Moto G5S
The 'S' stands for "Special Edition" (Moto G5SE Plus was too much of a mouthful?), and they're moderately improved versions of the existing Moto G5 line that debuted earlier in the year. Why would Motorola introduce slightly updated versions of existing phones less than six months after their release? Who knows?!
What I do know is that the Moto G5S Plus, which is available unlocked in the U.S. for $279, is one of the better budget phones you can buy, but the slightly better build quality, additional camera, and larger display don't justify the additional cost over the existing Moto G5 Plus.
Turn the phone over and you’ll first notice the G5S’ protruding camera, but you may miss one of the more subtle design touches: Motorola’s indented logo provides a subtle finger-hold that makes the phone easier to grip and use with one hand.
The G5S is well-appointed for connectivity and expansion. If, however, you’re looking to expand the G5S’ 32GB of internal storage, you’ll have to decide which is more important to you: a 256GB microSD card, or a second SIM. As a dual nano-SIM smartphone, you can run a pair of SIMs concurrently, but the second SIM will occupy the microSD slot.
If I had one complaint it’d be that it’s not tremendously bright even when outdoors, and this may be an issue in bright summer sunlight. Everywhere else, though, it’s more than good enough. One excellent extra the G5S has over both its cheaper sibling and its rivals is Corning Gorilla Glass 3, something not often seen on phones at this price.
But the LCD panel itself lacks the wow-factor of the AMOLED screen found on the cheaper Samsung Galaxy A3, which also benefits from its ‘always-on’ ability to show a basic clock and notifications when the phone’s in standby.
One telltale sign of the Moto G5S display’s budget nature is an unsightly black border that runs around the display - and that’s before you get to those chunky bezels.
The Moto G5S doesn’t quite get the same level of camera enhancement as the Moto G5S Plus does, with no dual-lens system on hand to bolster the depth of field effect. However, it still represents an improvement over the Moto G5. We’re looking at a 16MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus, and an LED flash.
It’s a very accomplished camera for a phone that’s right on the threshold between budget and mid-range. We managed to capture some genuinely impressive shots that felt like they could have been taken by a much more expensive phone. The level of detail, clarity, and colour balance in well-lit scenarios was well ahead of most budget phones.
It does seem to struggle with metering though, as we noted a number of overly bright shots. There’s an auto HDR mode that should help balance this out, but it didn’t seem to kick in reliably for us. Force it through manually, though, and you can get some decent results.
Low light shots are a lot less impressive, with plenty of noise and the odd autofocus mishap. The shooting experience itself is very pleasant thanks to some strong software. Motorola’s own camera UI is snappy enough, and we particularly like the ability to adjust the exposure of your image simply by dragging on the focus reticle. It helps counter those over-bright shots too.
Video recording is decidedly inferior to the Moto G5S Plus, which can manage 4K at 30fps and 1080p 60fps. The G5S can only manage 1080p at 30fps.
The selfie cam isn’t as good either, dropping to 5MP (like the G5). It does still benefit from its own LED flash though, which is far from a common component even in higher end phones.
It’s powered by a Snapdragon 430 with a 1.40Ghz octa-core CPU and 450MHz Adreno 505 GPU, and our review unit came with 3GB RAM, though you can also get it with 2GB. With only a £10 price difference, we’d find it hard not to recommend opting for the higher-spec model.
To be blunt, the benchmark results aren’t great. We were especially surprised to see slightly worse results than from last year’s G4, likely because it runs the more recent - but less powerful - Snapdragon 430, compared to the G4’s Snapdragon 617. Even a better GPU and more RAM weren't enough to make up for the CPU gap.
Even so, in day-to-day usage the G5 never feels sluggish or slow, and it should be more than enough for average usage, including streaming video and light gaming. The G5 never feels like it's underperforming.
It’s also one of the first phones included in Google’s new expansion of the Google Assistant services, previously limited to only a handful of handsets - though it's not on the G5 at launch. Eventually you can probably expect the new AI assistant to be ubiquitous across Android, but for now this will be one of the cheapest ways to get your hands on it.
The big difference from stock Android is the inclusion of the gesture-based ‘Moto Actions, some of which may be familiar from other Motorola phones, but some of which are entirely new. They’re all optional, and are activated or deactivated from the included Moto app.
You can do a double ‘karate chop’ motion to turn on the torch, and quickly twist the phone backwards and forwards twice to activate the camera. Placing the phone face down on a table sets it do ‘Do Not Disturb’, while picking it up while it’s ringing will silence the ringtone. You can also swipe up from the bottom of the screen to shrink the display for easy one-handed use.
