Meet the new, carrier-friendly Moto G. This phone is all about performance. Take stunning photos thanks to an advanced 13 MP camera. And get up to 6 hours of power in just 15 minutes of TurboPower charging, along with an all-day battery. All this in a streamlined design that fits nicely in your pocket. Moto G. Performance you won’t outgrow.
Top Customer Reviews
Moto Reclaims the Budget Crown… For Now
By Eduardo
Style Name: Prime Exclusive - With Offers & AdsSize: 16 GBColor: Black Verified Purchase
Pros
+ Excellent Screen
+ Great Camera
+ Clean Android 6.0 Marshmallow
+ Compatible with all major networks
+ Great Price
Cons
- No NFC
- No longer waterproof
- Bland Design
- Competition is Getting Better
- Single Speaker
Should You Buy: Yes
Actual Value: $200
Contrary to what most reviewers though, I thought Motorola really dropped the ball last year. The Moto G of 2015 had a weak processor, low resolution screen, and an okay, but not great, camera. Perfectly fine in 2014, but not in 2015 and definitely not now. Companies like Alcatel, ASUS, and even small companies like Honor (Huawei) were offering better value for money. But this year, Motorola definitely brought its best. But is it enough to be the best budget phone of the year? In short, yes. The Moto G4 is the best budget phone you should buy today. The question you should ask yourself is, will it be the best value this year?
- Design -
Motorola has never made the Moto G the stylish one of its lineup. True, with Moto Maker, this can be a very personalized phone. But the overall design has been plain. This year, that trend continues. The new Moto G is plainer than the with a simple plain back and a simple flat front. Personally I like it. It was built to be a solid, reliable phone and it doesn’t try to be something it’s not. What I don’t like is the lack of more premium material. Blu and Huawei have added metal to the mix, which feels a lot better in the hand compared to the simple plastic build. It’s a great phone, but it could still be better.
- Screen -
The screen is a 5.5 inch 1080p panel, which is a huge improvement from the old 720p panel on last generation’s phone. I honestly would’ve prefered a 5.2 inch panel, but that’s just a personal preference. This is a very good panel as a whole, but certainly not the best screen available. Text is really sharp and colors are vibrant enough. Whites tend to be slightly on the blue side, but it is not that noticeable and contrast is good, but not excellent. Still, for a phone that cost only $199, it is a great screen and certainly an upgrade if you are coming from last year’s Moto G.
- Software -
Motorola has kept their reputation of keeping stock Android alive with this phone. Everything is stock and the few additions that Motorola added to the phone are definitely appreciated. Active lock screen is still here and twist gestures are also back from last year. But what makes this different compared to other phones is the Amazon ad experience that allows it to be cheaper than a plain stock version. So, are the Amazon additions something that affects the experience? In short, not really. General usage is just what you’d expect from a typical Android phone and it is hardly noticeable that you have Amazon ads built in. Well, when I say hardly noticeable, I mean in general use. You will always be reminded of the Amazon ads when you unlock, which takes up the entire screen and shrinks to a notification when there are other notifications on the screen. You can easily replace the screen lock with something like the Next Lock Screen app (available on Google Play) and you can get rid of all signs of Amazon ads. Some apps are kind of bloatware, but they are all from Amazon so you can take it or leave it.
- Performance -
The Moto G4 comes packing an octa-core Snapdragon 617 paired with 2GB of RAM (at least on my version). This is still a decent package and seeing as most of the competition will be using this chip, there isn’t much to complain about. The phone works smoothly and games like Asphalt 8 and Pokemon Go run well. Benchmarks show that the Moto G4 is right in the middle of the pack, ahead of the Sony Xperia M4 and the Nexus 7 (2013). It falls short compared to the 800 series of phones, but the gap is slowly, but surely closing in. For the price, it definitely packs more value for money and keeps the phone running smooth and quick. MicroSD card support is always welcome, especially because it only has 16 GB of storage, which easily fills up. Battery life is too soon to tell, but today at work, it survived the entire day with constant use and it is going towards 5 hours of screen on time. This is looking good and I will update later to confirm whether it stays like that.
- Camera -
The 13MP back camera and the 5 MP selfie camera are good, but not the best available. The sensor appears to be the same sensor as last year’s Moto G. And in some aspects, it shows. Photos in bright light look vivid and detailed, contrast is good, and focus is really fast. However, dim the lights and grain starts to find its way onto images that look decent, but good. Low light shots are clearly this camera’s weakness with the sensor not able to grab onto details without creating a muddy image. The 5MP selfie cam works great for Snapchat and Instagram; great detail if a bit mute and flat. But for a $199 phone, it falls right into place within its competitors. Just don’t expect anything mind blowing.
