Motorola Moto X4 review: Plans | Pricing | Specs

Name: Motorola Moto X4
Brand: Motorola

Alex Kidman

Last updated: Apr 4, 2019

Motorola's classy looking X4 handset hides some neat features at a mid-range price point.

Clean Android
IP68 water resistance
Solid metal body
Dual lenses

Slow camera
Huge fingerprint magnet
Mid-range processor performance

5.2 inches

Display size

1080 x 1920px

64GB

Internal storage

12MP + 8MP

Rear camera

3,000 mAh

Battery size

Finder rated as Good vs similar phones

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Display

Display Size

5.2 inches

Resolution

1080 x 1920px

Pixels per inch (PPI)

424 ppi

Camera

Rear camera megapixels

12MP + 8MP

Rear camera aperture size

f/2.0 + f/2.2

Video recording

Front camera megapixels

16MP

Front camera aperture size

f/2.0

Physical Dimensions

Dimensions

148.4mm x 73.4mm x 8mm

Weight

163g

Connectivity

NFC

Yes

Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Network category speed

Category 9

Power, storage and battery

Processor

Snapdragon 630

RAM

4GB

Operating system

Android 7

Internal storage

64GB

External storage support

Up to 2TB

Battery capacity

3,000mAh

Device features

Headphone jack

Yes

Fingerprint sensor

Yes

Water resistance rating

IP68

Wireless charging

Launch price (RRP)	$599
Launch date	2017-09

Go to Motorola's site More info

Alex Kidman

Alex Kidman was the tech and telco editor at Finder and is now a freelance technology writer. He's been a technology writer with experience spanning more than 20 years, writing and editing at Gizmodo, CNET, PC Magazine, Kotaku and many more. Alex has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New England and a serious passion for retro gaming.

Where to buy

What's in this review?

Design
Camera
Performance
Battery life
Verdict
Pricing and availability
Specifications

The Motorola Moto X4 is an odd handset in the Motorola lineup, largely because it sits above the Motorola Moto G5S, but below the Moto Mod-capable Moto Z2 Play handset. It's a narrow pricing niche for the X4 to occupy, but what Motorola's done with this particular handset makes for a compelling option if you're happy with Motorola's general Android approach.

Design

Solid metal unibody design
Blue metal design looks great

Motorola's own style is present in the design of the Motorola X4, with the same rounded corners and oval-based fingerprint sensor set-up as found on the Motorola E4 or Motorola G5S. Where the Moto X4 really differs is in the construction of the handset itself. It's a solid metal unibody design in either "Super Black" or "Sterling Blue". I'm a bit of a sucker for blue metal phones, and the Motorola Moto X4 is certainly visually appealing at a level you don't always see in mid-range handsets.
The Moto X4 measures in at 148.35 x 73.4 x 7.99 mm, although it does have a rather prominent camera bump at the rear that pushes out the top of the phone to 9.45mm. While this means the Moto X4 sits at an angle when it's on a flat surface, it's not wobbly in any real way.
The Motorola Moto X4 features a 5.2 inch 1,080x1,920 pixel display, which is entirely functional if not exactly exciting at this price range. It's behind Corning Gorilla Glass, which should give it some durability, although rather predictably we did notice that the shiny casing quickly attracted fingerprints.
The Motorola Moto X4 is also notable for being water resistant, with an IP68 rating. As always a little caution is advised, so don't throw your phone through the dishwasher; however, a small accidental immersion should be fine.
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Camera

Dual lens cameras work well
Object recognition is OK, but Google Lens is better

One of the Motorola Moto X4's signature features is the inclusion of a dual lens camera. That's a feature we've seen creep down into the middle tier of phones via handsets such as the Oppo R11 or OnePlus 5, although the X4's implementation is more similar to the camera found in LG's G6, with one 12MP f/2.0 primary sensor and one 8MP f/2.2 wide-angle lens.
Like the G6, there's an onscreen toggle for either camera mode, although this is a rather slow process when changing from one lens to another. That's fine for panoramic landscape work, but ill-advised if you're capturing fast action scenes. It's not a super-wide angle, but it can change your photo's perspective nicely with just a little work. Here's the standard lens at work:
And here's the same shot taken on the wide lens:
Mid-range cameras have picked up pace in recent months, putting solid pressure on the premium space if all you want is a workable camera, and that describes the Motorola Moto X4's camera capabilities nicely.
It's an entirely workable camera with an optional landscape and object recognition feature, similar in concept to the Google Lens feature on the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. However, you can't force it to identify landmarks if it decides not to. As an example, I could get it to identify Sydney's Centrepoint Tower without issue, but to the Moto X4, the Queen Victoria Building was just another building.
It's also possible to use the Moto X4's dual lenses for bokeh style effects that mostly work in a realistic fashion, with a slider for the level of focus blurring, similar to that of the Galaxy Note 8. Here's a standard shot:
And a shot taken seconds later with the depth effect applied:
The Moto X4's overall camera performance was generally quite pleasing, and while it's a little slow for a dual-lens camera, with a little patience it can deliver some quality results. Here are some sample shots taken directly from the Moto X4:

