Introduction
When the Moto G debuted in 2014 it was a game changer. With a combination of great performance, great battery life and a clean stock version of Android, all for $179, it offered tremendous value for money that was unmatched by anything on the market at that point.
Fast forward to 2017 and you see a rather different picture. For one, Motorola is no longer owned by Google and the budget smartphone market has exploded, including a bunch of quality offerings by Motorolas current owner Lenovo. So how does the new Moto G5 stack up?
Moto G5 key features:
- 5.0-inch, 1920x1080 IPS display; 441PPI
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC; 4x Cortex-A53 + 4x Cortex-A53 CPU @ 1.4GHz; Adreno 505 GPU, 3GB RAM; 16GB storage with microSD support (up to 128GB)
- 13 megapixel rear camera, f2.0 aperture, PDAF, single LED flash 1080p30 video, 540p120 slow motion
- 5 megapixel front camera, f2.2 aperture
- Dual SIM, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS/GLONASS, microUSB
- Water-resistant nano coating
- FM Radio
- Fingerprint reader
- 2800mAh removable battery
- Android 7.0 Nougat
Main shortcomings:
- Unimpressive build quality
- Poor display sunlight legibility
- Poor performance in certain apps and games
- Unimpressive battery life
- No fast charging
- No USB Type-C
Like last year, the G5 will be sold in two variants, the G5 - which is the one we are taking a look at today - and the G5 Plus. Unlike last year, where the differences were limited to the rear camera and the lack of fingerprint sensor on the cheaper model, the differences this year are more drastic. The more expensive G5 Plus gets a bigger display, more powerful processor, better rear camera and a larger battery (albeit non-removable).
Motorola Moto G5
Still, the G5 is the quintessential G series phone (whereas the G5 Plus is more of a mid-range device) so well be focusing on that today. Lets see if the newcomer can capture the magic of the original that came three years before it.
Design
The Moto G devices have never been particularly stylish or fashionab le and that trend continues with the new G5. While attempts have been made to inject some excitement into the design in the form of a shiny silver plastic border around the display it ends up looking more chintzy than stylish.
Motorola Moto G5
On the front of the device is covered edge to edge by a scratch resistant glass. The glass has an oleophobic coating but its still not particularly easy to clean and gets dirty easily. In the middle sits the 5.0-inch display surrounded by massive bezels on every side. The side bezels are particularly large and make the phone much wider than what it should be for a 5.0-inch device.
The front of the Moto G5
Above the display sits the earpiece in the center covered by a cloth grille. The earpiece is also the sole loudspeaker on the device. On the left of the speaker is the front facing camera and on the right are the proximity and ambient light sensor. The G5 does not have an LED notification light. Below the display is the fingerprint sensor and a microphone. The fingerprint sensor also has support for gestures, but more on that in the software section.
The power button
On the right side of the phone is the power button and volume control buttons. All the buttons are easy to reach and work well.
3.5mm jack and microUSB
On the top is a headphone jack and on the bottom is the now-outdated microUSB port.
Camera and back
The back of the phone has the camera with a single LED flash. Because it is thicker, the G5 doesnt have the camera bump of the G5 Plus. There is also a secondary microphone on the back to the top left of the camera.
You access the battery
The entire back si de of the phone is a removable cover. Removing it makes you realize that only the center part of it is made out of aluminum while the top and bottom portions are plastic for the antennas to work. Underneath the cover is the removable battery, which also hides the dual nano SIM card slots and the microSD card slot. All of these can be populated simultaneously and you dont have to choose between a second SIM and a microSD card like on most other phones.
The design of the phone isnt particularly impressive but the build quality is worse. The removable back cover creaks everywhere that is not covered by metal, which is mostly the area at the top and bottom. It eventually gets pretty annoying and coupled with the tacky chrome garnish and the constantly smudge covered display makes the phone look and feel way cheaper than it is.
Its worth mentioning that the phone has water-repellant nano coating but like last years model we dont get the full water-resistant rating of the Moto G3.
Display
The Moto G5 has a 5.0-inch IPS LCD. The image quality of the display is very good. Out of the box the phone comes with slightly saturated colors that look good without being overwhelming. However, the phone has an option in the settings to switch to more natural colors, at which point it targets standard sRGB color values. The color calibration at that setting is very accurate and except for an ever so slightly bluish white point it is practically perfect. For a budget phone, this level of image quality is commendable.
Adjusting the screen tone
Where the display falls apart is in brightness. The display washes out really bad under the sun making it difficult to see anything. You could still get by with calling and texting but attempting to take pictures under the sun seem futile because of how little of what you are capturing is visible. This is made worse by the glass, which is very reflective and always covered by smudges and seeing through that mess is a frustrating experience.
Software
The Moto G5 runs on Android 7.0 Nougat with Motorolas skin on top. Motorolas skin was praised back in the day for practically being stock Android with next to no bloatware or UI customizations, but things have changed over the years.
The UI is close to stock Android
The launcher is Motorolas own and features a swipe up gesture to get from the homescreen to the app drawer. The app drawer has a row of frequently used apps at the top like the Google Now Launcher but unlike Googles launcher it cannot be disabled. Similarly, the homescreen has a left panel for Google Now but even that cant be disabled. Fortunately, its easy to install another launcher.
The phone comes with some bloatware, depending upon where you buy it. In India, the phone is sold exclusively through Amazon, so it comes with the Amazon, Kindle, and Prime apps pre-installed, and none of these can be removed. There is even an Amazon accounts option in the main Settings app.
