Lenovo Moto G4 Plus hands-on, camera samples too

After a long round of rumors, the eagerly anticipated Lenovo Moto G4 and G4 Plus were just announced at a dedicated event. We were able to spend some time with the Moto G4 Plus and we'll share a few quick first impressions.

Lenovo Moto G4 Plus at a glance

• Plastic build, removable back cover
• 5.5-inch FullHD display, 401ppi
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 chipset: quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53, Adreno 405
• 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, 3GB/32GB, 4GB/64GB
• 16MP primary camera, f/2.0 aperture, phase detection and laser autofocus, dual-LED flash
• 5MP front-facing camera, auto HDR
• Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
• 3,000mAh non-removable battery, Quick Charge supported, Turbo charger included
• Fingerprint sensor

Indeed, speaking of first impressions, one of the first things you notice when you pick up the Moto G4 Plus is just how light it is. Official numbers say 155g, which is very light for a 5.5-inch device with a 3,000mAh battery.

The back is made of matte plastic with a very fine texture, but it does tend to pick up fingerprints after all. There's the iconic M bat logo in a slightly recessed circle on the back to remind users of the Motorola legacy even if it says Lenovo on the box now.

The busy cluster above the logo houses the primary camera, the dual-LED flash, and the hardware for the laser focusing tech. It is in line with previous designs, but we'd understand if it's not to everyone's liking.

Lenovo Moto G4 Plus

The 5.5-inch display is sharp and has good viewing angles, though brightness is definitely not off the charts and colors are rather conservatively reproduced.

The OS on board is Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow pretty much in its purest form (it's basically on par with a Nexus). There's hardly any custom apps on top of the standard Google suite. It's really the Moto Display that feeds you notifications while in standby that's a major addition and it's a welcome one at that.

The fingerprint sensor works very well and recognizes prints every time, but it's not up there with the best in terms of speed.

Lenovo Moto G4 Plus user interface

We also went out and snapped a handful of shots with both cameras to get an initial impression. The best weather was not at its best, but the phone did produce quite detailed images and we're pleasantly surprised by the mature processing and the nice colors. Тhe light was admittedly crazy difficult, so be easy on it, when examining the samples. The selfie shooter did a very good job too.

Camera samples

That's all for the time being, but we'll be sure to put the Moto G4 Plus through our usual battery of tests once we have a unit for in-depth review.