- Conclusion -
Motorola has , without a doubt, made the best Moto G ever and the best budget phone. The design is good, build quality is excellent, and the camera is decent enough. The screen, while an improvement, is good but not great. Overall,I can’t find anything to fault this phone. But the real problem is the competition. Alcatel’s Idol 4 looks to be improving on everything the Moto G has and the ASUS Zenfone 3 looks really beautiful to hold. The Moto G has stock Android and the (sort of) promise of getting updates faster. But is that really enough to be the best budget phone of 2016? Only time will tell. If you need a phone now or just want a guaranteed good experience on a budget, then go ahead and buy the Moto G. But if you can afford a little more and want the absolute best, I’d recommend waiting to see if the Alcatel or the ASUS can deliver a solid experience.
Excellent piece of kit
By BlackLotus
Style Name: Prime Exclusive - With Offers & AdsSize: 16 GBColor: Black Verified Purchase
This phone, overall, is a good product when you factor in the price, specs, and use-case. I've owned many phones (a hobby that the wife disagrees with!). This phone will work for 95% of people and is excellent overall.
We'll start with the actual device:
The specs are clearly listed and all that jazz, so I won’t go over that. The phone feels well in the hand and I’m coming from the rather large Nexus 6. It’s a thin phone and while it is almost as tall many phones, it feels a lot less wide. I have big hands and thought I’d want the biggest phone. I have to say, phones like this Moto G4, are about the sweet spot for me.
The volume buttons are easy and I rarely push those as I set my phone to completely silent 98% of the time and once I’ve adjusted my calling volumes and such, I don’t fuss with them. It’s the power button that’s a bit more difficult and a sore point on otherwise great hardware. It is textured compared to the volume rocker, but even with that it’s almost undisguisable from it. I have a hard time pushing it with my right hand using my thumb, but left handed and using my index finger is much easier. I luckily hold my phone leftie mostly, so not a problem, but the button doesn’t push as easily as it should and it requires an odd angle. This is probably the only physical detriment to the phone – otherwise it’s great in the hand.
And yes, this base model Moto G4 comes with the turbo-charger. There was a lot of misinformation early on if that was included - it is.
Android OS:
This runs a custom version of Android, but it's pretty close to stock. Also, there aren't really any phones that run stock Android as Google's own line of phones runs many proprietary apps and code that isn't 'stock'. The basic apps are included and you get ALL of Amazon's related apps and services - even some that are essentially duplicates. You can disable what you don't want through apps settings. I did keep many Amazon apps and they are just the Play store ones and function quite well. I disabled a few of the other stock apps such as Google's music, videos, etc. I use other things for this and it saves memory on the phone and space in the app drawer.
The overall OS is snappy, it does lag a bit if you open larger/intensive apps or you are going through things quickly. If you keep your open apps to a reasonable amount (not 30 apps and 17 Chrome tabs) the phone runs just as well as my old Nexus 6 or other recent phones. It plays games fine, again there might be a jitter or two here, but I've had the best of phones do that.
The other included software stuff that is nice is an FM radio that Moto usually adds. Data may be unavailable or you may be on a limited plan and if you want music, this can be a life saver. I'd had an original Moto G back in the day and was on a tight budget - free music came in handy! The ambient screen feature is cool too. If you pull the phone up to you or out of your pocket, a mostly blacked screen shows and you can see the unlock area and any notifications you may have. It also shows the battery indicator with a % too!
The dreaded lock screen apps. I'm a bit torn on this as it doesn't work exactly like my Fire HD 7 tablet. That always has a nice add up, but you can swipe away as you open the device and I've never accidentally opened an ad. I haven't opened an ad on this phone yet either unless I meant to, but at times when you unlock the phone, it brings up the ad that you have to unlock again. This seemed to happen every few times I'd open the phone. It's jarring when you pull the phone up and the ambient screen is on and you unlock and BAM AD! I get it was why the phone was heavily discounted, but a lot of extra swiping is not fun. As a note - as of now, it seems Amazon worked around putting another lock screen app on to bypass theirs. You can do this, but their ads will still pop up after you unlock with the new lock screen. Additionally, and this is a major drawback to certain people, they've literally disabled the ability to bypass the lock screen completely. On any other Android device, you can change how you unlock the phone - swipe to unlock, PIN, fingerprint (if available), or you can choose none. If you don't pick any, when you hit your power button you go right to your home screen. Amazon has, in a rather crude way, disabled this. When I went in to try to turn any screen off, it just backs you out. Very annoying. It also says amz or the like in many areas pertaining to the software so they have put a lot of their own code into the phone. Updates for the device will be a TBA affair I guess - again I'll write back if more is discovered.
