Motorola e4 plus review reviews specifications. Motorola E4 Plus review. Inexpensive phablet with a capacious battery. Simple camera, simple sound

The Motorola MOTO E4 Plus smartphone is an updated model that received a powerful quad-core processor, a metal body with elegant curves and a large IPS screen. One of its most important advantages can be called a battery with a capacity of 5000 mAh, designed for active use of the device for two days. It supports fast charging technology, so the user does not have to spend a lot of time preparing for various trips and travels.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES
The new MOTO E Plus received a fingerprint scanner that works in a split second. It restricts access to the user's personal data, and also speeds up access to secure areas and allows you to make fast secure payments. The nanotechnical coating of the case makes the smartphone resistant to moisture.

ONLY QUALITY PICTURES
The device is equipped with two cameras with a resolution of 13 and 5 megapixels. Both are equipped with bright LED flashes and fast lenses that make photos clear and contrast, regardless of the light level. They can shoot in HDR mode, which improves the color saturation of the frame, and automatically improve the quality of portraits.

WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS
The smartphone is compatible with high-speed 3G and 4G mobile networks. It is equipped with a GPS antenna for access to navigation services and a Bluetooth low power adapter, perfect for working with sports gadgets.

Live photos

Specifications

• Android 7.1.1
• Screen 5.5 inches, TFT IPS, 1280x720 pixels, 267 ppi, 2.5D, automatic brightness control
• Chipset MediaTek MT6737, 4 cores up to 1.3 GHz, GPU Mali T720
• 3 GB RAM, 16 GB built-in, microSD memory cards up to 128 GB
• Li-Ion 5000 mAh battery, support for proprietary 10 W fast charging
• Front camera 5 megapixels, f/2.4, coverage angle 84 degrees, fixed focus, flash
• Primary camera 13 megapixels, f/2.0, autofocus, 78-degree coverage, continuous shooting, HD video recording
• Sensors - position, proximity, lighting
• Fingerprint sensor
• Two nano SIM cards
• Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, USB 2.0 (microUSB connector)
• GPS/A-GPS
• LTE cat.4, band 1/3/5/7/8/20
• Body colors - metallic gray, gold
• Dimensions - 155x77.5x9.55 mm, weight - 198 grams

Contents of delivery

• Smartphone
• Charger with USB cable
• Wired stereo headset
• Instruction

Positioning

Motorola (owned by Lenovo) is having a tough time, not only needing to get back into a market that has gone ahead for years, but to compete with everything from the biggest companies to the smallest Chinese manufacturers. The fact that Motorola belongs to Lenovo automatically refers the company to Chinese manufacturers, although all the development is concentrated in the USA, as well as the American design, it is in common with all past devices. On the other hand, Motorola is trying not only to refresh the memory of customers, but also to attract those who have never used the company's devices. The task, taking into account the level of competition, is daunting, but in it Motorola has relied on a wide range of models and the absence of price dumping. For those who are always looking for the most optimal device in terms of price / quality ratio, the budget line with the E index will seem fairly expensive. And here the question arises, how do they see themselves in the market at Motorola. The answer is obvious - the company does not see Chinese brands as its competitors, for example, Meizu, Xiaomi and others, including Huawei and ZTE, but positions its products below Samsung, but above the Chinese. In the face of fierce competition, this is a bold decision, as it automatically limits current sales, but allows you to hope to build the same brand, as well as its perception in the long term. How Motorola succeeds is unknown, but for now we will discuss the current product, Moto E4 Plus, which acts as a device with a large battery and aimed at an audience of those who are looking for pure Android and maximum battery life. This model is for people who need a workhorse for relatively little money.

Design, dimensions, controls

The budget line from Motorola has been looking approximately the same for many years, some design elements change, but the contours of the case remain well recognizable. The model under consideration is available in two colors - metallic gray and gold. There was a golden device on the review, but I like the gray color of the phone more, it is noticeably more interesting.

In other countries, there is also a dark blue body color, which I also really like.

