4th gen Moto G prototype leaks in first hands-on video, sans fingerprint sensor

A video has been published on YouTube showing what the uploader claims is a prototype of the fourth generation Moto G. Its design is practically identical to leaks we’ve seen already, and it seems to be much bigger than the current generation budget Motorola smartphone.

It seems the fourth generation Moto G is the talk of the town at the moment, as a seemingly never ending stream of rumors and leaks start filling up space online. Initially, all we had to go on was a vague sketch showing nothing but the bottom of the front panel, which included a touch-sensitive home button/fingerprint sensor of a ‘Plus’ model.

Likewise, real life images emerged this week, again showing the front fingerprint sensor. Which is why the video is a little puzzling. The prototype shown off clearly doesn’t have a fingerprint scanner or home button of any kind on the front.

Looking at the leak from yesterday, there was something peculiar about the angle of the home button/sensor. It seemed to be sitting a little skew. We ran it through a program to see if there were signs of being photoshopped, but we found no signs to indicate that it was. So I suggested it was down to the angle, lighting and perspective of the shot causing some kind of optical illusion.

Regardless of the controversy, or confusion, there are a few potential reasons why the fingerprint sensor is in some leaks and not in this one. I think the most reasonable is that rumors of a ‘Plus’ model are accurate. The first leaks came with the suggestion that Motorola is building a Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus. This could mean that, as well as more than likely being bigger, the ‘Plus’ model comes with more high-end features, like the fingerprint sensor. It could also be simply that Moto is playing with a couple of different options prior to launch, and is yet to decide on a final product.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj0N8Zkbvnk]

As for the video, it shows the phone from virtually every angle, except the all-important bottom edge, which means we don’t know if there’s a Type C connector or a more old-school MicroUSB. We do, however, get a glimpse at the overall design, and the Active Display which shows the clock and notifications on a black screen, similar to the current Moto handsets. As well as that, the shape seems to have changed to be more rounded at the corners, and looks similar to the shape of the LG G5.

The back panel has a matte finish, which rounds off towards the edges and features the protruding, pill-shaped, centered camera housing. Its’s also shown alongside the 2014 Moto X, clearly indicating that it’s much bigger than any Moto G we’ve seen so far. And, as always, it’s running a very clean version of Android, presumably 6.0 Marshmallow.

We don’t have any details on specifications, but rumors are that Lenovo is planning to introduce the fourth generation Moto G in July, a couple of months before the mad-rush of holiday season product launches swings by.