My phone did update already, a small 10mb file to 'improve calling'. I didn't have issues before and the update came a day after getting the phone. So, someone is pushing updates.
Screen:
The screen is pretty good and overall vibrant and sharp for the size. It's not a 1440p screen and it isn't the largest screen out there, but that's partially why I got it - I was tired of the phablet size and I'm a larger guy with big hands even. For the size and resolution, it's a very good combo though and my eyes don't mind looking at it. I've used all the special LCD screens and the AMOLED ones - I was tired of the eye searing colors on the AMOLED and the hard to read in sunlight and the burn-in issues. This screen, in the bright Phoenix AZ sun is very readable. Colors are pretty true, after I set the screen on the normal setting in the menus. It has a vibrant feature that, ironically, made the screen and colors look washed out.
Another HUGE plus for this screen is the fact I noticed no bleed through or bright spots. I put a black screen on in my very dark house and the brightness was uniform and I didn't see any light bleed. This is very impressive for a phone in this category. I've had flagship phones with these issues to the point it was annoying. I'll report back over time if this changes.
Also, the touch screen is sensitive, but not as sensitive as some phones. This can be good and bad. I'm always torn on what I want, but less sensitive means I'm not accidentally dialing the mother-in-law after I end another conversation, saving me time! Again, the touch sensitivity is uniform across the screen. Also, the screen is very resilient, no bending or spots that pop up near the edge.
Camera(s):
I'm adding this as an edit as I forgot about it! The camera is middle of the road, but takes very quick pictures. Moto has added more over the stock camera app such as sliding the zoom circle to adjust white exposure. They also added things like shake to change camera. The rear camera is quick as I said and takes adequate pictures. They are clear, HDR mode obviously helps with contrast and making things in the picture 'pop'.
The front camera is actually very good, especially given the mid-level specs of the phone. It's crystal clear and better than any other front camera I've had on a phone. It would more than suffice for the night out selfie or video chat.
Battery:
The battery life so far has been impressive. I got the phone out of the box charged pretty full (over 80%). I did the full set up, played some games, logged into my apps again. I'd say I was at about 60% after all that. I know that's not the most accurate without screen on time or such, but Android's set up and downloading a few dozen apps and updates over wifi is battery intense. As another review has already said though, this puppy heats up quickly. Charging it I noticed it got warm pretty fast and when it was downloading over wifi it got warm too. I've noticed it getting warm playing games, but this could be the battery and/or the CPU causing it - I'm guessing both. I will update if I notice battery life becomes noticeably worse before its time.
Connectivity/data/calling:
This phone can work on all 4 major networks and I'm using a GSM carrier. I won't review my carrier, as you can bring this phone to pretty much any prepaid or postpaid option out there. LTE is strong on this phone and data speeds are just as fast as my other phones I tested against in my house. VoLTE works well on this phone and is crisp as ever. The 3G (UMTS/HSPA) on this phone works well too and calling is again pretty clear. Speeds are also very fast. There is no carrier aggregation yet where I live, so I can't tell you how that works, but I imagine speeds are even better.
More specifics on the few calls I've made - nobody has complained about static or background noises. I hear them very well and the volume is acceptable to even a bit loud. No dropped calls yet and no data issues either. The phone paired instantly in my newer model car (car has built in Bluetooth). Sounds crystal clear over the Bluetooth and also streaming music played well. The speaker is also pretty loud and while it's only on one part of the phone (my Nexus 6 had stereo), it sounds just fine for a small device. It's not mind-blasting like front row to the Rolling Stones, but it's acceptable for calls and such.
Overall and conclusion:
Yes, this is a great phone at the price. Yes, you have to deal with Amazon ads but that was clearly a part of the deal. The phone is equal to a $600+ flagship in 95% of the ways and really the phone would work for 95% of people as I mentioned. It does show it a budget phone with the heat issues on the battery and/or CPU, but my old Nexus 6 did the same thing. It feels good in the hand and looks like any other slab style phone these days so it won't be turning heads, but does a phone need to? If you are in the market to upgrade from a couple year old phone or looking to replace a recent broken one, this is a great deal. If you have a newer flagship phone, keep it as it's equal or better than this most likely - but keep the Moto G line in mind when you want to upgrade in a couple years.
