Who has switched from a flagship device to the Moto G4 plus?

[leetrevor81]

I'm currently using a Moto Z as my daily driver. I love moto phones so much I want a Moto G4 plus as a secondary device. I'm interested to try it as a daily driver, at least for a while. I want to see if there are noticeable differences in performance. I think in the G4 plusses favour I might get better battery life.

Anyway, I'm curious to know if anyone has made the switch from a recent flagship to the G4 Plus as a daily driver. Did you notice a performance difference? did you switch back to a flagship as daily driver, or were you satisfied with the G4 Plus?

 

[Krolt]

I went from a 2014 Moto X, it was 2 years old and the 64 / 4 gig plus out performs it. I miss the build quality, back creaks on the + and the plastic bar around the edge feels very cheap.
Generally pleased with my decision though, good value for money.

 

[Matt413]

I'm coming from a Samsung S6 that I had for only 40 days. I had a Galaxy S4 which was used (I tend to buy last year's model) which I gave to my son. Then took my wife's 1 year old S5, and she got the S6 Active. My son then broke his S4 in kind of a freak accident. Read reviews and got him the G4 $150 from the Amazon. Very impressed
with the phone for the money. 2 months later my S5 goes into perpetual reboot (2 months ago) so I look for an S6 on Ebay. $310, WHAT A DEAL! The reason for my choice is for the Galaxy S6 camera, and secondarily the screen. It was awful. Camera lens broke within 3 days and I never dropped the phone. Half the time I couldn't make a call. It would just be silence on the line. And the dialer would not send tones to use for touch tone. So no listening to work or phone voice mail. And battery life was horrible. Anyway, I was able to get my money back and got the G4 Plus since I read the camera was better. After a week or so would say the camera is about on par with my S5. Good, natural colors, but not a real performer in low light. Anyway, no glitches, no dropped calls, better speaker, zero bloatware, no lag, and AWESOME battery life...at least with my moderate use. It doesn't drain much at all when not using it.

 

[somnambulator]

I switched from lg g4 (because lg g4). the moto g4 plus is noticeably, annoyingly slower. there are always delays for me when opening my notification shade. every single time. aside from that it's a fantastic phone. the camera could be better. the gestures to launch the cam and light are terrific. the aosp-ness is desirable. non-carrier branding is awesome. 64gb + sd card is fantastic (tho 32 internal would have been ok, maybe even 16 considering sd slot.) front fingerprint reader is clutch. I use it for so many apps and logins even though I rarely need it to unlock my phone thanks to smartlock (I pair a smartwatch 10 hrs/day). rear fingerprint readers are half useless when you use your phone 75% of the time flat on a desk or in a car dock.

if moto released a faster version of the g4 with no other changes I'd buy it immediately. it's got 95% of what I want in a phone, which is any 50% more than any other phone. I'd pay $400 ($100 more) for exactly this g4 with a higher-end soc, and I'd probably do that every year.

oh one last thing: Verizon. it's one of the very few unlocked phones available for Verizon and if you exclude Google phones it's the only unlocked phone for Verizon running an os resembling aosp. my next choice for a phone would be a compromise: pixel doesn't have sd slot and fingerprint reader is on the back and the unlocked galaxy runs bastardized android with too many worthless Samsung apps and os changes to count.

 

[mrsmumbles]

What do you mean clutch, "front fingerprint reader is clutch"?

I don't get the slowness you mention with the notification shade - I've never gotten that issue. What I get is that sometimes the phone doesn't respond to touch after sleep the majority of the time, or at least maybe 50%. or 40%.

But I love this phone for all the same reasons. I love the fingerprint sensor especially on the front. And I love the micro SD slot. I wish they'd have made a user replaceable battery too. I'm so sick of the built in obsolescence due to not being able to find and use a replaceable battery. Maybe they will get with that and let people keep and use their phones for longer than 2 years.

 

[richard_rsp]

What do you mean clutch, "front fingerprint reader is clutch"? ... But I love this phone for all the same reasons. I love the fingerprint sensor especially on the front.

I'm pretty sure "clutch" means "great/awesome" (or at least that's what I have understood). Anyway, I completely agree with you both about the front fingerprint sensor. My favorite feature is that you can turn it on/off with just laying your finger on the scanner - so nice!

My wife and I both had Moto Z Play's for a couple of months on Verizon (I LOVED that phone - it also has the same fingerprint reader as the Moto G Plus). We had to switch to AT&T earlier this week and when we did I tried (and returned) a couple of other phones with fingerprint readers on the back. A) the fingerprint readers on those phones didn't turn the phone OFF; B) it was irritating to turn the screen on from the back - especially when in a car mount. Needless to say, I ordered a Moto G 4 Plus 64gig yesterday and am looking forward to that button...err... i mean phone!

(Oh, and My wife went back to iPhone, but I have laughed at her a couple of times trying to turn her iPhone off by pressing the front button, lol!)

UPDATE: Decided to go back to the Moto Z Play. I just ordered an unlocked one from Motorola. For me, the AMOLED screen and MASSIVE battery life really makes that phone worth the extra $100 over the Moto G4 Plus. Had I not already seen how great the Moto Z Play was, I would likely be keeping the Moto G4 - but alas....

 

[mrsmumbles]

I don't have that ability of the fingerprint reader can turn the phone or the screen off. It sounds like a great function.
(Nothing happens when I put my finger on the scanner with the screen on.)

There seems to be a few gremlins in the mix for this phone, but it's such a great device that the flaws are overlookable. Maybe it has to do with the phones on certain choices from Moto Maker. I have the 64/4 model.

