- [Michael] These are three of the newest smartphones
to hit the shelves.
The difference between them?
A few features, a few inches,
and about 400 bucks.
If you're looking to save a ton of money
on your next Android, the Moto G5 Plus is your ride.
I'm Michael Fisher, and this is the MrMobile Review.
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Today's video is brought to you by Mint SIM,
stick around to the end to learn how to get unlimited calls,
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The Moto G5 Plus is not your typical budget smartphone,
it carries the family name of a brand
that blew the mobile world wide open,
when it launched in 2013.
The original Moto G delivered so much quality,
at such a low price,
that it became Motorola's best-selling phone ever.
Each year since, the company has tweaked the formula,
moving speakers around, dabbling in waterproofing,
sneaking in some extra features,
but still hewing to the original goal
of shipping a solid phone, at an affordable price.
You don't need to long a look to see
what sets the new series apart from its forerunners.
Where earlier Gs made due with rubberized soft-touch casings
or snap-on plastic backs,
this one wants you to marvel at its magnificence.
And I don't really think it works.
It doesn't feel cheap necessarily,
but the minute you pick it up
you realize that it's an affordable product
trying too hard to look expensive.
And that's fine, a lot of products do that,
but what's unfortunate about it
is that Motorola didn't need to do it with past Moto Gs.
The older designs embraced and even amplified
their utilitarian roots, and as a result, they stood out.
The G5 Plus looks, well, an awful lot
like other affordable phones coming out of Asia right now.
To me, that's a missed opportunity
to stand out from the pack.
At least the Lunar Gray model is a bit more subdued.
If you value function over form,
the G5 Plus does its ancestors proud.
This is Android 7.0 with the Motorola interface,
which means it's close to stock Android,
and where it does deviate, it's usually for the better.
On the cosmetic side, the launcher brings in elements
from the Google Pixel, while the Moto Display
has been given a more colorful paint job,
though, admittedly, that's hard to see
on this rather dull LCD.
It seems likely that this version of Moto Display
is something we'll also see on the next Moto Z.
And maybe that goes for the fingerprint scanner, too,
which has been enlarged
and given limited trackpad abilities.
If you don't want the traditional soft keys
down at the bottom, you can use gestures instead,
left swipe for back, right for the app switcher,
and taps of varying lengths to go home
or activate Google Assistant.
On the more practical front,
Motorola's now classic gestures are back again,
spend a week chopping on the flashlight,
or twisting the camera to life,
and you'll wonder how you ever lived without 'em.
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The camera hides more fun tricks in its viewfinder,
it automatically reads QR codes and barcodes,
saving you the trouble of downloading an app for that.
As for the shooter itself, Motorola calls it
a flagship-level camera sensor,
and, to its credit, it does focus quickly.
It's also got a wide aperture and a capable HDR mode,
plus the option to shoot video in 4K.
Mix all that together and you've got a phone
that can deliver pretty,
sometimes very pretty photos in daylight
or bright indoor settings.
Spend a few minutes messing with them in Instagram
and no one will know you're using a budget device.
But turns the lights down and the challenges
that befall all smartphone cameras
hit the G5 Plus even harder.
The lack of optical stabilization and the tendency
of both front and back cameras to overexpose,
it means you're gonna be working a little harder
to get good shots here than you would
with a more expensive product.
There is a full manual mode available for that, though.
Much has been made of the phone's other shortcomings,
like the use of the older micro USB port for charging,
and the lack of NFC,
meaning you can't use Android Pay in stores.
But these are the sort of comprises I've come to expect
in an affordable smartphone.
When Lenovo told me its market research suggested
that not a lot of budget phone buyers even care
about Android Pay, I wasn't surprised,
it's still trying to get traction on the high end.
And while it's annoying to have to carry around
an older charging cord, it's not that old.
Last year's top of the line Android phones still used it,
and you're more likely to find micro USB cables lying around
than newer USB-C ones.
Plus, with a good-sized battery
and a very power-efficient processor,
you won't often be worried about charging,
at least not before bedtime.
The G5 Plus gave me an average of 14 hours,
moderate to heavy use and that includes
some power-sucking games, like Asphalt 8,
and Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy,
games which played with nary a hiccup, by the way.
As usual, the more I streamed TuneIn Radio over Bluetooth,
the sooner I needed to refuel.
The in-box wall adapter is a TurboPower charger, though,
so topping it up is a speedy process.
Not likely to be a speedy process, software updates.
Motorola has become far less prompt
at delivering the latest Android versions
since Lenovo bought it, and that's troubling.
Back on the plus side,
phone calls are unsurprisingly pretty good,
and while the speaker phone may not be
the loudest thing around, at least it's front-firing,
which I really like.
The Moto G5 Plus will be available unlocked
starting March 31st in the US,
at retailers from Amazon, to Best Buy,
to Target, to Walmart and beyond.
It's compatible with all four major US carriers,
and it comes in two trims,
based on how much storage and RAM you think you need.
My review device was the higher end model,
so I can only give my recommendation based on that one.
What is that recommendation?
Well, if I had to keep my smartphone spending under $300,
and I wanted a new phone,
instead of one of last year's discounted models,
I wouldn't look anywhere else.
And, for what it's worth, I'd probably buy from Amazon
to get the discounted price for Prime members.
The Moto G5 Plus marries excellent performance,
great battery life and smart software,
with an acceptable camera,
for a price tag that's tough to beat,
if you're shopping unlocked.
Buy it and, if you want,
spend some of the money you save on a case
to take the edge off that look.
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Until next time, thanks for watching
and stay mobile, my friends.