20 Pro
4.087 - Nokia 6 (2018)
4.052 - Google Pixel 2 (pre-update)
4.023 - LG V30
4.022 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.998 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone)
3.957 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Motorola Moto G6 Plus
3.865 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
3.842 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Sony Xperia XZ1
3.765 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
3.729 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)
3.725 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Huawei P20
3.683 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact
3.675 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - Sony Xperia XZ2
3.58 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - Nokia 7 plus
3.479 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
3.445 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.378 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo F7
3.333 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Archos Diamond Omega
3.305 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
3.19 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Oppo R11s
3.153 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - HTC U11 Life
3.108 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
3.019 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Motorola Moto X4
3.012 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - LG Q6
2.987 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
2.951 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Sony Xperia XA2
2.938 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
2.913 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - HTC One S
2.901 - Huawei Honor View 10
2.896 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Nokia 2
2.752 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Huawei Mate 10 (normal)
2.742 - Motorola Moto G5S Plus
2.737 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Huawei Honor 7X
2.734 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Mi A1
2.689 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - vivo V7+
2.671 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
2.654 - Oppo F5
2.653 - Doogee Mix
2.642 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Xiaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard)
2.616 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Huawei P Smart
2.563 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - HTC U11+
2.556 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
2.556 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - BlackBerry Motion
2.494 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - Xiaomi Mi 4
2.424 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto)
2.417 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Vivo V7
2.404 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - Razer Phone
2.328 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Sony Xperia L2
2.266 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - HTC U11+ (EU)
2.253 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - LG Aka
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi 3
2.001 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Sony Xperia Z2
1.944 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Sony Xperia L
1.351 - Xiaomi Redmi 2
1.311 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Nokia X
1.291 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
Despite all its vanilla Android vibe, the Moto G6 Plus offers a little more complex color rendition options than Google does. You get a color temperature slider with Warm/Neutral/Cold settings and a second toggle to switch between Standard and Vivid colors.
Out of the box, you're at Neutral-Vivid and that yields slightly bluish whites and an average DeltaE of 6.3 measured against an sRGB target. For the most accurate colors, Warm-Standard is your settings combo, giving you a very good average DeltaE of 2.5 and pleasantly white whites. That will cost you some brightness though, to the tune of 50nits in manual mode. We're not entirely sure why anyone would opt for the Cold setting where whites are practically blue (DeltaE around 16).
Motorola Moto G6 Plus battery life
The Moto G6 Plus is packing a 3,200mAh battery - 200mAh more than the G6 proper for a 0.2-inch increase in display diagonal - seems reasonable. The marginally larger Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 (a.k.a. Redmi 5 Plus) has quite a bit more juice at 4,000mAh, while the slightly smaller (in display area) Nokia 6 (2018) has a slightly smaller 3,000mAh cell inside.
In our testing, the Moto G6 Plus put out respectable numbers in the active use tests, but a less than impressive standby draw brought down the overall rating somewhat. In any case, with 11 hours of looping videos or close to 12 hours of web browsing, you'd be getting plenty of uptime from a single charge of the G6 Plus. The almost 21 hours of 3G voice calls aren't too shabby either.
The Redmi 5 Plus will give you two extra hours on the web, and three more in video, but the Nokia 6 (2018) will die an hour earlier than the Moto G6 Plus in either discipline.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Motorola Moto G6 Plus for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
We're big fans of fast charging (well, most of us anyway), and we especially appreciate bundled fast chargers. The TurboPower unit of the Moto G6 Plus outputs up to 15W and a 30-minute charge flat gets the battery to 38%, while a full charge takes a few minutes short of two hours (okay, 1:52h). So charging speed isn't exactly lighting fast, but it's still something.
Loudspeaker
Reading that the Moto G6 Plus' earpiece is also its loudspeaker, you're probably thinking that it's among the quieter ones - after all, in dual speaker setups with the earpiece acting as the second channel it's typically not as loud as the 'main' speaker.
Well, the Moto G6 Plus is loud, very loud. The readings of our sound level meter put the G6 Plus in the Excellent bracket, much like the G5S Plus before it. There's no distortion at maximum volume either, but there's also not much punch in the bass region.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 62.6 | 68.0 | 71.0 | Average | |
| 63.5 | 70.8 | 71.5 | Average | |
| 65.0 | 67.8 | 75.0 | Average | |
| 67.0 | 69.3 | 76.1 | Good | |
| 68.6 | 69.9 | 77.8 | Good | |
Audio quality
Motorola Moto G6 Plus put up a great performance in the first part of our test. When hooked to an active external amplifier its loudness was downright impressive and scores were perfect top to bottom.
