Just like its generic sibling, the Moto G4 Plus comes equipped with a FullHD IPS panel. It already has a resolution of 1080p, which marks a jump from the 720p in previous Moto G generations and we really can't expect Motorola to go any higher even in the "Plus". Otherwise, the price would have been a bit different if nothing else. Plus, it wouldn't really be all that wise to torture the Adreno 405 any further. But more on that later.
There are two color profiles here as well - Normal and Vibrant. They do differ slightly (mostly gamma correction) but nothing really all that spectacular. The panel on the G4 Plus turned out to be surprisingly good, but, interestingly enough, not quite as good as that on the G4.
It scored an average deltaE of 3.8 and a maximum of 5.6 in terms of color deviation in its top color mode, which just happens to be Normal. The biggest deviation in this case is for Orange. Switching over to Vibrant mode results in Magenta as the least accurate.
All this considered, however, the regular Moto G4 did manage to score even better with a deltaE of 2.6 and a maximum of just 3.7. This might be due to a difference in panels or perhaps the software calibration or even the drivers and controller. We can't really say for sure.
Contrast levels on the Moto G4 Plus also turned out to be impressive, albeit yet again only a nudge below those on its regular sibling.
Display test | 100% brightness | ||
Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
0.32 | 495 | 1560 | |
0.333 | 478 | 1435 | |
0.432 | 587 | 1359 | |
0.43 | 590 | 1382 | |
0.52 | 425 | 816 | |
0.42 | 403 | 953 | |
0 | 346 | ∞ | |
0.00 | 351 | ∞ | |
0.66 | 596 | 903 |
While decent, sunlight legibility of the Moto G4 Plus is nothing to phone home about. Plus, the front panel is a bit more reflective than we would have liked.
Just like its regular sibling, the Moto G4 Plus is available as a dual-SIM phone in some regions, single-SIM in others. Both have LTE Cat. 4 connectivity - that's 150Mbps down and 50Mbps up, and it comes in several versions with different band support.
Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac is supported along with Bluetooth 4.2 LE. There's no NFC, however.
The microUSB 2.0 port supports OTG so that you can hook up flash drives and other USB accessories to it. It cannot output video, and there's no MHL or SlimPort functionality.
The battery department is another area Motorola decided not to change in the Plus model. Both devices are equipped with a 3,000 mAh battery pack and make pretty decent use of it, considering the hardware at hand.
With an overall endurance rating of 70 hours, the Plus punched in a respectable score and one pretty consistent to its regular sibling. With over 20 hours of talk time, you can count on the G4 Plus as an all-day communication driver, if nothing else. However, despite its slightly dated and consequently less efficient Snapdragon 617 SoC, the budget handset did pretty well in the web and video playback departments as well.
Having an always-on fingerprint reader definitely takes its toll on the battery and the strain is reflected in the G4 Pro's standby time. On the other hand, the fact that we were forced to use a third-party and more efficient video player, boosted out video numbers quite a bit and offset the final result.
One thing that still grinds our gears with Motorola's approach to battery packs is their non-removable nature. Sure, we get that most other manufacturers are already way past the point of no return in this respect and, like many others, the G4 has a somewhat oddly shaped battery. But, if you are going to go through the trouble of making a removable back panel, we really don't see why you wouldn't go a bit further and make the pack user-replaceable. It would certainly make for a good selling point to put on the brochure. That's actually what they did with the Moto E3. But, we digress.
The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
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