Motorola’s G series phones have been darlings of the Android community for their ability to deliver exceptional value. You can’t expect the world from a $200 phone, but Moto G phones are usually “good enough” to make budget-conscious buyers balk at spending two or three times as much for a premium phone.
The company is looking to continue that trend with the Moto G5 G5 us. The G5 will cost only 199€ (it’s not coming to the U.S.), while the G5 us will be only $229 when it ships here in h. For the price, they seem quite good. The bodies, now metal, aren’t going to win any design awards, but they feel a bit more premium than the old plastic G series phones.
Motorola promises all-day battery life fast charging, with the U.S.-bound G5 us sporting a 3000 mAh battery. th only a Snapdragon 625 processor 1080p display, that’s likely to result in pretty good battery life.
The cameras seem quite good for a phone in this price range. The G5 sports a 13Mcamera with 1.1 micron pixels an f/2.2 lens. The G5 us’ 12Mcamera has much bigger 1.4 micron pixels an f/1.7 lens. I snapped away with both phones, while shot-to-shot performance was a little on the slow side, the resulting images were pretty impressive for phones at these prices. It’s nice to see Motorola take cameras seriously in such a low pricing tier.
But perhaps my favorite feature is the software. These phones are practically Nexus devices, as far as the user experience is concerned. The one app, Android Messaging, otos, Contacts—everything is basically stock Android. The app drawer even slides up from the home row of icons. just as it does on the xel.
There are a few minor customizations, like Moto Display Moto’s own gestures (make a chopping motion to toggle the flashlight, for example). But by large, from the Settings menu to the feed on the leftmost home screen to the Assistant, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a phone.
rformance is a little laggy at times—these are budget phones, after all—but the lean, near-stock interface promotes responsiveness smooth animation throughout.
The G5 us has all the ingredients for a “best budget phone” pick. I found a few glaring faults in just a few minutes of using the phone, but of course one would expect that at this price. It doesn’t feel like it costs $299, that’s good news for those looking for a new cheap Android phone.
