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Camera technology in the Moto G range has come a long way since the 5MP sensor in the original phone back in 2013. The Moto G4 has a 13MP sensor on the rear, which produces similar image quality to the Moto G (2015).
While it might sound as if Motorola has skimped by not upgrading the camera, it was and still is a perfectly good shooter for those who just want to grab a quick image.
Autofocus performance from the G4's camera is one of the highlights of the camera for me – it holds up well compared to other phones in this price bracket. You can tap on the screen to focus as well. However the camera struggles to focus accurately on close-up subjects.
Landscape shots in particular look good, with a level of detail that's impressive for a camera at this price.
There's also a 4x zoom, although using it does cause the quality of images to drop noticeably – I didn't find myself using this feature often, and I wouldn't recommend it.
Manual camera options on the Moto G4 are few and far between. You can choose the quality of your images by swiping across on the screen from the left, and you've also got options to keep HDR and the flash on.
You won't get a fully-fledged manual mode as on, say, the Huawei P9 though – this is meant to be a camera you can shoot with quickly and easily, without having to tinker with settings.
Video-wise the rear camera is able to shoot Full HD recording, but nothing more. While a lot of flagship phones are now 4K-equipped, however, that's still a premium feature rather than an essential one.
I don't often find myself using the 4K recording option on phones that offer it – like many people I don't tend to play phone footage back on high-res screens.
There's no image stabilization technology in the Moto G4, and that's something I've missed while using the camera – if you're going to be shooting video, be prepared for footage to be a little shaky.
The front camera on the Moto G has a 5MP sensor with an auto-HDR mode. I found that selfie shots came out well – they're nice and bright, likely down to the f/2.2 aperture of the camera.
You do miss out on the extra quality you'd get with, say, the Oppo F1's fantastic selfie camera, but that's hardly a deal-breaker.
Camera samples
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