Today Motorola announced that they're bringing an additional member of its Moto G4 family: the Moto G4 Play, to the United States. A refreshed third-generation Moto G (2015), it’s a lower-cost option to the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus. The phone has been on the market for a few months now, but previously was only available in developing markets like Brazil and India.

The Moto G4 Play shares many components with the Moto G (2015) it replaces. It has a Snapdragon 410 SoC that comes with four ARM Cortex-A53 CPUs running at up to 1.4GHz and an Adreno 306 GPU. There’s also 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 16GB of eMMC NAND storage that’s expandable via microSD card.

The 720p (1280x720) IPS LCD display is also unchanged from the older Moto G. At 5.0-inches, 
the Moto G4 Play’s display makes it the smaller, lighter option relative to the other Moto G4’s and their 5.5-inch screens.

Motorola Moto G4 Family
  Moto G4 Play Moto G4 Moto G4 Plus
SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 410
(MSM8916)

4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.4GHz
Adreno 306
Snapdragon 617
(MSM8952)

4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.5GHz
4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.2GHz
Adreno 405
RAM 2GB LPDDR3 2GB LPDDR3 4GB LPDDR3
NAND 16GB (eMMC)
+ microSD
16GB / 32GB (eMMC)
+ microSD
16GB / 64GB (eMMC)
+ microSD
Display 5.0-inch 1280x720 IPS LCD 5.5-inch 1920x1080 IPS LCD 5.5-inch 1920x1080 IPS LCD
Dimensions 144.4 x 72.0 x 8.95-9.90 mm
137 grams
153.0 x 76.6 x 9.8 mm
155 grams
Front Camera 5MP, f/2.2 5MP, 1/4" OmniVision OV5693, 1.4μm, f/2.2
Rear Camera 8MP, f/2.2, AF, Auto HDR, LED flash 13MP, 1/3.06" Sony IMX214 Exmor RS, 1.12µm pixels, f/2.0, AF, Auto HDR, dual-tone LED flash 16MP, 1/2.4” OmniVision OV16860, 1.3µm pixels, f/2.0, PDAF + Laser AF, Auto HDR, dual-tone LED flash
Battery 2800 mAh
non-replaceable
3000 mAh (11.4 Wh)
non-replaceable
Connectivity 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz), BT 4.1 LE, GPS/GNSS, microUSB 2.0 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz), BT 4.2, GPS/GNSS, microUSB 2.0
Launch OS Android 6.0.1
Launch Price
(No Contract)
$150 / $100 (Amazon Prime Edition) $199 / $229 $249 / $299

All of the Moto G4s have a 5MP front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture, but the rear cameras are all different. The Moto G4 Play comes with a modest 8MP camera with contrast autofocus. There’s no PDAF/laser AF, OIS, or dual-tone LED flash, but it does have automatic HDR.

Connectivity is also similar to the old Moto G, with support for 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi only on the 2.4GHz band. The more expensive Moto G4s also work on the 5GHz band. The Moto G4 Play has Bluetooth 4.1 LE but, like the other G4s, no NFC. There’s still a microUSB port on the bottom edge too. All three Moto G4s have an integrated Qualcomm Category 4 LTE modem and use MicroSIM cards.

The Moto G4 Play gets a larger 2800 mAh battery—larger than the Moto G’s 2470 mAh cell and almost as large as the bigger G4s—which, together with the lower-power Snapdragon 410 SoC and smaller screen, should give it decent battery life.

Styling is similar but not identical to the other Moto G4s. It still has a removable plastic back cover for accessing the microSD and SIM slots, but access to the battery is verboten. Unlike the G4s and previous Moto Gs, which offer several color and style options via Moto Maker, the Moto G4 Play only comes in black or white, at least initially. One feature you will not find on the front of either the G4 Play or G4 is a fingerprint sensor; you’ll need to step up to the G4 Plus for biometric authentication.

The Moto G4 Play is available for pre-order in the US starting today at Amazon, B&H, and at motorola.com for $149.99. It will also be available at Best Buy when it officially launches on September 15. Verizon also plans to offer a prepaid version of the G4 Play soon, and Amazon is offering a special ad-supported version called the Moto G4 Play Prime Edition for $99.99.

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  • osxandwindows - Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - link

    Mean while in the world of the HTc 10 review.
  • osxandwindows - Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - link

    meanwhile*
  • kaidenshi - Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - link

    Trollololol.

    http://www.anandtech.com/show/10238/hands-on-with-...
  • K_Space - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - link

    That was a hands on - 2 page preview not a full review.
  • fanta666 - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - link

    In that review the author said another review with more details will be published soon. Been 5 months now.
  • WorldWithoutMadness - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - link

    A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.

    I think the review would come out 6 month before htc announcing the next flagship
  • evefavretto - Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - link

    Btw, the G4 Play was already avaliable in Brazil since early August.
  • Ryan Smith - Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - link

    Right you are. I think we didn't do a good job communicating that, so I've updated the text to be more explicit.
  • zeeBomb - Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - link

    Someone let me know the camera sensor used on the G4 Play...I'm desperate
  • Aritra Ghatak - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - link

    Me too.

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