Moto G4 Plus review: Tuned up

Display

Just like its generic sibling, the Moto G4 Plus comes equipped with a FullHD IPS panel. It already has a resolution of 1080p, which marks a jump from the 720p in previous Moto G generations and we really can't expect Motorola to go any higher even in the "Plus". Otherwise, the price would have been a bit different if nothing else. Plus, it wouldn't really be all that wise to torture the Adreno 405 any further. But more on that later.

There are two color profiles here as well - Normal and Vibrant. They do differ slightly (mostly gamma correction) but nothing really all that spectacular. The panel on the G4 Plus turned out to be surprisingly good, but, interestingly enough, not quite as good as that on the G4.

It scored an average deltaE of 3.8 and a maximum of 5.6 in terms of color deviation in its top color mode, which just happens to be Normal. The biggest deviation in this case is for Orange. Switching over to Vibrant mode results in Magenta as the least accurate.

All this considered, however, the regular Moto G4 did manage to score even better with a deltaE of 2.6 and a maximum of just 3.7. This might be due to a difference in panels or perhaps the software calibration or even the drivers and controller. We can't really say for sure.

Contrast levels on the Moto G4 Plus also turned out to be impressive, albeit yet again only a nudge below those on its regular sibling.

While decent, sunlight legibility of the Moto G4 Plus is nothing to phone home about. Plus, the front panel is a bit more reflective than we would have liked.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  4.615
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  4.439
• OnePlus 3
  4.424
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  4.376
• HTC One A9
  4.274
• Samsung Galaxy Note7
  4.247
• Samsung Galaxy A3
  4.241
• Google Pixel XL
  4.164
• ZTE Axon 7
  4.154
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  4.124
• Samsung Galaxy Note5
  4.09
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  4.019
• OnePlus X
  3.983
• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  3.983
• Oppo R7s
  3.964
• Apple iPhone 7
  3.964
• Huawei P9 Plus
  3.956
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
  3.918
• Samsung Galaxy C5
  3.911
• Samsung Galaxy C7
  3.896
• Samsung Galaxy A5
  3.895
• Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
  3.879
• Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
  3.873
• Samsung Galaxy A8
  3.859
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
  3.817
• Motorola Moto X (2014)
  3.816
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.802
• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  3.798
• LG V20 Max auto
  3.798
• Sony Xperia XZ
  3.795
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
  3.789
• Apple iPhone 6s
  3.783
• Meizu Pro 5
  3.781
• Microsoft Lumia 650
  3.772
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  3.756
• Oppo F1 Plus
  3.709
• Vivo X5Pro
  3.706
• Sony Xperia X Compact
  3.694
• Apple iPhone SE
  3.681
• Samsung Galaxy A7
  3.679
• Meizu PRO 6
  3.659
• BlackBerry Priv
  3.645
• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3.588
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  3.53
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  3.523
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.523
• Acer Jade Primo
  3.521
• Microsoft Lumia 950
  3.512
• Oppo R7 Plus
  3.499
• nubia Z11
  3.466
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3.422
• Meizu MX5
  3.416
• LG V20
  3.402
• Oppo R7
  3.32
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  3.276
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  3.24
• Samsung Galaxy J2
  3.235
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  3.234
• Motorola Moto X Play
  3.222
• Huawei P9
  3.195
• Lenovo Vibe Shot
  3.113
• Motorola Moto X Force
  3.105
• LG Nexus 5X
  3.092
• Huawei Mate S
  3.073
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
  3.065
• Sony Xperia X
  2.989
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  2.97
• Huawei Mate 8
  2.949
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  2.913
• Sony Xperia XA Ultra
  2.906
• LG G5
  2.905
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  2.884
• Sony Xperia Z5
  2.876
• Microsoft Lumia 550
  2.851
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  2.803
• Sony Xperia Z5 compact
  2.784
• LG V10
  2.744
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  2.735
• Sony Xperia M5
  2.69
• Huawei P9 Lite
  2.679
• Vivo V3Max
  2.659
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  2.641
• Sony Xperia XA
  2.609
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  2.582
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
  2.582
• Xiaomi Mi 4c
  2.574
• LeEco Le Max 2
  2.567
• Microsoft Lumia 640
  2.563
• Lenovo Moto G4
  2.544
• Oppo F1
  2.528
• Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
  2.525
• Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
  2.506
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2.503
• Oppo F1s
  2.481
• Motorola Moto G
  2.477
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  2.473
• Huawei G8
  2.471
• Huawei nova
  2.467
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  2.459
• Huawei Honor 7
  2.406
• Sony Xperia E5
  2.386
• ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
  2.382
• HTC 10
  2.378
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  2.378
• Huawei nova plus
  2.329
• HTC One E9+
  2.305
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2.272
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  2.254
• Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
  2.253
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
  2.249
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  2.235
• Xiaomi Mi Note
  2.234
• Motorola Moto G (2014)
  2.233
• LG Nexus 5
  2.228
• Huawei P8
  2.196
• Huawei Honor 6
  2.169
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  2.166
• OnePlus Two
  2.165
• HTC One X
  2.158
• LG Aka
  2.145
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
  2.145
• Archos 50 Diamond
  2.134
• Xiaomi Redmi Note
  2.119
• Xiaomi Mi 4S
  2.095
• Acer Liquid X2
  2.084
• Huawei P8lite
  2.078
• Moto G 3rd gen max manual
  2.026
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  1.996
• Sony Xperia E4g
  1.972
• OnePlus One
  1.961
• Meizu m3 note
  1.923
• BlackBerry Leap
  1.892
• Meizu m2 note
  1.892
• HTC Butterfly
  1.873
• ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
  1.759
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Asus Zenfone Selfie
  1.68
• Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
  1.675
• ZTE Nubia Z9
  1.659
• Jolla Jolla
  1.605
• Motorola Moto E
  1.545
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• Xiaomi Redmi 2
  1.311
• HTC Desire C
  1.3
• Sony Xperia C
  1.283
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Sony Xperia E
  1.215

