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Motorola Moto G has always been the smartphone that offered strong performance, decent specs, timely upgrades, all at a reasonable price.
Back in May, The company launched Moto G4 series , though they really messed up doing a three-way split by launching Moto G4 , Moto G4 Plus and Moto G4 Play.
I have already reviewed the Moto G4 Plus and it's literally a budget king, You can check out Moto G4 Plus review. Recently I got my hands on Moto G4 Play and I have been using it since few days, Lets take a closer look!
Design
In terms of Design the Moto G4 Play looks exactly same as Moto G4/Plus. The Smartphone feels pretty premium and feels much better in hands. It comes in both Black and White color.The Back of Moto G4 Play has a Secondary microphone, Camera which has a led flash and a Moto Dimple which is little wide.
The Smartphone has 5inch IPS LCD display, 144.4 x 72 x 8.95mm dimensions and is 9.9mm slimmer . The Device is really very light ( Yeah even lighter than Moto G3 ) . There's a Microphone beneath the screen.
The Right side has a Grooved Power button and Volume rockers. The Top has 3.5mm headphone hack, at the bottom there's a USB Port.
The device has a nano coating which protects it from water splashes .
Specs and Performance
Moto G Play, 4th Gen comes out with 2GB RAM with 16GB Storage with MicroSD card support. Under the hood there's a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor with a quad-core CPU paired with a 450 MHz Adreno 306 GPU.
The specifications are not competitive at this price. The Performance is fast and smooth , Stock Android Marshmallow adds more sweetness to its performance.
The device has a 2,800mAh battery which usually lasts more than a day even with a heavy use .With Fast charging, It gets fully charged in 1 hour 45 minutes.
Camera
Moto G4 Play features a 8-megapixel Rear camera with f/2.2 aperture and LED flash . It has a 5-megapixel front-facing selfie shooter with f/2.2 aperture.
Admittedly, The Camera is not too great and The Images taken with Rear 8MP camera is quite muddy and too overexposed depending on the surrounding lighting conditions. Though the Front facing selfie-shooter shoots amazing selfies.
The New camera Application Helps to take some nice shots and One can even lit up the torch while taking Videos.
Software
The device comes out with Pure Android 6.0 Marshmallow and a Single Moto Application which has two options namely "Shrink Screen" and "Moto Display".
The Shrink screen makes the screen smaller for one-handed use, The feature was first introduced in Moto Z. Though There's no use of this feature in a 5" Device like Moto G4 Play.
The Moto Display which shows Notifications at a glance was always been a great feature.
The Disappointment is that There are no Double-Chop for Flash or Twist for Camera Options. Although You can press Power button twice for Quick Camera.
Pros and Cons -
Pros -
- Speedy , Smooth
- Light weight
Cons -
- There's No chop for flashlight, Twist for Camera
- Shrink screen feature is not needed in a 5" Smartphone
- Battery Drains faster when idle
- Not great Specs as compared to other Smartphones in this Range
Verdict
The Moto G4 Play is a nice device but not that "Great". The specs are not that impressive and there are other Better Smartphone available at this price range.
The G4 Play is exactly same as Moto G 3rd Generation with a new design and few add-ons. The 2015 Models was having a mind-blowing design.
Lenovo already messed up doing a three-way split of Moto G 2016 series. The Moto G4 and G4 Play was actually not needed to be a part of the 2016 Moto G series.