Depending on the country, the design of the back cover may differ slightly, pay attention to the device that is sold in the USA, it has completely different inserts on the case, a different arrangement of microphones. These are not just cosmetic changes, there is a different board inside and the characteristics are very different, however, more on that below.

The body of the model is made collapsible, that is, you can remove the cover without any tricks. On the cover, the upper and lower parts have plastic inserts for antennas (the rest is a metal plate), but they are not conspicuous. It's nice that the main camera module does not protrude from the body and is on the same level with it.

Inside you can see a non-removable battery, as well as two nanoSIM slots and one for a memory card.

The dimensions of the phone are 155x77.5x9.55 mm, the weight is 198 grams, it is heavy, feels like a bar in the hands, and does not slip at all due to its weight. But despite the fact that even a child can cope with it, nevertheless, the weight becomes a noticeable difference from many other devices, here it is noticeable. A massive device, and someone will like it, but someone, on the contrary, will consider it a serious drawback.

Compared to Moto E4

You can see a “button” on the front panel, in fact it is a fingerprint scanner, and it does not support any pressing. There are no touch buttons on the sides of it, that is, the keyboard is always displayed on the screen. The scanner supports motion processing, as in older models, that is, you can completely remove the navigation keys.

On the right side there is a paired volume rocker and an on/off button. On the top end there is a 3.5 mm jack for a headset, on the bottom end there is a microphone, a microUSB connector, and a speaker.

The build quality of the device is excellent and does not cause any complaints. For its level, the smartphone has typical materials, and there are no cons.

Display

The screen specifications are as follows: 5.5 inches, TFT IPS, 1280x720 pixels, 267 ppi, 2.5D, automatic brightness control. The maximum brightness in automatic mode is 550 nits, in manual mode - 350 nits. The display may not boast that it is the brightest, but in the settings you can choose one of the color temperature options.

The fact that the protective glass is 2.5D and the screen has a good oleophobic coating should be written down as a plus for the device. On the downside - only HD-resolution with a diagonal of 5.5 inches, many classmates can already boast of FullHD-resolution.

This is not the best screen in its class, it obviously lacks brightness in most situations, the color reproduction is not very correct in most cases, but the fact that the colors are not flashy, the device saves. For those who just use the phone for normal business, rarely watch movies or photos, the display will not cause any inconvenience.

In the sun, the screen remains readable, but one cannot say that it is comfortable.

Battery

The built-in Li-Ion battery is non-removable, has a capacity of 5000 mAh. The fact that the manufacturer calls the standard charger "fast" is not entirely true, this is a typical 5.2V / 2A charger. The full charging time with a regular device is about 4 hours, which cannot be called fast charging. In the US, the same model is sold on a Qualcomm chipset, and it supports Quick Charge charging, which takes up to two hours, that is, twice as fast.

The next point is the screen time. Continuous playback of HD video in MX Player at maximum brightness gives just over 11 hours of operation. This is far from the records and is due to the high power consumption of both the screen and the chipset.

On average, the device worked for me for about two days with moderate use (up to 2.5 hours of screen operation), while using navigation, browsing, social networks, watching video minimally and listening to music for about two hours. Not too impressive results, but the old chipset crosses everything out. In the American version of this device, the results are noticeably better.

Memory, RAM, chipset and performance

The device has 3 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal memory (there are options for 32 GB, but they were not brought to Russia), memory cards up to 128 GB. Chipset MediaTek MT6737, 4 cores up to 1.3 GHz, GPU Mali T720. Unfortunately, in the European version, the chipset and its choice are strange, this is an old and not the most optimal solution, which is associated with budget models of small manufacturers, it is unexpected for a company like Motorola to see such a solution in such a device. In the US, the device uses Snapdragon 427, which is a cut above and better than what we see in our version. It's a shame, because if we had a device based on Qualcomm, and it would be perceived much better, it would correspond to its price to a greater extent.

Performance is typical, the phone lacks stars from the sky, which, however, you can see in synthetic tests. In most operations, there are no slowdowns, the device works more or less quickly, but you definitely shouldn't expect an instant reaction to everything.

