Moto G4 Plus review

Posted by preeti Burman on November 14th, 2019

Lenovo - the new owner of the Motorola brand - is aiming the Moto G Plus at the budget end of the Android market, but its a couple of rungs up the ladder from the entry-level Moto G Play.

Considering there s a .-inch p screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon with GB of RAM, a , mAh battery, an MP camera, and almost stock Android Nougat, the Moto G Plus looks a very impressive smartphone for its low price tag.

While Lenovo does t seem to have messed with the Moto brand it has indulged in a confusing three-way split, giving us the Moto G Play, the Moto G, and the Moto G Plus.

Moto G Plus specsWeight: dimensions Android Screen size: .-inch screen Resolution: x CPU: Snapdragon RAM: GBStorage: GBBattery: mAhRear camera: MPFront camera: MP

The thing is, the Plus part of the name probably does t mean what you think it does. It has exactly the same .-inch p display as its cheaper sibling, and most of the internal specs, including the processor, are identical.

All that s different is the enhanced MP camera with a pro model and a combination of laser and phase-detect autofocus, plus the addition of a fingerprint sensor.

Is that really enough to justify the price bump? Let s take a closer look.

Update: The Moto G Plus is still one of the most well-rounded smartphones you can purchase if you re on a budget or otherwise. However, the Moto G Plus and, if you re interested in photography and a more premium design, the Moto GS Plus are both better choices.

But if you re not ready to take the leap, don t fret. Android Oreo is confirmed to be coming to this phone later in the year, which is great news for those who are looking for a cheaper phone or want to stick with this one for a while longer.

If you re interested in the best cheap phones available, this is one of the best, though the competition is heating up with entries like the LG Q.

Moto G Plus price

The Moto G Plus is the most expensive of Moto s G trio, with an initial price tag of £ $, around AU$.

Thing is, it's now been reduced to just £. in the UK, making the G Plus looking like an even better bet - on paper at least.

Only the GB with storage with GB of RAM option is available in the UK, with the US handset also offering a GB storage + GB of RAM option for a Moto G Plus price of $ down from $. since launch.

The Moto G Play is the runt of the litter at £. $., around AU$, while the Moto G now sells for £ $., around AU$.

Design

We 've come a long way from the original, chubby Moto G, but the G Plus is still unmistakably related. It s like the first-generation Moto G has been put in a press, shaving a few millimeters off its girth and stretching the screen by an inch.

This is an unashamedly plastic smartphone with a large, .-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.

The textured power button and the volume rocker are on the right spine. There s a Micro USB port on the bottom edge and a standard .mm audio jack up top.

Flip it over and you ll find a lightly textured, removable plastic back, a lozenge-shaped camera lens and flash with the same metallic highlight as the speaker, and the dimpled Moto logo.

There s a gap at the bottom, so you can prize the back off with a thumbnail. You ll find a microSD card slot and a SIM card slot inside, but the battery isn t removable. The G Plus takes a microSIM card, but there s also a handy frame so you can slot a nanoSIM in there instead.

There s nothing glaringly ugly about the design, but if you had to pick a single word to describe it, then dull would be in the running.

My review unit has the Dark Moon frame, which you might more reasonably describe as grey and the pitch-black back with metallic highlights in silver.

If you order directly from the Motorola website, you can use Moto Maker to customize your G Plus and inject a little more color. You can even get the back engraved for an extra fiver. However, this is never going to be the kind of eye-catching beauty that draws admiring glances when you slip it out of your pocket.

One of the first things you 'll notice when you pick up the G Plus is that it's surprisingly big. At g it is not too heavy, but it is a bit bulky. To give you an idea, the profile matches the Samsung Galaxy Note, which puts the G Plus firmly in phablet territory.

As screen sizes have grown, the distinction between phablets and smartphones has been eroded, but this is still going to be an uncomfortably large phone to handle for people with smaller hands.

I mused to the Note, and I m also over six feet tall with big hands, and yet I found the G Plus a little awkward to handle – it doest help that it's still quite thick at .mm, and the curved sides are smooth and slippery.