Moto G4 Plus Review

FEATURE

• 15k Budget 
• Camera, Speaker are Heroes

• Moto G successor

Key Specification:

• Display:  5.5 inches 1080 x 1920 pixels,
• RAM: 2GB/3GB RAM
• Memory: 16GB/32GB expandable, 
• Processor: Snapdragon 617 quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53
• GPU: Adreno 405
• Camera: 16MP, 5MP secondary
• Battery: 3,000mAh
• OS: Android 7.0 Nougat
• Connectivity: Dual SIM, 4G
• Weight: 155g

Design:

Moto G came with comfortable 4.5-inch display and eventually it grew to a 5-inch display on the 3rd gen. Now we have a 5.5-inch display which looks sharp and vivid. The design is still very ‘Moto’ with a rounded finish and a metal strip along the edges. In terms of dimensions, measures 153 x 76.6 x 9.8mm, and 7.9mm thick at its thinnest point. The G4 Plus weighs in at 155 grams. Unlike other phones in this price range that offer full metal unibody construction, the Moto G4 Plus sticks to a removable plastic rear panel. But the battery is not removable. One thing we appreciate is the inclusion of a couple of nano to micro SIM adapters. An unashamedly plastic smartphone with a large, 5.5-inch display. There's a tough, smoothly curved plastic frame around the glass front. The speaker at the top has a subtle metallic highlight around it and there's a raised, small, square fingerprint sensor at the bottom. Micro USB port on the bottom edge and a standard 3.5mm audio jack up top. but it is a bit bulky

Display: 

Larger 5.5-inch display this time making the handset look a lot like the Moto X Play with less bulk. The display has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels with good brightness levels, wide viewing angles and dual modes useful for watching movies. You get two colour modes for the display. A vibrant mode, which increases the colour saturationand a normal mode that makes the display look more neutral and natural to the eyes. Colour accuracy is quite good with whites looking perfect. The most noticeable addition is the fingerprint sensor, which proved to be surprisingly responsive during our tests.

The display uses IPS LCD panel and it is protected by a Gorilla Glass 3. As for the display itself, it's quite good. Colour saturation is pretty accurate and makes watching videos and playing games an engaging experience. Imagine watching a movie in IMAX quality, but the sound only comes from one side; that's exactly how it sounds.

Camera:

The rear camera features a 16MP OmniVision sensor with an f/2.0 aperture aided with a combination of phase detection and laser detect autofocus and a dual-tone LED flash. 5MP front facing shooter seem good on paper, they didn't really live up to our expectations, it managed to take images with minimal noise, even though the amount of details captured were just average. You get an HDR mode as well as a professional mode with full manual control. Video recording is limited to 1080p but you get an option of slow motion video recording of 120fps. Moto has finally update the camera app. It looks pretty much like the Google Camera app with a simple looking UI. There is also a pro mode which brings a bunch of settings like manual focus, white balance, shutter speed, ISO, and exposure compensation. Moto G4 Plus's cameras would be more than adequate for the majority of users. it's a real strength where you normally find a weakness in budget Android devices.

PERFORMANCE:

Two hardware configurations: 2GB RAM with 16GB storage and 3GB RAM with 32GB storage. The processor remains the same on both models - an octa core Snapdragon 617.

There was no issue in playing games such as Asphalt 8 or NOVA as well as 4k videos. Moto G4 Plus is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 chipset which is said to offer a very similar performance package as the Snapdragon 615 with improvements in thermal control and a new modem. There are four Cortex-A53 cores, clocked at 1.5GHz and the remaining four at 1.2GHz. There is an Adreno 405 GPU which is clocked at 550MHz. In terms of memory, you get two options, a 16GB variant with 2GB of RAM, and a 32GB variant with 3GB of RAM. With just 5 minutes of gaming, the phone started getting warm and after 15 minutes of gaming it had become extremely hot. Overall, call quality was great, even in areas of problematic coverage such as elevators. Other connectivity options include VoLTE , 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. The Moto G4 Plus is that it's the company's first smartphone with a fingerprint sensor. 

The small square sensor is placed under the screen and is one of the most responsive and accurate sensors we have used. Overall, the performance is pretty decent, and the chipset performs well, but we somehow not fully impressed. A similar or even a better performance packaged smartphone is available at a lower price.

Pros and Cons: 

Pros: 

• Large, vibrant screen
• Speedy, smooth performance
• Has a much better camera than the Moto G4

Cons:

• Speaker isn't great
• Fingerprint sensor is in a baffling spot

BatteryLife:

The Moto G4 Plus has a 3,000mAh battery Moto G4 Plus's battery life is just average. Turbo charger is included in the price which charges the phone from 10 to 75% in an hour, which can deliver six hours of power in just 15 minutes. The G4 Plus it has never failed to make it through the day, even with heavy use. The phone was near fully charged within an hour. Thanks to Turbo Charging, all you need to do is plug in the charger for about 15 minutes and you're good to go for at least 6 hours.

Verdict: 

The Moto G4 Plus finally brings a great camera into Motorola's budget lineup. It's decently fast for the price, though the build quality might not last years of use. Moto has done a good job in updating its hardware as well as some software to make it one of the best options under the 15k budget. Moto G4 Plus is a value-for-money smartphone. Motorola has done away with a few useful features that were present in its predecessors, most important being water-resistance. But, that doesn't mean there aren't any alternatives out there. The recently launched Lenovo ZUK Z1 gives you a powerful. The fingerprint scanner is very snappy, even though it’s tiny in size and the performance is up to the mark, if the best.