Motorola Moto G4 Play: The Least Expensive G4
by Matt Humrick on September 6, 2016 8:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Motorola
- Moto G
Today Motorola announced that they're bringing an additional member of its Moto G4 family: the Moto G4 Play, to the United States. A refreshed third-generation Moto G (2015), it’s a lower-cost option to the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus. The phone has been on the market for a few months now, but previously was only available in developing markets like Brazil and India.
The Moto G4 Play shares many components with the Moto G (2015) it replaces. It has a Snapdragon 410 SoC that comes with four ARM Cortex-A53 CPUs running at up to 1.4GHz and an Adreno 306 GPU. There’s also 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 16GB of eMMC NAND storage that’s expandable via microSD card.
The 720p (1280x720) IPS LCD display is also unchanged from the older Moto G. At 5.0-inches,
the Moto G4 Play’s display makes it the smaller, lighter option relative to the other Moto G4’s and their 5.5-inch screens.
| Motorola Moto G4 Family | |||
| Moto G4 Play | Moto G4 | Moto G4 Plus | |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.4GHz Adreno 306 |
Snapdragon 617 (MSM8952) 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.5GHz 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.2GHz Adreno 405 |
|
| RAM | 2GB LPDDR3 | 2GB LPDDR3 | 4GB LPDDR3 |
| NAND | 16GB (eMMC) + microSD |
16GB / 32GB (eMMC) + microSD |
16GB / 64GB (eMMC) + microSD |
| Display | 5.0-inch 1280x720 IPS LCD | 5.5-inch 1920x1080 IPS LCD | 5.5-inch 1920x1080 IPS LCD |
| Dimensions | 144.4 x 72.0 x 8.95-9.90 mm 137 grams |
153.0 x 76.6 x 9.8 mm 155 grams |
|
| Front Camera | 5MP, f/2.2 | 5MP, 1/4" OmniVision OV5693, 1.4μm, f/2.2 | |
| Rear Camera | 8MP, f/2.2, AF, Auto HDR, LED flash | 13MP, 1/3.06" Sony IMX214 Exmor RS, 1.12µm pixels, f/2.0, AF, Auto HDR, dual-tone LED flash | 16MP, 1/2.4” OmniVision OV16860, 1.3µm pixels, f/2.0, PDAF + Laser AF, Auto HDR, dual-tone LED flash |
| Battery | 2800 mAh non-replaceable |
3000 mAh (11.4 Wh) non-replaceable |
|
| Connectivity | 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz), BT 4.1 LE, GPS/GNSS, microUSB 2.0 | 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz), BT 4.2, GPS/GNSS, microUSB 2.0 | |
| Launch OS | Android 6.0.1 | ||
| Launch Price (No Contract) |
$150 / $100 (Amazon Prime Edition) | $199 / $229 | $249 / $299 |
All of the Moto G4s have a 5MP front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture, but the rear cameras are all different. The Moto G4 Play comes with a modest 8MP camera with contrast autofocus. There’s no PDAF/laser AF, OIS, or dual-tone LED flash, but it does have automatic HDR.
Connectivity is also similar to the old Moto G, with support for 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi only on the 2.4GHz band. The more expensive Moto G4s also work on the 5GHz band. The Moto G4 Play has Bluetooth 4.1 LE but, like the other G4s, no NFC. There’s still a microUSB port on the bottom edge too. All three Moto G4s have an integrated Qualcomm Category 4 LTE modem and use MicroSIM cards.
The Moto G4 Play gets a larger 2800 mAh battery—larger than the Moto G’s 2470 mAh cell and almost as large as the bigger G4s—which, together with the lower-power Snapdragon 410 SoC and smaller screen, should give it decent battery life.
Styling is similar but not identical to the other Moto G4s. It still has a removable plastic back cover for accessing the microSD and SIM slots, but access to the battery is verboten. Unlike the G4s and previous Moto Gs, which offer several color and style options via Moto Maker, the Moto G4 Play only comes in black or white, at least initially. One feature you will not find on the front of either the G4 Play or G4 is a fingerprint sensor; you’ll need to step up to the G4 Plus for biometric authentication.
The Moto G4 Play is available for pre-order in the US starting today at Amazon, B&H, and at motorola.com for $149.99. It will also be available at Best Buy when it officially launches on September 15. Verizon also plans to offer a prepaid version of the G4 Play soon, and Amazon is offering a special ad-supported version called the Moto G4 Play Prime Edition for $99.99.
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Aritra Ghatak - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - link
Amazon India says "Shoot crystal-clear photos with an 8 MP camera in back—it features a fast ƒ/2.2 aperture and a camera sensor that uses larger-than-average pixels." My bet would be a 1.5 um 8 MP setup. Hope this helps.zeeBomb - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - link
It helps...a little. Still don't know if it's a Sony or Omnivision... gah trying to look for an AIDA64Hrel - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - link
no 802.11ac? Really? what year is it?TheinsanegamerN - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - link
People dont understand the point of a budget phone? Really? What year is it?Dude, what on earth do youneed 802.11ac for? Most people's internet connection cant even saturate 802.11g FFS. saturating 802.11n single channel is going to take decades. Even the, what on earth do you need 1Gbps for in a phone, especially a budget phone?
Morawka - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - link
AC has beam forming, and believe it or not, it works wonders as long as you have a AC router. There are other underlying features exclusive to AC, that is not in N, it's not just about speed.Samus - Saturday, September 10, 2016 - link
Missing AC isn't as puzzling as a 1x1 2.4ghz radio. I can't believe you can get that low spec of a radio with Bluetooth LE 4.1 support (one being a decade old technologically the the latter being relatively new spec.)5Ghz N is good enough for me, not for performance but just to free up my crowded 2.4Ghz network. Between my Sonos speakers, Dlink wifi cameras, smart garage door, and some other smart home accessories...all on the 2.4Ghz spectrum, it seems every additional device I add to it causes new inconsistencies especially with the cameras that need real time availability, all the time.
So I try to keep as much as I can on 5ghz like my tablet, phone, pc's, anything that supports it, often at the expense of range.
Murloc - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - link
most people keep the same router for 10 years or until they change ISP, and they don't use LAN to exchange files anyway, so they don't saturate whatever old standard they have.Public wifi is even worse.
fanofanand - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - link
I was all set to "BOO" this phone until I saw the $100 Amazon Prime price tag. If you are going to use ancient A53 cores, $100 is the right price point.hojnikb - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - link
A53 are not ancient cpu cores but are pretty much current go to for budget arm cores.xchaotic - Tuesday, September 13, 2016 - link
Do you foresee any actual performance problems with that CPU? I had thought about getting this for my (older) father, who doesn't know what a CPU is and probably can't even see 1280x700 pixels ;)2GB should be more than fine but I saw some reports of g4play appearing with only 1gb in some markets????