Motorola Moto G4 review

Motorola Moto G4 review: It's the ONLY budget smartphone worth buying

The latest instalment in the Moto G saga is a superb smartphone. A little large, perhaps, but for the money, it's basically flawless

The Motorola Moto G4 follows a long line of successful budget smartphones that stretches all the way back to 2013, but it’s got its work cut out in 2016. With Samsung and others joining the budget fray, the Moto G4 needs to do something special to maintain its position at the top.

Lenovo (the new owner of the Motorola brand) hasn’t made life any easier for the Moto G4 by bumping up the base price. The cost of 2016’s model is £169 inc VAT, up £20 on last year's Moto G (3rd gen). That might not sound like much – it's the price of a small round of drinks in central London, or a Domino’s Extra Large pizza – but it represents a 13% rise, which is not insignificant.

Motorola Moto G4 review: It's big, very big

What does that extra cash get you? For starters, a larger screen. The Motorola Moto G4 has a 5.5in display, making it a whole half-inch bigger than last year’s model. It’s now up there with the giants of the smartphone world such as the OnePlus 2 and the iPhone 6s Plus in terms of its dimensions and, there’s no denying it, it’s one hell of a slab.

Rather impressively, however, Motorola hasn’t just upped the size without considering the consequences. At the same time as embiggening the screen, it has slimmed down the case significantly, and now measures 2mm thinner than the Moto G3. The Motorola Moto G4 is a mere 9.8mm thick, and best of all it feels sturdy with it, with curved metal edges adding to the high–quality feel.

In terms of the overall aesthetics, it isn’t as brash and loud as previous Moto G handsets and, for me, that's a bit of a shame. I loved the rounded contours, ribbed rear panel and bold camera surround of last year’s model, and the more subtle look of this year’s Moto G4 feels like Lenovo is playing it a bit safe.

Still, if the plain black and silver finish you see in the photographs here doesn’t float your boat, it is possible to customise the Moto G4 via the Motorola Moto Maker website. In all, you have eight rear-panel colours to choose from (including black) and five “accent” colours, which should give you ample opportunity to add a bit of personality.

The only big downer when it comes to the design is that the Moto G4 isn't IPX7 water-resistant like the Moto G (3rd gen). It's still splash-proof, courtesy of a special coating, but don't go dropping it in the bath.

It’s also mildly disappointing to discover that there’s still no NFC or fingerprint reader (you’ll have to stump up for the Moto G4 Plus if that’s on your shopping list), so you won't be able to take advantage of the wonders of Android Pay.

Motorola Moto G4 review: Specifications, performance and battery life

The key reason for the Moto G family’s success has been the combination of sensible design and build quality with a keen sense of value, and the Moto G4 maintains that tradition. Inside is an octa–core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 running at 1.5GHz, and this is backed by 2GB of RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of storage.

First impressions of the phone are that it’s pretty responsive, but with the odd glitch here and there. There’s some lag while zooming in and out of images in Google Photos, while scrolling quickly through image-heavy websites isn’t as ultra-smooth as on more expensive handsets with 8-series Qualcomm chips.

There’s nothing here, however, to make you grind your teeth or curse under your breath, and in the benchmarks, the Moto G4 is clearly faster than last year’s model.

In fact, of the budget models I’ve pitched the Moto G4 up against here, it’s the Honor 5X that gets the closest in terms of overall performance. The Moto G (3rd gen) is significantly slower across the board.

On battery life, however, the Moto G4 has overall performance sewn up. Although the Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 is only a 28nm part, it seems to be highly efficient and, coupled with a 3,000mAh battery, comfortably delivers a day of moderate use. When we ran it through our standard video-rundown test, the Moto G4 lasted 13hrs 39mins, which is an above-average score and almost three hours longer than the Honor 5X lasted in the same test.

Motorola Moto G4 review: Display

In terms of its speed and battery life, the Moto G4 is a budget tour de force, and it continues that trend with its screen. Its 5.5in IPS screen has a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, and it’s sharp enough that you can’t see any pixels unless you squint really hard (or get out the magnifying glass). Best of all, though, Motorola has clearly spent some time perfecting how it performs.

