During the international launch, Motorola’s parent company Lenovo had made it clear that these smartphones will be launched in India soon. Now it can be said that the company has not really disappointed the fans here. Moto G5 Plus has been launched in India.
The Moto G was launched in early 2014. It was one of the first smartphones to be sold exclusively online. The handset became as popular as any premium handset at the time and we praised it for its features and price.
After three years, more than 1 million Moto G handsets have been sold so far. In a recent meeting, Sudhin Mathur, Managing Director of Motorola Mobility India and Executive Director of Lenovo MBG India, told Gadgets 360 that so far four generations of Moto G series handsets have been released. Each series has not been equally successful, but there has always been a demand for them. The company hopes that through Moto G5 Plus it will carry forward the success of the previous generation handsets.
This is the first phone in the Moto G series that comes with a metal body. Apart from this, it is the first phone in its price range to come with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. Motorola has tried to keep the price within the reach of the customers. And along with this, it has also provided such features that can give a strong challenge to even the expensive handsets. Will the Moto G5 Plus live up to our expectations? Let’s find out through the review.
Moto G5 Plus design
There have been four generations of Moto G smartphones so far. The design has changed with each generation, as have the specifications. We liked the first Moto G. It brought features of a more expensive phone to consumers at an affordable price. But its plastic and polycarbonate body was not very exciting. The Moto G (Gen 2) and Moto G (Gen 3) had some important design changes, but the Moto G identity was still intact. Things changed completely with the Moto G4 series, with features like the fingerprint scanner being limited to the larger model. However, the design was still dominated by plastic.
With the fifth-generation device, the Moto G has finally gone for a metal body. The Moto G5 Plus and Moto G5 feature an aluminium finish. And the G5 Plus feels sturdy. It also looks extremely beautiful from the front. We think there has been a huge improvement in this department compared to the older variants.
At first glance, the new Moto G5 Plus looks very similar to the mid-range Moto Z Play (Review), judging by the Moto branding on the earpiece and the display. The only difference is the design of the fingerprint sensor, which is placed under the display. It is oval-shaped, while the Moto Z Play has a square sensor. During the global launch, Motorola stressed that the new Moto G5 range is inspired by the premium Moto Z family.
The placement of the camera and dual LED flash on the rear is also reminiscent of the Moto Z. The Moto logo is below the raised area. At 7.7 mm thick, the Moto G5 Plus is by no means slim. But this makes the phone easy to hold. During the review, we had to be extra careful about the camera’s raised area, as there was a risk of the lens getting scratched. We would recommend using a cover for the Moto G5 Plus.
The power and volume buttons are on the right side. There is no problem in reaching them when using one hand. The 3.5mm audio jack and micro-USB port are on the bottom edge. It is good to know that this phone has a separate slot for microSD card in addition to two SIM card slots. The edges of the phone are curved, which makes it easy to hold and use the phone.
At 155 grams, the Moto G5 Plus weighs the same as the previous generation device. But remember that the Moto G4 Plus comes with a 5.5-inch display while the Moto G5 Plus has a 5.2-inch display.
The Moto G5 Plus has a 5.2-inch IPS LCD display. This is a full-HD resolution screen with a pixel density of 424 pixels per inch. In comparison, the Moto G4 Plus comes with a 5.5-inch full-HD display. Corning Gorilla Glass 3 has been used for protection on the Moto G5 Plus. During the review, we found the screen to be fully capable of watching videos, movies and playing games. There is no problem in reading the screen in sunlight. Viewing angles are also good. There is also a color mode feature in the display settings, with the help of which users can choose between standard and vibrant color reproduction.
Moto G5 Plus will be available in India in Lunar Gray and Fine Gold colors. We have reviewed the Lunar Gray variant. Apart from the TurboPower charger, you will get a micro-USB cable and earphones in the retail box of Moto G5 Plus.
Moto G5 Plus specifications and software
The phone is powered by a 2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 625 chipset with Adreno 506 GPU. This is a popular chipset used in smartphones like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Review) and Lenovo P2 (Review). The same processor also powers Lenovo’s mid-range Moto Z Play, which is Rs 10,000 more expensive than this one.
Moto G5 Plus was launched in three variants at the Mobile World Congress. These had options of 2 GB, 3 GB and 4 GB RAM with 32 GB or 64 GB inbuilt storage. However, in India, the variants with 3 GB RAM and 16 GB storage and 4 GB RAM and 32 GB storage have been launched. We got the 4 GB RAM model for review. Both models support microSD cards up to 128 GB.
Moto G5 Plus supports two nano SIMs. Both can connect to 4G network, but only one at a time. There is also support for NFC, VoLTE and GLONASS. The phone has a 3000 mAh battery and it supports TurboPower fast charging. Its dimensions are 150.2x74x7.7 mm.
The Moto G5 Plus is the first smartphone at this price point to come with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. You also get some useful software features from Moto like Moto Display, which shows users previews of notifications when the phone is locked. This is a very useful feature and we have seen it in previous Moto G models.
At the launch event of the Moto G5 series, we also got a glimpse of the much-awaited Google Assistant feature. If you want, you can activate Google Assistant by pressing the home button for a long time. After this, you can chat with the assistant to search anything. Unfortunately, our review unit did not come with Google Assistant. Motorola told us that this feature will not be a part of Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus out of the box. For this, customers will have to wait for an update. It is not clear yet when this feature will be rolled out.
