Shane
Hello moto.
Motorola have been in the mobile game since forever.
Their late 90s early 2000s flip phones were in every mobile phone user’s pocket, Motorola has recently made a come back, and now releasing their G Series of Android based smartphones for the masses.
At a price tier affordable to pretty much everyone, the first model we received here for review at STG is the moto g04.
A contender within Motorola’s entry to mid range level there’s no denying that on the face of it the g04 has some bang for less than a couple of hundred dollars.
A single lens coming in at 16MP wide is your main camera, and it does a pretty good job.
For those inspirational selfies there’s a very low 5MP single front camera.
Camera modes on offer are slim. Portrait works well but doesn’t quite get to the bokeh level that I had expected.
For low light, or no light shots there is a Night mode. It doesn’t work out so well. In a near-to-zero lit environment you’re not going to see anything in your pics.
Video is good at 1080p / 30fps. Clear and not too choppy.
For general photography, the moto g04 punches above its weight.
moto g04 – Portrait mode
The LCD display is large at 6.5 inches. Bright and dynamic enough to make the moto g04 worthy of media streaming and some serious screen time.
Under the hood there’s 4GB RAM with a Octa Core Cortex-A55 processor and 64GB storage (model reviewed)
While the storage is low, shoot a few 1080p videos and you’re going to be caught short, you can expand via microSD.
Given that the moto g04 is not a high priced device, the innards are more than adequate and the phone seems to handle itself mostly well.
moto g04 – Night mode
Except… the UI of Android 14 on the moto g04 tended to be clunky and stutter on use sporadically. Swiping between apps and using gesture based control there was a notable delay at times in the OS’ responsiveness.
Battery wise, the moto g04 excels. There’s a 5,000mAh powercell which I managed to squeeze four days from (full charge to 2%).
Given that the moto g04 is not quite the device for some serious multi-tasking or gaming, you’re likely to use it as a simple starter smartphone, with browsing, social, messaging etc but nothing overly heavy.
moto g04 – Macro mode
So the impact on battery will generally be minimal.
This was the same when using the camera – it hardly dented the battery charge.
The moto g04 does give you a decent ‘everyday’ camera with a powerful lens, it’s not a powerhouse of a smartphone, but it’s not meant to be.
Perfect for those that are wanting quality daytime snaps with basic smartphone functionality, and when you compare it to other smartphones of similar spec and build, the moto g04 makes sense as a viable option for your next entry-level mobile.
Released: March 2024
Device Name: moto g04
Chipset: Octa Core Cortex-A55
Memory: 4GB
Internal Storage: 64GB
Camera: F: 5MP. R: 16MP (wide)
Battery: 5,000 mAh