In fact, for a phone that costs a good deal less than £200, the Moto G4’s screen is astonishingly good. Maximum brightness reaches right the way up to 540cd/m2, outstripping the best phones in this price bracket by a huge margin, and it’s almost twice as bright as its predecessor.

The contrast ratio is great, too, and although the sRGB coverage isn’t quite as good as phones with OLED displays (the Galaxy J5 and OnePlus X, for instance), it’s good enough that colours still look vibrant and easy on the eye. This screen’s only weakness is that it dims to only 22cd/m2 – if you’re in the habit of checking your phone in a darkened cinema, this will earn you the ire of your fellow movie-goers. Otherwise, it’s an absolute cracker.

Motorola Moto G4 review: Cameras

Happily, the camera is also great. You get a 13-megapixel rear camera with an f/2 aperture and a dual-LED flash for low-light indoor shots. There's no laser or phase-detect autofocus here (for that you have to move up to the pricier Moto G4 Plus), nor optical image stabilisation, but there’s no problem with image quality.

Photographs shot on the Moto G4 are packed with detail and well exposed. Noise is kept under control in all but the darkest of scenes, and the HDR mode works well to equalise extremes of shadow and highlight (as long as you hold the phone steady).

I especially like how easy it is to drag the focus and exposure point around the screen and adjust the exposure compensation to suit. The only problem I had was that autofocus was somewhat slow to lock onto a subject, and occasionally a little jumpy and erratic.

And don't kid yourself that you’re getting Nexus 5X or 6P levels of quality here. The Moto G4’s photographs lack the fine detail and low-light performance of those phones.

For the money, however, what the Motorola Moto G4 is capable of is nothing short of stunning, and it’s significantly better than the Moto G (3rd gen), capturing far cleaner, sharper and less noisy images.

Motorola Moto G4 review: Software

Of course, what usually puts the Moto G head and shoulder above its rivals is the quality of its Android skin, and the refreshing lack of any irritating or unnecessary eye-candy. Fortunately, nothing has changed on this front. The Moto G4 runs on a base of Android 6, and it looks, largely, as Google originally intended.

Motorola’s own features, such as they are, are mostly highly useful and unobtrusive. The gestures, for instance, which allow you to quickly switch on the torch by lightly karate-chopping the phone’s screen, or activate the camera by quickly twisting it twice in succession, are pure genius.

The Moto G4’s Active Display is just as handy. It displays recent notifications, the time and the date whenever you pick up the phone, so you don’t have to go fumbling around finding the power switch.

Motorola Moto G4 review: Verdict

As an all-round package, it’s very hard to find fault with the Motorola Moto G4. It may be a touch more expensive than last year’s Moto G, but since it’s better in most ways – with superior battery life, a better camera, a brighter, bigger screen and a sleeker, more grown-up design – you won’t find me complaining.

There may be some who moan that the Moto G is now too big, and yes, for those with smaller hands and pockets it may be a stretch too far. But let’s not get too hung up about what the Moto G4 isn’t and celebrate what it is: it’s one hell of a smartphone, and delivers more bang per buck than any smartphone to date. If you’re looking to spend less than £200 on your next handset, there’s simply no better choice than the Motorola Moto G4.


source: www.alphr.com

Xbox Scorpio

Microsoft's Xbox Two could be an Xbox One Slim E3 2016 announcement ahead of Xbox Scorpio

Move over Xbox Scorpio, Microsoft looks likely to unveil Xbox One Slim at E3 2016

Microsoft Xbox

Microsoft could be unveiling an Xbox One Slim during its E3 2016 press conference on Monday at 4.30pm BST.

While many believe that Microsoft is working on two versions of the Xbox One, one codenamed "Scorpio", it looks as if a smaller Xbox One unit has leaked online early. First spotted by NeoGAF users (h/t to Daniel Dawkins on Twitter), Microsoft's smaller console will be 40% slimmer, feature a 2TB hard drive and is capable of 4K video playback.

While Dawkins' Tweet states that it could be a hoax but seems "plausible in its relative conservatism", it looks as if more renders of this Xbox One S console have risen to the surface. An Xbox One Slim also fits with predictions of a price drop on the original Xbox One shortly after Xbox One.

