Moto G4 review

Battery performance from the Moto G4 is about average. Motorola is claiming 24 hours, but, as with most such claims, how true this is will depend very much on how you use your phone.

The G4 packs a 3000mAh cell, compared to the 2470mAh battery in the previous Moto G, with the extra capacity powering the improved performance and higher-quality screen.

I regularly got through to the end of the day without having to put the Moto G4 on charge, with 10-20% battery remaining. It wouldn't have kept going for much longer though, and it certainly wouldn't have managed a full 24 hours.

I ran the usual TechRadar video test, which involved playing a 90-minute video at full screen brightness and with connectivity options on.

It completed the test having lost 17% of its battery, beating the Moto G (2015) by 2%. So the test suggests that the battery has improved again, and I found that to be true in day-to-day usage as well.

I should mention here that the cell in the Moto G4 is non-removable, so you won't be able to hot-swap it out when you're running low.

Motorola has also taken steps to improve things on the battery front by including fast-charging technology for the first time – the only trouble is, the compatible charger isn't included in the box.

You'll need to buy one for £24.99/US$34.99 to be able to use the fast-charging feature which, according to Motorola, can give you six hours of juice for just 15 minutes plugged in.

It's a shame that you need to spend extra to enjoy the benefits of fast charging, especially as the Moto G4 Plus comes with the fast charger included in the box, and that phone only costs about £30/US$40 more.

Music and movies

The front-facing top-and-bottom speaker setup from the previous Moto G has been dropped in favor of a single speaker at the top of the phone, and I didn't find that I lost anything in the way of sound quality.

In fact, I was pretty impressed by the loudness and clarity of the Moto G4's audio, considering it's a budget device.

The media apps on the Moto G4 are all the usual Google varieties – if you launch a video, for example, it'll automatically play through Google Photos.

Music-wise you can play files on your phone, or stream songs and podcasts, via Google Play Music. I downloaded Spotify and Pocket Casts right away though, as those are the audio apps I regularly use.

When it comes to storing apps and media on your phone, be aware that Android 6 Marshmallow takes up 5.2GB of the native space on the G4, so if you go for the 16GB version you'll only have about 11GB to play with for apps and media before you need to reach for a microSD card.