Motorola Moto E4 Plus Review

Name: Motorola Moto E4 Plus Review
Item: Motorola Moto E4 Plus
Rating: 7
Author: Preslav Kateliev

Posted: 30 Jun 2017, 07:24 , by Preslav Kateliev

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Tags: Motorola -Motorola + Android -Android +

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Introduction

In the world of smartphones, the true rock stars are often the top-tier heavy-hitters — your Samsung Galaxy S-es, your iPhones and Premium Xperias. These are devices that are filled to the brim with the latest and greatest in commercially available hardware and carry a justifiably high price tag for that. But there are also a few that become popular for going in the opposite direction — handsets that make the most out of the low-end hardware they're built around and provide the budget conscious with a surprisingly solid user experience.

Motorola's Moto G series is loved for just that reason — they are known as some of the best bang-for-the-buck phones you can go for, with a snappy interface and good camera performance. But there's also the Moto E family of handsets. On one hand, they have always been even more affordable than the Moto Gs, but on the other, they have had the reputation of phones that don't shine in any one department beyond pricing.

With the introduction of this year's Moto E4, Motorola added a Plus variant, with a higher-resolution camera sensor and a massive, 5,000 mAh battery. It seems that, for the first time in the line's existence, it may have its own heavy-hitter all while not breaking the bank. Let's take a closer look at it and see what it's about.

In the box:

Moto E4 Plus
Charger with fast charge support
Micro USB data cable
Quick guide booklet

Design

The E series gets its fingerprint badge

Without meaning to sound mean, we'd describe the Moto E4 Plus as an adorable little brick. Yes, it's back cover is made of metal and its matte finish feels nice to the touch. However, in today's smartphone world, we would say that its design looks just “plain” and it's a bit too chunky, though that's understandable given the 5,000 mAh cell that it holds inside. Do not get us wrong, we are by no means calling it “ugly”, but rest assured that it won't be turning any heads when laid down on a table.

In an unforeseen turn of events, the camera module at the back is not a protruding hump, but a caved-in dimple. Our minds are at ease that laying the phone down on a hard surface would not result in any damage to the camera lens, which we appreciate, but we fear that the circular pocket's rough edges may eventually get filled with dust and grime, which would be hard to get out. We wish the dimple had more of a slant to its walls, making it easier to for dust to just slide out.

The power button and volume rocker are clicky, with a nice amount of travel to them, but we did find their positioning to be slightly awkward for the way the phone handles. The fingerprint scanner is a new addition to the Moto E family and can double as a full replacement for the phone's virtual navigational buttons. It's placed in a nicely beveled ellipse under the screen and finding it by touch feels satisfying every time.

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+ 8 images

Front view | Side view

6.1 x 3.05 x 0.38 inches
155 x 77.5 x 9.55 mm
6.38 oz (181 g)

Motorola Moto E4 Plus

5.78 x 2.79 x 0.33 inches
146.9 x 70.9 x 8.4 mm
4.94 oz (140 g)

HTC Desire 650

5.91 x 2.91 x 0.38 inches
150.2 x 74 x 9.7 mm
5.47 oz (155 g)

Motorola Moto G5 Plus

6.14 x 3.03 x 0.36 inches
156 x 77 x 9.1 mm
6.53 oz (185 g)

ZTE Blade V8 Pro

To see the phones in real size or compare them with other models, visit our Visual Phone Size Comparison page.

Display

A phablet screen that doesn't get a phablet's resolution

So, as hinted by the name, the Moto E4 Plus is the bigger phone in the new Moto E pair. It carries a 5.5-inch screen, effectively making it the phablet of the duo. However, since it didn't get an appropriate boost in resolution, it still has 720 x 1280 pixels stretched across its screen making for a PPI density of 267. Seeing as today's handsets often have a super-sharp image, we dare say that this is noticeable to the point of being slightly irking.

That aside, the display's colors are also consistently off target. Thankfully, nothing is oversaturated, but you definitely shouldn't be doing any shopping for clothes on this device. The screen's temperature is also slightly cold and there's an ever-present tealish tint to it. It's not a constant annoyance and may go unnoticed by the untrained eye, so we'd say we are within the acceptable margins of budget display drawbacks.

As for brightness, the Moto E4 Plus' display performs great — with a maximum of 395 nits and a minimum 6 nits, neither daytime viewing nor nighttime reading will feel uncomfortable.

Display measurements and quality

	Maximum brightness (nits)Higher is better	Minimum brightness (nits)Lower is better	Contrast Higher is better	Color temperature (Kelvins)	Gamma	Delta E rgbcmy Lower is better	Delta E grayscale Lower is better
Motorola Moto E4 Plus	395 (Average)	6 (Good)	1:823 (Average)	7288 (Good)	2.01	3.95 (Good)	5.04 (Average)
HTC Desire 650	361 (Average)	13 (Poor)	1:1559 (Excellent)	6953 (Excellent)	2.3	4.01 (Average)	2.81 (Good)
Motorola Moto G5 Plus	581 (Excellent)	6 (Good)	1:1274 (Excellent)	7989 (Average)	2.21	6.07 (Average)	6.79 (Average)
ZTE Blade V8 Pro	502 (Excellent)	4 (Excellent)	1:1340 (Excellent)	8050 (Poor)	2.36	4.98 (Average)	8.08 (Poor)

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The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set (area) of colors that a display can reproduce, with the sRGB colorspace (the highlighted triangle) serving as reference. The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x: CIE31' and 'y: CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.

