Moto G5 Plus Review

The Moto G5 and G5 Plus are the G series phones that most clearly aspire to Z series status: they do away with the plastic chassis and adopt some Moto Z range characteristics. But are the Moto G5 and G5 Plus just mid-rangers masquerading as flagships or are they truly attempting to bridge the gap between the G and Z. These are by far the most premium-looking G series phones Motorola. The phone, on the surface, seems to suggest that Moto’s done its homework, addressing many short-falls of the G4 Plus, along with also anticipating the competition’s threats. We have had the Moto G5 Plus for some time now, putting the phone through its paces. Read our review in full to see if its worth your hard earned money.

Specifications:

The key specifications of the Moto G5 and the Moto G5 Plus are:

• Processor: The Moto G5 Plus uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor. The Moto G5, meanwhile, is powered by the Snapdragon 430.
• RAM: 2GB RAM for both the Moto G5 and the Moto G5 Plus. But for the Moto G5 Plus, 3GB RAM option will also be available.
• Internal storage: Moto G5 Plus will have 32GB and 64GB options. Moto G5 will have 16GB and 32GB variants. Option to add an microSD card of up to 256GB has been provided. 
• Screen: The Moto G5 has a 5-inch screen. The Moto G5 Plus uses a 5.2-inch screen. Both phones have FullHD resolution. Also, the screen of both phones have a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for added durability.
• Rear camera: The Moto G5 Plus has a 12-megapixel shooter with dual-pixel autofocus, which is up to 60 per faster in focussing according to Motorola. The Moto G5 Plus also comes with a F1.7 aperture lens. The Moto G5 has a regular 13-megapixel camera.
• Front camera: 5-megapixel camera in both phones.
• Weight: Moto G5 weighs 145 grams. The Moto G5 Plus weighs 155 grams. 
• Software: Android Nougat. The user interface is the same one that is inside Google Nexus phones.
• Battery: The Moto G5 has a 2800 mAh battery. The Moto G5 Plus comes with a 3000 mAh battery.

Design: 

The Moto G line has always been utilitarian. It gets the job done; it isn't flashy to say the least. This year things change. The Moto G5 Plus goes all metal with series 6000 aluminium which was found on phones like the iPhone 6 and it is darn slim at 7.7mm weighing just 155 grams.Even from the front, it is quite the looker. it has a 5.2-inch full HD LCD screen covered with Gorilla Glass 3, a front mounted fingerprint scanner below it and a 5-megapixel snapper on top flush with a hub for sensors. It looks smart and business like and the metal chassis makes it look premium.

Moreover, Motorola has brought back water resistance and the phone has a nano-coating which makes it water repellent. On the back, there is pronounced camera bump which reminds us of the one on the Moto Z. The sides have tactile power and volume buttons while the bottom hosts the 3.5mm headphone jack and a microUSB slot.

Display:

The display the Moto G5 Plus+ sports a 5.2 inch IPS LCD Full HD screen with 1,080x1,920 pixel resolution. While the display is crisp and has accurate colour reproduction, we found the sunlight legibility to be a little less, even with the brightness level set to maximum. That said, the display is great to work with indoors and in well-lit conditions. Viewing angles are nice too.The pixel count of 424ppi makes everything look crisp; however I found that it is not very bright in outdoor conditions. We will evaluate its performance in the full review of the handset. Motorola is also offering Corning Gorilla Glass protection to protect the screen from accidental damages.

Over that, the display is protected with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The display comes with water-repellent nano coating. All in all, we found the Moto G5 Plus to be a good-looking device, which comes in two colour options - Lunar Grey and Fine Gold..

Camera:

The Moto G5 Plus has 12MP rear camera with f/1.7 aperture, colour-balancing dual-LED flash and 8X digital zoom. It can also recognize barcodes and QR codes. During our tests, we found the photos taken from the G5 Plus's rear camera to be impressive. The images have bright colours and are quite sharp. What's best about the camera is that it can record 4K video at 30fps, in addition to shooting Full HD video at 60/30fps and HD quality at 30 fps.since the device only supports Full HD screen resolution, 4K videos shot on the device can only be viewed on any other 4k device.The camera offers a number of modes- professional mode, slow motion, etc. and can also record 4K Ultra HD videos at 30 frames per second. 

The front shooter has a 5MP module with wide-angle lens, f/2.2 aperture. The selfie camera to be just average. It gets the job done, but we won't call it anything extraordinary.

Battery:

On the battery front there’s a 3,000 mAh battery featuring TurboPower charging for six hours of battery life in just 15 minutes. On the display front, the 5.2-inch Full HD IPS LCD is pretty standard mid-range fare but there’s a 3.5 mm headphone jack, unlike the flagship Moto Z. The Moto G5 and G5 Plus run Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box with Moto’s added value software features in the settings.

The G5 Plus is powered by the power-sipping Snapdragon 625, meaning that battery life should last even longer than on a flagship phone with a similar capacity, due to the lower power demands of the chipset. There’s also Google Assistant coming via update, Moto Actions like the familiar wrist-flick to launch the camera and a karate chop gesture to launch the flashlight.

Performance:

The software on the Moto G5 Plus has clean interface, with all those lively colours in material design that Google loves to use. This is also simple to use, with same app drawer, same notification shade, shade settings app, same Google Now, same keyboard that you will find in a Nexus or Pixel phone. The animations too are same, although Lenovo adds a new app called Moto to the device. This app can be used to set up some specific gesture and interface settings. The Snapdragon 625 processor inside the phone runs well and cool. It handles web browsing, photo editing etc well enough. There is no lag when you switch between the open apps.When it comes to performance, the Moto G5 Plus doesn't falter in any area. Although, in some it's only good enough. That one area is screen. The 5.2-inch screen in the Moto G5 Plus is bright enough to be usable in direct sunlight. It is also sharp enough with FullHD resolution, and it can show nice colours. But contrast is where it barely makes the cut. It's not bad, but deep colours don't exactly pop out. The viewing angles too are on the average side. If you are used to some higher-end phones you will notice these peculiarities in the Moto G5 Plus screen. The screen of the G5 Plus gets the job done, but it is an area where it could have been better.Now the battery: This is one area where I was pleasantly surprised by the Moto G5 Plus. It packs in a 3000 mAh battery, which is on the smaller side in a market where we have phones coming with 4000 mAh battery. But forget about the capacity and numbers. The Snapdragon 625 is a very efficient processor and it shows in the Moto G5 Plus. When used with a 4G SIM, the phone lasts around 13 to 15 hours. In other words, this is a phone that you will have to charge only once in a day.

Verdict:

At Rs 16,999, there’s little that the Moto G5 Plus gets wrong. It has a primary camera that impressed with every click. Gaming performance is surprisingly good and consistent. The battery comfortably lasts a day and coupled with Moto’s TurboPower charging, there’s going to be very few reasons to ever run out of juice. The Moto G5 Plus is a solid option for anyone who is looking for an all you do good performer that is excellent value for money.Motorola, it is high time budget devices got the premium quality appearance as midrange and flagship devices. In the G5 Plus, Motorola has a phone that can be even more successful than its predecessor. It has everything that we liked from the G4 Plus and comes with a few extras. At the global launch event of the smartphone, Moto G5 Plus was touted as the first non-Pixel smartphone to come with Google Assistant.