Motorola's latest budget phone brings a better camera to your hands for less. But to take advantage of this new phone's $149 price tag, you have to sacrifice some features.

The Moto G Play (2024), announced today (January 16), is one of Motorola's lower-priced phones. And it appears to be designed to address some of the complaints that plagued the 2023 version of the phone.

When we reviewed the Moto G Play (2023), we were disappointed by the phone's poor camera performance. In addition, last year's phone did not have a night mode, which meant that low-light photos were literally taken in the dark.

The Moto G Play (2024) responds with a 50MP rear camera. And while this phone uses pixel binning to produce 12.5MP shots, the finished product should look more detailed and sharper than what the 2023 camera phone can produce. Even better, Motorola supports HDR and phase detection autofocus, and includes night vision capabilities.

Improvements are not limited to the camera. The Helio G37, which performed somewhat lackluster on last year's Moto G Play, has been replaced by a Snapdragon 680 system-on-chip, which we expect will improve the Moto G Play (2024) experience.

The Moto G Play has several other features of note, including a 90 Hz refresh rate on the 6.5-inch LCD screen; the Moto G Play can dynamically adjust between 60 Hz and 90 Hz when there is on-screen activity, such as scrolling The Moto G Play can dynamically adjust between 60Hz and 90Hz when there is on-screen activity like scrolling. Motorola promises several days of battery life with a 5,000 mAh battery.

Even with these improvements, Motorola has managed to cut $20 off the price of last year's model; the Moto G Play (2024) will cost $149 when it goes on sale on February 8. Initially, Amazon and Best Buy will join Motorola, followed by a number of carriers (Consumer Cellular, Verizon, Xfinity Mobile, Visible, Cricket, AT&T, UScellular, and Cox Mobile) that will to sell the Moto G Play.

The Moto G Play (2024) has 64 GB of internal storage, but a microSD slot allows up to 1 TB of additional capacity.

But you can't get a phone under $150 without making some sacrifices. Motorola eliminated the macro and depth sensors from the 2023 version, leaving only one rear camera; the Moto G Play (2024) will not offer 5G connectivity; the Moto G Play (2024) will not offer 5G connectivity; the Moto G Play (2024) will not offer 5G connectivity; and the Moto G Play (2024) will not offer 5G connectivity. And it comes with Android 13, a few months after the release of Android 14; Moto G phones typically receive only one software update, meaning there will be no Android 15 to be released later this year.

Still, if these features are not a necessity in your mind, the Moto G Play (2024) may be an attractive option for under $200. At the very least, the camera experience should be better than it was a year ago.