Verdict
The Moto G04 is a welcome breath of refreshed air . At just £ 89 , you should n’t expect too much . It can do most of what the medium consumer will want , and that ’s good enough . It ’s just not as respectable a media gimmick as Motorola want it to be .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
While you ’ll still certainly incur Motorola battle with thebest foldable phonesin an attempt to retake the inescapable 00s magic of the RAZR , it ’s in the low-down destruction of the food market where it ’s still making major waves .
At just £ 89 , the Moto G04 , its in style in a transmission line of uber - low-priced handsets , look the part . It has a twin tv camera raiment , a gorgeous 90Hz screen with a personal identification number - hole selfie camera , and plenty of colours on its liquid rear to help you place upright out in a gang or spot it on a table . You wo n’t get this one unify up with your sidekick ’ .
Externally , it ’s all good . But if pep pill is what you ’re after , simmer your expectation . Its internal components can keep up , but only to a certain extent . While it can play as an entertainment gadget for some , it wo n’t keep older child subdued for long .
Design
Available in four dissimilar shades , there ’s plentiful room to peck a Moto G04 that accommodate your style . Blue , green , a arenaceous cherry / Orange River color , and a basic black affair are all here , with the matte finish having a slight glitter not too dissimilar to other budget handsets . They becharm the brightness well and wo n’t be hard to distinguish from a crowd of iPhones and Samsungs .
Certainly thin and light-headed , there ’s still heft to it at 179 g. It has a premium feel ; no creaky plastic , smooth edges , but no real standout stylings . It ’s rather simple by today ’s banner , but that ’s not a regretful matter .
The focusing on the entertainment value of the silver screen means this is a taller gadget . With that comes a slenderly more narrow-minded feel when held in portrait , as phones typically are , make it comfortable and soft to make . It ’s a little slippery on the back , but it ’s wanton to grasp .
At the top , you ’ll find a welcome 3.5 millimetre headphone gob to make usage of the Dolby Atmos support . There ’s a side - mounted power clit with a comparatively fast fingermark detector and volume buttons above it , and a dual - sim tray on the other side with room for MicroSD storage elaboration .
Screen
The 6.56 ” IPS LCD display is the main marketing head of this one . Touted as a portable amusement powerhouse , its90Hz refresh ratewill seldom play into that delectation .
The specs are n’t there to by rights practice it , and unless you pressure it through the preferences , you ’ll be rely on algorithmic program to trigger that fluid view experience . Its good - edgeless widescreen prayer will , though , with an mediocre 84.9 % cover - to - body ratio , only interrupted by it wrap up around the selfie camera .
At 720p , it ’s not evenFull HD , nor is it vivid being a simpleLCDpanel . Even being anIPS presentation , viewing angles are n’t bully – which hampers the power to roost it wherever you detect yourself comfortable .
It ’s also very pondering , struggling to fend off spark from even an overcast day without turning the brightness level way up . If outdoor readability is authoritative – say for reading a book on the beach or the car park – you might desire to look into the highly capableTCL 40 NxtPaper .
Paired with that impressively slim bezel and tall body , it equates to a 20:9 face ratio – close to the dream for cinema - manner viewing . For proper 21:9 in a reasonably price OLED package , look to theSony Xperia 10 Vinstead .
The lower settlement contributes to its telling electric battery life and still does n’t look immediately lacking in detail when watch content at a reasonable distance .
For world-wide viewing , though , it ’s for the most part ok . The 90Hz panel can quetch in when interpret ebooks and article , but the raw effectiveness of the handset just is n’t there to offer that silky smooth refresh charge per unit under incumbrance . Even swiping back and forward through your apps can appear choppy .
The individual seeable speaker , locate at the bottom , is n’t all that great . These setup rarely are . Still , it ’s gimcrack , which can be great for deliver notifications to the hard of hearing . Just do n’t expect cinema - panache sound for your movie . Casual YouTube or social media content will be fine , but podcasts , movies , and medicine will sound abrasive at anything high than 25 % volume .
Camera
The Moto G04 utilises a single 16MP broad snapper on the back with a expectant instant underneath . Like other budget devices , it try out to big itself up with mentions of AI .
In reality , the AI functionality is there to add fuzz for portrait shots and TV call option . It does little to improve the clean flat shots you ’ll take while out and about , and wo n’t help offset taking a quick scene while you walk .
In average indoor firing , the sensor struggles , bring on overly sullen fit with very petty detail . In vivid out-of-door conditions for a landscape dead reckoning , heavy foliage from tree and shrub tend to merge together . You wo n’t be cropping pictures of the Spring blooms to show your friends .
No matter the situation , even in arrant lighting condition , the television camera just ca n’t overstretch in the data ask to produce a picture that is n’t at least a niggling soft and brumous . nigh - ups can have decent color reproduction , but the all right details are lose . If you take your time in bright sunlight , however , you may take reasonably pleasing snaps .
On the front , a 5MP all-inclusive front photographic camera does an ok job of picking up on the details of your complexion . The AI not only works to add together bokeh to portrait way selfies , but can even utilise filter to smooth out imperfections , slim down your jawline , widen your eyes , and hold other popular grace effect if that ’s your thing – no FaceApp require .
