Moto G4

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Hokiefyd

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Has anyone pulled the trigger on a Moto G4 yet? I'm looking seriously at this phone to replace my Droid Mini, which is starting to suffer from battery drain issues emblematic of its age (almost 2 years old).

The G4 looks massive, but that's about it's only downside for me. Seems that it has a good display, good software (stock Android), good performance, and a great price. Anyone with any hands-on experience?
 
No, but may have to at only $149 on Amazon. Unless there's a better deal out there. What phone carrier do you use?
 
You do get advertisements on that phone after you wake it up from "sleep". That's why it's $149.00

I have a Kindle that has advertisements across the bottom of the screen. Sam kinda of thing.
 
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I use Verizon (and am part of a family plan with them, and have no desire to switch carriers). I'm currently under a subsidized phone contract through December with my current phone. I'll keep under that contract no matter what I do...Verizon doesn't care if I use the phone I'm paying for or not. But, come December, I'll move to the Edge plan or whatever it is they call it now and pay only for my access charges, and not for the device. Because I'm starting to have battery life issues with my current phone, I'm considering just buying my own, and that G4 looks pretty tasty.

I would probably buy the $199 one. We have a couple of Kindles, and I think the ads are a little annoying. I don't think I'd like that for my phone. Best Buy has a $50 gift card offer on the G4 right now, effectively matching Amazon's price of $149, assuming I was going to buy 50 bucks' worth of stuff at Best Buy anyway...
 
Check out Cricket for a family plan...
Uses AT&T network - second to VZW around here, but dirt cheap...

Moto Gs are great phones - had previous versions, can definitely recommend.
 
The thing I like best about Moto G phones is they, at least through the current versions, have kept a pretty much stock image of Android on them. I don't like the skins from Samsung or Sony or LG, though LG's is probably the closest to looking stock. I can't warm up to the new Chinese start-up phones, though Motorola is certainly Chinese-owned now as well (Lenovo).

After a string of poor-performing Motorola Android phones, which drive me to the one iPhone I've owned (a 4S some years ago), this Droid Mini I have has performed wonderfully. I'd like to get out of a Verizon-sponsored phone, both to avoid the payments and the VZW bloatware. We're happy with Verizon as a service, and will not switch that, but an unlocked phone is appealing to me.

I've always read good things about Motorola's Moto G line. Seems like the G4 is no exception to that.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
The thing I like best about Moto G phones is they, at least through the current versions, have kept a pretty much stock image of Android on them. I don't like the skins from Samsung or Sony or LG, though LG's is probably the closest to looking stock.

If you like the pure Android experience, consider an unlocked Nexus (LG) 5x as well. It is slightly smaller and thinner than Moto G4 and slightly more expensive. No bloatware of any kind, and you get security patches faster. Downside of 5x is no external memory card slot, in case that matters.

I used to have a Droid Mini (actually Droid RazrM, which was its predecessor) and now have the 5x. Getting used to the larger size took some time, but I like it now. It works well and seems to be a quality build.
 
Pete, I do like the 5x, yes, but it appears to be about double the price ($349 vs. $199). Is there a cheaper way to get the 5x than through Google?
 
I upgraded in January from an HTC ONE (M7) to an iPhone 6+. I initially thought it was way too big to get used to, but a few months ago I switched back for a bit and couldn't believe how small the HTC felt (and how comparatively slow) it was. I still don't like iOS, but I've had zero need-to-reboot issues, and that worth something. I took the iPhone on a trip to Oman, too, and the video and pictures were amazing. I was also able to very easily facetime with the wife and kid back home.

Originally Posted By: CKN
You do get advertisements on that phone after you wake it up from "sleep". That's why it's $149.00

I have a Kindle that has advertisements across the bottom of the screen. Sam kinda of thing.


The kindle doesn't show any adverts at all while you read. If this phone is similar, I could deal with that...so long as the privacy settings don't enable anything more than your usual deletable cookies and such.
 
I've had nothing but bad luck with Motorola phones. Serious lack of features both hardware and software, and they really love to lock down their phones to make them hard/impossible to root and install better software.
 
a friend of mine recently bought a G4 Plus which is an amazing phone for the price point. Lot's of features, very nice IPS display.

I like how Motorola uses a pure stock Android. And Motorola used to be known for high audio (voice) quality.
 
