Moto E5 Plus and E5 hands-on review

Introduction

Motorola made its big media day mostly about its best-seller Moto G-series, focusing on the ever more flagship-looking Moto G6 Plus, Moto G6 Play and plain Moto G6. But the Moto E5 and the Moto E5 Plus which were also announced today are too well-rounded to be ignored.

The Moto E5 Plus and Moto E5 build on the Moto E4 formula with 2018 features like an 18:9 screen and a nicer design, even in the lower tier.

It all starts with the Moto E5 Plus, which looks so good on paper, it might make more sense to buy than the new Moto G6 Play. Compared to the G6 sibling, the Moto E5 Plus has a slightly bigger screen (5.99-inch vs 5.7-inch) and a huge 5,000mAh battery (that makes 2 days of endurance look easy) and it is cheaper to buy.

The Moto E5 Plus also brings a nice-sounding snapper to the table - a 12MP f/2.0 unit with reasonably sized 1.25 µm pixels. The selfie cam will either be 8MP or 5MP depending on where you live in the world.

Motorola Moto E5 Plus Specs

• Body: Gorilla Glass front, plastic back with reflective wave pattern; 160.9x75.3x9.4mm; 196.6 grams; p2i water repellent nano coating
• Screen: 5.99-inch, 18:9, HD+ 720x1440, IPS LCD; Gorilla Glass
• Rear Camera: 12MP, f/2.0 lens; 1080p@30fps video recording
• Front Camera: 5MP, 1080p@30fps video recording; LED selfie flash
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 425, quad-core Cortex-A53 1.4GHz
• Memory: 2GB RAM, 16GB, dedicated microSD slot for up to 256GB expansion
• OS: Android 8.0 Oreo
• Battery: 5,000mAh, Turbo Charge 15W
• Connectivity: Optional Dual SIM (4G), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS/GLONASS/BEIDOU, Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, microUSB
• Misc: Fingerprint reader on the back, under the Moto logo

To finalize things, the Moto E5 Plus has a distinctive design, which is an impressive feat for an all-plastic phone. Lenovo have tried to spruce it up a bit by adding what they call a reflective wave pattern to the back panel.

It’s glossy and a fingerprint magnet, but at least it will look nicer than your run-of-the-mill entry-level smartphone.

The Moto E5 Plus will go on sale in May and June in Europe, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific for a starting price of €170.

Moving on to the Moto E5. Think of it as the more conventional entry-level proposition by Motorola. It lacks the flashy reflective plastic and sheds 0.7-inch of screen estate and 1,000mAh of battery power but still makes enough to be considered a good bargain.

Some might prefer the more constrained look of the matte plastic and will likely find an 18:9 5.7-inch screen a perfectly adequate size. And even with 1,000mAh less, the 4,000mAh battery of the Moto E5 is enough to give any user confidence outside of power cable reach.

Motorola Moto E5 Specs

• Body: Gorilla Glass front, plastic back; 154.4x72.2x9mm ; 174 grams; p2i water repellent nano coating
• Screen: 5.7-inch, 18:9, HD+ 720x1440, IPS LCD; Gorilla Glass
• Rear Camera: 13MP, f/2.0 lens; 1080p@30fps video recording
• Front Camera: 5MP, 1080p@30fps video recording; LED selfie flash
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 425, quad-core Cortex-A53 1.4GHz
• Memory: 2GB RAM, 16GB, dedicated microSD slot for up to 256GB expansion
• OS: Android 8.0 Oreo
• Battery: 4,000mAh, Turbo Charge 10W
• Connectivity: Optional Dual SIM (4G), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS/GLONASS/BEIDOU, Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, microUSB
• Misc: Fingerprint reader on the back, under the Moto logo

However all of those savings amount to a measly €20 discount from the Moto E5 Plus at €150. It’s well worth it to spend that little bit of extra just for the bigger battery.

Before we continue we have to get one thing out of the way. The third member of the Moto E5 family, the Moto E5 Play wasn’t at the venue in Brazil. It's a US-only model so we’ll save that hands-on for another day.

Join us on the next page for a better look at the Moto E5 Plus.