Connectivity – USB, Bluetooth, GPS and more

To begin with, unfortunately, only one range is supported for Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, which is sad. On the other hand, this device supports NFC (and Android Pay), the US version does not have this technology. USB 2.0 version.

As for navigation, it is worth noting the features of the device, which are typical for the used chipset and not always correctly placed antenna. In a big city, the definition of coordinates, as well as the direction of movement, its vector, can walk. You have to calibrate the device all the time, but this is a constant story that repeats itself from time to time. In general, the GPS performance is satisfactory, but nothing more.

Camera

A very simple interface that does not offer anything beyond what is necessary.

The front camera has a flash, but the image quality is very average.

The main camera is 13 megapixels, but the pictures even on a sunny day are very mediocre, as well as the maximum video resolution is only 720p, which is frustrating. From a camera perspective, this is a weak solution, as you can see below.

Software Features

Motorola prefers to use pure Android with minimal changes. In this device, they are almost non-existent. You can read an overview of Android and its standard features in a separate article.

Let's start the story about the features of the device with the fact that the phone has the Moto application, in which you can configure the fingerprint scanner so that it replaces the navigation keys on the screen.

For the screen, you can set the night mode (blue filter), it will work according to the schedule. You can also turn on Motorola notifications when notifications appear on the lock screen and you can select them to quickly navigate to the application.

The built-in FM-radio works with the headset, broadcast recording is supported according to the schedule, there is RDS support. The radio works well, there are no complaints.

There is no separate application for playing music, this is Google's Play Music, but Dolby Atmos is present, a set of equalizers that can change the sound of the device. Complete headphones can be safely thrown away immediately, they are none. Using good headphones will not give you anything, the device is very average in sound. You can’t call it musical, it is suitable for unassuming users.

Impression

As for the quality of communication, I have no complaints about the device, everything works fine, the interlocutor hears you well even on a noisy street. It is not very clear how the noise reduction system works, or the second microphone is only for video recording (the latter is more likely), but for a device of this level, everything is fine here.

I have very mixed impressions of the Motorola E4 Plus, because I don't like that it has the MT6737, which was found in devices costing up to 10,000 rubles all last year. It is sub-optimal in terms of power consumption, which is what we see when using this smartphone, plus it is not too fast for 2017 and this class of device. New generation devices are already entering the market that use faster chipsets, an example is the Alcatel A7, which is very similar to the Moto, but it has a 4000 mAh battery, while it provides about the same runtime (its review will appear soon ). The cost of Alcatel A7 is 13,990 rubles, it will appear in October.

As a direct competitor for this device, I see Meizu M5 Note, the 16 GB version costs 14,990 rubles, which is a little more expensive. Of the pluses - a more pleasant design, less weight, but also a smaller battery - 4000 mAh. But the operating time is longer, the chipset is more powerful (Helio P10), dual-band Wi-Fi and better cameras, plus a screen with the same FullHD diagonal.

And there is also Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (albeit an outgoing model, but it is on the shelves), which also has a FullHD screen, a 4100 mAh battery, a better camera and a more powerful chipset. In a word, a rather interesting model for comparison, and the cost is 14,990 rubles in federal retail (much cheaper on the gray market or in China).

Given that the price of Moto E4 Plus is 13,990 rubles in federal retail (about 12 thousand in online stores, the cost has dropped rapidly, apparently, demand has not met expectations), this device looks rather expensive compared to competitors. In comparison with the usual E4, it is distinguished by a battery, otherwise they are plus or minus the same. As for me, the Moto E4 Plus does not have anything special, perhaps, except for the design, to unequivocally say that this is a successful model that stands out from the competition. Considering that the same Meizu or Xiaomi are already perceived by many at the Motorola level, or even better, the competition is with them, but here everything is ambiguous for the Moto E4 Plus, since it is too similar in terms of filling to inexpensive Chinese, and this crosses out a few pluses .

