Review | Moto G4 Plus: Advantage Lost?

Remember when the first Moto G launched? That was way back in November 2013. That's a long time both in dog-years and in phone-life.

Back then, Motorola, which was with Google, came up with a phone that was all Google on the inside, meaning that you could customise it to your heart's content because of always-updated versions of pure Android, and you could even tailor it to your own personality on the outside because of the company's 'Moto Maker' concept. Change the back and even other accents on the body.

The Moto G also showed that you could make a phone perform really well without over-spec-img it and without making it cost the earth. For at least two years after that the Moto G was the most recommended budget phone.

But the mobile market has leapt ahead, mostly in India since then and other companies have come up with their own game changers.

Where does that leave the fourth gen Moto G? Facing stiff competition and looking as if it's playing catch-up to snazzier ware at the same -- or even lower -- prices.

Sturdy but dull
The new Moto G4 Plus is immediately recognisable as close relative to the other Moto Gs. The iconic Motorola logo and dimple on the back is still there, for one thing. And so is the soft plastic of the back panel. That panel is flimsy though and it quickly collects shiny finger smudges which you'll have to spend some time rubbing away. The back curve is gone though and the phone is much flatter, but lighter despite being 5.5 inches now.

On the design front, most other budget phones have moved on from the plastic look and you'll see most of them in pale silver and gold, looking more expensive than they are. Compared with that, the Moto G4 Plus (or any Moto G) looks dull. You'll probably find back covers easily enough, but the full customisablity experience offered in the US isn't available in India

No water, please
Recent versions of the Moto G have been waterproof and this feature has been heavily promoted in the past. With the new model, that's gone.

What we do have now is a fingerprint sensor housed on what could have been a Home button but which, to one's surprise, isn't. It's just a square little place for the sensor. Just as long as you get into the habit of not expecting a Home button, it works very well.

In real life situations, for a phone to be waterproof may not be as important as it sounds. But still, there are often accidents with water spills and users liked the reassurance of knowing that the device would easily survive that.

Best Budget Camera
Despite whatever claims are made, cameras on mid-range and low-end phones are quite bad. Shooting in poor light, of which there's a lot, remains a challenge. But the Moto G4 Plus seems to have done a better-than-usual job with its 16MP rear camera. It's a big difference from the earlier Moto G3, in case anyone thinks of upgrading. It isn't stellar in low light, but it really isn't horribly noise filled, as others are.

Acceptable, Not Amazing
As for the rest of the specs on the Moto G4 Plus, they're not outstanding, but they certainly are very workable. The phone works on Android Marshmallow with nothing to disturb it. So, it's clean and works smoothly. But there are smoother performers in this price bracket. Xiaomi's Redmi Note 3 is one of these.

Similarly, the 5.5-inch 1080p display is good, but not great. The 3,000mAh battery likewise though it does support quick charging. 1

The Moto G4 Plus is powered by a 1.5GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor and it comes with 2GB of RAM with 16GB storage or 3GB for a variant with 32GB storage. Both have dual micro SIMs that support 4G. The price tags are Rs. 13,499 and 14,499.