The truly impressive bit was the performance with headphones, though. The Moto G6 Plus lost next to none of its brilliance in this case and delivered a performance that would put most current flagships to shame, let alone its mid-range competitors. Loud and clear, this was certainly one of the best musicians of 2018.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.00, -0.03 | -93.6 | 93.5 | 0.0050 | 0.011 | -94.6 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -93.5 | 93.4 | 0.0067 | 0.033 | -81.0 | |
| +0.01, -0.10 | -92.5 | 92.7 | 0.0019 | 0.0077 | -91.2 | |
| +0.50, -0.20 | -91.4 | 91.8 | 0.0079 | 0.402 | -51.5 | |
| +0.10, -0.20 | -37.5 | 80.4 | 0.0018 | 4.735 | -93.3 | |
| +0.05, -0.03 | -94.3 | 90.2 | 0.0027 | 0.019 | -58.6 | |
| +0.02, -0.31 | -38.8 | 81.7 | 0.0013 | 4.690 | -95.9 | |
| +0.25, -0.23 | -93.3 | 90.4 | 0.0045 | 0.227 | -53.9 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -92.6 | 92.6 | 0.0021 | 0.012 | -94.4 | |
| +0.17, -0.03 | -92.0 | 92.1 | 0.0023 | 0.092 | -52.8 |
Motorola Moto G6 Plus frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Vanilla Android 8.0 with a few Moto mods
Not that kind of MotoMods, though - we're talking software mods. Laying the foundation is Android 8.0 Oreo, in mostly stock form. Here's a taste.
Lockscreen • Homescreen • App drawer • Quick toggles/notifications • Task switcher
As we've seen on previous Motos, the Moto G6S Plus' fingerprint scanner can be used in several ways. The obvious one is to wake/unlock the phone - it is always-on, very fast and quite reliable.
For navigation purposes, as part of Moto Actions, it can fully replace the on-screen nav bar - tap to go Home, swipe left to go Back or swipe right to switch between recent apps. Gestures get detected pretty accurately, though you may find the left-right mechanics a little counterintuitive if you switch hands often. You <>can</i> reverse the swiping directions if you so wish.
Pressing-and-holding the sensor for a short time will lock the screen, while a longer press will summon the Google Assistant. These two overlap and mastering them does take some time, but it's ultimately a great way to do away with the on-screen navigation bar in case it's not your thing.
Registering a fingerprint • One button navigation
Moto Display is another long-standing proprietary feature that's being continuously refined. It's sort of like an always-on display, giving you notification at a glance, only it's not always on. It only lights up just when a new notification comes up or if you wave your hand in front of the phone's fact. On this screen, you can act upon the notifications, ignore or straight-up dismiss them. There's not much in the way of customization the way you can change the Samsung Galaxy's always on display - the implementation is more like Pixel 2's.
Also part of Moto Display is Night Display - the phone will display warmer colors to filter out the blue light that's known to mess up your sleep according to research.
Moto display
In the Moto actions category, you'll find gestures like 'pick up to stop ringing', which most phones have, but a couple that are unique to Moto include "chop twice for flashlight", and "twist for quick capture".
Moto actions
As for multimedia, it's all in the hands of Google and its default apps. Google Photos is in charge of gallery-related tasks and video playback, while Google Play Music is the audio player. There's an FM radio too, with RDS and recording capability.
What is custom is the system-wide Dolby Audio sound control with presets for movies, music, games, and voice, plus two custom slots. The Intelligent Equalizer will adapt to the content, and you can bias it in three different ways, plus you can also tweak a 10-band EQ yourself.
Dolby Audio
Synthetic benchmarks
The Moto G6 Plus runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 chipset, a mid-tier SoC manufactured on a 14nm process. Inside it, there's an octa-core 2.2 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU and the Adreno 508 GPU. The handset is available with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM, and the unit we have for review is the base version.
