It's not every day that two phones are released from the same company with such compelling differences, but Motorola's new Moto E4 line fits that description perfectly. Both announced on the same day, the Moto E4 came out first and managed to wow us with incredible performance and decent, accessible hardware and software for between $70 and $130, depending on the place of purchase. But the Moto E4 Plus takes the design and feature set of the Moto E4 and ups the ante, adding a better 13MP camera and an insanely large 5000mAh battery — all for between $130 and $180.
At their core, both devices try to tell the story of the new budget phone in 2017 — one that doesn't need to make considerable compromises to reach its asking price, and that offers an experience that would appeal to anyone, not just the budget-minded.
The U.S. variants of both phones run the capable but aging Snapdragon 427 chip along with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage (yes, the video accidentally says 16GB of RAM, which would be nice. Our apologies!) along with Motorola's lightweight but powerful version of Android complete with Moto Display. But where the Moto E4 has a standard 2800mAh battery (removable and replaceable), the E4 Plus has a massive 5000mAh cell that lasts for two days or more. And while the 5.5-inch phone is slightly larger and thicker than its cheaper 5-inch counterpart, it's not unmanageable — it's even relatively svelte at under 10mm thick and 181 grams.
It will be interesting to see whether either of these phones gets updated on a regular basis, if at all; they launch with Android 7.1, but that may be where they stay.
So should you even consider the smaller Moto E4? Yes, for a couple of reasons: its back cover is textured and easier to grip; and its smaller size makes it perfect for one-handed usage. Otherwise, you'd be better off with the Moto E4 Plus in almost every situation. It's made with more metal, has a better camera, a larger display (though admittedly less dense) and that huge battery.
Do you agree or disagree with this conclusion? Or would you rather go with the slightly more upmarket Moto G5 Plus? If so, we have a comparison for you, too.
