Motorola Moto G5 preview: First look

Introduction

When the Moto G debuted in late 2013 it was a game changer. With a combination of great performance, great battery life and a clean stock version of Android, all for $179, it offered tremendous value for money that was unmatched by anything on the market at that point.

Fast forward to 2017 and you see a rather different picture. For one, Motorola is no longer owned by Google and the budget smartphone market has exploded, including a bunch of quality offerings by Motorola's current owner Lenovo. So how does the new Moto G5 stack up?

Moto G5 key features:

• 5.0-inch, 1920x1080 IPS display; 441PPI
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC; 4x Cortex-A53 + 4x Cortex-A53 CPU @ 1.4GHz; Adreno 505 GPU, 3GB RAM; 16GB storage with microSD support (up to 128GB)
• 13 megapixel rear camera, f2.0 aperture, PDAF, single LED flash 1080p30 video, 540p120 slow motion
• 5 megapixel front camera, f2.2 aperture
• Dual SIM, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS/GLONASS, microUSB
• Water-resistant nano coating
• FM Radio
• Fingerprint reader
• 2800mAh removable battery
• Android 7.0 Nougat

Main shortcomings:

• Unimpressive build quality
• Poor display sunlight legibility
• Poor performance in certain apps and games
• Unimpressive battery life
• No fast charging
• No USB Type-C

Like last year, the G5 will be sold in two variants, the G5 - which is the one we are taking a look at today - and the G5 Plus. Unlike last year, where the differences were limited to the rear camera and the lack of fingerprint sensor on the cheaper model, the differences this year are more drastic. The more expensive G5 Plus gets a bigger display, more powerful processor, better rear camera and a larger battery (albeit non-removable).

Motorola Moto G5

Still, the G5 is the quintessential G series phone (whereas the G5 Plus is more of a mid-range device) so we'll be focusing on that today. Let's see if the newcomer can capture the magic of the original that came three years before it.