GeekBench is on top of our benchmarks list and here the Moto G6 Plus doesn't surprise. It's just that the Snapdragon 625/630 are such a proven commodity that the differences between devices with these chips tend to be marginal. Now, the Redmi Note 5 Pro, for example, utilizes the Snapdragon 636, and a Kryo 260 core has more oomph than the G6 Plus' Cortex-A53. It's the same with the Zenfone Max Pro ZB601L. The chart-toppers in this test are generally more expensive, but it's good to know what's available in the higher price tier, performance-wise.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
1532 - Oppo F7
1531 - Oppo R15
1520 - ASUS ZenFone Max Pro
1340 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro
1327 - Huawei P20 Lite
938 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
913 - Huawei Honor 7X
904 - Motorola Moto G6 Plus
882 - Nokia 6 (2018)
882 - Xiaomi Mi A1
877 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
874 - HTC U11 Life
873 - Motorola Moto X4
866 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
866 - Sony Xperia XA2
865 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
858 - Motorola Moto G5S Plus
848
The multi-core test doesn't rank the phones in a radically different way, with the exception of the Galaxy A8 (2018) sliding down the chart. The Moto G6 Plus puts out the usual figures - it can't perform above its pay grade, but it's also good to see that Motorola didn't goof something up.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Oppo F7
5901 - Oppo R15
5806 - ASUS ZenFone Max Pro
4910 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro
4696 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
4418 - Motorola Moto G5S Plus
4331 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
4309 - Xiaomi Mi A1
4292 - Nokia 6 (2018)
4225 - Sony Xperia XA2
4215 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
4198 - Motorola Moto G6 Plus
4160 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
4145 - HTC U11 Life
4140 - Motorola Moto X4
4136 - Huawei P20 Lite
3756 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
3603 - Huawei Honor 7X
3535
A bit more of the same segmentation is seen in Antutu, where the Moto G6 Plus is on par with its S630 peers - the Xperia XA2 Ultra and Nokia 6 (2018). None of them are able to catch up with the S636-packing Zenfone and Redmi, not to mention the P60-equipped Oppos.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Oppo R15
140161 - Oppo F7
139414 - ASUS ZenFone Max Pro
115509 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro
107737 - Nokia 6 (2018)
90918 - Motorola Moto G6 Plus
90263 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
89110 - Huawei P20 Lite
87431 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
86978 - Huawei Honor 7X
67636
Ready for some predictable fps numbers from GFXBench? Here they come. In this test, however, the tiers change somewhat - the S625 now lags behind, while the S630 phones score as much as the S636 ones. That's because the 508 and 509 Adrenos are a close match, while the 506 isn't quite up there.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Oppo F7
12 - ASUS ZenFone Max Pro
10 - Nokia 6 (2018)
9.9 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
9.9 - Motorola Moto G6 Plus
9.8 - Motorola Moto X4
9.8 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
9.7 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
9.7 - Sony Xperia XA2
9.6 - HTC U11 Life
9.6 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
6.5 - Motorola Moto G5S Plus
6.4 - Xiaomi Mi A1
6.4 - Huawei P20 Lite
5.1 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
4.8 - Huawei Honor 7X
4.8
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Oppo F7
11 - Motorola Moto X4
11 - Sony Xperia XA2
10 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
10 - Nokia 6 (2018)
10 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
9.7 - ASUS ZenFone Max Pro
9.7 - HTC U11 Life
9.6 - Motorola Moto G6 Plus
9.3 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
8.7 - Motorola Moto G5S Plus
6.9 - Xiaomi Mi A1
6.3 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
6.2 - Huawei P20 Lite
4.9 - Huawei Honor 7X
4.7 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
4.6
All in all, the Moto G6 Plus delivers the goods in the performance department. The Snapdragon 630 is not spectacular performance-wise, but it's good enough, and unlike the older 625, the 630 has a GPU that doesn't choke when faced with a 1080p display.
12 million dual pixels, 5 million regular ones
The Moto G6 Plus comes with a 12MP+5MP camera combo on its back. Only one of these can be used on its own, the 12MP one, while the 5MP module is used for depth detection (read: portrait shots with defocused backgrounds).
The 12MP cam has large 1.4µm pixels, and if you're associating these numbers with dual pixel autofocus, you're right - the G6 Plus has it. The lens has a similarly familiar-sounding f/1.7 aperture. All of this carries a very Galaxy S7/S8 vibe indeed. Not quite - the OIS is missing. There is, on the other hand, a dual tone flash unlike Samsung's traditional single LED setups. Meanwhile, the 5MP camera's lens has an f/2.2 aperture. Though how and why that matters is unclear.