Moto Actions
There is some useful stuff here, like the Moto Actions and Moto Display. Moto Actions has your now familiar stuff, like the chop twice for flashlight or twist for camera gestures, along with the usual pick up phone to stop ringing and flip for do not disturb. A new setting is one button nav. With this you can turn the fingerprint sensor into a gesture pad for navigating your phone. You can press once to go home, press and hold to turn off the display, press and hold longer for Google Assistant, swipe left on the sensor to go back and swipe right to open recent apps. Once this feature is enabled, the on-screen controls are hidden and you can reclaim your entire screen real estate. Its an interesting concept and if you give yourself some time to get used to it you might end up liking it.
Moto Display is also a useful feature. It lights up the screen whenever there are unseen notifications. It will also wake up the screen when you pick up the phone and if there are pending notifications. The Moto Display screen has been updated and now shows a larger clock. Unfortunately, you cant leave it on all the time. Also, even when lit the display is still quite dark and can be hard to see in a brightly lit room. Unlike before, if you disable Moto Display you dont get the option to use Androids Ambient Display mode. There is also no LED indicator light if youre into that.
Performance
The Moto G5 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset with 3GB of RAM. In terms of performance, the G5 is somewhat of a disappointment. The Snapdragon 430 is starting to show its age and the phone often struggles to keep up with modern applications. Sure, if all you intend to do on your phone is use text messaging apps or make phone calls then y ou should be perfectly happy. But load something like Snapchat and the performance falls apart quickly, with the phone struggling to maintain a decent frame rate while recording videos with one of the apps AR filters. The result is choppy videos that will look embarrassingly bad on your friends device. Even the Twitter app stutters badly while scrolling and if you ever open up Chrome then you will notice thats not a walk in the park either. The phone also refused to play 60fps videos in YouTube and only played them in 30fps.
Fortunately, gaming isnt too bad. Except for a few games at their highest visual settings, the G5 ran most 3D games fines without stuttering. Unfortunately, the phone does tend to get pretty warm near the camera on the back. This doesnt just happen in games but also while using some apps (like the aforementioned Snapchat).
The multimedia performance is decent. The loudspeaker on the front can get fairly loud and being right on the front also makes it sound clearer. Unfortunately, the audio quality isnt the greatest and at the highest volume it can get a bit shrill. Audio output through the headphones is good, though.
The fingerprint sensor works very well. It is fast and accurate with very low failure rate. You can save up to five prints at a time.
Camera
The Moto G5 has a 13 megapixel rear camera with f2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus and single LED flash. It can also record 1080p 30fps video and 540p 120fps slow motion video.
The Moto camera
The camera application is largely unchanged from last year and a big step up from Motorola camera app of yore. The interface is well-laid out with a settings tray on the left. You have to change mode with a button on the right. We wish there was an option to start recording video instantly from the photo mode without switching to a separate video mode as it wastes valuable time when youre in a hurry, especially since you cant even swipe quickly to switch and have to fiddle with tiny buttons on screen (which you probably cant even see on this phone if youre out under the sun). The camera app also has a panorama mode and a pro mode. The app will default to the standard rear camera photo mode when you start it regardless of which mode you left it in.
Motorola Moto G5 camera samples
The image quality on the Moto G5 is generally very good. Images taken in daylight had great colors, contrast and sharpness with very little noise and plenty of detail. The images dont look over sharpened or over processed in any way. The autofocus is quick and the tap to focus works well with a convenient exposure compensation ring. Low light images come out a bit dark but look decent nonetheless.
HDR Off • HDR On
The dynamic range isnt phenomenal. Fortunately, the HDR mode helps with this some times. Unfortunately, it can get a bit too aggressive other times.
The video recording quality is acceptable, too. The 1080p videos are reasonably sharp with a fair amount of detail in them. Surprisingly, there is also an HDR mode for video, which works remarkably well. There is also electronic image stabilization available, which is useful if not particularly exceptional and better than nothing. It can be disabled if you wish to reclaim some of the lost sensor output .
The slow motion mode also works well and you get sliders to mark the point in the video that you want to slow down. Unfortunately, its only 540p and only 120fps, which is just about better than nothing.
Battery Life
The Moto G5 has a 2,800mAh removable battery. This is the first and only Moto G device with a removable battery; even the G5 Plus doesnt have this feature. Unfortunately, you might just taking advantage of it as the battery life on the G5 really isnt anything to write home about. While previous Moto G phones have had stellar battery life the G5 struggles to get through a day unless you are really frugal with your usage. A day out in the sun with the display brightness maxed out will see the battery tank in about three hours of use.
Moto G5 battery life
As if thats not bad enough, unlike the G5 Plus the G5 has no fast charging. The battery takes about 130 minutes, or just over two hours to charge completely. The phone charges at about 1% per minute for the first 75% or so and then the charging rate gets even slower. This is not the phone to charge when youre in a hurry.
Conclusion
When the Moto G first came out, it was all about offering a great smartphone experience at a low price. Today, the price is still fairly low but the experience is no longer great, at least with this particular device. The Moto G5 feels like a compromise in a way the original never did. We havent had chance to spend a lot of time with the more expensive G5 Plus but it doesnt take a genius to figure out that it is the premiere Moto G experience; the one we have been led to expect by now. Unfortunately, it is also much more expensive, which means we have gone from having a great experience at a low price to having to choose between the two.
Unfortunately for Lenovo, it is not 2014 anymore and there are better options available. Options such as the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, which offers the specs and performance of the G5 Plus at the cost of the G5 and doesnt make you choose between price and experience. Maybe its time Lenovo takes a step back and thinks hard about where it plans to take the G series from here because we are not big fans of where it is right now.
! ( hope useful)