Originally Posted By: CKN
You do get advertisements on that phone after you wake it up from "sleep". That's why it's $149.00

I have a Kindle that has advertisements across the bottom of the screen. Sam kinda of thing.


Thats the amazon ads version it was 124.99$

the regular version is 150$ no ads.
You can remove the ads with the debloat tool or a 3rd party lockscreen app.
(I have the ads version this is confirmed)

The snapdragon 617 is 8 a53 cores so single threaded apps can be kinda pokey
but games and anything multithreaded is pretty snappy.

Heck of a phone at the 150$ pricepoint.
Speaker is kinda bad for music.. fine for calls.
has excellent battery life.
no fingerprint reader
no NFC


Nexus 5x is on google fi for 199$ currently.

Activate for a couple days then turn it off and get a service refund and go to your regular carrier
https://fi.google.com/about/faq/#supported-devices-3

Quote:

For a limited time, Project Fi is offering a discount of $150 off our normal price for the Nexus 5X, with activation required. If you purchase a Nexus 5X from fi.google.com, the discounted price will automatically apply during checkout. You must then activate Fi service on the same account within 30 days of device shipment, or an additional $150 will be charged to your Google Payments account to match the full price of the device. There is no minimum activation time needed to be eligible for the discount.

This offer is valid until August 11th, 2016, while supplies last for U.S. residents ages 18 and older with a Google Payments account. There is a limit of 1 discounted Nexus 5X per customer, this offer cannot be combined with other offers, and terms are subject to applicable laws. The offer is void where prohibited.
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
Nexus 5x is on google fi for 199$ currently.

Activate for a couple days then turn it off and get a service refund and go to your regular carrier
https://fi.google.com/about/faq/#supported-devices-3


That's a great point--thanks for bringing it back to my attention. I looked at Fi a few months ago and decided against it for various reasons. One of the plusses, though, was the 5X at half price. Because there's no minimum activation period to receive the discount, I could try Fi for a few days, or even a month, and still come out way ahead.

I do like the 5X, but its lack of SD card support does bother me. I have been conservative with what I've installed on my Droid Mini because of its lack of SD card support. A 16 GB phone is really only about 11 GB once the operating system is installed, so it's not a whole lot of space. That said, I don't listen to music on it (other than Pandora), I don't take lots of pictures/video, I don't play games on it, I don't end up using a lot of storage anyway...

The features lacking from the G are features I don't use, anyway. I don't pay for things with my phone and I don't really care to have a fingerprint scanner, though it wouldn't bother me if it had one. I do see that the G4 doesn't have a separate loudspeaker...its only speaker is the phone's speaker, which just goes super loud if you want to listen to something like music or a video. I do watch a lot of YouTube on the phone, so that could be a downside.

The 5X at essentially the G4's price is appealing. If the 5X supported SD cards, it'd be a no-brainer.

The G4 uses micro SIMs and the 5X uses nano SIMs. If I activate a 5X on Verizon, will they give me a nano SIM to use? Or do I even need one on a CDMA network? I'm thinking I don't even need a SIM, but maybe these unlocked phones require one to work?
 
You need a sim. Verizon will give you one if you go to one of their corporate stores. If you go to a partner store, they will charge you for it.

Honestly, the speaker on the 5x isnt that great either. It does not get particularly loud compared to for example an iPhone 6. Still, not a deal breaker, IMO.
 
I discovered that if you actually put the $199 unlocked G4 in your Amazon cart, and proceed to check out, you get an instant $50 savings, so you get the unlocked G4 for the same price as the Amazon Prime ad version, $149. That's quite a deal, and I think I'm favoring it at this point. I have no idea how long this instant savings is good for, but I may pull the trigger today on one.

I've even read that you can get Best Buy to match the Amazon cart price, $149, and you'll still get the Best Buy $50 gift card, effectively making the phone a $99 phone. I may give that a shot.
 
I type this from my new Moto G4. Best Buy matched Amazon's price of $149 for the unlocked version, and still have me a $50 Best Buy gift card. Gotta luv it!
 
I soured on Motorola phones after the [censored] software update experience of my first generation Moto X. Yes, they run stock android but they don't update like stock androids do. I was stuck on Lollipop and the Oct. 2015 security patch until April. And then magically got the April security patch (but no Marshmallow).

I'm pretty much going all Nexus from here on out.

I think the 5x can be had for $199 with Project Fi activation. Not sure if they can hold your feet to the fire to stick to Fi since it is a month to month plan.
 
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