So, for the price that Amazon offers this with special ads and the overall package the Moto G4 offers, I’d say it’s a definite buy if you you’re in the market as I said above. It would make an excellent phone for a young teen, college grad, dad, wife, friend, or really anyone. It would also make a great back up phone for those times where you may want to use a ‘beater phone’ – ie camping, vacation, etc.
Edit on 7/19/2016:
A few more things - I've added a couple pictures. These are taken at night, I'll get some daylight pictures soon, but I figured indoor and low light pictures are more telling on how good a camera is. This one does surprisingly well still - it's well within or above this category of phone. The picture of the stuff on the table is in a well lit room with the settings all on auto - I did tap to focus as the only adjustment and upped the white a little to match the room brightness. The second picture of the TV is a very dark room with HDR on (flash cannot be on too) - it's not the best, but at least it looks 'OK' for a dark picture. The last picture of the bench/door were in a pretty dim hallway with the flash on (no HDR, again can't both be on).
The other, more egregious update is I had to get the phone exchanged already from Amazon. The issue I listed above about the power button was big - it almost wouldn't push it and I could only get it to register a push if I was very forceful and pushed on the top part. The replacement button is noticeably better and has much better travel and can be pushed easier - so there are some QC issues on the hardware here. Given it was a defect out of the box, I was able to get an exchange, but only time will tell about it lasting.
Edit 10/27/2016:
I used the phone on and off for quite a while - but I finally gave it to my mother. She broke her ancient Galaxy S3 (time to go anyway). We popped her SIM from the S3 into this, and off it went. Calls, LTE, data, all work very well on VZW too (I was previously using it on T-Mobile). She loves it and says it's great for her. No issues with the power button either, so hopefully the original one I received was a fluke.
Moto G (4th Generation) Hits the Sweet Spot
By Adamantus
Style Name: Prime Exclusive - With Offers & AdsSize: 16 GBColor: Black Verified Purchase
I've gotten a couple Moto G's in the past for my sons and they liked them so when the Amazon branded Moto G 4th Generation phone became available I jumped on it - the discount is nice and the first few days there was an initial extra $25 discount.I received the phone on the release day - July 12. I am using this on the Ting GSM network, which operates on T-Mobile. I put the Sim in and it simply worked. I didn't even need to change the APN - everything worked flawlessly - cellular service, data and messaging.
Pluses:
Nice 1080 display - I'm coming from a LG-G3 with a 2K screen and actually like this one better. It doesn't have the resolution of the high priced phone but to my 60 year-old eyes, the contrast is better -I know it's not using as much energy with the lesser amount of pixels.
Ergonomics - it's got a nice hand-feel. They've changed the design from the curved back which I thought would be more difficult to handle but it's still a pretty thin phone and I've had no problems handling it with my medium sized hands. The back is a very nice texturized rubber which is quite grippy. The sides however are a bit slippery. I solved this with a cheap thin cover. It's also a bit tall (see the CONS).
Sound- a lot better than I expected. Of course, it doesn't have Dolby speakers or even stereo speakers but it's pretty good. I can actually listen to this for a while without switching to my Jambox- it can get pretty loud without distorting much.
Connectivity - Once again, though this is a budget phone, it does beat my previous LG-G3. Bluetooth connects faster, and the phone connects more reliably to my office wireless network. It connected flawlessly to my car.
Quick charge. This phone has Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0 and a Quick Charge Charger comes with the phone. Very fast charging - I just came home with the phone on 63% and 20 minutes later it's on 89%. What a pleasure.
Responsiveness - I haven't noticed any stuttering, or sluggishness. I don't play games so I can't evaluate the phone for that. I love the keyboard response and you can dial in the exact amount of tactile feedback you like.
SD card capability - I always like the fact that one can add additional memory and the fact that Android can now configure an SD card as internal memory makes it even more valuable.
Camera - the camera is fine. I love when the tech reviewers have to compare a phone's camera to the highest performer. Of course a $600 -$700 phone will have a better camera. But this takes pictures that are just as good as the expensive cameras did a couple of years ago and the reviewers were happy with those.
CONS:
Lacks the fingerprint sensor - a nice feature but I can live without it.
Lacks NFC - so I can't use Android Pay. (though I personally haven't found many places that use it)
The phone has a lot of real estate at the top and bottom of the phone, about one-half inch above and one-half inch below the screen. I've had other phones which were not too much bigger than the screen itself.
SUMMARY
I've decided to move to budget phones from the high spec phones. I pay less initially, skip insurance, and don't sweat if it is lost or stolen. I can replace $150 without too much pain - $600 hurts. This phone, though inexpensive gives me enough quality and performance, that I don't miss my expensive smart phone at all. As I said in the title - this phone hits the sweet spot for me - I really like it.