Performance
To bring that into a broader context , the Cortex A75 processor and Mali - G57 MP1 GPU found in the 12 nm Unisoc T606 SoC powering the whole experience is a little better than we ’d expect at this cost point , but still far from nifty .
It ’s not fast , score just 372 and 1302 in the Geekbench 6 individual and Multicore tests respectively . That put it below theBlackview Tab 12 Pro tabletthat struggled to print late last year , but higher than theNokia C32handset that retail for just a small bit more .
geminate withUFS 2.2 storage , startup is particularly dull . It can take a in force five minutes for the sound to finger responsive after a reboot , which is n’t helped by its downhearted 4 GB of RAM .
As is the norm for budget handsets , you may assay to hie this up by allocating system storage space to be used like received memory . But do n’t expect miracles . At the very least , MicroSD storage elaboration is here , so it ’s not like you ’ll be shortsighted on quad , but it ’s dull store already .
Beyond simple navigation and general usage , it ’s hardly a gamer ’s dream . 3D performance is lacking , with definitive plot like Grand Theft Auto III running in a way reminiscent of an office automobile from 20 years ago .
Casual title of respect like Wordscapes and Candy Crush are fine , kid - friendly biz like Survivor.io are enjoyable , and even more premium 2D collision like Dead Cells work a dainty .
Modern 3D titles will be a write - off with this ; though free-enterprise games like Asphalt and Call of obligation : Mobile , and even Roblox , function well enough to delight casually . Connect something like aBackbone controllerto transform it into a versatile retro emulator or cloud gaming gadget .
Software
While you would n’t notice from the home plate screenland alone , there ’s a decent amount of bloatware pre - installed onto the Moto G04 , with the common shortcuts to TikTok and even Booking.com hiding on the second screen .
contribute up the app tray , though , and you ’ll find more : namely game . Board King is a popular one I ’d recommend as a way to waste some fourth dimension at a gearing post , but a mates others are relatively low - quality knock - offs , and the conditions app is litter with ads .
It ’s not great , but they ’re easy enough to delete . At least there are n’t entire brochure like you ’ll find on budget tablet , or the Crypto wallet and Metaverse fluff spotted on theHTC U23 Pro .
The phone itself comes with Android 14 pre - install . With it come the whole Google entourage , with apps like Fit , Gmail , Google TV , Home , and YouTube Music quick to go . It ’s not quite a blood line experience , and it would have been nice to see a better weather condition app , but it ’s far from intrusive or cheeky .
Battery
copulate a massive 5,000mAh assault and battery with a low - spec equipment is a recipe for longevity . The Moto G04 can seat fresh for over a week and still have enough charge to take phone call if you postulate to direct out . In average habit , expect to get two or three days out of it .
The included USB Type - C battery charger is n’t the libertine at 10W , but it ’s a welcome inclusion body . Expect to take an minute break to hit 50 % from empty , and close to 3 hours for a right cycle . The phone can take up to 15W , so a flying after - market charger could bucket along thing up slightly if necessitate .
Using it as the passive , pocketable media twist it ’s intended to be is where the computer hardware pairings stand out . Watching an minute - longsighted installment of Better Call Saul on Netflix see the Moto G04 lose only 5 % of its bang . It eats through a whole time of year on a single tutelage – perhaps even pushing two with electric battery - saving measures enabled .
When wager a reasonably high-pitched - end 2D game like Dead Cells , it lost only 3 % of its care in half an hour . 3D titles like Roblox will sip around 5 % in that time . There ’s raft of gaming to be had on a single charge here .
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Should you buy it?
So long as you ’re not looking to binge movies at the beach , the Moto G04 is a reliable headset that will last for days .
The Moto G04 is n’t going to power yoga in the Mungo Park . It ’s fine at home , but the projection screen lets it down alfresco , and the camera is only good for snapping store of a sunny walk .
Final Thoughts
The Motorola G04 take in safe on its promise to be a cheap and up to media machine . Its paired - down specifications help oneself the gravid battery might through the solar day . More commodious charging would have been a nice bonus , but happen the time to juice it back up and it ’s a non - result .
Where it falters is in the screen department . It ’s gravid and colourful enough for the cost , but it struggles in undimmed status , which can quickly invalidate the desire to learn shows or read books while out and about . comparatively poor viewing angle can make getting comfortable with a movie a little tricky , too : especially with more than one person .
Still , at £ 89.99 , it ’s hard to judge the Motorola G04 too harshly . It ’s an sheer bargain for what it is : it just struggles to digest out as the medium machine the selling would have you believe . A second - handSony Xperia 10 Vwould be a better option , with TCL and Xiaomi both offer tighter devices at not too much higher a cost .
It ’s a great budget handset , but not a superb lifestyle gadget . If you have more to pass , find out out thebest budget phoneswe’ve reviewed .
Trusted Score
How we test
We examine every roving phone we retrospect thoroughly . We expend industry - stock tests to equate characteristic decent and we apply the phone as our main machine over the review period . We ’ll always tell you what we obtain and we never , ever , take over money to go over a intersection .
FAQs
the Moto G04 uses USB - C , but only at 2.0 transfer speeds .
The included battery charger operates at 10w but the phone ’s USB - C charging interface can support 15w total for slightly faster charging .
Test Data
Full Specs
