The newest upgrade to Motorola’s hugely popular Moto G series is here. This time the Moto G4 has been launched in three variants, Moto G4 Play, Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus. Among all the devices launched in this line-up, Moto G4 is the flagship phone. Launched in the fiercely competitive mid-range segment the phone has a lot of competitors, especially from Chinese brands like Huawei, Xiaomi and Le Eco. Traditionally Moto G smartphones have been a balanced series between price and features, also the regular software updates the line enjoys has also been a plus factor.
Moto G4 Plus Review:
Design and Build: The Moto G4 Plus design borrows heavily from its predecessors. The classic Motorola Logo sits in the back, which provides a good place to rest your index finger while holding it. The frame is rounded and has a metallic finish. The back cover is rubber which imparts excellent grip to the phone. The phone is 7.9 mm thick, which feels reasonable while holding it. This time the Moto G4 Plus doesn’t have a curved back. Overall the design is sturdy but feels cheap compared to its rivals in the same price range. All the external buttons i.e., the sleep button and the volume controls are on the right. The headphone jack and the micro-USB port are well placed. A noticeable change is the absence of bottom grill and inclusion of the finger-print sensor. The finger-print sensor has a border which gives a distinct feel to it.
Display and Specs: The screen size has been bumped up to 5.5 inch over the 5.0 inch of its predecessors. It is a full 1080p HD display with 403 ppi. A Corning Gorilla Glass 3 over the screen gives it decent toughness. The screen is bright and crisp in sunlight. Overall the display is good and a definite improvement.
The chipset in the G4 Plus is the Qualcomm MSM8952 Snapdragon 617. It is a quad core processor. The GPU is the Adreno 405 which is a fair deal for average games.
The snapdragon 617 scores poorly in comparison to snapdragon 650 found in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 in Antutu and Geekbench scores. However the stock UI interface is crisp and free of any clutter. There is no lag in everyday usage. The difference is quite noticeable in high-end games. There is a dedicated memory card slot for 128 GB cards. Phone comes in various 16, 32 and 64 GB internal memory models paired with 2, 3 and 4 GB RAM. The battery is 3000 mAh which lasts for a typical daily use and the Turbo charging is a real benefit to heavy users. Turbocharger is included with the phone. Stock Android and absence of any bloat ware makes this phone a snappy performer in daily use.
One change in the Moto G4 Plus is the lack of water-proof capabilities. Since, Motorola introduced this feature to this price range it is a huge setback.
Moto display removes the need for a notification LED and Moto Actions work good enough.
Camera: One of the strongest selling points of this phone is its camera. Hands down it has the best camera in all phones in its price segment. The camera is 16 MP, f/2.0 with dual-tone flash and laser auto focus. The laser auto focus makes the camera super-fast even in low-light conditions. The front camera is also a decent 5 MP, f/2.2 camera.
The camera app also is improved over the stock Android version; it offers a bevy of features like changing ISO, adjustment of focus points etc.
Final verdict
The Moto G4 Plus is a decent phone in the price segment. While the camera excels, the phone is costlier than others in the range with better chip sets. The finger-print reader is great and super-fast. Overall the phone is a decent all-round package with its own strengths and weaknesses. The phone is safe upgrade to the Moto G line-up with a dependable performance.