Modest filling, but voluminous battery

In mid-summer, Lenovo introduced its new fourth-generation Moto E-series budget smartphones. The novelties “out of the box” received Android 7.1 OS, metal cases, and the front cameras in them are accompanied by an LED flash. Both new items turned out to be rather simple in terms of the combination of technical characteristics, but Moto E4 Plus, as the name suggests, is the most advanced of them, so let's start with it.

Key Features of Moto E4 Plus (Model XT1771)

• SoC MediaTek MT6737, 4 cores ARM Cortex-A53 @1.25 GHz
• GPU Mali-T720
• Operating system Android 7.1.1
• Touch display IPS 5.5″, 1280 × 720, 267 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB, internal memory 16 GB
• Support Nano-SIM (2 pcs.)
• microSD support up to 128 GB
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• WCDMA/HSPA+ networks (850/900/1900/2100 MHz)
• LTE Cat.4 FDD (B1/3/5/7/8/20), LTE TD (B38/40) networks
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz)
• Bluetooth 4.1, NFC
• GPS, A-GPS
• Micro USB, USB OTG
• Primary camera 13 MP, f/2.0, autofocus, 720p video
• Front camera 5 MP, f/2.4, fixed. focus, flash
• Proximity sensor, light sensor, accelerometer
• Battery 5000 mAh
• Dimensions 155×78×10 mm
• Weight 200 g

Contents of delivery

Moto E4 Plus comes in a small box with a gaudy design. The cardboard is simply bent at the folds in the manner of postal boxes without gluing.

The kit consists of a connecting cable, a mains adapter with an output current of 2 A and a maximum voltage of 5.2 V, as well as worthless plastic headphones without rubber pads that do not stay in your ears.

Appearance and usability

Moto E4 Plus looks quite decent for its level, and maybe even more expensive than it is. The device has a simple but neat design, a body with a removable metal cover, a modern touch oval button with a fingerprint scanner on the front panel. All elements are organically combined, nothing causes rejection.

The Motorola brand logo flaunts on the back wall, it successfully combines with the round camera module. Familiar plastic end inserts are attached to the metal of the lid at the top and bottom. Thus, the lid is not solid, which means it is not so strong. The holes of all interface connectors are made here in plastic, not in metal.

The smartphone came out very large, rather thick and so heavy that it is frankly uncomfortable to carry it in your pockets. The weight of 200 g is due to the installation of a large 5000 mAh battery. Smooth, streamlined on all sides and very heavy case and tends to slip out of the hands, matte metal surfaces are rather slippery.

SIM cards are inserted into slots located under a removable cover. There are two slots for Nano-SIM and one for a microSD memory card. The battery is securely covered by a casing and is not accessible for self-extraction.

The round camera module with dual LED flash does not protrude beyond the rear wall of the case. The flashlight is very bright. Here you can also see a small hole in the auxiliary microphone.

The front panel is covered with a protective 2.5D glass with sloping edges. Above the screen is a front camera eye with its own LED flash. There is also an LED event indicator at the top.

There is only one button under the screen - more precisely, it's not even a button, but a recess in the glass, you can't press it. However, it has a built-in fingerprint scanner, and this pad can also be used as a micro-touchpad. Navigation buttons are placed on the screen, you can use this keypad as standard. However, if you enable the appropriate functions in the settings, then it will be possible to carry out all standard navigational actions (return to the previous screen, go to the home screen, open the list of recently launched applications) using only one hardware central button - gestures.

The buttons on the right side face differ in texture: one of them is smooth, the other is corrugated. The keys have a soft stroke, easy to grope blindly.

Universal connector Micro-USB, speaker output and microphone are located at the bottom.

The top end is completely given over to the 3.5 mm headphone jack.

Smartphone Moto E4 Plus is available in two colors: gray (Iron Gray) and golden (Fine Gold). In both versions, the front panel matches the overall color of the case, which makes the image more cohesive and complete.

Screen

The Moto E4 Plus is equipped with an IPS display with physical dimensions of 68x122mm at a diagonal of 5.5 inches. The resolution is 1280 × 720, the dot density is only about 267 ppi. The frame around the screen is wide: about 4.5 mm on the sides, 17 mm on the bottom and top.

