Motorola introduced the most awaited G-series phone called Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus. Both phones are more or less same with few minor changes here and there. The new Moto G4 Plus now comes with a bigger 5.5-inch display and a fingerprint sensor which are the major changes from the previous generation G series phones. Though they have skipped the dual stereo speaker setup and waterproofing features this time but still it packs a lot of good features. It runs on the latest Android 6.0 and we all are aware of the fact that Moto phones run on full stock Android. The processor has been upgraded as well this time, with Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor. Even the camera has been improved this time. Now it takes some excellent shots. So let’s see how well it succeeds in achieving the goals in our in-depth Moto G4 Plus review.
Moto G4 Plus Look and Feel
Also Read: Moto G4 Vs Moto G4 Plus Vs Moto G4 Play
The new Moto G4 Plus measures 153×76.6×9.8mm and weighs around 155 grams. Now it’s thinner with 7.9mm of thickness. The screen size has been bumped up from its predecessor this time due to the large 5.5inch display. Even the design has been changed. Sadly it doesn’t have that curvy/rounded design on the back which used to be there on earlier G-series devices. Instead, it has a whole new flat design which makes it bit uncomfortable while holding. Even though it doesn’t come with any metal body or frame, the rounded metal coupled with the rubber back gives it a good feel and a slight amount of grip too.
The volume and power button are kind of stiff and aren’t very tactile but gets the job done perfectly. Micro-USB port and headphone jack are present at the bottom. The camera part is slightly bumped up on the flat deign of the back. Overall, the G4 is a step back in terms of design.
Also Read: How to unlock the bootloader, Install TWRP, and root Moto G4 Plus.
Moto G4 Plus Display
It sports a 5.5inch Full-HD(1080p) LCD IPS display this time protected by a corning gorilla glass 3. Apart from increasing the size, they’ve also increased the resolution this time. The screen is fairly good and can be said as one on the screen in that price range. Color reproduction is also pretty good and the display manages to produce punchy colors and good black & white levels. Even the sunlight legibility is quite good and the display is visible even in bright sunlight. It also has the ambient light sensor to adjust the brightness according to the outdoor condition. The gorilla glass 3 protection does protect the display from accidental scratches. Overall you won’t be disappointed with the display.
Moto G4 Plus Camera
It packs 16 megapixels, f/2.0 aperture, phase detection, laser-assisted autofocus camera on the back and a 5mp camera on the front with 84-degree wide angle lens for selfies. The focus of the camera is pretty quick due to the PDAF and laser assisted sensors and the shutter speed is also very snappy. The camera app is pretty stock but it has all the necessary features like tap-to-focus, exposure adjusts, long tap to lock the focus, slow motion, panorama and a full-fledged professional mode.
The rear camera does a quite impressive job in bright daylight condition and doesn’t disappoint even in artificial lighting condition. Video recording is limited to 1080p but the quality here is again really good in daylight and low light condition. Even the front cam doesn’t disappoint and take some great selfies in good lighting condition. At the launch, the Director of Product Management of Motorola claimed that Moto G4 Plus camera is better than iPhone 6s Plus camera. Moto claims that it hasn’t just increased the megapixel count but also improved the signal processor for better images. Overall this is the best camera you can get under 15,000 rupees as of now.
Performance
Under the hood, it packs an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor clocked at 1.5GHz coupled with 2GB of RAM for 16GB variant and 3GB of RAM for 32GB variant. Snapdragon 617 has four A53 CPU clocked at 1.5GHZ and four A53 CPU clocked at 1.2 GHz. The processor does a decent job when it comes to day to day usage. There is no lag or stuttering whatsoever. The stock UI feels very smooth and the 2/3GB of RAM helps to keep the apps in memory. The phone does tend to get warm when you do heavy gaming. It easily reaches upto 45 degrees while playing games like Asphalt 8, Nova 3.
Though the games run very smoothly and lag free from medium to high graphics setting. Heavy games like Asphalt 8, GTA San Andreas, MC 5, Nova 3 runs very smoothly with no lag whatsoever. It scored 45,885 on Antutu Benchmark 6, 720 on Geekbench single core benchmark and 3123 on Geekbench multicore benchmark. Comparing the CPU from its competitors, it is a bit behind. Moto G4 Plus doesn’t have that hardware which will shame Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 3, LeEco 1s or Lenovo ZUK Z1even though it offers a decent experience overall. It’s also packed with all the sensors like accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity and a fingerprint sensor though it lacks compass sensor and NFC. On the connectivity front, it has dual sim support, 4G LTE, GPS, Bluetooth v4.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and USB OTG support. On the storage side, the Moto G4 Plus comes in two variants, one is with 16GB variant and another with 32GB variant. The storage can be expanded upto 128GB via micro-SD card slot. Since Moto G4 Plus runs on Marshmallow, the SD-card slot can also act as an internal memory. In our Moto G4 Plus review, we saw some heating issues but Moto said that they will fix the issue via an OTA update.
