PERFORMANCE: While the Motorola Moto E4 garners some high scores, many others score better. This phone could still be a good budget choice if you can get it at a good price or if you need only a basic smartphone. Ergonomics on the Moto E4 were good. Some areas of this phone may not be the easiest to use but you should be able to get used to it. Call quality and convenience on the Moto E4 were not the best but they were very good. Sound while on a call was very good in a quiet room and with background noise. Your sound quality will vary due to many factors including background noise, if you are moving between cell towers, the quality of the phone on the other end of the call, and the quality of the cell tower and antenna.
DURABILITY: After 50 drops in the tumbler, our experts rated it as excellent. The phone had some minor scratches. Overall, it was in good working condition. After our more strenuous 100 drops in the tumbler the screen and body proved they can take a serious tumble. Our experts rated it as excellent. Overall, it was in good working condition.
PORTABILITY/BATTERY: The 5-inch screen on the Moto E4 comes in a body measuring 5.7-inches tall, 2.9-inches wide, 0.4-inches thick, and weighs 5.3 ounces. Those measurements mean the phone is an average size phone. At 21 hours, it has an above average battery lifespan. Its battery is removable but the phone doesn't support wireless charging.
CAMERA: The main rear camera on the Motorola Moto E4 measures 8-megapixels. The camera does not have optical image stabilization so handheld photos in low light may be blurrier than cameras with optical image stabilization. Overall the camera performance was only fair, well below that of many models but still good enough for casual photo taking. Images are evaluated on high quality LCD displays. The test photos are taken in a brightly lit studio and outdoors on a sunny day. In the viewing tests the images were rated only fair overall. These image results are noticeably not as good as most smartphones for color quality, exposure level, sharpness, and image noise. The Moto E4 comes with a 5-megapixel selfie cam. Overall the selfie camera quality was only fair, well below that of many models but still good enough for selfies viewed on social media.
DISPLAY: Overall the display quality was only fair. The display resolution was not high enough, so it was noticeably not as smooth and crisp as it needs to be. Readability outdoors is a combination of brightness, measured in candelas per square meter, and reflectivity. The readability rating was good. The brightness level measured 1 meter from the screen was a little dim for outdoor sunlight at 300cd/m² and reflective glare was slightly noticeable.