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Performance

Snapdragon 630 gives it enough power
Moto actions are practical and fun

The Moto X4 runs on Qualcomm's mid-tier Snapdragon 630 SoC, which is entirely in line with its pricing and positioning. Here's how the Moto X4 compared using Geekbench 4's CPU test:

Handset	Geekbench 4 CPU Single Core (higher is better)	Geekbench 4 CPU Multi Core (higher is better)
OnePlus 5	1976	6506
Oppo R11	1616	5895
Huawei P10	1922	5633
Motorola MotoZ Play 2	891	4485
Moto G5 Plus	842	4180
Motorola X4	865	4087
Samsung Galaxy A7	771	3998
Huawei GR5 2017	814	3398
Huawei Nova Plus	843	2985
LG Q6	536	2005

And here is how it compares using 3DMark's Ice Storm Unlimited test:

Handset	3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Result
OnePlus 5	39497
Huawei P10	25168
Oppo R11	24525
Motorola X4	16763
Motorola Moto Z2 Play	14032
Huawei Nova Plus	13969
Moto G5 Plus	13753
Samsung Galaxy A7	13629
Huawei GR5 2017	11859
LG Q6	7779

Those figures put the Moto X4 pretty much where I'd expect it to sit, but once again the benchmarks aren't the full story.

For heavier apps it will no doubt struggle a little compared to premium flagships, but for day-to-day tasks, it's quite a nimble performer. That's undoubtedly helped by the fact that Motorola only throws a very light overlay on top of stock Android. This means that there's little clutter to add to performance lag on the Motorola Moto X4.

You do get Moto's "Moto Actions", as seen in other handsets, so you can use specific motions to enable the flashlight or camera quickly. The X4 handles these quite well, although they're entirely optional in any case.

Battery life

3,000mAh battery

The Motorola Moto X4's metal construction means that its battery is entirely sealed. Motorola throws in a 3,000mAh battery in the Moto X4, which should, on a mid-range processor like the Snapdragon 630 and with that smaller screen, lead to pleasing battery life.

Thankfully that's exactly what you get, with the Moto X4's battery performance right up there with the best mid-range phones available today. Single-day performance at an anecdotal level is entirely feasible, and multi-day could be within range if you're a light phone user.

This was backed up by Geekbench 3's battery life test, where the Moto X4 compared very favourably:

Handset	Geekbench 3 Battery Test Duration	Geekbench 3 Battery Score
Huawei Nova Plus	13:21:20	8013
Motorola X4	12:42:00	7515
Samsung Galaxy A7	12:40:30	7603
Motorola Moto Play Z 2	11:50:50	7107
Huawei GR5 2017	11:33:50	6938
Motorola Moto G5 Plus	11:15:40	6756
OnePlus 5	9:33:30	5735
Huawei P10	9:31:30	5523
Motorola E4	9:26:10	3752
LG Q6	8:44:40	3498
Oppo R11	7:52:30	4725

Verdict

Another good Motorola handset, although its newer efforts do eclipse it

The Moto X4 is, as noted at the start, a phone that sits in an unusual position in Motorola's roster of phones, because it's not a true budget option, and neither, technically speaking, is it a premium option a la the Motorola Moto Z2 Play or Moto Z2 Force, although the latter is a phone we won't see here in Australia according to Motorola representatives.

As such, the pressure is on for it to perform, and this it does, with an appealing design, quality camera and exceptional battery life marking it out from the crowd. But that's quite a deep crowd, so you'd do well to consider your alternatives. There's the excellent but hard-to-source OnePlus 5 to consider at this kind of price, as well as (effective) stablemate the Oppo R11, which has worse battery life but a faster camera. LG's G6 has seen price tumbles bringing it close to this kind of price point if you're happy going with a directly imported model, and there are plenty of lower cost options, including a number of handsets from Motorola itself.

What the other reviewers say

Site	Comment	Score
TechRadar (hands-on)	"The Moto X4 all adds up with good specs, an impressively low price point and a very interesting design."	N/A
CNET (hands-on)	"Motorola wants the Moto X4 to be your Goldilocks phone."	N/A

Pricing and availability

Price: RRP $699
Where to buy: Amazon | eBay