Moto G4 Plus: A mixed bag

Moto G4 Plus: A mixed bag



Motorola's newest offering, the Moto G4 Plus, comes with better specs than its predecessor but is that enough to grab one's attention? I wasn't convinced so I took it out for a spin.

The G4 Plus has a plastic back with metal edges, which for a mid-range smartphone feels rather cheap. The fashion conscious would rather go for a Redmi Note 3 or even the LeEco 1s. The phone, however, is comfortable to hold. It comes with a 5.5-inch full HD display with a resolution of 1,080x1,920 p. The colours are vibrant and sharp but could have been a tad better. It has the stock Motorola user interface and runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Under the hood, it houses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 with 4GB of RAM. The G4 Plus can handle multitasking and RAM-heavy games. However, during one of my missions in Order and Chaos, I noticed a bit of lag. If you prefer games such as Candy Crush or Temple Run, you have nothing to worry about. But, if you like playing heavy games such as Order and Chaos, Injustice and Ashphalt, I'd recommend you choose a different phone.

The G4 Plus also comes with an astonishingly fast fingerprint sensor. Located just below the display, you might mistake the square-shaped sensor as the home button. Setting it up was easy and didn't take much time. Read more

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Just like any other Chinese smartphone

The Chinese-manufactured Smartphone segment in India is a heavily crowded space with the likes of Xiaomi, LeEco, Oppo, Vivo and Gionee battling neck to neck to achieve the numero uno spot in terms of market share.

The latest International Data Corporation (IDC) report reveals a change, with Vivo and Oppo making it to the top five smartphone vendors for the first time, based on the number of units they shipped.

But for Gionee, the journey to the top is far from over. Its ambitious Gionee S6, priced at Rs 19,999, is pitted against the Oppo R7 Lite, but does it have what it takes to win the race? Let us find out.

Gionee, like any other Chinese model does not have a stand-out identity of its own like a Moto X Turbo edition or an Asus Zenfone as it has startling similarities to other Chinese models. Keeping that aside, it has done a pretty decent job with the unibody aluminium build and the rose gold colour adds to the phone's looks. It is comfortable to hold and the button placement enables you to use it with one hand easily.

The phone has been designed keeping in mind the aesthetic appeal of the present generation. In terms of hardware, the model weighs just 148 g and can easily slide into your pocket. It boasts of a 13-megapixel (MP) rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP front camera. A 5.5-inch 720p high-definition AMOLED display coupled with a Gorilla Glass 3 for protection is sure to give you a good movie watching experience.

The camera performance is impressive as pictures clicked in daylight show good clarity and colours. However, low-light shots aren't that great as certain amount of noise slithers into the picture, but overall quality is acceptable. A range of shooting features such as the professional mode, ultra-pixel mode and a barcode scanner adds on to the list of your options. The non-removable 3,150 mAh battery lasts for more than a day when put to real world usage.Read More.

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LeEco's 3D Helmet: Joining the VR bandwagon

Virtual reality (VR) is becoming increasingly popular but choices in India are very limited. Joining the bandwagon is LeEco's 3D Helmet. The Helmet can be paired with any smartphone as long as it has a USB Type-C port which gives it an advantage over the Samsung Gear VR headset, as the latter only supports four phones.

A standalone VR headset, the Helmet has its own 5.5-inch 2K display unlike the Samsung Gear VR and has a 70-degree field of view. The headset has adjustable straps at the top and on the side which provides for a snug fit.