When the original Moto G smartphone launched in 2013, it was widely praised for showing that a cheap smartphone could also be a good smartphone. Priced at $180, it offered decent specs and surprisingly capable performance for a fraction of the cost of a flagship phone (although it lacked premium features like a 1080p or higher-resolution display or a good camera).
Now the 4th-gen Moto G is here, and it’s getting mixed reviews.
It’s available from the Moto Maker website for $200 and up.
You can customize the design of the phone using the Moto Maker tool, and choose whether to go with an entry-level Moto G with 2GB of RAM and 16GB to 32GB of storage, or a higher-priced Moto G Plus which is available with up to 4GB of RAM and up to 64GB of storage.
Prices range from $200 to $300, depending on the configuration.
Each model has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor, a 5.5 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display, a microSD card slot, and a 3,000 mAh battery. The Moto G4 Plus has a fingerprint sensor and a higher quality rear camera.
On the one hand, the Moto G4 and G4 Plus phones have better specs on paper than previous members of the Moto G lineup. On the other, some reviewers lament that the software doesn’t seem to be optimized to take advantage of that hardware… which can lead the phone to feel a bit unresponsive… although other reviewers seem pleased with the phone’s performance.