Anyway, the camera app is one of the software bits that are Motorola's own instead of Google's, and it's been slightly reworked since the last time we had a Moto phone at the office. Now you get a swipe action for switching between stills, video, and assorted modes (tapping on the icons works too). To get access to the settings, you need to go to those extra modes, which is a little counter-intuitive, but not a huge deal.
Camera interface
Professional mode is now called (more fittingly) Manual and is accessed from a toggle in the viewfinder - not the extra modes. It lets you dial in your own ISO, shutter speed, or exposure compensation, as well as pick a white balance preset and manually adjust focus - all pretty standard. One thing's neat - you can set exposure compensation in both 1/3 and 1/2 stops - that's some next level exposure compensation from a phone.
Manual mode
Spot color is one of the proprietary modes - it lets you capture only a certain color from the spectrum, leaving the rest of the photo black and white. A slider allows you to select how close the colors in the frame need to be to the one you picked so they don't turn monochrome.
Cutout mode can isolate a subject based on the depth detection and superimpose it on a different photo, while Text scanner should be able to recognize text from a photo and present it to you in a text editor.
There's also a couple of recognition features, one for objects, and another one - for landmarks. Point the camera at something, and the Moto G6 Plus will try to recognize it and pull relevant info off the internet showing it to you in the form of cards. As you can imagine, it's far from infallible, and it's not really gotten much better since the last time we played with it on the Moto X4.
Spot color • Cutout • Text scanner • Object recognition
Image quality
First off, apparently we got super-lucky (not) and our review unit has misaligned optics that result in image softness pretty much anywhere outside the middle of the frame. We noticed it both in stills and video, and it's quite pronounced. Well, it happens, such is life. Two points to make: 1. don't judge the corners of the samples too harshly, and 2. (as with any other piece of tech) make sure you have proper warranty and return options in case this happens to you, though we suspect it's probably an issue specific to our review sample only.
Daylight images from the Moto G6 Plus turn out quite alright, though we wouldn't call them spectacular. Dynamic range is pretty narrow - the clipped shell of the snail along with black areas in the shadows is quite revealing. There's also quite a bit of noise. Then again, detail is decent and we're liking the G6's colors.
Camera samples
Camera samples
Camera samples
Don't forget to check out how the Moto G6 Plus fares against the competition in our Photo compare tool. We've picked the Nokia 6 (2018) and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 to get you started, but it's a pretty rich database of tested phones to choose from.
Normal camera: Motorola Moto G6 Plus against the Pixel 2 XL and the iPhone X in our Photo compare tool
HDR mode does make a difference on the Moto G6 Plus. Shot to shot times do increase, and if you press the shutter again while the phone is still processing the previous image, you may end up with missed focus.
That aside, HDR shots come out livelier, with better developed shadows and lower midtones and some detail recovered from the highlights.
HDR: Off • On • Off • On • Off • On
Panoramas aren't all that good on the Moto G6 Plus. Sure, stitching is alright, and there's no weird exposure variations, but there's just not a whole lot of detail in the 1800px tall images.
Panorama sample
The Moto G6 Plus need to justify its second camera somehow, and that's where portraits come into play. It does a pretty good job separating mug from background, with the usual caveat that hairstyles better have a clear outline. The amount of background blur can be adjusted, but we just pushed that slider all the way to the max, and the results are quite convincing.
Portrait samples
The Moto G6 Plus did fail our aloe plant torture test, which is admittedly the default outcome of said test, but all in all it didn't feel too happy when dealing with non-human subjects.
Portrait mode on non-human subjects
Selfies
For selfies, the Moto G6 Plus relies on an 8MP f/2.2 camera, that sadly lacks autofocus. But it does have a flash. The first shot is from our other studio that is specifically painted black to minimize reflections, and is effectively pitch black with the lights off. Dude sure was happy to see some light.
The second shot is from a slightly more human-friendly location, which was still very dim lit, while the third shot is the from the same spot but without the flash. The gist is that having a front-facing flash can make a world of a difference in extreme conditions.
Selfie samples with flash
You can also take selfies in daylight - actually, do take selfies mostly in daylight, if at all. The G6 Plus captures decent detail and appears to apply selective sharpening around facial hair, making things look crisper. Skin tones are pretty pleasing too.