These measurements are made using SpectraCal's CalMAN calibration software.

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Interface and functionality

Related phones

PhoneArena rating:

7 Good

User rating:

6 Good

Motorola Moto E4 Plus Compare

Specifications News^[17]

Rivals Photos

Size it Videos

9 Comments

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posted on 30 Jun 2017, 07:44

1. NickHill (banned) (Posts: 388; Member since: 07 May 2016)

"with a maximum of 680 nits and a minimum 2 nits" then why 395 nits and 6 nits in the list?

posted on 30 Jun 2017, 08:35

2. paul.k (Posts: 243; Member since: 17 Jul 2014)

Looks like we have a polterGates running amuck, changing up numbers at random. Thanks for catching it!

posted on 30 Jun 2017, 10:19

3. shamrock_sean (Posts: 37; Member since: 27 Apr 2017)

I recently purchased one of these in the UK which has 3 gig ram & sadly found it stuttery at times. Could be the processor I think. Also found the signal strength terrible which was a surprise for Motorola. The screen despite what Phone Arena stated is nice and bright,colourful and doesn't look pixelated. I returned the handset cos of poor signal

posted on 30 Jun 2017, 12:53

4. Mr.mobile (Posts: 130; Member since: 09 Mar 2017)

Again just 13h SOT with 720p screen and 5000mah battery, when can I see 20hours of SOT

posted on 30 Jun 2017, 23:23

5. Mr.mobile (Posts: 130; Member since: 09 Mar 2017)

I wonder ever year they say we have improved by 15-20% faster charging speed look from quick chager 3-4 they are same not much improved , a 4000mah battery should charger from 0-100% in 70 minutes in half and hour 65% and a 4000mah battery phone with 5-5" 1080p super amoled screen should give a battery life of 20hours of phone arena SCreen on time (SOT) and gsmarena battery should be have
3G TT- 30H
Web browsing -18H
Video playback - 25H

There are no improvement from 2 years not even in SD 820,SD821,Sd835,A9,A10 where is battery life high end SOC makers

posted on 30 Jun 2017, 23:40

6. Mr.mobile (Posts: 130; Member since: 09 Mar 2017)

And one more thing there are lot of soc but still why would you people won't give us best of 2017 like mi phone only have good soc that's it , example we need
Latest soc even far entry level category $100 like SD 430,SD435 Sd 450
Budget catagory far $200-250 SD625,SD626,SD630 Mediatek helio P20,P25
Mid flagship far $300-350- Helio x25 ,x30 ,SD630,
Flagship Sd 835
And each every android phone should have this
Corning goirla glass
Metal unidoy 6000-7000series aluminum
Volte
Dual sim+Sd card support
Front flash
Fast charging
Super amoled display
USB- type c
Quick charge 2.0-3.0-4.0 charger in a box
Good in earphones
Bluetooth 5
Latest android os 7.1.2 with latest security update and even far budget catagory phone of $100 should get uoto 2 years of Android updates in month of NOV

posted on 02 Jul 2017, 11:23

7. euskalzabe (Posts: 1; Member since: 02 Jul 2017)

For ~$200, seems like the Asus Zenfone 3 Laser is a much better option than this Moto E4 Plus.

posted on 27 Jul 2017, 04:15

8. RAJESHPANCHAL (Posts: 1; Member since: 27 Jul 2017)

This motorola e4 plus one issue is there ... while mobile ideal or screen off u are not received any call from any operator this is software issue...voltee not working.

posted on 21 Aug 2017, 05:37

9. smithellison (Posts: 3; Member since: 02 Feb 2017)

Gretel GT6000 Vs Moto E4 Plus
From the specs, both phones look similar: quick charger, front fingerprint sensor, 5MP front camera with selfile flash and 2GB RAM. However, the Gretel GT6000 offers up a bigger battery life, dual rear cameras, fashion colors and lower price than Moto E4 plus. From a design perspective, they're both solid, made from a combination of metal and plastic.
At last, if you want a dual rear cameras phones with bigger battery smartphone and lower price, the Gretel GT6000 is perfect for you.

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Motorola Moto E4 Plus

OS: Android 7.1
view full specs

PhoneArena rating:

7Good

Display	5.5 inches, 720 x 1280 pixels (267 ppi) IPS LCD
Camera	13 megapixels
Hardware	Qualcomm Snapdragon 427, Quad-core, 1400 MHz, ARM Cortex-A53 processor 2 GB RAM
Size	6.10 x 3.05 x 0.38 inches (155 x 77.5 x 9.55 mm) 6.38 oz (181 g)