Top Customer Reviews
Moto Reclaims the Budget Crown… For Now
By Eduardo
Style Name: Prime Exclusive - With Offers & AdsSize: 16 GBColor: Black Verified Purchase
Pros
+ Excellent Screen
+ Great Camera
+ Clean Android 6.0 Marshmallow
+ Compatible with all major networks
+ Great Price
Cons
- No NFC
- No longer waterproof
- Bland Design
- Competition is Getting Better
- Single Speaker
Should You Buy: Yes
Actual Value: $200
Contrary to what most reviewers though, I thought Motorola really dropped the ball last year. The Moto G of 2015 had a weak processor, low resolution screen, and an okay, but not great, camera. Perfectly fine in 2014, but not in 2015 and definitely not now. Companies like Alcatel, ASUS, and even small companies like Honor (Huawei) were offering better value for money. But this year, Motorola definitely brought its best. But is it enough to be the best budget phone of the year? In short, yes. The Moto G4 is the best budget phone you should buy today. The question you should ask yourself is, will it be the best value this year?
- Design -
Motorola has never made the Moto G the stylish one of its lineup. True, with Moto Maker, this can be a very personalized phone. But the overall design has been plain. This year, that trend continues. The new Moto G is plainer than the with a simple plain back and a simple flat front. Personally I like it. It was built to be a solid, reliable phone and it doesn’t try to be something it’s not. What I don’t like is the lack of more premium material. Blu and Huawei have added metal to the mix, which feels a lot better in the hand compared to the simple plastic build. It’s a great phone, but it could still be better.
- Screen -
The screen is a 5.5 inch 1080p panel, which is a huge improvement from the old 720p panel on last generation’s phone. I honestly would’ve prefered a 5.2 inch panel, but that’s just a personal preference. This is a very good panel as a whole, but certainly not the best screen available. Text is really sharp and colors are vibrant enough. Whites tend to be slightly on the blue side, but it is not that noticeable and contrast is good, but not excellent. Still, for a phone that cost only $199, it is a great screen and certainly an upgrade if you are coming from last year’s Moto G.
- Software -
Motorola has kept their reputation of keeping stock Android alive with this phone. Everything is stock and the few additions that Motorola added to the phone are definitely appreciated. Active lock screen is still here and twist gestures are also back from last year. But what makes this different compared to other phones is the Amazon ad experience that allows it to be cheaper than a plain stock version. So, are the Amazon additions something that affects the experience? In short, not really. General usage is just what you’d expect from a typical Android phone and it is hardly noticeable that you have Amazon ads built in. Well, when I say hardly noticeable, I mean in general use. You will always be reminded of the Amazon ads when you unlock, which takes up the entire screen and shrinks to a notification when there are other notifications on the screen. You can easily replace the screen lock with something like the Next Lock Screen app (available on Google Play) and you can get rid of all signs of Amazon ads. Some apps are kind of bloatware, but they are all from Amazon so you can take it or leave it.
- Performance -
The Moto G4 comes packing an octa-core Snapdragon 617 paired with 2GB of RAM (at least on my version). This is still a decent package and seeing as most of the competition will be using this chip, there isn’t much to complain about. The phone works smoothly and games like Asphalt 8 and Pokemon Go run well. Benchmarks show that the Moto G4 is right in the middle of the pack, ahead of the Sony Xperia M4 and the Nexus 7 (2013). It falls short compared to the 800 series of phones, but the gap is slowly, but surely closing in. For the price, it definitely packs more value for money and keeps the phone running smooth and quick. MicroSD card support is always welcome, especially because it only has 16 GB of storage, which easily fills up. Battery life is too soon to tell, but today at work, it survived the entire day with constant use and it is going towards 5 hours of screen on time. This is looking good and I will update later to confirm whether it stays like that.
- Camera -
The 13MP back camera and the 5 MP selfie camera are good, but not the best available. The sensor appears to be the same sensor as last year’s Moto G. And in some aspects, it shows. Photos in bright light look vivid and detailed, contrast is good, and focus is really fast. However, dim the lights and grain starts to find its way onto images that look decent, but good. Low light shots are clearly this camera’s weakness with the sensor not able to grab onto details without creating a muddy image. The 5MP selfie cam works great for Snapchat and Instagram; great detail if a bit mute and flat. But for a $199 phone, it falls right into place within its competitors. Just don’t expect anything mind blowing.
