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Motorola Moto G VS Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini Comparison Review

We recently witnessed the launch of Motorola’s Moto G, a device which like its elder sibling aims to bring a pure Android experience to the average user. The phone is essentially a more affordable version of the Moto X that came in previously. On the other hand, the S4 mini has been selling for a few months in the country. With comparable specs, which one will you go for?

mg vs s4m

Weight and Dimensions

Motorola Moto G dimensions: 129.9 x 65.9 x 11.6 mm, weight: 143g

Samsung Galaxy S4 mini dimensions: 124.6 x 61.3 x 8.9 mm, weight: 107g

Clearly, the S4 mini is the smaller and the lighter of the two. This is due to the fact that it comes with a smaller 4.3 inch screen.


Display and Processor

Both of these devices play second-fiddle to other, more powerful ones from their respective brands. While the Moto G packs a 4.5 inch screen, the S4 mini comes with a smaller 4.3 inch one. If you’re looking for a ‘true’ mini phone, the S4 mini is the way to go. On the other hand, the Moto G will be a more flexible device. The 4.3 inch unit on the S4 mini comes with a qHD resolution of 960 x 540 pixels, while the Moto G features a higher 1280 x 720p resolution.

The devices are pretty much at par on the processing front. The S4 mini comes with a dual core 1.7GHz processor (Faster Krait cores)while the Moto G features a quad core 1.2GHz one Processor(Cortex A7 cores). As mentioned, performance will invariably be at par with Moto G taking the occasional lead.

Camera and Memory

Neither device is heavy on imaging artillery. While the S4 mini comes with an 8MP rear main camera, the Moto G features only a 5MP unit. You can expect the S4 mini to be quite a bit better in this regard, and should choose the S4 mini over the Moto G if you frequently use your phone for photography. On the front-facing department, the S4 mini is again the better one with a 1.9MP unit compared to the 1.3MP one on the Moto G. However, this difference isn’t as significant as the rear and shouldn’t be a decider.

The Moto G, like most other Google-backed phones, does not come with memory expansion features. It comes in 8/16GB variants. On the other hand, the S4 mini features 8GB on-board memory along with a microSD card slot that can take up to 64GB of microSD.

Battery and Features

Both devices come with rather low-capacity batteries (by today’s standards), but that is compensated by the small screens which aren’t as power hungry. The Moto G features a 2070 mAh battery while the S4 mini comes with a 1900 mAh one. Motorola claim that the Moto G will last one whole day on average usage. We think both devices will be pretty much on par in real-world usage.

Since Motorola is now a Google owned company, you can expect the Moto G to receive fast updates on the software front. On the other hand, Samsung are usually a little slow in pushing updates.

Key Specs

Model Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini Motorola Moto G
Display 4.3 inches qHD 4.5 inches HD
Processor 1.7GHz quad core 1.2GHz quad core
RAM 1.5GB 1GB
Internal Storage 8GB expandable by up to 64GB 8/16GB
OS Android v4.2 Android v4.3
Cameras 8MP/1.9MP 5MP/1.3MP
Battery 1900 mAh 2070 mAh
Price About 19,500 INR $179 (8GB), $199 (16GB) at launch

Conclusion

As mentioned previously, if you are looking for a true mini phone, the S4 mini is the way to go. On the other hand if you wish to have a true Android experience with frequent undelayed updates, you might want to go for the Moto G. Lastly, if you wouldn’t mind the smaller screen, we’d like to say that the S4 mini is the better phone out of the two; expandable memory and 1.5GB of RAM are two things that it has and the Moto G doesn’t.

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Abhishek Bhatnagar

Abhishek Bhatnagar, a known technology blogger & YouTuber from India. A Software Engineer by qualification, now he works as the editor-In-Chief, Webmaster, & Managing Director at Gadgets To Use. He runs a number of other technology websites as well.