The most welcome addition is the use of the fingerprint sensor as a one-button replacement for Android’s normal on-screen controls. You can now swipe left across the sensor to go back, tap it for home, and swipe right to open the list of recent apps.
It’s an intuitive system, and within seconds we were comfortably swiping away - it really speeds up loads of basic tasks, and is a feature not many other Android phones have yet. Occasionally it can be a bit fiddly - registering your swipe as a press, or vice versa - but for the most part it works well, and it feels sluggish switching back to on-screen buttons.
It’s especially helpful here given the G5’s relatively petite 5.0in screen - the extra screen real estate gained by removing the on-screen buttons makes the display feel more expansive than it really is.
The bottom-firing speakers get quite loud, though they lack bass. Moto’s default ringtones and alert sounds are also quite shrill and annoying, so you’ll want to keep this thing on vibrate or change the system sounds to something easier on the ears.
With a large 3000mAh battery, the Moto G5S should get most people through a full day of moderate usage. This includes a whole bunch of social media, music streaming and catching up on the news. we’d have actually expected it to last a little longer than it did we always found myself reaching for a charger by the time 11pm came around.
We was impressed by its battery consumption when streaming Netflix. At half brightness, an hour of streaming used up just 7% of the battery’s capacity, which is no mean feat.
The Moto G5S costs around $260. That’s $53 more than the Moto G5 at $207 and $82 more than the Moto G4 at $177. These feature a lower resolution camera, a similar processor and are 5.5in and 5in phones respectively, both with Full HD displays.
If you want a mid-range phone with a mid-sized screen, the G5S is a great choice. You do pay quite a bit more than the base model G5, but with that you get a better camera, bigger battery and a slightly larger screen. While performance is nigh-on identical, these extras certainly make it worth considering.
But because of those premium features, the G5 and even the smaller Samsung Galaxy A3 look more attractive purely from a price point of view, especially if you’re buying one up front. If you’re picking up your next phone on contract, however, the small monthly price increase will be worth it. Fancy something bigger? The Vodafone Smart V8 is an excellent sub-£200 phone with a large screen.
Motorola's Best Budget SmartPhones
You'd be forgiven for not paying close attention to the release of the Moto G5S Plus; it snuck into the company's lineup in early August alongside the Moto G5S.
The 'S' stands for "Special Edition" (Moto G5SE Plus was too much of a mouthful?), and they're moderately improved versions of the existing Moto G5 line that debuted earlier in the year. Why would Motorola introduce slightly updated versions of existing phones less than six months after their release? Who knows?!
What I do know is that the Moto G5S Plus, which is available unlocked in the U.S. for $279, is one of the better budget phones you can buy, but the slightly better build quality, additional camera, and larger display don't justify the additional cost over the existing Moto G5 Plus.
Moto G5S Design
The G5S marks a big step up from its predecessor. Where the G5 merely had an aluminium rear panel, the G5S’s unibody design is cast entirely from aluminium. This makes the 5.2in phone look and feel a lot more upmarket – the little details, such as its chamfered edges, are a rare sight on a budget phone.
Look beneath the IPS screen (which I’ll talk about in the next section), and Motorola has again opted for a front-mounted fingerprint reader. As you’d expect, this doubles up as the home button, too. In my time with the phone, I found it unerringly responsive – it just works.
The G5S is well-appointed for connectivity and expansion. If, however, you’re looking to expand the G5S’ 32GB of internal storage, you’ll have to decide which is more important to you: a 256GB microSD card, or a second SIM. As a dual nano-SIM smartphone, you can run a pair of SIMs concurrently, but the second SIM will occupy the microSD slot.
USB Type-C fans are going to be disappointed, but there’s a micro-USB port at the bottom and, thankfully, a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top. Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1 make the grade, too, and aptX support guarantees high-quality audio streaming over Bluetooth, which is a nice bonus on a £220 phone. The G5S isn’t dust or water resistant.
Moto G5S Display
The 5.2-inch panel on the G5S is better than you might expect. It has a Full HD resolution for a pixel density of 424ppi, making for pin-sharp text and icons. Actual colour quality is good, too, and viewing angles are nice and wide with no colour drop-off even if you view the phone from a weird angle.If I had one complaint it’d be that it’s not tremendously bright even when outdoors, and this may be an issue in bright summer sunlight. Everywhere else, though, it’s more than good enough. One excellent extra the G5S has over both its cheaper sibling and its rivals is Corning Gorilla Glass 3, something not often seen on phones at this price.