Connectivity

Just like its regular sibling, the Moto G4 Plus is available as a dual-SIM phone in some regions, single-SIM in others. Both have LTE Cat. 4 connectivity - that's 150Mbps down and 50Mbps up, and it comes in several versions with different band support.

Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac is supported along with Bluetooth 4.2 LE. There's no NFC, however.

The microUSB 2.0 port supports OTG so that you can hook up flash drives and other USB accessories to it. It cannot output video, and there's no MHL or SlimPort functionality.

Battery

The battery department is another area Motorola decided not to change in the Plus model. Both devices are equipped with a 3,000 mAh battery pack and make pretty decent use of it, considering the hardware at hand.

With an overall endurance rating of 70 hours, the Plus punched in a respectable score and one pretty consistent to its regular sibling. With over 20 hours of talk time, you can count on the G4 Plus as an all-day communication driver, if nothing else. However, despite its slightly dated and consequently less efficient Snapdragon 617 SoC, the budget handset did pretty well in the web and video playback departments as well.

Having an always-on fingerprint reader definitely takes its toll on the battery and the strain is reflected in the G4 Pro's standby time. On the other hand, the fact that we were forced to use a third-party and more efficient video player, boosted out video numbers quite a bit and offset the final result.

One thing that still grinds our gears with Motorola's approach to battery packs is their non-removable nature. Sure, we get that most other manufacturers are already way past the point of no return in this respect and, like many others, the G4 has a somewhat oddly shaped battery. But, if you are going to go through the trouble of making a removable back panel, we really don't see why you wouldn't go a bit further and make the pack user-replaceable. It would certainly make for a good selling point to put on the brochure. That's actually what they did with the Moto E3. But, we digress.

The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.