The Australian 3G shutdown is driving a demands for turning over handsets. I see more than a few posts on that blue logoed social media website asking people for advice, bargains, hand me down handsets that will support 4G. Motorola has recently launched three new Moto G series 4G capable budget handsets. With thanks to Motorola we got the Moto g04 to have a play.
First Impressions
The moto g series has a pretty standard design language. I have reviewed a few in 2023 and the g04 is pretty familiar in the hand. Looking at the dimensions the numbers are just dot points in difference to other models in the family.
The review unit at my request is the Sunrise Orange variant, no surprises because it is on point with the DRN orange. I am happy to say the colourway is very eye catching in person. It is bright without being gaudy. It stands out without being obnoxious. Two metallic orange rings surrounding the camera lens and flash module catches highlights from ambient lights, a touch of luxury.
Motorola has stuck to the same formula in the overall design. The camera system is a bump in the back corner of the handset, the selfie camera in a punch hole in the middle top of the screen where the status bar is.
The fingerprint reader is on the power button. Motorola isn’t the only manufacturer that does this, and I wish it is more popular. It is a personal preference because it feels so natural when the device is in hand to rest your forefinger on it to unlock the phone. It does have draw backs because compared with an under screen reader because you do have to pick up the phone to use it.
Out of the box the g04 runs Android 14 with the 5 January 2024 update. This was pretty good (for Motorola) given the phone was launched late in March 2024.
In Use
I won’t bore you with the Android setup process. I must have done this a gazillion times and can do it in my sleep. Suffice to say there was no issues transferring data from another Android device across to the g04.
As a pretty standard feature in this space, the g04 rocks a tray that supports dual sims and a microSD card slot. A first for me in an review is that the microSD slot supports up to 1TB. Usually the figure is 256GB at best.
What I will note though is that during the review additional app step of the setup process, Motorola has decided to include Tiktok, Booking.com and LinkedIn as part of the base package. I can’t say I am overly happy about it given none of these apps are ever installed on my devices. I would much rather a clean system where the users add what they need when they need it. In fact this is the first time Tiktok has ever been on a phone I carry. On the good side, these are not baked in so you can just uninstall them afterwards.
The size of the g04 is tried and true. Weighing in at just 178.8 grams it is far from offensive.
Motorola as they have been for a while, stuck to a stock Android experience with their usual gamut of Moto features. In my previous reviews of Moto handsets, I have comments and lauded the thoughtful additions such as the palm control for camera trigger, chop motions and three finger screenshot under the Gestures banner. Some of these are carrying over into the stock Android experience but it remain a consistent and welcomed feature on the Moto handsets.
By default virtual RAM is enabled by Motorola. My review unit is a 4GB version so vRAM boost can be set to 1GB, 2GB or 4GB.
Whilst I did not stress heavily on the g04 in my usage, performance overall is decent. The g04 is powered by a UniSoC T606, which is an Octa-core unit with 2 x A75 cores at up to 1.6GHz and 6 x A55 core at up to 1.6GHz. This combination offers a mild performance bump over just utilising the firmly mid-range targeted A55 cores. The system is partnered with a Mali-G52 MP2 GPU, not surprisingly a mid-range graphics card to not blow the budget.
As I have said in every mobile handset review, I don’t play graphics intensive games. I have my little bits of distractions and that is it. You could tell by the specs that Motorola is at least attempting to have a biased towards entertainment.
In that respect the screen is a 6.56 inch HD+ LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate, 20:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1612 x 720 pixels. I am impressed by the viewing angle and there are no complaints on the colour reproduction. Even legibility under sunlight is passable, although here in Melbourne it is hardly the full summer sun treatment to test against.
Battery life
As is common in much of the Moto G line, the phone packs a 5000 mAh battery. For my very very average use as a second phone, it easily last most of two days. Pushing it a bit harder it still goes the distance for a full day. I know the teenager swears by the battery life of his ThinkPhone and he is always on it, be it music or doom scrolling or school work.
My review unit did not come with a charger, but the phone has support for 15W fast charging.
As expected at this price point, there is no wireless charging compatibility.
Camera
A single AI-powered 16MP camera at f/2.2 drives the main camera function. Putting aside marketing hype, cameras on mid-range phones are generally decent in good light, and just passable in low light.
One glaring thing I notice is that portrait mode, which is meant to blur the background, does not work without a Google One subscription. Other processing features that require processing on the Google side of things are also paywalled.
This puts the usefulness of the camera at a severe limitation, and I will point out that this is a Google side requirement. Processing and AI can salvage a quite a lot of ordinary photos and turn them into something with more zest.
As I had expected, under favourable conditions – outdoors, broad daylight, the camera performs reasonably well. The focus is so-so, better when things are in the distance. The imagery overall is sharp and colour reproduction is somewhat faithful.
However switching to indoors and still in daytime, there is a noticeable softness to the photos, with sharpness being an issue separate to an inclination to blurriness due to slower shutter speed. Even for me as a pretty seasoned photographer, it took quite a few tries before I could get a barely useable frame of my cat Tapioca.
At dusk or night time, the struggle to focus, sharpness and light balance are all pitfalls. Don’t just take a single shot here, do a few and delete the ones that are clearly unusable.
Close up shots are an exercise in patience and getting the focus right.
Overall I found the shutter to be a little on the slow side under most conditions.
It’s been proven time and again by far more skilled photographers than me, that the person controlling the equipment is key. That said, the final product is subject to the limitations of the hardware you use. No amount of skill will give you a poster size print worthy outcome from the g04, but the occasional happy snap or social media post isn’t out of reach.
Other Features
There is no full waterproof rating here. The g04 has a IP52 certification so it is protected with limited dust ingress, and an accidental splash or a dash through a drizzle won’t hurt it.
Motorola has also included a clear case to protect your device. Being transparent I could still show off the on-brand Sunrise Orange colourway.
The use of PMMA and synthetic resin for the back panel repels fingerprint smudges very decently. Far better than the clear case actually.
NFC is included for all those contactless payment convenience, or Myki finally if you are a Victorian.
Lastly the moto g04 will receive 2 years of bi-monthly security updates. There is no mention of any major version updates. And if Motorola’s track record is anything to go by, those bi-monthly updates isn’t going to happen on schedule. This g04 is yet to see an update from January 2024 security patch and it’s now second half of April 2024 as I write. Just calling a spade a spade.
Conclusions
Clocking in at $179, the motorola g04 responds surprisingly well. It is naturally limited by hardware that needs to fit the budget, but overall it was better than I would have expected.
It does make for a compelling contender for people who are looking for a lifeboat off their non-4G capable phones without spending the big bucks. And yes, I am going to say it again, the Sunrise Orange colourway is pretty damn schmick.
The moto g04 is available in Concord Black, Satin Blue and Sunrise Orange from JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Officeworks, Big W, The Good Guys, Bing Lee, Australia Post, Retravision, and Amazon, Mobileciti and motorola.com.au, and in Satin Blue at Telstra at RRP $149.
DRN would like to thank Motorola for providing the review unit.