The display brightness can be adjusted manually or set to automatic settings based on the operation of the ambient light sensor. The AnTuTu test diagnoses support for 10 simultaneous multitouch touches.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the sections "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the off screens (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Moto E4 Plus, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen on the Moto E4 Plus is slightly lighter (brightness in photos is 116 versus 112 on the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Moto E4 Plus screen is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the screen layers (more specifically, between the outer glass and the LCD matrix surface) (OGS type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of borders (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense external illumination, but their repair in case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (in terms of efficiency, about the same as Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and with a white field displayed in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 380 cd/m², the minimum was 8 cd/m². The maximum brightness is not high, but given the good anti-reflective properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at an acceptable level. It is also possible to increase the brightness above this limit (see below). In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. In the presence of automatic brightness control according to the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front speaker slot after the front camera eye). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. This function depends on the position of the brightness slider. If it is at 100%, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 140 cd / m² (too bright), in an artificially lit office (about 550 lux) it sets it to 320 cd / m² (too much), in a very bright environment (corresponds to a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) brightness increases to 510 cd/m² (which is higher than the maximum with manual brightness adjustment); if the adjustment is about 50%, then the values ​​​​are as follows: 12, 220 and 380 cd / m² (suitable values), the regulator at 0% is 6, 80 and 370 cd / m² (the first two values ​​​​are underestimated, which is logical). It turns out that the auto-brightness function works adequately and to some extent allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.

This smartphone uses an IPS type matrix. Micrographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large deviations of the view from the perpendicular to the screen and without inverting (except for the very darkest when deviating along one diagonal) shades. For comparison, here are photos in which the same images are displayed on the Moto E4 Plus and Nexus 7 screens, while the screen brightness is initially set to about 200 cd / m², and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K.

White field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.

And a test picture:

The color saturation on the screen of the Moto E4 Plus is normal, the colors are close to natural, but the color contrast is slightly increased. The color balance between the Nexus 7 and the test screen is slightly different.

Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, but on the Moto E4 Plus, the contrast decreased to a greater extent due to the strong black highlighting.

And the white box:

The brightness at an angle at the screens decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), and decreased approximately the same. The black field, when deviated diagonally, is highlighted strongly and acquires a bluish or reddish tint. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is good:

Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1050:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 25 ms (13 ms on + 12 ms off). The transition between 25% and 75% grayscale (according to the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 39 ms. The gamma curve constructed from 32 points with an equal interval according to the numerical value of the shade of gray did not reveal a blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.41, which is higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power dependence:

We did not find the presence of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image, which is very good.

Color gamut close to sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components to each other:

As a result, visually the colors on this screen almost do not differ from natural ones. The balance of shades on the gray scale is slightly compromised, since the color temperature is significantly higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the black body spectrum (ΔE) is below 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, the color temperature and ΔE do not change much from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance does not matter much there, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This device has the ability to choose one of two profiles:

However, in the profile Bright color contrast is greatly exaggerated, distorting photographic quality images. It's better to stay on the profile Ordinary.

To summarize: the screen has a high maximum brightness (in automatic adjustment mode) and has good anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. It is permissible to use the mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of an air gap in the layers of the screen and flicker, good black field uniformity, high contrast ratio, color gamut close to sRGB and an acceptable balance of shades. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular to the plane of the screen. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of the characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality can be considered high.

Camera

The front module of the Moto E4 Plus received a 5 megapixel sensor and an f / 2.4 aperture lens with a fixed focus and its own front-facing LED flash. Naturally, there is a portrait beautification function (with seven degrees of adjustment in manual mode), as well as support for gesture shooting and smile tracking. The quality itself is average: the image is clear, there are no complaints about color reproduction, but these are the only pluses. The dynamic range of the matrix is ​​narrow, there are underexposed and fully bright spots, the detailing also leaves much to be desired.

