A surprising amount of people have requested that I durability test the 4th Generation
Moto G, or also known as the Moto G4.
Pretty inexpensive compared to most of the phones I test, even though it is rocking an
octa core processor.
Is it durable though?
That’s what we’re here to find out.
[Intro]
As always let’s start with the scratch test.
The Mohs picks help us see how scratch resistant the glass is.
Motorola is advertising that there is gorilla glass 3 on this phone, so it’s not surprising
at all when it scratches at a level 6.
This is perfectly normal and sits perfectly on par with the rest of the tempered glass
screened flagships.
It’s not invincible against scratches like sapphire or ceramic would be, but it is very
scratch resistant.
The earpiece slot is abnormally large for a cell phone.
Perfect size for collecting dust, make up, or even allowing small rocks to get in.
And unfortunately there is no metal grill inside the glass keeping the earpiece protected.
The black part you see is more like a rubberish vinyl covering.
So if you ever need to clean out this little slot be gentle with it or the earpiece covering
might get punctured.
The 5 megapixel camera is under that same front layer of gorilla glass 3, so you don’t
have to worry about it getting scratched up either.
The back of the phone is removable but for some reason it still does not give us access
to the battery.
This is extremely weird.
A removable back with a non-removable battery.
We’ll have to see what’s up with that during my teardown and repair video…if the
Moto G4 survives the rest of my durability tests.
The back of the phone is made out of rubber.
Since it is easily replaceable it’s not that big of a deal if it gets scratched up,
but as you can see, my razor blade still does a pretty good job of disfiguring the grippy
material.
Scratching on rubber doesn’t have that same satisfying metal on metal sound we all enjoy,
but I still managed to draw a happy little tree.
I imagine most of you aren’t going to take a razor blade to your phone, so I did test
an everyday objects like keys and coins but neither of them left a mark.
Rubber is pretty durable and resilient even if it’s not one of those premium feeling
build materials like glass and real metal.
Now that Art Classes with Jerry are finished we can move on to the sides of the phone.
These are plastic all the way through which is totally fine for a device this price.
The inner plastic is a slightly different shade of gray though.
Any dings or dents would visibly show up with time, so watch out for that.
The side buttons are also made of plastic, the volume and power button.
This phone does have a headphone jack so for you practical people who enjoy listening to
music on the go; this full featured phone would be a fantastic choice.
There is one 13 megapixel camera on the back.
It maxes out at 1080p resolution while recording video, but at least it is covered in glass
so that camera is protected from scratches as well.
The dual colored flash is also plastic, but that’s totally fine since light will get
dispersed either way…scratches or no scratches.
The Motorola logo is built into the back rubber panel so there’s no worries about that popping
out like on some of the older Nexus phones.
And now it’s time for the burn test.
The Moto G4 has an IPS LCD under that gorilla glass layer; similar to the iPhone.
It lasts about 9 seconds under my flame.
With IPS LCDs the pixels will go black and turn completely off.
But when the heat is removed the screen recovered completely.
The flame from my lighter still burns away the outer invisible oleophobic glass coating
though, so I would recommend against lighting your own phone on fire.
Speaking of things you also shouldn’t try yourself; it’s time for the bend test.
Stress testing a phone during a bend test is a good way to find out how structurally
sound the build quality is.
This phone holds up just fine when I apply pressure to the screen side of the device.
But when I flip it over there is some major flex to the phone.
Luckily it still does not catastrophically snap in half.
It still functions perfectly fine even though it is currently identifying as a banana.
This phone passes the bend test.
And I’ll give it a thumbs up as far as durability goes.
It’s nice to know that a phone doesn’t have to be expensive to be solidly built.
Since this Motorola G4 passed the test you can safely assume that the G4 Plus would also
pass since they have the same basic build quality and structural integrity.
I was able to bend the phone back straight again so there probably is some metal somewhere
inside of the phone.
We’ll find out during the teardown.
I’ll link current pricing for this phone down in the video description right below
this video, and I’ll also link the teardown there as well as soon as I get that finished.
Hit me up on Twitter or Instagram for behind the scenes and giveaways.
And let me know in the comments what phone you want to see me test next…budget or premium.
Thanks for watching.
I’ll see you around.