Motorola Moto G4 Plus, Moto 360 landing next week

The latest arsenal in the Motorola range will arrive in Australia next week, with both phone and watch to be in Aussie electronic stores on July 13. 

Harvey Norman will range both of the new Motos, while The Good Guys and Officeworks will only stock the G4 Plus. 

For your one-stop shop, Motorola itself will launch a new online store in Australia and will host all of its latest products, including a 32GB variant of the G4 Plus that won’t be available in stores. The online store goes live a couple of days after on July 15. 

The Moto G4 Plus 16GB will retail for $399, while the 32GB will be $449 on the Motorola store. Th new Moto 360 smartwatch will st you back  $479.

The Moto G for shutterbugs

Compared with last year’s Moto G, the new G4 Plus has a few advantages. There is a larger 5.5-inch screen, an updated processor and the latest version of Google’s Android. 

But the standout feature this year will be its 16 megapixel rear-facing camera. It packs in a laundry list of impressive sounding features, like phase detect auto focus, and a fast f/2.0 aperture, but the proof is always in the photos it takes, and camera testers DXOMark rates the G4 Plus towards the top of the pile.

Coming in equal fourth place in the DXOMark ratings, the Moto G4 Plus is one of the top 10 camera phones in the list. That said, it is far and away the least expensive phone in this grouping, mixing with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, HTC 10 and the iPhone 6s Plus. 

At roughly one-third of the price of these other phones, the Moto G4 Plus looks like the go to phone for photogs on a budget.

A watch to watch?

The new Moto 360 (2nd Gen) is also worth some consideration, depending on how you feel about smartwatches in general. 

Generally, the 2nd Gen watch is physically the same as the original model, save for a 0.1mm slimmer profile. It has the same screen size, and general shape. 

The big differences are more subtle. It has a slightly higher resolution screen this year, and a larger battery too. There is a faster processor under the hood, but the same 512MB RAM as before. 

Probably the most useful advancement is the inclusion of an ‘always on’ display, which gives you the time (and some basic info if you like) without you having to turn the screen on and off multiple times throughout the day.

Joseph Hanlon

Editorial Director | X | LinkedIn

Joe Hanlon has been immersed in mobile phones, plans and the internet for over a decade, having written for publications like CNET, Techradar, Gizmodo and Lifehacker. He steers the editorial ship and makes sure that we are always serving up the most useful guides and recommendations. If you ever bump into Joe on the street, don't be afraid to ask for a phone recommendation. It's embarrassing how much he enjoys talking about this stuff. He also loves listening to podcasts, so feel free to email Joe with recommendations.

Read full bio