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
Contrast ratio
Motorola Moto G6 Plus
0.418
610
1459
Motorola Moto G6 Plus (Max Auto)
0.564
776
1376
Motorola Moto G6 Play
0.339
476
1404
Motorola Moto G6 Play (Max Auto)
0.419
554
1321
Motorola Moto G5S Plus
0.352
483
1372
Motorola Moto G5S Plus (Max Auto)
0.455
616
1354
Huawei Mate 10 Lite
0.257
476
1852
Huawei Honor 7X
0.236
458
1941
Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
0.548
555
1013
Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
0.404
631
1562
Nokia 6 (2018)
0.367
469
1278
Oppo F7
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 from 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
Pink noise/ Music, dB
Ringing phone, dB
Overall score
Motorola Moto G6 Play
62.6
68.0
71.0
Average
Oppo F5
63.5
70.8
71.5
Average
Huawei P20 (Film)
65.0
67.8
75.0
Average
LG Q6
67.0
69.3
76.1
Good
Huawei Honor View 10
68.6
69.9
77.8
Good
Nokia 7 plus
67.5
71.3
79.7
Good
Motorola Moto X4
67.2
71.1
80.7
Good
Huawei Honor 7X
66.4
71.1
85.1
Very Good
Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
68.8
73.9
80.8
Very Good
Nokia 6 (2018)
67.1
74.0
85.3
Very Good
Oppo F7
68.0
73.8
84.8
Very Good
Sony Xperia L2
67.4
72.2
91.6
Excellent
Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
71.1
72.7
87.7
Excellent
Motorola Moto G6 Plus
82.2
76.1
86.8
Excellent
Motorola Moto G5S Plus
91.5
74.9
86.9
Excellent
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
Motorola Moto G6 Plus
+0.00, -0.03
-93.6
93.5
0.0050
0.011
-94.6
Motorola Moto G6 Plus (headphones)
+0.02, -0.02
-93.5
93.4
0.0067
0.033
-81.0
Oppo F7
+0.01, -0.10
-92.5
92.7
0.0019
0.0077
-91.2
Oppo F7 (headphones)
+0.50, -0.20
-91.4
91.8
0.0079
0.402
-51.5
Nokia 6 (2018)
+0.10, -0.20
-37.5
80.4
0.0018
4.735
-93.3
Nokia 6 (2018) (headphones)
+0.05, -0.03
-94.3
90.2
0.0027
0.019
-58.6
Nokia 7 Plus
+0.02, -0.31
-38.8
81.7
0.0013
4.690
-95.9
Nokia 7 Plus (headphones)
+0.25, -0.23
-93.3
90.4
0.0045
0.227
-53.9
Honor View 10
+0.02, -0.01
-92.6
92.6
0.0021
0.012
-94.4
Honor View 10 (headphones)
+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.
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