Xbox Two: 7 facts about Microsoft’s Xbox Scorpio ahead of its E3 reveal

Since Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One four years ago at E3 2012, a lot has changed with its big black box. Not only has Microsoft backpedalled on its initial ideas for what a modern games console should look like, it’s been able to secure top-quality releases and gain some ground on Sony’s PlayStation 4.

Now, though, with rumours circulating around a successor to the Xbox One coming far sooner than we think, it’s time to look at what Microsoft is really up to. So, here are all the facts, rumours and hopes that we have for Microsoft’s next Xbox console.

1. The next Xbox isn’t the Xbox Two

Don’t expect Microsoft to call the new Xbox the Xbox Two. Not only does this not fit with Microsoft’s rather erratic naming convention, it seems likely that the new Xbox console coming to market will be little more than a hardware iteration, rather than a generational jump.

Rumours suggest that Microsoft is gearing up to release a slimmer power-friendly Xbox One console for the end of this year. Any new hardware is likely to come in 2017.

2. Xbox Scorpio is likely to be the Xbox Two

While Microsoft may not call the new console the Xbox Two, it looks like the next Xbox is in production under the codename of Scorpio. According to rumours, it will be equipped with a more powerful GPU and could include a larger 2TB hard drive. It’s also likely to be ready for 4K gaming but, as Kotaku points out, it won’t have an upgraded Blu-ray drive, meaning disc-based 4K games could take a very long time to load.
No, we don't mean that Scorpio

3. We should see Scorpio at Microsoft’s E3 conference

With E3 just around the corner, it’s looking likely that we’ll see our first glimpse of Microsoft’s new Xbox hardware during the show. Set to launch sometime in 2017, E3 seems to be the logical place to announce the new console, although it may decide it doesn’t want to overshadow the announcement of a slimmer Xbox One.

4. AMD CEO accidentally confirmed Xbox Two’s existence earlier in the year

During AMD’s earnings call back in April, the company CEO Lisa Su let it slip that Microsoft was working on a new console with improved GPU capabilities. While she didn’t let slip any specifics or dates, she did say the new chips AMD is developing were for “a different console or new console” from each of the major console players. She also said all new devices were expected to come to market by 2017 due to manufacturing “ramping up”.

5. Microsoft is working with Oculus on a VR-ready Xbox

It’s no secret that Microsoft and Oculus have been working together on other projects. Not only did Microsoft assist Oculus in designing improved lenses, but Oculus’ Rift is already compatible with the Xbox One and ships with an Xbox One pad in the box. Unfortunately, the Xbox One isn’t powerful enough to output properly to VR, so a virtual-reality-ready Xbox successor is almost a sure thing.

Despite Kotaku corroborating information on an Oculus partnership, neither Microsoft or Oculus are prepared to comment on the matter.

6. Oculus or not, Microsoft’s next Xbox will support VR

While it’s unconfirmed whether Oculus is working with Microsoft on a VR-ready console, we do know that a “major studio” is hard at work on an Xbox One VR title. Seeing as the Xbox One can’t support VR just yet, this is almost confirmation enough that Microsoft has something up its sleeve.

One NeoGAF user spotted that the E3 website also lists an “Xbox One Virtual Reality” category, with four developers listed. Rebellion, 3DRudder, Maximum Games and Readily Information Company are down as VR developers, but no titles are currently listed. Looks like we’ll find out more during Microsoft’s E3 conference.

7. Xbox Scorpio is the start of a much bigger hardware plan for Microsoft

The Xbox Two/Scorpio is set to be the first in many hardware iterations for the Xbox One. When Xbox boss Phil Spencer explained that he’d like to see consoles take on a PC-like evolution, he didn’t mean that Microsoft would be offering upgradeable Xboxes. Instead, this is the start of iterative hardware releases akin to Apple’s MacBook and iPhone upgrades.

Dubbed “Project Helix”, Microsoft’s dream is to converge Xbox and Windows into a single device over time. This means that, not only will games cross between Xbox and PC, but as Microsoft releases updated versions of its hardware, the games will still run across them but using Windows to scale the title to each console’s hardware capabilities. Essentially, how PC games or mobile apps currently work.


source: www.alphr.com