Moto G5 Specs And Review: A Mid-Ranger That Feels Flagship

Moto G5 has been launched by the Lenovo-owned company with a price-tag of Rs 11,999 and the sales for the same will begin on Amazon at 11:59 PM, today. ‘Premium For All’ is Lenovo’s motto and Moto G5 lives up to all the expectations. From premium feel to exceptional build quality at a decidedly non-flagship price, this is what Moto G5 is all about.

However, same goes with all the other smartphones in this segment. With Xiaomi, among other competitors, poking Motorola (Lenovo), every now and then, G-series have been the answer to every challenge that the company has faced. Four years ago, Moto G was the easiest-to-recommend smartphone for all your friend with little cash and fortunately for us, nothing has changed till now.

Also Read: Moto G5 Plus Review

The biggest question here is, since G4 was the best mid-ranger last year, can the Moto G5 repeat the trick? Let’s find out!!

Moto G5 Specifications

• 5-inch full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) IPS LCD display with 441 ppi and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection.
• 64-bit 1.4Ghz Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC with a 450 MHz Adreno 505 GPU
• 3GB RAM and 16GB of inbuilt storage, expandable up to 128GB
• Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box.
• 13MP rear camera with phase detection autofocus (PDAF), f/2.0 aperture, 8X digital zoom and LED flash
• 5MP front camera with a wide-angle lens, f/2.2 aperture, and a display flash
• Fingerprint scanner embedded in the home button and a 3.5mm headphone jack
• 2800 mAh removable battery with a 10W rapid charger
• Dual-Sim, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11, a/b/g/n/n 5GHz, Bluetooth, GPS, micro USB 2.0, Light sensor, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer, Compass, Gyroscope

What’s Good In Moto G5

• Aluminum body instead of plastic is a welcome change as the smartphone now feels more expensive and premium than it really is. Moto G5 is a smartphone that that feels as well as looks well-made and not at all cheap, given the price tag.
• Moto G-series is well known for its crisp and vibrant display with bright colours and G5 is no exception to that, even in direct sunlight.
• In day-to-day usage, the Moto G5 never feels sluggish or slow, moreover, it should be more than enough for an average user, including streaming video and light gaming.
• Taking photos with the 13MP rear camera with phase detection autofocus (PDAF) will be almost instantaneous, and for the most part, you will able to capture crisp and clear pictures even in challenging lighting.
• You will never get bored of the ‘Moto Actions’
• Moto G5 is one of the few smartphones in this price range to come with Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box.
• Though the 2800mAh battery looks minimalistic when compared to the competition, it can easily last for a full day with moderate usage. Further, the 10W rapid charger can give you juice for a couple of hours in just 15 minutes of charging.

What We Don’t Like in Moto G5

• Since Moto G4 came with a Snapdragon 617 SoC, it’s successor with the newly built Snapdragon 430 processor, will feel a little sluggish at times, even with the beefed up RAM and better GPU.
• 32GB of Internal Storage could have done wonders for this smartphones.
• The front camera could have been better, taking nothing away from the existing unit.
• The UI comes with a lot of bloatware, including Amazon Prime, which you simply can not delete.

Verdict (Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Is Still Unbeatable)

The Moto G5 might not be a great step forward keeping aside its new design, but at a time when smartphones are getting expensive than ever, it is great to see the Moto G5 remaining affordable without sacrificing any of the basics.

The build quality alone feels like it belongs to a much more expensive category and the fingerprint gesture controls will genuinely leave you impressed. However, it’s the performance and battery quotient that are holding the G5 back, but we might still end up recommending the smartphone to our friends with little cash, due to its reliability.

Motorola is offering launch offers to users who buy the Moto G5 on 5th and 6th April, including, a flat Rs 1,000 cashback with HDFC bank credit cards, Rs 5,000 off on exchange of old phone and a free Sandisk Ultra 16GB MicroSD card memory card.

Since it’s the first Amazon Prime smartphone in India, that ask you for your Amazon ID instead of the Gmail ID, Amazon Prime members will get up to Rs 1,000 cashback on their purchase.