Motorola Reveals Two New Smartphones at MWC 2017

Motorola Reveals Two New Smartphones at MWC 2017 (G5 and G5 Plus)

At the MWC 2017 convention in Barcelona, Motorola also had something to offer. It came in the form of the brand new Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus. Currently owned by Lenovo, Motorola has been releasing various budget smartphones in recent years. In 2017, this is no different. However, some may call these phones the “budget kings”.

Basic Specifications for G5 & G5 Plus:

Moto G5 Plus:

• Dimensions:
  • 150.2 x 74 x 7.7 mm (5.91 x 2.91 x 0.30 in)
  • Weight: 155 g (5.47 oz)
• Display:
  • IPS LCD capacitive display (16M colors)
  • 5.2 inches (~67.1% screen-to-body ratio)
  • 1920 x 1080 pixels (~424 ppi pixel density)
  • Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• Internals:
  • OS: Android 7.0 (Nougat)
  • CPU: Qualcomm MSM8953 Snapdragon 625 Octa Core (2.0 GHz Cortex-A53)
  • GPU: Adreno 506
  • RAM: 3 GB RAM
  • Storage: 32/64 GB (microSD support)
  • Battery: 3,000 mAh battery
• Camera:
  • 12 MP f/1.7 back camera
  • 5 MP f/2.2 front camera

Moto G5 (Standard):

• Dimensions: 
  • 5.68 x 2.87 x 0.37 inches (144.3 x 73. x 9.5 mm)
  • Weight: 146 g (5.13 oz)
• Display:
  • IPS LCD capacitive display (16M colors)
  • 5.0 inches (~65.53% screen-to-body ratio)
  • 1920 x 1080 pixels (~441 pixel density)
  • Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• Internals:
  • OS: Android 7.0 (Nougat)
  • CPU: Qualcomm MSM8937 Snapdragon 430 Octa Core (1.4 GHz Cortex-A53)
  • GPU: Adreno 505
  • RAM: 3 GB RAM
  • Storage: 16 GB (microSD support)
  • Battery: 2,800 mAh battery
• Camera:
  • 13 MP f/2.0 back camera
  • 5 MP f/2.2 front camera

Design

Both the G5 and G5 Plus will have metal builds. This launches the two devices ahead of the budget curve and compared to Motorola’s past devices with cheap builds. Both devices look identical aside from their size.

The regular G5 is the smaller device of the two and also weighs less than the G5 Plus. Both come with fingerprint sensors found on the front (on the oval shaped home button). Both also come with a circular camera on the back. Both also come with a splash – resistant coating that prevents devices from breaking down with a bit of water. But do not dunk it in water as it does not have any ingress certification.

It also looks like Motorola is ditching the MOD front line for these two devices. There were no contact pins to be found on them which led us to believe that they will not support Moto Mods.

The devices have a curved back which makes it easier to hold. The available colors will include: Lunar Grey and Fine Gold.

Display

• Both models have Full HD displays (1080p)
• The G5 will have a 5 inch display vs 5.2 inches on G5 Plus
• Both will have Corning Gorilla Glass 3

We found that both the G5 and the G5 Plus will feature a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. Of course, because the G5 (standard) has a smaller display it will have 440 ppi compared to the 423 ppi found on the G5 Plus. Anything above 300 ppi on a FHD display will ensure optimal sharpness anyways so there is nothing to worry about here. We also do not see any 2.5D glass or curved displays on these devices. Both comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

The Moto G5 will have a 5 inch display compared to the G5 Plus’ 5.2 inch display.

Cameras

• G5 will have a 13MP f/2.0 camera on the back
• G5 Plus will have a 12 MP, f/1.7 camera on the back
• Camera mount is circular on back and gives it a premium feel.

Both devices will have a circular design for the camera mount on the back. This gives it a better finish and simply looks better in a design point of view.

The G5 has slightly more pixels with its 13 MP (megapixels) phase -detection autofocus camera compared to the G5 Plus’ 12 MP camera. However, the major difference is that the G5 Plus’ 12 MP camera will have a wider aperture of f/1.7 (just like the S7 Edge) compared to the aperture of f/2.0 found on the G5’s 13 MP camera.

Remember that megapixels aren’t what takes beautiful pictures. A 12 MP f/1.7 camera would let in more light and would be considered a lot “faster” due to the availability of light hitting the sensor compared to a slower lens of anything smaller (f/2.0 to f/16). Therefore, there is no surprise that the better low light performer is found on the G5 Plus.

4K video is available on the G5 Plus while 4K is Not found on the regular G5’s camera.

Specs and Internals

• 3GB RAM
• Good performance’s
• Storage space is more adequate on G5 Plus

The G5 will utilize the Snapdragon 430 CPU with 3GB of RAM while the G5 Plus uses the Snapdragon 635 CPU with 3 GB of RAM.

We saw that the G5 Plus will come in a standard storage of 32 GB while the G5 will only have 16 GB of storage. MicroSD support is available on both models if needed.

On the connectivity side we found that both devices came with 3.5mm headphone jacks. Both the G5 and G5 Plus do not use USB type C but rather than the legacy standard of micro USB. Only the G5 Plus features NFC.

The G5 will have a 2800mAh battery compared to the 3,000 mAh battery found on the G5 Plus. Motorola also included “TurboPower” charging which, Motorola claims, should provide 6 hours of battery life for 15 minutes of charging.

Both the Moto G5 and G5 Plus will ship with Android Nougat 7.0.

Release Date

While both devices were announced at MWC 2017, the G5 is said to be available from the month of March onward’s while the G5 Plus will be available from late-April onward.