- Conclusion -
Motorola has , without a doubt, made the best Moto G ever and the best budget phone. The design is good, build quality is excellent, and the camera is decent enough. The screen, while an improvement, is good but not great. Overall,I can’t find anything to fault this phone. But the real problem is the competition. Alcatel’s Idol 4 looks to be improving on everything the Moto G has and the ASUS Zenfone 3 looks really beautiful to hold. The Moto G has stock Android and the (sort of) promise of getting updates faster. But is that really enough to be the best budget phone of 2016? Only time will tell. If you need a phone now or just want a guaranteed good experience on a budget, then go ahead and buy the Moto G. But if you can afford a little more and want the absolute best, I’d recommend waiting to see if the Alcatel or the ASUS can deliver a solid experience.
Excellent piece of kit
By BlackLotus
Style Name: Prime Exclusive - With Offers & AdsSize: 16 GBColor: Black Verified Purchase
This phone, overall, is a good product when you factor in the price, specs, and use-case. I've owned many phones (a hobby that the wife disagrees with!). This phone will work for 95% of people and is excellent overall.
We'll start with the actual device:
The specs are clearly listed and all that jazz, so I won’t go over that. The phone feels well in the hand and I’m coming from the rather large Nexus 6. It’s a thin phone and while it is almost as tall many phones, it feels a lot less wide. I have big hands and thought I’d want the biggest phone. I have to say, phones like this Moto G4, are about the sweet spot for me.
The volume buttons are easy and I rarely push those as I set my phone to completely silent 98% of the time and once I’ve adjusted my calling volumes and such, I don’t fuss with them. It’s the power button that’s a bit more difficult and a sore point on otherwise great hardware. It is textured compared to the volume rocker, but even with that it’s almost undisguisable from it. I have a hard time pushing it with my right hand using my thumb, but left handed and using my index finger is much easier. I luckily hold my phone leftie mostly, so not a problem, but the button doesn’t push as easily as it should and it requires an odd angle. This is probably the only physical detriment to the phone – otherwise it’s great in the hand.
And yes, this base model Moto G4 comes with the turbo-charger. There was a lot of misinformation early on if that was included - it is.
Android OS:
This runs a custom version of Android, but it's pretty close to stock. Also, there aren't really any phones that run stock Android as Google's own line of phones runs many proprietary apps and code that isn't 'stock'. The basic apps are included and you get ALL of Amazon's related apps and services - even some that are essentially duplicates. You can disable what you don't want through apps settings. I did keep many Amazon apps and they are just the Play store ones and function quite well. I disabled a few of the other stock apps such as Google's music, videos, etc. I use other things for this and it saves memory on the phone and space in the app drawer.
The overall OS is snappy, it does lag a bit if you open larger/intensive apps or you are going through things quickly. If you keep your open apps to a reasonable amount (not 30 apps and 17 Chrome tabs) the phone runs just as well as my old Nexus 6 or other recent phones. It plays games fine, again there might be a jitter or two here, but I've had the best of phones do that.
The other included software stuff that is nice is an FM radio that Moto usually adds. Data may be unavailable or you may be on a limited plan and if you want music, this can be a life saver. I'd had an original Moto G back in the day and was on a tight budget - free music came in handy! The ambient screen feature is cool too. If you pull the phone up to you or out of your pocket, a mostly blacked screen shows and you can see the unlock area and any notifications you may have. It also shows the battery indicator with a % too!
The dreaded lock screen apps. I'm a bit torn on this as it doesn't work exactly like my Fire HD 7 tablet. That always has a nice add up, but you can swipe away as you open the device and I've never accidentally opened an ad. I haven't opened an ad on this phone yet either unless I meant to, but at times when you unlock the phone, it brings up the ad that you have to unlock again. This seemed to happen every few times I'd open the phone. It's jarring when you pull the phone up and the ambient screen is on and you unlock and BAM AD! I get it was why the phone was heavily discounted, but a lot of extra swiping is not fun. As a note - as of now, it seems Amazon worked around putting another lock screen app on to bypass theirs. You can do this, but their ads will still pop up after you unlock with the new lock screen. Additionally, and this is a major drawback to certain people, they've literally disabled the ability to bypass the lock screen completely. On any other Android device, you can change how you unlock the phone - swipe to unlock, PIN, fingerprint (if available), or you can choose none. If you don't pick any, when you hit your power button you go right to your home screen. Amazon has, in a rather crude way, disabled this. When I went in to try to turn any screen off, it just backs you out. Very annoying. It also says amz or the like in many areas pertaining to the software so they have put a lot of their own code into the phone. Updates for the device will be a TBA affair I guess - again I'll write back if more is discovered.
