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Motorola (now a division of Lenovo) has set a new high-water mark for budget smartphones with the Moto G5 Plus, the latest offering in their widely acclaimed G series. Featuring a 12MP camera, splash resistant screen, fingerprint sensor and all-day battery life, now you don't have to choose between saving money and getting the features you need.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Extremely close to stock Android while still having some additional useful feature
The phone doesn’t have any drastic UI changes or a myriad of pre-installed apps onboard. Instead Moto G5 Plus keeps the clean Android look and feel only adding a couple of gestures and an ambient display mode.
The gestures allow to quickly turn on the camera or the flashlight without unlocking the phone. While the ambient display mode allows to access information with just a glance. It shows the time, calendar and other notifications dimly for a brief moment when you pick up the phone or when it is connected to the charger.
Pro Excellent performance for the price
The phone comes with Android 7.0 installed powered by a Snapdragon 635 chipset that has been proven powerful enough to handle everyday tasks without using up too much battery power. The 64GB version has an ample 4GB of RAM while the 32GB only has 2GB of RAM, which may feel inadequate for multitasking and demanding apps.
Nevertheless, casual users won’t notice much difference in performance with the previous generation of flagship phones.
Pro Great camera for the price
The camera uses the same sensor and lens as the Galaxy S7. The lens can pick up very vibrant colors and brings sharp details to the image. In bright light conditions, it outperforms any other budget phone and can compete with premium phones. The camera does struggle in low light conditions since there is no optical image stabilization. It can also shoot 4K video, something uncommon for most budget phones.
Cons
Con Fingerprint swiping gestures can be annoying to use
The fingerprint sensor also doubles as a touchpad for swipe controls. The idea is that by pressing, holding or swiping over the sensor the phone will open the home screen, perform a back command or will call out the recent apps or Google Assistant. Some users have struggled with imprecise detection, with most opting to just use the on-screen controls. It’s better to try it out for yourself to see if it suits you.