Motorola unveiled the newest members of the Moto G family of smartphones today at the Mobile World Congress. The Moto G5 and G5 Plus have a sleek new aluminum casing, rounded edges, an incrementally improved camera and capacious batteries – for under US$300.
These upgrades seem to fit in with our previous estimation that the Moto G family includes some of the best mid-ranged phones on the market. But the G5 and G5 Plus' metal builds seem higher end than last year's G4 and G4 Plus. Both include a fingerprint sensor, which was missing on the G4. Otherwise, the base and Plus models have also grown increasingly distinguished from one another. The G5 Plus has a larger display and boosted internals.
The Moto G5 has a 5-inch display, 2,800 mAh battery and a 1.4 GHz Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor. Its 13 MP camera has received software upgrades like phase detection autofocus, which Motorola suggests will provide faster, sharper focusing.
The Moto G5 Plus has a 5.2-inch display, 3,000 mAh battery and a 2 GHz Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor. Its 12 MP camera packs in fewer pixels than that of the G5, but it contains Dual Autofocus Pixel technology that utilizes more pixels on the sensor for each capture. By Motorola's estimate, this bit of tech lets you focus on your subject up to 60 percent faster than the previous generation G4 Plus did.
The G5 Plus also includes Moto's new "One Button Nav" functionality, which we're looking forward to testing out in a hands-on session later this week. It adds the ability to move through screens using the fingerprint reader instead of standard swipes to the display.
Both phones ship with a Motorola-altered version of Android 7.0 Nougat, which includes Google Assistant. Unfortunately neither will contain NFC technology for mobile payments for US customers (though it may be included in international versions of the G5 Plus). The Motos are also still hanging on to microUSB ports instead of the newer USB-C standard.
The Moto G5 and G5 Plus will be available in selected countries beginning in March. The Moto G5 starts at €199 (about US$210, though US pricing and availability has not been confirmed) with 16 GB of built-in storage. The G5 Plus starts at $229. Stay tuned for our hands-on impressions and full-length reviews later on.
Source: Motorola blog
