The Motorola Moto G3 or the Moto G (2015) was regarded as the best affordable smartphone of 2015, following the same title earned by its predecessor, the Motorola Moto G2 or the Moto G (2014) the previous year.
So when the American smartphone maker launched early this month the Motorola Moto G4 or the Moto G (2016), fans have high expectations as to its chances of running away as the best affordable smartphone of 2016.
The handset maker actually deviated from its launching patterns in at least two major points.
Just like the launching of most smartphone makers, Motorola launched two variants of the Moto G4, with the other one being called as the Moto G4 Plus. That is the positive deviation.
The second one, which is more of a negative deviation, is when it ditched some things that the company was doing so well in the previous Moto G iterations, in favor of minor improvements and the Moto G4 Plus. As a result, the Moto G4 falls a tad short of the high expectations that the lineup has set over the last three years, reports the Deccan Chronicle.
A fine device on paper
Still, the Motorola Moto G4 is a fine device. And it looks like a solid and reliable performer at least on paper.
But unlike its predecessor which had an easy time running away with the title of the best budget smartphone last year, it looks like the Moto G4 will be in for some serious competition with the likes of the Lenovo K4 Note and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 for supremacy in the budget smartphone category.
The Moto G4 actually missed out on several things where the Moto G3 happened to have made good at.
Some of these obvious shortcomings include its decision to go for a flatter design, the absence of an IP rating, opting to use the fingerprint scanner only on the Moto G4 Plus and not on the Moto G4, having to see a Moto G4 and a Moto G4 Plus with the same 5.5-inch screen display size, and the absence of USB Type-C port.
Motorola Moto G devices are known to have curved backs which make them the best to hold in the hand as they can fit the palm very well. The Moto G4 came out with a flat back which was a big surprise and wonder to fans of the Moto G lineup.
The Moto G3 had an IPX7 rating and surprisingly the Moto G4 did not come with any so it is certainly a blow to the capability and feature of the device.
It is also a wonder why would Motorola scrimp out on a fingerprint scanner on the Moto G4 when in fact other budget smartphones already have such feature.
Releasing two variants with the same screen display size is the first thus far for a smartphone maker because the normal strategy is to have two variants with different sizes – just like in the cases of the Apple iPhones and the Samsung flagship smartphones so it still does not make sense why Motorola once again did the unthinkable.
The USB Type-C port is the way forward in the future of smartphone connectivity and it is about to become the new standard. Surprisingly, the Motorola Moto G4 did not have such feature and instead the handset maker settled with a micro USB port out of the box, leaving users stuck with a port that does not allow reversible input or high read-write speeds. Most of its other competitors in the budget smartphone category already feature the USB Type-C port so it is again a big question why Motorola scrimped on such feature.
A trio of Moto G smartphones
In India and other countries outside of the US, Motorola actually launched two Moto G smartphones this month – the Moto G4 and the Moto G4 Plus.
But in the US, the smartphone maker launched three Moto G devices in what critics described as a very puzzling lineup. These are the Moto G4, the Moto G4 Plus, and the Moto G Play.