My phone did update already, a small 10mb file to 'improve calling'. I didn't have issues before and the update came a day after getting the phone. So, someone is pushing updates.
Screen:
The screen is pretty good and overall vibrant and sharp for the size. It's not a 1440p screen and it isn't the largest screen out there, but that's partially why I got it - I was tired of the phablet size and I'm a larger guy with big hands even. For the size and resolution, it's a very good combo though and my eyes don't mind looking at it. I've used all the special LCD screens and the AMOLED ones - I was tired of the eye searing colors on the AMOLED and the hard to read in sunlight and the burn-in issues. This screen, in the bright Phoenix AZ sun is very readable. Colors are pretty true, after I set the screen on the normal setting in the menus. It has a vibrant feature that, ironically, made the screen and colors look washed out.
Another HUGE plus for this screen is the fact I noticed no bleed through or bright spots. I put a black screen on in my very dark house and the brightness was uniform and I didn't see any light bleed. This is very impressive for a phone in this category. I've had flagship phones with these issues to the point it was annoying. I'll report back over time if this changes.
Also, the touch screen is sensitive, but not as sensitive as some phones. This can be good and bad. I'm always torn on what I want, but less sensitive means I'm not accidentally dialing the mother-in-law after I end another conversation, saving me time! Again, the touch sensitivity is uniform across the screen. Also, the screen is very resilient, no bending or spots that pop up near the edge.
Camera(s):
I'm adding this as an edit as I forgot about it! The camera is middle of the road, but takes very quick pictures. Moto has added more over the stock camera app such as sliding the zoom circle to adjust white exposure. They also added things like shake to change camera. The rear camera is quick as I said and takes adequate pictures. They are clear, HDR mode obviously helps with contrast and making things in the picture 'pop'.
The front camera is actually very good, especially given the mid-level specs of the phone. It's crystal clear and better than any other front camera I've had on a phone. It would more than suffice for the night out selfie or video chat.
Battery:
The battery life so far has been impressive. I got the phone out of the box charged pretty full (over 80%). I did the full set up, played some games, logged into my apps again. I'd say I was at about 60% after all that. I know that's not the most accurate without screen on time or such, but Android's set up and downloading a few dozen apps and updates over wifi is battery intense. As another review has already said though, this puppy heats up quickly. Charging it I noticed it got warm pretty fast and when it was downloading over wifi it got warm too. I've noticed it getting warm playing games, but this could be the battery and/or the CPU causing it - I'm guessing both. I will update if I notice battery life becomes noticeably worse before its time.
Connectivity/data/calling:
This phone can work on all 4 major networks and I'm using a GSM carrier. I won't review my carrier, as you can bring this phone to pretty much any prepaid or postpaid option out there. LTE is strong on this phone and data speeds are just as fast as my other phones I tested against in my house. VoLTE works well on this phone and is crisp as ever. The 3G (UMTS/HSPA) on this phone works well too and calling is again pretty clear. Speeds are also very fast. There is no carrier aggregation yet where I live, so I can't tell you how that works, but I imagine speeds are even better.
More specifics on the few calls I've made - nobody has complained about static or background noises. I hear them very well and the volume is acceptable to even a bit loud. No dropped calls yet and no data issues either. The phone paired instantly in my newer model car (car has built in Bluetooth). Sounds crystal clear over the Bluetooth and also streaming music played well. The speaker is also pretty loud and while it's only on one part of the phone (my Nexus 6 had stereo), it sounds just fine for a small device. It's not mind-blasting like front row to the Rolling Stones, but it's acceptable for calls and such.
Overall and conclusion:
Yes, this is a great phone at the price. Yes, you have to deal with Amazon ads but that was clearly a part of the deal. The phone is equal to a $600+ flagship in 95% of the ways and really the phone would work for 95% of people as I mentioned. It does show it a budget phone with the heat issues on the battery and/or CPU, but my old Nexus 6 did the same thing. It feels good in the hand and looks like any other slab style phone these days so it won't be turning heads, but does a phone need to? If you are in the market to upgrade from a couple year old phone or looking to replace a recent broken one, this is a great deal. If you have a newer flagship phone, keep it as it's equal or better than this most likely - but keep the Moto G line in mind when you want to upgrade in a couple years.
So, for the price that Amazon offers this with special ads and the overall package the Moto G4 offers, I’d say it’s a definite buy if you you’re in the market as I said above. It would make an excellent phone for a young teen, college grad, dad, wife, friend, or really anyone. It would also make a great back up phone for those times where you may want to use a ‘beater phone’ – ie camping, vacation, etc.