But the LCD panel itself lacks the wow-factor of the AMOLED screen found on the cheaper Samsung Galaxy A3, which also benefits from its ‘always-on’ ability to show a basic clock and notifications when the phone’s in standby.
Moto G5S Camera
It’s a very accomplished camera for a phone that’s right on the threshold between budget and mid-range. We managed to capture some genuinely impressive shots that felt like they could have been taken by a much more expensive phone. The level of detail, clarity, and colour balance in well-lit scenarios was well ahead of most budget phones.
It does seem to struggle with metering though, as we noted a number of overly bright shots. There’s an auto HDR mode that should help balance this out, but it didn’t seem to kick in reliably for us. Force it through manually, though, and you can get some decent results.
Video recording is decidedly inferior to the Moto G5S Plus, which can manage 4K at 30fps and 1080p 60fps. The G5S can only manage 1080p at 30fps.
The selfie cam isn’t as good either, dropping to 5MP (like the G5). It does still benefit from its own LED flash though, which is far from a common component even in higher end phones.
Moto G5S Perforamnce
Offering that sort of design and build quality at less than £200 comes at a price of course, and the Moto G5’s internal specs are where it lives down to its price.
It’s powered by a Snapdragon 430 with a 1.40Ghz octa-core CPU and 450MHz Adreno 505 GPU, and our review unit came with 3GB RAM, though you can also get it with 2GB. With only a £10 price difference, we’d find it hard not to recommend opting for the higher-spec model.
To be blunt, the benchmark results aren’t great. We were especially surprised to see slightly worse results than from last year’s G4, likely because it runs the more recent - but less powerful - Snapdragon 430, compared to the G4’s Snapdragon 617. Even a better GPU and more RAM weren't enough to make up for the CPU gap.
Even so, in day-to-day usage the G5 never feels sluggish or slow, and it should be more than enough for average usage, including streaming video and light gaming. The G5 never feels like it's underperforming.
Moto G5S OS
The G5 comes loaded with Android 7.0 Nougat, and runs a version that’s close to stock, with a few ‘Moto experiences’ added on (more on those in a moment). What that means is that if you’re looking for something not far from the pure Android experience, but don’t want to splash out on the Google Pixel, the G5 could be a good option.
It’s also one of the first phones included in Google’s new expansion of the Google Assistant services, previously limited to only a handful of handsets - though it's not on the G5 at launch. Eventually you can probably expect the new AI assistant to be ubiquitous across Android, but for now this will be one of the cheapest ways to get your hands on it.
The big difference from stock Android is the inclusion of the gesture-based ‘Moto Actions, some of which may be familiar from other Motorola phones, but some of which are entirely new. They’re all optional, and are activated or deactivated from the included Moto app.
You can do a double ‘karate chop’ motion to turn on the torch, and quickly twist the phone backwards and forwards twice to activate the camera. Placing the phone face down on a table sets it do ‘Do Not Disturb’, while picking it up while it’s ringing will silence the ringtone. You can also swipe up from the bottom of the screen to shrink the display for easy one-handed use.
It’s an intuitive system, and within seconds we were comfortably swiping away - it really speeds up loads of basic tasks, and is a feature not many other Android phones have yet. Occasionally it can be a bit fiddly - registering your swipe as a press, or vice versa - but for the most part it works well, and it feels sluggish switching back to on-screen buttons.
It’s especially helpful here given the G5’s relatively petite 5.0in screen - the extra screen real estate gained by removing the on-screen buttons makes the display feel more expansive than it really is.
Moto G5S Speakers
The bottom-firing speakers get quite loud, though they lack bass. Moto’s default ringtones and alert sounds are also quite shrill and annoying, so you’ll want to keep this thing on vibrate or change the system sounds to something easier on the ears.
Moto G5S Battery
We was impressed by its battery consumption when streaming Netflix. At half brightness, an hour of streaming used up just 7% of the battery’s capacity, which is no mean feat.
Moto G5S Price
Verdict
But because of those premium features, the G5 and even the smaller Samsung Galaxy A3 look more attractive purely from a price point of view, especially if you’re buying one up front. If you’re picking up your next phone on contract, however, the small monthly price increase will be worth it. Fancy something bigger? The Vodafone Smart V8 is an excellent sub-£200 phone with a large screen.
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