The main camera of the Moto E4 Plus uses a 13MP sensor with a 1.2µm pixel size and an f/2.0 lens. There is a slow autofocus and a dual very bright flash. There is no stabilization system.

The camera is quite simple in terms of capabilities, the settings menu is convenient and concise. There is no manual pro mode here, all settings are collected in a single scroll that can be pulled out with a gesture from the side. The inclusion of HDR is placed on the top of the screen in a separate mode and is always available online.

The Moto E4 Plus camera can only shoot video at a maximum resolution of 720p, there is no Full HD, there is no stabilization function either. At this resolution, it is useless to wait for a detailed and juicy picture. The image is loose and dark, with the video of the hero of the review, things are not in the best way. But by the way, there are no complaints about sound recording, the sound is high-quality, clear and loud, without noticeable distortion and extraneous noise.

• Video #1 (20 MB, 1280× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
• Video #2 (29 MB, 1280× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
• Video #3 (18 MB, 1280× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)

As you can see, the camera copes well with shooting close objects, but there are problems with shooting long shots. Perhaps this is a defect in the lens, but sometimes the camera obviously cannot focus to infinity, although sometimes it does succeed. Large areas of blur along the edges of the frame are almost always noticeable, and in the middle plans the program begins to spoil the details. As a result, the camera will cope well with undemanding documentaries, especially if it is dominated by texts and macro.

Telephone part and communications

The communication capabilities of the Moto E4 Plus include support for LTE Cat.4 (up to 150 Mbps), a number of LTE FDD and TDD frequency bands are supported, including all 3 FDD LTE bands of interest to us (band 3, 7, 20). In the city limits of the Moscow region, the device behaves confidently, the quality of signal reception does not cause any complaints.

The smartphone supports only one Wi-Fi band (2.4 GHz), but it somewhat unexpectedly has an NFC module, which, among other things, can work with travel cards. You can standardly organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth 4.1 channels. The Micro-USB connector supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode. The navigation module works with GPS (with A-GPS). The first satellites are detected during a cold start within a minute, the positioning accuracy is not bad. But the built-in magnetic field sensor for the operation of the compass smartphone, unfortunately, was not given, this is bad.

Moto E4 Plus does not support both SIM cards in 3G/4G mode at the same time in active standby mode. That is, when one card is assigned for data transmission in 4G, the second one can only work in 2G. The interface does not allow you to select a specific SIM card for voice calls and SMS in advance - only during the connection. You can only pre-set the card for data transfer. The cards work in Dual SIM Dual Standby mode, there is only one radio modem. Also, for the convenience of the user, the manufacturer has added several ready-made modes of two cards.

Software and multimedia

As a software platform, Moto E4 Plus uses the latest version of Google Android 7.1.1 with its own proprietary shell Moto Experiences. The interface is much closer to stock Android in both looks and features than any of Lenovo's native skins. Programmatically, Lenovo Moto smartphones now resemble pure Google phones more than many others.

Nevertheless, support for gestures is implemented here, and the ability to reduce the entire working area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe screen for the convenience of controlling the fingers of one hand, and a multi-window operation mode. It is convenient that when the hand approaches the device lying on the table, it instantly displays basic information (time, date, percentage of charge) in monochrome on the locked screen. The interface as a whole is simple and calm in design, easy and fast in work. There are practically no third-party programs, everything you need is implemented using Google Apps.

To listen to music, a regular Google Music player with sound settings and presets of the Dolby Atmos system is used. Both in headphones and through the speaker, the device sounds average: the volume of the sound is generally enough not to miss a call, but the sound is not of the highest quality, not very clear and not as bright and saturated as, for example, the older model Moto Z2 Play with its two stereo speakers, although that one doesn't have Dolby Atmos support. There is also an FM-radio, but there was no built-in voice recorder in the device.

