Motorola has again sought to attract the budget-conscious strata of the Indian smartphone market by bringing out its fifth generation smartphones- the Moto G5 (first impression) and the Moto G5 Plus (camera review)
The latter was the first to arrive here and the former followed suit about a week later. Keeping up with the changing market is an uphill task and only invoking the budget clause might not work every time (but then it might, in some cases).
If you’re contemplating whether to get your hands on the younger member of the Moto fifth generation, we have got you a list of factors that you must have a look at, before getting one.
Also Read: Moto G5 Plus First Impression – Pitch Perfect?
What Works For The Moto G5
Stock Android
The Moto G5 offers the cleanest as well as the most clutter-free Android experience out of the lot. Add to that an ambient display and a few Moto-pioneered gestures (to switch on flashlight, camera etc.) and you have a winner in the OS department already.
Also, the G5, priced at Rs. 11,999, is the cheapest smartphone available as of now that features Android Nougat (win-win?).
Compact and Ergonomic design
While people may call 5-inch display a bit too small, it works perfectly alright for us. The phone is extremely easy to grasp onto and can also be shrunk down further for a total one-handed experience.
Yes, the company has indeed taken cues from the Moto Z handset for the design bit, but we are not complaining, for it is as ergonomic and robust as it gets.
Software enhancements
The addition of the exclusive Moto gestures (or actions) is one change interfering with the near stock Android OS that we do not mind. These are optional and can be turned off (or/and on) with just a flick.
Also Read: Best Moto G5 Plus Cases And Back Covers To Buy In India
The gestures allow the users to turn on the flashlight by doing a ‘karate chop’, turn on the camera by twisting the phone forwards and backward twice and also turn on the ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode by placing it face down on a surface.
Another feature that comes pretty handy in here is the ability to further decrease the size of the screen by swiping upwards from the bottom of the screen, in order to facilitate the easy single-handed use of the phone.
Removable Battery
Pretty unusually for a smartphone coming out in 2017, the Moto G5 has a removable Li-ion power unit, making it one of the few existing smartphones to do so.
The removable option is great, particularly for those who prefer keeping their phone’s battery top-notch, by providing them an option to change after it starts doing away with the holding charge thing (18-20 months afterward, we say).
That the battery is the same one (GK40) that is also used in the Moto G4 Play device makes it an easily available and replaceable option indeed.
Multipurpose fingerprint scanner
This is also a good addition to the list of features that the Moto G5 comes in with: the fingerprint sensor at the front of the phone can also act as a navigation and home button.
The users get the option to toggle within the aforementioned Moto gestures menu, and can set it up to act as a navigation tool wherein you can swipe left on the sensor to go back and swipe right to open the recent app drawer.
Apart from its use as a navigation tool, it also gets rid of the buttons at the bottom of the screen, thereby further increasing the size of the screen.
Also Read: Reasons To Buy And To Not Buy The Moto G5 Plus
What Doesn’t Work For The Moto G5
Battery
The 2,800mAh-marked is a pungent peeve point for the phone as, simply put, it is just not good enough in terms of lasting for a longer duration of time, which becomes more irritating than any other thing, after a certain amount of time.
Though Motorola has strengthened it enough to last through the day (and night, if you are a light user), it will definitely require nutrition after that, so bye-bye late night net surfing and socializing.
Anyway, the battery is otherwise alright, if you’re not one into too much of video streaming or can’t seem to do away with excess social media use. Maybe a 3,000mAh one would have worked better here.
Low inbuilt storage space
With the Moto G5, you get a meager 16gigs of built-in storage space (no, we are not kidding), leaving the actual memory space available to the user to be around 9GB, which, even if you count in the moderate phone users, is a little too less.
It’s a good thing Motorola has stuck with a neat and clean OS without much pre-loaded interference, otherwise, the phone may have been in a lot more trouble on that front.
Issues with the loudspeaker
Also Read: Moto G5 Plus vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Comparison: The Battle Of Mid-Range Titans
The speaker of the phone, located at the top just above the ‘moto’ branding, fails to live up to the expectation and quite literally, falls flat here.
It lacks base and clarity, and is also off on the volume front – certainly not the traits an ideal speaker should have. However, when connected via headphone or Bluetooth, it gives out an above average performance.
Not suitable for gaming
Avid and hardcore gamers are in for a tough ride with the Moto G5, a stumbling block caused largely by the use of an outdated processor, the Snapdragon 430 (even older than what the G4 uses, at that).
The entry-level chipset isn’t entirely powerless and is capable of handling medium games but offering an effortless heavy gaming experience is certainly not its calling.
The benchmark scores are pretty much good proof of how the Moto G5’s processor lets its down, although it still manages to float away alright.
