Motorola Moto G4
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As expected, Motorola has launched a new Moto G budget phone for 2016. For this year it's available in two different models. Here's our Motorola Moto G4 review.
As expected, Motorola has launched a new Moto G budget phone for 2016. For this year it's available in two different models. Here's our Motorola Moto G4 review.
Moto G4 vs. G4 Plus: What's the difference?
The G4 Plus gets its name from its 16-megapixel camera (up from 13 on the regular G4) and a fingerprint scanner on the front. It also offers more RAM (4GB vs. 2GB) on its top-end 64GB configuration. Otherwise the phones are the same, from processor to screen.
Obviously, the Plus costs a bit more -- and configurations vary by region. Americans will pay $50 more for the 16GB Plus ($250), while those in the UK will pay an additional £30 (£199). An extra $100 or £95 gets you a 64GB G4 Plus, which -- as noted above -- also doubles the RAM.
DESIGN AND BUILD:
Now owned by Lenovo (previously Google), Motorola has kept the familiar design of the Moto G going with the new 2016 model. It's got the same overall look and feel but tweaking it enough to give it some freshness and individuality.
For example, the dimple the 'M' for Motorola has been taken out of the camera surround. A small change but one which helps differentiate between last year's and this year's models. The build is still plastic but the Moto G4 feels good in the hand. The main difference is that they're bigger phones which some customers might not want - it will be too unwieldy for some, especially if you're used to the smaller size.
SOFTWARE AND APPS:
Under Lenovo, Motorola is sticking to its formula of offering an essentially stock Android experience. The Moto G4 and G4 Plus both come with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow pre-installed with a very thin layer on top to add some features.
Alongside the usual Android elements such as the two-stage notification bar/quick settings, and the cards style recent apps are some Motorola elements.
For starters there's a camera app and the Moto app.
This is where various things (namely Moto Display and Moto Actions) are bundled together, such as the ability to use gestures to do things like launch the camera, torch or silence notifications. You can also opt to have 'battery-friendly' notifications which fade in and out while the screen is off.
Motorola also adds the ability to automatically keep the screen dark between user-defined times (ie overnight) and you can also tweak how the screen looks with two different modes. All of this is found in the Moto app.
It's great to see such a stock version of Android come on the Moto G4 with the additions warranted. We like the simple but effective clock widget which gives you the date and temperature inside smaller circles a bit like a watch face. They also provide handy shortcuts to the clock and calendar apps, plus detailed AccuWeather info.
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