Moto E4 vs. Moto G5: Battle of the budget phones

Moto E4 vs. Moto G5: Battle of the budget phones

Motorola has stuffed the budget market full of great phones, but does the low-end Moto E4 hold its own against the G5?

This year has been one of overhaul for Motorola's budget lineup, as evinced by the debut of six handsets in the C, E and G lines. They all share aesthetic similarities, but are are staged linearly, each appealing to a different segment of that entry-level market.

The Moto G refresh came first, at Mobile World Congress, and bifurcated the G5 and G5 Plus largely on performance lines — the former sported the Snapdragon 430 platform and a removable battery while the latter went mid-range with the proven Snapdragon 625 and a larger, enclosed battery, a superior camera and up to 4GB of RAM.

When the Moto E4 and E4 Plus were announced, it wasn't clear why Motorola decided to sell it in North America instead of the G5, but after using both for a time, it makes sense: they're fairly similar — closer than one would initially think — and overlap in a few important ways. The Snapdragon 425 or 427 in the Moto E4 is definitely a little bit less powerful, and the 8MP rear camera considerably less reliable, not to mention the less pixel-dense 720p display, but overall the phones provide similar experiences.

You also can't officially buy the Moto G5 in the U.S. That's perhaps the most confusing part of this whole thing: Motorola sells the Moto E4 and the G5 Plus on its website, while the E4 Plus was just released in India and the G5 is available in markets like Canada, Europe, Latin America and other areas where the budget segment is less controlled by carriers.

So the main takeaway here isn't so much a direct comparison between these two products, at least not for Americans, since the only way you can officially purchase the Moto G5 is for way too much money on Amazon, but rather to show that the sacrifices made in going down to the E4 aren't tantamount to a downgrade, and as Jacklyn points out in her excellent video above, may in some ways provide a better experience.

What do you think? Would you import a Moto G5 over buying a Moto E4, or would you rather spend a bit more to jump up to the Moto G5 Plus, which is currently on sale? Let us know in the comments below!