The first Moto G was a groundbreaking smartphone, not because it had stellar hardware or design, but because it had decent features and an affordable price. It helped reinvent the idea of what a budget smartphone could be.
Motorola has launched updates to the phone every year, typically with modest improvements. It’s questionable whether any of those phones were quite as important at the first Moto G, but most of the time you still got a phone that was at least better than last year’s model.
Now it’s time for update number five… which is unsurprisingly called the Moto G5. It will actually come in two flavors: an entry-level Moto G5 with a 5 inch screen and a Moto G5 Plus with a 5.2 inch display, better specs, and a slightly higher price tag.
Only the Moto G5 Plus will be sold in the US, where it will sell for $229. The smaller Moto G5 will be available internationally for €199 and up.
The Moto G5 Plus has a 12MP camera with 4K video recording support, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, a full HD display, a 3,000 mAh non-removable battery, and a choice of two configurations: 2GB RAM and 32GB storage or 4GB/64GB. This model also supports TurboCharge for fast charging.
The Moto G features a Snapdragon 430 processor, 2GB or RAM, 16GB or 32GB of storage, a 13MP camera, and a removable 2,800 mAh battery.
Both phones have 1920 x 1080 pixel displays, metal bodies, 5MP front-facing cameras and dual SIM support. And both support microSD cards.
The phones lack NFC, so there’s no support for Android Pay. But overall, they seem like pretty decent options for budget phones… and a nice update from last year’s models, even if the updates are more evolutionary than revolutionary.