 

[richard_rsp]

I don't have that ability of the fingerprint reader can turn the phone or the screen off. It sounds like a great function.
(Nothing happens when I put my finger on the scanner with the screen on.).

Hmmm... hopefully that wasnt just a Moto Z play thing - that was SUCH a nice feature!

Edit - I did see in the Moto G4 Nougat Release Notes it says "Fingerprint sensor for screen lock (Moto G4 Plus only) : we've added a new setting to disable and enable locking the screen when the screen is on and you touch the fingerprint sensor. To access this setting, open Settings from the app tray, scroll down to "Security", then tap on the screen lock gear icon." - so it sounds like it may be part of the Nougat update.

 

[mrsmumbles]

Oh, OK. I hate updates. But I at least have some micro SD cards to put files on. I learned my lesson with the marshmallow updates on my older phones. I hate when all my data gets wiped off.

 

[mrsmumbles]

Hmmm... hopefully that wasnt just a Moto Z play thing - that was SUCH a nice feature!

Edit - I did see in the Moto G4 Nougat Release Notes it says "Fingerprint sensor for screen lock (Moto G4 Plus only) : we've added a new setting to disable and enable locking the screen when the screen is on and you touch the fingerprint sensor. To access this setting, open Settings from the app tray, scroll down to "Security", then tap on the screen lock gear icon." - so it sounds like it may be part of the Nougat update.

Oh wow, thank you for posting. I'm going to try it after it's done charging.

 

[Rinsun]

Hmmm... hopefully that wasnt just a Moto Z play thing - that was SUCH a nice feature!

Edit - I did see in the Moto G4 Nougat Release Notes it says "Fingerprint sensor for screen lock (Moto G4 Plus only) : we've added a new setting to disable and enable locking the screen when the screen is on and you touch the fingerprint sensor. To access this setting, open Settings from the app tray, scroll down to "Security", then tap on the screen lock gear icon." - so it sounds like it may be part of the Nougat update.

It is part of the update.Moto G4 Plus received the Nougat update in India end of December and I use the fingerprint sensor to lock and unlock my phone.

 

[Rinsun]

My favorite feature is that you can turn it on/off with just laying your finger on the scanner - so nice!

I discovered today that the Moto G4 plus locks with any fingerprint - it need not be the enabled ones.

 

[Rinsun]

Oh, OK. I hate updates. But I at least have some micro SD cards to put files on. I learned my lesson with the marshmallow updates on my older phones. I hate when all my data gets wiped off. ������

I don't think you need to worry.The entire process of Nougat update on the Moto G4 plus was very smooth and none of my data got wiped off.

 

[mrsmumbles]

I don't think you need to worry.The entire process of Nougat update on the Moto G4 plus was very smooth and none of my data got wiped off.

Oh, that's great to hear, thank you.

 

[mrsmumbles]

I discovered today that the Moto G4 plus locks with any fingerprint - it need not be the enabled ones.

I had that problem at first too. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong. In any case, that problem ironed itself out and it has been working perfectly ever since. It does sometimes make me also unlock with my pin, but that's cool; another security measure is a good thing.

But do look for my post about the fingerprint sensor about a month ago: it has some input by P. Diddy and it might help you with that problem.

ETA: my post was maybe a little longer than that, maybe 1 to 2 months ago.

 

[Rinsun]

I had that problem at first too. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong. In any case, that problem ironed itself out and it has been working perfectly ever since. It does sometimes make me also unlock with my pin, but that's cool; another security measure is a good thing.

But do look for my post about the fingerprint sensor about a month ago: it has some input by P. Diddy and it might help you with that problem.

ETA: my post was maybe a little longer than that, maybe 1 to 2 months ago.

I found your post and read it just now .I am sorry if I did not make myself clear in my post #12 on this thread . What I meant is that after the Nougat update on my Moto G4 plus I can lock my phone with any finger from the fingerprint sensor which seems to be legit ( I saw it today on one of the videos featuring the new features after the update).But for unlocking it has always been with the fingers which I set up on my phone.
I am very happy that I don't need to lock my phone with the power button now. The phone is working very well too with Nougat

 

[mrsmumbles]

I found your post and read it just now .I am sorry if I did not make myself clear in my post #12 on this thread . What I meant is that after the Nougat update on my Moto G4 plus I can lock my phone with any finger from the fingerprint sensor which seems to be legit ( I saw it today on one of the videos featuring the new features after the update).But for unlocking it has always been with the fingers which I set up on my phone.
I am very happy that I don't need to lock my phone with the power button now

Ohhh, OK. That sounds good. I'll have to try that after I get the update. I'm sure the Pixel has that too, and I'm so tempted, but I need the microSD card support. I want my phone to be free of lots of media/photos files, and large files, so I need that. But I don't want to go to Verizon for it lol.

 

[Rinsun]

Ohhh, OK. That sounds good. I'll have to try that after I get the update. I'm sure the Pixel has that too, and I'm so tempted, but I need the microSD card support. I want my phone to be free of lots of media/photos files, and large files, so I need that. But I don't want to go to Verizon for it lol.

Hope you get the update soon and can enjoy the new features . I too like to have the sd card support on my phone

 

[mrsmumbles]

Hope you get the update soon and can enjoy the new features . I too like to have the sd card support on my phone

Yes, I'm hoping the manufacturers/carriers will get the message. I doubt they will, but I don't want their bloatware
Either. I wish they would catch on. But meanwhile I'll keep buying unlocked phones, even if it means I can't buy the latest and greatest phone available lol.