Selfie samples
Video
The Moto G6 Plus can record video up to 2160p@30fps, while 1080p@60fps and 30fps go without saying. There's electronic stabilization in 1080p@30fps, but not the other modes.
4K footage is treated to a generous 51Mbps bit rate, while 1080p footage gets 17Mbps, be it 30fps (pretty much standard) or 60fps (a bit low). Audio is recorded in stereo at 128kbps in all modes.
Lens issues aside, 4K footage is sharp and detailed, with no noise to speak of. Colors are vivid and combined with the high contrast make the videos pop.
1080p/30fps clips are similarly pleasing, and are in fact among the more detailed ones we've seen. The same can't be said of 1080p/60fps videos, which are noticeably softer and less detailed, plus the focus tends to hunt, unlike in other modes.
Unfortunately, sound quality is rather poor, and that's not just because of the wind.
Stabilization, while only available in 1080p/30fps, proved very effective in our walking and shooting test. Panning is also handled well, with no abrupt motions at the beginning and end when algorithms often fail and try to catch up. The one downside is that stabilized videos are a little softer than non-stabilized ones.
For those of you who want to pixel peep on your own computers, we've uploaded short samples straight out of the phone (2160, 1080p@30, 1080p@60).
Another kind of pixel peeping can take place inside our Video compare tool. We've pre-selected the Nokia 6 (2018) and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5, but feel free to play around with other phones we've tested too.
Motorola Moto G6 Plus against the Nokia 6 (2018) and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 in our Video compare tool
Competition
The original Moto G from some 5 years ago was a lot of phone for a little cash. A lot has changed since then - tiny things like the fact that Motorola's handset business is now owned by Lenovo instead Google, for example. That, and the fact that with the 6th generation we now have three Moto Gs to choose from, the Plus on our hands now.
The competition isn't really sitting on its hands, though. There's the Nokia 6 (2018) (some call it the Nokia 6.1), for the fans of the other iconic brand. It's got more premium build, but lacks a second camera (so no portraits in this case), and we're a leaning towards Moto's enhanced interpretation of Android.
Let's see if we can get our Redmis right. Both the Note 5 Pro and the Note 5 (a.k.a. 5 Plus) can compete with the Moto G6 Plus, but the Pro comes with a superior Snapdragon 636 chip, and it's still cheaper, so that's the one to have if you can get your hands on it. We haven't tested that particular variety just yet, but the 4,000mAh battery promises better longevity than we got out of the Moto. That said, Redmis are yet to make the switch to USB-C and MIUI is about as far from stock Android as custom ROMs go.
The Xperia XA2 Ultra might be out of your budget if you're shopping for a Moto G6 Plus, but the XA2 proper is mostly the same phone, only smaller, and retails for G6 Plus money. A bit more battery life, somewhat better camera (if no portrait mode), and Sony's take on pure Android, but the Moto does have that larger and brighter display to counter.
Here's a crazy thought, though - why not the Moto X4? Yes, its display is smaller, but you'd be getting superior build with aluminum where the G6 is plastic, plus an ultra wide angle cam, and ultra wide angle cams are always fun. You'd also be staying loyal to the brand.
Nokia 6 (2018) • Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro • Sony Xperia XA2 • Motorola Moto X4
Verdict
With the Moto G6 Plus you're getting a top-quality display, battery life to spare, and a camera that doesn't disappoint (barring defective lenses, that is). In our book that's the three main pillars covered. Top that with software that touches up on pure Android in all the right places, and we really struggled with that Cons list below.
Pros
- Super bright display, also very accurate in one of the modes (though not by default)
- Dependable battery life, quick top-ups
- Superb audio quality and loudness through the 3.5mm jack, very loud speaker too
- A fine blend of vanilla Android and proprietary customizations
Cons
- A bit tall, and the light weight doesn't leave a premium vibe
- No notification LED and MotoDisplay isn't quite like an always on display (not that it automatically renders the LED redundant, just saying)
- Battery consumption in standby is higher than other implementations of this power efficient chipset.
Well, just like the original, it's a lot of phone for a little cash, though the definition of the latter has shifted more than we'd like. In the end, in the never-ending game of compromise, you can't go wrong with the Moto G6 Plus.
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