Premium for All’ is Lenovo’s new motto for
its G5 phones, the Moto G5 and Moto G5
Plus, which aim to o er the build quality and
feel of a fl agship device at decidedly non-fl agship
prices. That’s especially true of the G5, which
o ers a metal body, rapid charging, and fi ngerprint
sensor controls – all at a sub-£200 price.
Price
The Moto G5’s best feature is arguably its price:
the handset will retail in the UK for just £169 for the
2GB RAM model, and £179 for a version with 3GB.
That puts it fi rmly at the low end of the mid-range
MWC: Moto G5 Drastic ds emulator apk
AA36 PAGES.indd 52 09/03/2017 10:45
ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 53
smartphone market, and right in line with the usual
pricing for the Moto G range.
The G5 will release in the UK some time in March
2017, and the 2GB model will be available from
Carphone Warehouse, Tesco, Argos, and John
Lewis – O2 will also sell the 2GB G5 in an exclusive
blue colour. Meanwhile the 3GB version will be sold
by Amazon and the Motorola online store.
Design
Design is where the G5 has seen the biggest
overhaul from its predecessor, the Moto G4. The
G5 features an aluminium body – instead of the
G4’s plastic – which means it immediately feels like
a more expensive phone than it is. The 5in display
stretches most of the way to the sides of the body,
though there’s still plenty of bezel at the top and
bottom – it’s not quite that premium.
The rear of the phone is dominated by the large
camera aperture, which sits above a brushed metal
Motorola ‘M’. At 144.5g, it’s a comfortable weight
(though has that reassuring heft of any metalbodied
device), while it measures 144.3x73x9.5mm
- small enough to very comfortably use in one hand.
It’s available in grey or gold (and that O2-exclusive
blue model) – we spent our hands-on time with the
Lunar Grey model, which is attractively understated.
The G5 doesn’t boast the sort of striking design
that’s likely to turn heads - at least not until you
tell someone how little you paid for it. It’s mostly
straightforward, unassuming stu , but it’s the feel
of the phone, and its build quality, that really sells
it. This is a phone that feels and looks well-made
– ‘cheap’ never once sprang to mind. It’s simple,
AA36 PAGES.indd 53 09/03/2017 10:45
54 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36
it’s elegant, and there aren’t many better looking
phones that will cost you this little.
Hardware
O ering that sort of design and build quality at
less than £200 comes at a price of course, and
the Moto G5’s internal specs aren’t going to blow
anyone’s mind. Still, it should o er very solid
performance – and it has a few bells and whistles
that can still impress.
It’s powered by a Snapdragon 430 with a 1.4GHz
octa-core CPU and 450MHz Adreno 505 GPU.
That’s the same processor that’s in the new Nokia
6, which costs about £50 more than the G5, though
it’s also in the Lenovo K6 and some Xiaomi Redmi
models around the same price. It’s not going to
blow away any benchmarks, but in our time with
the G5 it felt snappy and responsive, and o ers
plenty of power for the average user.
The 5in display is full 1080p and 441ppi,
with crisp, bright colours. Below that you’ll fi nd
the fi ngerprint sensor, which doubles up as a
replacement for Android’s on-screen buttons.
In the UK, the G5 comes with 16GB of on-board
storage, along with support for microSD cards up
to 128GB. You’ll also get a choice between 2- or
3GB of RAM – with only a £10 price di erence,
we’d fi nd it hard not to recommend opting for
the higher-specifi ed model, as it’s likely to o er
a noticeable performance improvement for a
pretty negligible extra cost.
The rear camera is 13Mp with LED fl ash and
phase detection autofocus, while the front camera
is 5Mp. Taking photos with the autofocus was
AA36 PAGES.indd 54 09/03/2017 10:45
ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 55
almost instantaneous, and it held up well even in
the challenging lighting of a trade show like MWC.
There’s a 2800mAh battery, which should
provide a full day’s usage pretty comfortably,
and it also boasts rapid charging via Micro-USB
– another luxury for this price range. It should
provide four hours of battery life after just 15
minutes of charging, though we didn’t get a
chance to test that out in our hands-on time.