Using the pre-installed Moto app, you can enable or disable a number of gesture shortcuts. This feature has been a part of older Moto phones as well. For example, a karate chop will activate the flashlight and twisting the phone will activate the camera. One Bat Nav lets you tap or swipe the fingerprint sensor to access Android navigation buttons. You will also be able to lock the Moto G5 Plus using the fingerprint sensor.
The stock Android Nougat experience can be one of the main reasons to buy this phone. Most companies use their own custom skins. In Android Nougat, you get features like split screen multitasking. And we were able to run two apps simultaneously.
You can make multitasking easier by double-tapping the Recent button. And you can create a different wallpaper for your lock screen. The Data Saver feature prevents selected apps from using cellular data in the background. The Settings app has a new menu on the left for user convenience. Apart from this, we got new emojis.
Moto G5 Plus performance
The Moto G5 Plus will prove to be your reliable companion every day. And it will not disappoint in terms of performance. It handled multitasking with ease. Apps launched quickly. All types of media files could be used on it. We also had no problem playing games with powerful graphics on the phone. Remember that we were given the 4 GB RAM model of Moto G5 Plus for review.
Moto G5 Plus plays videos with 1080p resolution with ease. Unfortunately, the company has provided limited options to make changes with the audio. You will prefer third-party music players and streaming apps over Google Play Music.
The earphones provided with the phone are weaker than average. We would suggest you buy third-party earphones. The earpiece present on the front panel also acts as the phone’s speaker. It produced loud sound, but we were not satisfied with the audio quality.
During the review, we used the Moto G5 Plus several times as a GPS navigation. And we found that its back was getting too hot. At times, it was even difficult to hold it in hands. Apart from this, the absence of LED status indicator was a problem for us. The Moto Display feature overcomes this shortcoming to a great extent.
Moto G5 Plus has a 12-megapixel rear camera equipped with dual autofocus pixels. With its help, the focus will be locked in a blink of an eye. The aperture of the camera sensor is f / 1.7 and dual LED flash is provided with it. The handset also has a 5-megapixel front camera equipped with f / 2.2 aperture and display flash. The camera app is easy to use and it launches quickly without any delay. You will get 8X digital zoom. The mode selection control is on the right side. You can also capture slow motion videos and panorama shots. It also has a professional mode. You can switch to the front camera by tapping on the screen. A beautification mode is provided with the front camera. It can be found in the settings.
Talking about the quality of the pictures, the Moto G5 Plus’s camera took good pictures in every situation. The camera’s ability to focus quickly impressed us. Macro shots came out well. Landscape shots taken in daylight came out with details. However, some pictures were over-saturated. There was noise in the photos in low light. And at times they looked too grainy. We personally liked the Moto G5 Plus’s professional mode.
The Moto G5 Plus’ front camera surprised us with its colour-accurate results. But in low light conditions, the images were of average quality. With the Moto G5 Plus’ camera, you will be able to record 4K videos at a frame rate of 30 frames per second. This feature is also a bargain for the price. You will also get the facility to record full-HD videos at a rate of 30 and 60 frames per second. 4K videos look better than full-HD videos, but we have seen better output in this price range. We felt the phone getting hot while recording 4K videos.
Moto G5 Plus gave good results in benchmark tests. Although Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 gave better results in these benchmark tests, but G5 Plus is not weak in any way.
Moto G5 Plus has a 3000mAh battery. The company says that it will last for about 24 hours in mixed use. In normal use, we found that it lasted for about a day with heavy use. Let us tell you that during use, we used apps like email, WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook several times a day. And the phone always remained connected to the 4G network. It supports VoLTE and the quality of voice calls made from the phone was satisfactory.
In our HD video loop battery test, the Moto G5 Plus battery lasted for about 12 hours and 10 minutes, which is considered good. We were impressed by the TurboPower charger function. You will get up to 50 percent battery capacity in 20 minutes of charging. However, the company is claiming 60 percent power in just 15 minutes of charging. Fast charging goes in favor of the Moto G5 Plus. This feature is not available in the popular Xiaomi Redmi Note 4.
Our verdict
The starting price of Moto G5 Plus is Rs 14,999. At this price, you will get a variant with 3 GB RAM and 16 GB storage. At the same time, the variant with 4 GB RAM and 32 GB storage will be yours for Rs 16,999.
Lenovo’s new Moto G5 Plus is a powerful handset in terms of price, design, performance and battery life. Moto G5 Plus is the only phone in this price range in which you will get the experience of pure Android Nougat. TurboPower charging is also a useful feature and you will not be disappointed with its camera in general photography. However, there are some shortcomings with it. Like the phone gets heated up while running GPS. Due to this, it became difficult for us to use the phone. There is scope for improvement in the camera performance in low light. However, this shortcoming is common in handsets of this price range.
If you are looking for an affordable smartphone with powerful features, the Moto G5 Plus is a strong option. It will be available exclusively on e-commerce site Flipkart. Our first choice in the budget smartphone segment, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, is often out of stock, so there is nothing wrong in considering the Moto G5 Plus.
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