Performance

The Moto E4 Plus hardware platform is based on the MediaTek MT6737 SoC, made using the 28 nm process technology. The 64-bit platform configuration includes 4 Cortex-A53 processor cores operating at up to 1.25 GHz. The Mali-T720 video accelerator is responsible for graphics processing. RAM is 3 GB and user storage is 16 GB. Of these, in reality, about 1.8 GB of RAM is free and approximately 10.5 of storage memory. It is possible to connect external flash drives in USB OTG mode.

MediaTek MT6737 is one of the simplest modern platforms for entry-level mobile devices. It is quite weak, focused on the ultra-budget class of devices, and to be honest, Lenovo, of course, is very greedy, offering a device for 14 thousand rubles on one of the cheapest and useless modern SoCs. Curiously, the North American site has a Qualcomm-based company (Snapdragon 427), which is a more interesting option.

It is pointless to expect high performance from SoC MT6737, the hero of the review shows only about 30K points in AnTuTu. The hardware capabilities of the smartphone are minimal, in all tests it shows a low level. Demanding games like Mortal Kombat X and graphical tests slow down noticeably. This device has no reserve of power for the future.

Testing in comprehensive AnTuTu and GeekBench tests:

For convenience, we have summarized all the results obtained by us when testing a smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks in tables. Several other devices from various segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in 3DMark gaming tests, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark for the highest performing smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (due to which the speed can rise above 60 fps).

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them depend significantly on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

AndroBench memory performance test results:

thermal images

Below is a thermal image rear surface obtained after 10 minutes of running a battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:

Heating is more localized in the upper part of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was only 32 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is very little.

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, do not expect everything from a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a table.

Further testing of video playback performed Alexey Kudryavtsev.

We did not find an MHL interface, as well as Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)" Red marks indicate possible problems associated with playback of the corresponding files.

According to the criterion for displaying frames, the quality of playing video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since in most cases frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required to) be displayed with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. When playing video files with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels (720p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in its original resolution. The range of brightness displayed on the screen corresponds to the actual range, so all gradations are displayed in the shadows and in the highlights.

Battery life

The non-removable battery installed in the Moto E4 Plus has a solid capacity of 5000 mAh. Naturally, this is one of the key features of this device, which is quite simple in all other respects, from the platform and cameras to communication capabilities.

But even with such a huge battery, having a low-power platform and a low screen resolution, the hero of the review, to be honest, is not particularly impressive in terms of autonomy. If you compare its results with the results of the same Moto Z2 Play, which has a battery almost one and a half times smaller, it turns out that they are not so far from each other. In general, Moto E4 Plus is certainly not the record holder for battery life, although, of course, its level is well above average. In real conditions, the device lives without problems for a couple of days without recharging.

Testing has traditionally been conducted at normal power levels without power saving features.

Continuous reading in the Moon + Reader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd / m²) with auto scrolling lasted until the battery was completely discharged for about 22 hours, and with continuous viewing of video in high quality (720p) with the same brightness level via Wi-Fi network, the device operates for approximately 15 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone can work up to 8.5 hours.

From its own bundled network adapter, the smartphone charges for a very long time, within 3 hours 40 minutes with a current of 1.8 A at a voltage of 5.2 V. Surely the modification of this device on the SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 427, which supports Quick Charge 3.0, charges much faster, but in Lenovo decided that the version on SoC MediaTek would be enough for the Russian market. The smartphone also, of course, does not support wireless charging.

Outcome

The Moto E4 Plus has a good screen (high display quality spoils the low resolution), a large battery that provides decent battery life, and a very attractive case for its level, both in design and ergonomics. And yet, in a smartphone priced at about 14 thousand rubles, of course, you expect to see at least a more interesting hardware platform than the cheap and low-powered MediaTek MT6737. In addition, the device cannot boast of either a high-quality camera, or rich sound, or wide communication capabilities. Video recording with a resolution of only up to 720p, the lack of a built-in magnetic field sensor, the second Wi-Fi range - the novelty is also not happy in small things. The device is suitable primarily for those who need a long battery life of their mobile assistant, and do not hope to purchase a multimedia processor, since for such money on the market you can find many more technically interesting models, which, however, very rarely have capacious accumulators.