It scored 45,885 on Antutu Benchmark 6, 720 on Geekbench single core benchmark and 3123 on Geekbench multicore benchmark. Comparing the CPU from its competitors, it is a bit behind. Moto G4 Plus doesn’t have that hardware which will shame Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 3, LeEco 1s or Lenovo ZUK Z1even though it offers a decent experience overall. It’s also packed with all the sensors like accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity and a fingerprint sensor though it lacks compass sensor and NFC. On the connectivity front, it has dual sim support, 4G LTE, GPS, Bluetooth v4.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and USB OTG support. On the storage side, the G4 Plus comes in two variants, one is with 16GB variant and another with 32GB variant. The storage can be expanded upto 128GB via micro-SD card slot. Since Moto G4 Plus runs on Marshmallow, the SD-card slot can also act as an internal memory.
Fingerprint Sensor
This is the new addition from its predecessors. The fingerprint sensor is situated at the bottommost part and has a square design. Honestly, the square fingerprint sensor looks bit odd and the placement it isn’t very good. The fingerprint sensor is just a touch capacitive pad which acts only as a fingerprint sensor and nothing else. Though, it unlocks the phone in a just flash of a second. It’s dead fast and pretty accurate actually and unlocks the phone when touched from any angle within a second. We would have loved to see if it would be having some extra functions like taking to the home screen. Redmi Note 3 fingerprint sensor also acts as a shutter button when taking selfies, apart from that it can also lock apps with its fingerprint sensor but sadly Moto G4 Plus can’t do any of them either. Due to that fingerprint sensor placement, the Motorola has skipped the stereo speaker setup which is another sad thing. But in our Moto G4 Plus review the fingerprint sensor worked really good, Even I must say that the phone has one of the best fingerprint sensors.
Software
Moto phones are known for offering neat & clean pure stock Android experience. Moto G4 runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with almost stock UI. It has all the Marshmallow features like Google Now on Tap, Doze battery saving feature and the permission for app feature. Moto also added its own extra features like Moto Display, Moto Voice and the gestures like flick your wrist to launch the camera app. With Moto Display users can not only see incoming from lock screen but can also be accessed with the help of swipe. Though the Moto Voice on this isn’t as enriched as the one on Moto X series. Also, the notification glance feature that the phone offers as soon as you take it out of the pocket is pretty useful. And like every other G-series phone, it is expected that this one also get the chance to taste the flavor of future updates.
Moto G4 Plus Battery
Moto G4 plus comes with a 3,000mah non-removable battery and is bundled with a turbocharger. Well, 3,000mah capacity battery isn’t very good for a 5.5 1080p screen but gives a decent backup. Moto claims six hours of battery life with just 15 minutes of charging. The 3,000mah battery can juice up the phone for a whole one day. It gives 4 hours of Screen-On-Time with Wi-Fi. The turbocharging feature helps quite a lot. It can charge the phone from 0 to 100% within 1 hour and 45 minutes. During the Moto G4 Plus review, We saw that the battery backup was lower than expected cause of extreme heat.
Verdict
The phone packs a better CPU from its predecessors to run latest Android smoothly and also packs a good amount of RAM. The fingerprint sensor is also way fast and is a new welcome to the G-series member. Even the camera performed quite well and the daylight shots were just amazing. Talking about the display, here also G4 doesn’t disappoint us. The battery backup is also quite decent and that turbocharging feature is actually quite impressive. Though there is a lot of new addition in the new G4 Plus, users going to miss the features like stereo speaker and IPX7 certification. The competition is quite tough here. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, LeEco 1s, Lenovo ZUK Z1 are the tough competitor for this phone which falls somewhat in same price range. Well, u can’t really go wrong with the new G4 Plus if a good camera, good screen, and stock android experience are your priority. It doesn’t provide any groundbreaking offer but it’s still a good deal. The Motorola Moto G4 Plus is available exclusively at Amazon for INR 14,999 for 32GB variant and INR 13,499 for 16GB variant.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, LeEco 1s, Lenovo ZUK Z1 are the tough competitor for this phone which falls somewhat in same price range. Well, u can’t really go wrong with the new G4 Plus if a good camera, good screen, and stock android experience are your priority. It doesn’t provide any groundbreaking offer but it’s still a good deal. The Motorola Moto G4 Plus is available exclusively at Amazon for INR 14,999 for 32GB variant and INR 13,499 for 16GB variant.
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Hi
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I use my phone for hiking, so a lack of a compass sensor is a game changer for me. I was interested in this phone until I found that out !
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