Motorola Moto G 5G Plus: It won't blow your mind, but at £300 we're struggling to find much to grumble about
- Reference: 1595323153
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/07/21/motorola_moto_g_5g_review/
- Source link:
Motorola seeded The Register with the entry-level model. Under the hood, you'll find Qualcomm's mid-range Snapdragon 765 octa-core silicon, which uses a 7nm process and includes the Adreno 620 GPU. The cheapest variant of the Moto G 5G Plus comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB of UFS 2.1 storage. Pay a bit extra, and you can double your storage and increase the RAM to 6GB.
Performance was reasonably fluid, with media-rich sites opening swiftly. And though it may not be most relevant for the grizzled IT veterans that comprise our readership, the Moto G 5G Plus proved capable of keeping pace with several taxing games, including Call of Duty: Mobile .
On the storage front, you might quickly find that 64GB might not meet your needs – particularly if you prefer to store your music library locally, or you're a consummate hoarder of apps. Fortunately, there's room for a micro SD card. Motorola should be commended for using UFS rather than the cheaper (and vastly slower) eMMC standard – even if this version of UFS isn't necessarily the most bleeding-edge.
[2]
In terms of ergonomics, the phone feels light – helped by its all-plastic chassis. It's not the most premium-feeling of devices I've ever used, but certainly felt nicer to hold than, say, [3]the TCL 10L . On the right side you'll find a power button that also doubles as a fingerprint reader. I'm a big fan of this approach as it feels a lot more natural than a rear-mounted fingerprint reader.
The display is 6.7 inches with a tall 21:9 ratio and a resolution of 1,080x2,520. With a 90Hz refresh rate, animations felt fluid. It's also wonderfully bright, with text remaining readable in sunny conditions. Towards the top left, you'll spot the two hole-punches housing the 16MP and 8MP selfie cameras.
The Moto G 5G Plus runs Android 10. Sadly, there's nothing to indicate that this phone is part of the Android One programme, meaning it's unclear how many software updates it'll receive over its lifespan.
Fortunately, Motorola's approach to customising Android is constrained, with the UI interactions mostly intact. The most visible bit of modification is the phone's animated background, which I rather liked.
Tilt the phone towards you, and you'll spot the included 3.5mm headphone jack (somewhat of an endangered species in 2020) and the USB-C charging port. Mercifully, this supports 20W fast charging – which is good, considering the device ships with a generously large 5,000mAh battery. Motorola reckons this will get you two days of use, which proved fairly accurate in our testing.
[4]
Camera-wise, there's a 48MP primary sensor. High-density sensors are common-as-muck these days, particularly on the low-to-mid spectrum of the market. And you seldom actually get 48MP. The Moto G 5G Plus uses pixel binning – branded as "Quad Pixel Technology" – to combine four pixels into one to improve low-light performance.
Accompanying this is a 5MP macro lens, a 2MP depth sensor, and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens. There's no telephoto or periscope zoom lens, and nor would you expect there to be, given the price.
Camera performance was solid, with close-ups detailed and solid colour performance. While it doesn't compare to what you'd get with [5]the Huawei P40 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max, it's perfectly competent for day-to-day shooting.
Ultimately, the Moto G 5G Plus is a decent entry-level 5G phone, and ticks most boxes – including a solid battery and day-to-day performance, and an excellent display. For £300, it's really hard to fault it. ®
Get our [6]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/07/moto_g_5g_plus/
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/07/17/motog5g2.jpg
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/26/tcl_10l_review_tcls_debut/
[4] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/07/17/motog5g3.jpg
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/18/review_huawei_p40_pro/
[6] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Plastic construction
Just stick it in a phone pouch style holster on a lanyard around the neck & wear it like that old rapper Flava Flav. =-)p
On a more serious note, I bought a shoulder holster for my phone; exactly like what a policeman might wear for their weapon, but designed for a cellphone instead. It does multiple duty as it also holds a tablet, extra battery pack, or any other small item I want to carry with me but don't want to risk in a pocket with my keys.
Re: Plastic construction
That's a serious note? Good grief that's a silly thing. Just carry a bag...
Re: That's a serious note?
The reason it's "serious" is because of the possible consequences of reaching for your phone whilst in the presence of anyone "too alert" for putative threats. :-)
Thats a fairly epic price for this spec...
I just spent £600 on a 5G phone (I wanted the 7.2" screen), I was also getting extremely concerned that most well-spec'd budget phones were Chinese, such as Honor, Xioami etc - So fact Moto can do this, gives me some relief - This will be my wife's next phone!
Re: Thats a fairly epic price for this spec...
But, Moto is a Chinese brand; is it not part of Lenovo?
Motorola Moto G 5G Plus
by the time 5G gets decent enough coverage... No, forget that, by the time 4G gets decent enough coverage, this phone will have been superseded by several new models. But then, it's not why they're being sold mid-2020, is it :)
Likely to be supported
FWIW, despite everyone doing their best to convince me that Moto drops their phone support the day they release, they've kept up with both security updates within 1-2 months and major OS updates within a year for me. (Just got Android 10 on my G7.) Samsung isn't even close to that.
I guess I'm going to be holding on to my phone for a long time to come. Seriously 6,5" is the normal for a phone these days? My Sony X Compact is 4,6". I cannot imagine having a larger phone then that. I dont need to carry a brick with me, everywhere I'm going.
Amazing how we used to laugh at the very first generation of mobile phones, "Oh how large and brick like they are! Hahaha"! Well it seems we've progressed from Brick to Tile phones, Jokes on us!
Anyone able to recommend a sensibly sized phone (say under 5")? Or do they just not exist anymore?
It's really hard. The iPhone SE2 comes to mind, but on the android front, choice is severely lacking. So much competition, yet so little variety.
I use a Xiaomi Redmi 4x with a custom rom, and it suits me fine. I do wish there were more options under 140mm tall though
Plastic construction
Though I prefer a metal frame to protect the screen from bending forces, I'm a big fan of plastic backs. My phone has just survived a metre drop onto concrete - the glass screen protector was destroyed but everything else is perfectly intact and I really think that a glass backed phone would have been landfill.
My one annoyance with 5G, however, is that the phones seem to be huge even when, as in this case, the mm bands are missing. I assume that this is because a lot of room is needed to fit all the antennae. The reason this isn't on my replacement list for my wife's phone is simply that she wouldn't have anywhere to put it.