Edit on 7/19/2016:
A few more things - I've added a couple pictures. These are taken at night, I'll get some daylight pictures soon, but I figured indoor and low light pictures are more telling on how good a camera is. This one does surprisingly well still - it's well within or above this category of phone. The picture of the stuff on the table is in a well lit room with the settings all on auto - I did tap to focus as the only adjustment and upped the white a little to match the room brightness. The second picture of the TV is a very dark room with HDR on (flash cannot be on too) - it's not the best, but at least it looks 'OK' for a dark picture. The last picture of the bench/door were in a pretty dim hallway with the flash on (no HDR, again can't both be on).
The other, more egregious update is I had to get the phone exchanged already from Amazon. The issue I listed above about the power button was big - it almost wouldn't push it and I could only get it to register a push if I was very forceful and pushed on the top part. The replacement button is noticeably better and has much better travel and can be pushed easier - so there are some QC issues on the hardware here. Given it was a defect out of the box, I was able to get an exchange, but only time will tell about it lasting.
Edit 10/27/2016:
I used the phone on and off for quite a while - but I finally gave it to my mother. She broke her ancient Galaxy S3 (time to go anyway). We popped her SIM from the S3 into this, and off it went. Calls, LTE, data, all work very well on VZW too (I was previously using it on T-Mobile). She loves it and says it's great for her. No issues with the power button either, so hopefully the original one I received was a fluke.
Moto G (4th Generation) Hits the Sweet Spot
By Adamantus
Style Name: Prime Exclusive - With Offers & AdsSize: 16 GBColor: Black Verified Purchase
I've gotten a couple Moto G's in the past for my sons and they liked them so when the Amazon branded Moto G 4th Generation phone became available I jumped on it - the discount is nice and the first few days there was an initial extra $25 discount.I received the phone on the release day - July 12. I am using this on the Ting GSM network, which operates on T-Mobile. I put the Sim in and it simply worked. I didn't even need to change the APN - everything worked flawlessly - cellular service, data and messaging.
Pluses:
Nice 1080 display - I'm coming from a LG-G3 with a 2K screen and actually like this one better. It doesn't have the resolution of the high priced phone but to my 60 year-old eyes, the contrast is better -I know it's not using as much energy with the lesser amount of pixels.
Ergonomics - it's got a nice hand-feel. They've changed the design from the curved back which I thought would be more difficult to handle but it's still a pretty thin phone and I've had no problems handling it with my medium sized hands. The back is a very nice texturized rubber which is quite grippy. The sides however are a bit slippery. I solved this with a cheap thin cover. It's also a bit tall (see the CONS).
Sound- a lot better than I expected. Of course, it doesn't have Dolby speakers or even stereo speakers but it's pretty good. I can actually listen to this for a while without switching to my Jambox- it can get pretty loud without distorting much.
Connectivity - Once again, though this is a budget phone, it does beat my previous LG-G3. Bluetooth connects faster, and the phone connects more reliably to my office wireless network. It connected flawlessly to my car.
Quick charge. This phone has Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0 and a Quick Charge Charger comes with the phone. Very fast charging - I just came home with the phone on 63% and 20 minutes later it's on 89%. What a pleasure.
Responsiveness - I haven't noticed any stuttering, or sluggishness. I don't play games so I can't evaluate the phone for that. I love the keyboard response and you can dial in the exact amount of tactile feedback you like.
SD card capability - I always like the fact that one can add additional memory and the fact that Android can now configure an SD card as internal memory makes it even more valuable.
Camera - the camera is fine. I love when the tech reviewers have to compare a phone's camera to the highest performer. Of course a $600 -$700 phone will have a better camera. But this takes pictures that are just as good as the expensive cameras did a couple of years ago and the reviewers were happy with those.
CONS:
Lacks the fingerprint sensor - a nice feature but I can live without it.
Lacks NFC - so I can't use Android Pay. (though I personally haven't found many places that use it)
The phone has a lot of real estate at the top and bottom of the phone, about one-half inch above and one-half inch below the screen. I've had other phones which were not too much bigger than the screen itself.
SUMMARY
I've decided to move to budget phones from the high spec phones. I pay less initially, skip insurance, and don't sweat if it is lost or stolen. I can replace $150 without too much pain - $600 hurts. This phone, though inexpensive gives me enough quality and performance, that I don't miss my expensive smart phone at all. As I said in the title - this phone hits the sweet spot for me - I really like it.