If the Moto G4 didn’t exist, the stepped-down (and even cheaper) Motorola Moto G4 Play would be the deal of the century. For just $ 150, £130 and AU$ 279 (or $ 100 for Amazon Prime members who submit to Amazon Prime ads, like this), you get a budget phone that’s surprisingly nice to use, for a rock-bottom price.

But there is a Moto G4, and it comes with a larger screen, a better camera and a much faster processor. Best yet, it only costs a little more than the G4 Play — $ 50 or £39 (it doesn’t sell in Australia, but the G4 Plus does). So for my money, I’d invest a little more and get the G4 over the G4 Play.

That said, the G4 Play is actually a great budget find on its own merit. I never encountered a moment where I thought, “I can’t use this.” The G4 Play is the Toyota Corolla of smartphones; it has that wonderful balance of price and value to do real-world things like text and email, upload photos and snap pictures of cute little Fifi.

The Moto G4 Play is pretty much identical to the Moto G4, just a tad smaller (see how specs compare below). Despite having a relatively low 1,280×720-pixel resolution for its 5-inch screen, images and websites looked fairly crisp and sharp. But even with adaptive brightness enabled, you might have trouble reading in the noontime sun.