Hands-on with the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus

We are at Computex 2016 taking a look at some of the hottest tech gadgets around. Among them are Motorola‘s new Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus. These were actually announced some weeks ago, but we haven’t had a chance to take a good look at them until now. Now that we have them in our hands, it’s time to give you guys a quick look at the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus and go over the similarities and differences between these two devices.

Design & build quality

Let’s start off with aesthetics – these phones are identical. They’re the same size, the same dimensions and they’re made of the same plastic materials, with a faux metallic trim going around the sides.

The back cover is removable, but the battery doesn’t get the same treatment. The removable back’s main purpose is so you can access the microSD slot and swap between different shells. And like with previous iterations, you can customize to your heart’s content via Moto Maker.

These phones won’t blow you away in terms of build quality, but the plastic design does feel pretty sturdy. These are also very comfortable to hold, as they feature a textured back and aren’t large handsets.

Display

Both the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus feature the same 5.5 inch 1080p IPS LCD display, protected by Gorilla Glass 3. Again, nothing to write home about, but definitely a pretty solid looking display. It emits good colors, brightness, and has fair viewing angles. It’s by far the best screen we’ve ever seen on a Moto G series smartphone in terms of resolution and quality.

The fingerprint reader

You will find the first major difference between these phones right below the screen. The Moto G4 Plus is the only one with a fingerprint sensor. Unlike other phones with fingerprint readers, though, this sensor doesn’t double as a home button. This is simply due to the fact that the G4 Plus uses on-screen keys.

Specs & hardware

Both smartphones are packing a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor, but are quite different in terms of RAM memory. The standard Moto G4 comes with 2 GB of RAM, whether you choose the 16 GB or 32 GB version.

On the other hand, the Moto G4 Plus is more varied. The higher end model is available with either 2 GB, 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM, depending on whether you opt for 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of storage, respectively.

Other specs include microSD card expansion, IPX7 water resistance, a nicely sized 3,000 mAh battery and Motorola’s turbo charging capabilities.

Camera

Both devices share the same 5 MP front-facing shooter, but the rear cameras are quite different. The Moto G4 has a 13 MP f/2.0 aperture lens with phase detection auto-focus and dual tone LED flash. The G4 Plus has a higher resolution 16 MP sensor, also at f/2.0, with both phase detection and laser auto-focus, along with the same dual tone LED flash.

Software

There’s not much to write about here, which is a good thing for many of you. The Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus are running an operating system that is very close to stock Android Marshmallow. It’s a very clean and bloatware-free experience.

Useful features like Moto Display and Moto Actions are still around. Yes, you can get those notifications, or various different gestures like chopping twice to turn on the camera flash, or twisting your wrist to launch the camera.

You’ll also find a few other extras like the Motorola clock widget, but otherwise, Motorola hasn’t done much else to alter the original Android UI, which is awesome, because it helps keep the experience very snappy and responsive.

Gallery

Wrapping up

There you have it, guys. This is our first quick look at the Moto G4  and G4 Plus. Be sure that more coverage is to come. Until then, hit the comments to let us know if you are thinking of buying any of these handsets.

And don’t forget to keep an eye on our Computex 2016 coverage for more awesome content!