Moto G Plus, 4th Gen Review

Highlights

• The Moto G4 Plus features a fingerprint sensor and a 16-megapixel camera.
• The phone has a 5.5-inch full-HD display with Gorilla Glass 3.
• The rear camera boasts of PDAF and laser autofocus

Look and feel

• Motorola's iconic smartphone design continues to live on in the G4 Plus. Although not as distinct as before, it's certainly identifiable as a Moto product. The rounded metal frame coupled with the rubber back cover offers good ergonomics and grip. The phone is a fair bit larger than its predecessors.It has 5.5-inch full-HD TFT display.Sunlight legibility is very good and the display manages to produce punchy colours and good black levels. Gorilla Glass 3 is also present for added protection. The G4 Plus is fairly slim at 7.9mm and has good weight distribution so it doesn't feel heavy when you hold it.
• The Moto G4 Plus ditches the trademark bottom grille of the Moto G series for a fingerprint sensor.The sensor can recognise your fingerprints from any angle and apart from a few intermittent misreads, it works very well all the time.The 16-megapixel sensor is accompanied by a dual-tone LED flash and a laser autofocus system, which is a substantial upgrade.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

specifications and features

• In terms of power, the Moto G4 Plus uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 617 SoC, which is an octa-core chip running at 1.5GHz.You also get 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage.
•  The phone will also be available with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage at a lower price. Other specifications include 4G LTE (Category 4), Bluetooth 4.1 Low Energy, dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS, GLONASS, USB-OTG, and FM radio.

performance

• Without any bloatware slowing it down, the G4 Plus is one snappy performer. On average, there's about 1.2GB of RAM in use leaving you with plenty to spare.
• No slow-downs or lags in animations and when switching between apps. The SoC does get warm quickly when gaming or even when using data or GPS, but it is nothing too alarming. You'll notice a bit of lag in the camera app if the phone is warm, which could be due to the system throttling the CPU speed in order to prevent it from overheating. 
• The gallery app has been replaced with Google's Photos app, which is not the best to be honest but it does its job. The phone manages to handle high-bitrate and full-HD videos well. The Photos app also lets you edit photos and trim videos.
• The biggest highlight of the G4 Plus is the camera, which is a 16-megapixel shooter with f/2.0 aperture and Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF). The phone also gets a laser autofocus system to quickly lock on to nearby objects. What's more important is the overhauled camera app. You can use tap-to-focus on your subject and also adjust the exposure with a slider.
• You get more shooting modes too, like slow-motion video, panorama, and a professional mode. The latter really comes in handy when shooting in low light as it lets you adjust the focus, white balance, shutter speed, ISO and exposure compensation. The ISO range is from 100-3200 while maximum shutter speed is 1/5sec. Slow-motion video is fixed at 120fps at 540p resolution.
•  Another neat addition is the ability to directly read barcodes and QR codes from within the camera app.

Battery life

• We managed to get 12 hours and 4 minutes of playback time in our video loop test, which is a very good. In actual usage, with both SIM slots occupied, we managed to go nearly a day and half before having to charge the Moto G4 Plus. The phone also supports TurboPower or fast charging for quickly topping up the battery.

Pros

• Sleek design and good build
• Vivid display
• Strong battery life
• Near-stock version of Android
• Improved camera app

cons

• No NFC
• Low-light camera performance is average

overall review: 3.7/5

OS	Android
RAM	3 GB
Item Weight	154 g
Product Dimensions	15.3 x 0.8 x 7.7 cm
Item model number	XT1643
Wireless communication technologies	Bluetooth
Connectivity technologies	GSM, (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), 3G, (2100/850/900 MHz), 4G, (2100/1800/850/900 MHz), B40, TD, (2300 MHz), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n
Special features	Dual SIM, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer, Ambient light sensor, Gyroscope, Sensor hub, Finger print sensor, TurboPower Charging, Camera with laser focus and phase detection auto focus (PDAF)
Other camera features	16 MP, 5 MP
Form factor	Touchscreen Phone
Weight	155 Grams
Colour	Black/white
Battery Power Rating	3000
Whats in the box	Handset, Headset, Wall Charger and User Guides