There’s also Bluetooth 4.2, 5GHz Wi-Fi, and
a water-repellent coating. What you don’t get is
NFC, so you won’t be able to use Android Pay or
its equivalents. Don’t worry though – you do get
a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Software
The G5 comes loaded with Android 7.0 Nougat,
and runs a version that’s close to stock, with
AA36 PAGES.indd 55 09/03/2017 10:45
56 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36
a few ‘Moto experiences’ added on. 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 fi rst phones included in
Google’s new expansion of the Google Assistant
services, previously limited to only a handful of
handsets. 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.
Finally, one welcome addition to the Moto G5
is the way it makes use of the fi ngerprint sensor.
Lenovo has already experimented with using the
sensor to replace Android’s on-screen controls
– the Lenovo P2 is a good example – but the G5
and G5 Plus take it one step further. You can now
swipe left across the sensor to go back, tap it for
home, and swipe right to open the list of apps for
multi-tasking. It’s a much more intuitive system
than the P2’s, which relies on combinations of
tapping, holding, and pressing the sensor button,
and within seconds we were comfortably swiping
away. It’s an especially welcome addition given
the G5’s relatively petite 5in screen – the extra
screen real estate gained by removing the onscreen
buttons makes the display feel much more
expansive than it really is.
Verdict
There’s fi erce competition in Android’s mid-range
market, but the Moto G5 looks like a clear standout.
The build quality, and battery all feel like they
AA36 PAGES.indd 56 09/03/2017 10:45
ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 57
belong on a much more expensive phone, while the
fi ngerprint gesture controls genuinely improve the
Android experience, while making the most of the
smaller screen size. And with all that at £169, you
just can’t argue with the price. Dominic Preston
Specifi cations
• 5in (1920x1080, 441ppi) touchscreen, 441ppi
• Android 7.0 Nougat
• 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 CPU
• Adreno 505 GPU
• 2- or 3GB RAM
• 16GB storage
• 13Mp main camera, LED fl ash, support for
1080p video at 30fps
• 5Mp front camera
• 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (2.4 and 5GHz)
• Bluetooth 4.2
• 4G LTE
• Nano-SIM
• 2800mAh removable battery
• Micro-USB rapid charging
• MicroSD support up to 128GB
• Water-repellent nano-coating
• 73x144.3x9.5mm
• 144.5g
AA36 PAGES.indd 57 09/03/2017 10:45
58 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36
£259 • motorola.co.uk
L
enovo’s Motorola Mobility used MW
its G5 phones, the Moto G5 and Moto G5
Plus, which aim to o er the build quality and
feel of a fl agship device at decidedly non-fl agship
prices. That’s especially true of the G5, which
o ers a metal body, rapid charging, and fi ngerprint
sensor controls – all at a sub-£200 price.
Price
The Moto G5’s best feature is arguably its price:
the handset will retail in the UK for just £169 for the
2GB RAM model, and £179 for a version with 3GB.
That puts it fi rmly at the low end of the mid-range
MWC: Moto G5 Drastic ds emulator apk
AA36 PAGES.indd 52 09/03/2017 10:45
ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 53
smartphone market, and right in line with the usual
pricing for the Moto G range.
The G5 will release in the UK some time in March
2017, and the 2GB model will be available from
Carphone Warehouse, Tesco, Argos, and John
Lewis – O2 will also sell the 2GB G5 in an exclusive
blue colour. Meanwhile the 3GB version will be sold
by Amazon and the Motorola online store.
Design
Design is where the G5 has seen the biggest
overhaul from its predecessor, the Moto G4. The
G5 features an aluminium body – instead of the
G4’s plastic – which means it immediately feels like
a more expensive phone than it is. The 5in display
stretches most of the way to the sides of the body,
though there’s still plenty of bezel at the top and
bottom – it’s not quite that premium.
The rear of the phone is dominated by the large
camera aperture, which sits above a brushed metal
Motorola ‘M’. At 144.5g, it’s a comfortable weight
(though has that reassuring heft of any metalbodied
device), while it measures 144.3x73x9.5mm
- small enough to very comfortably use in one hand.
It’s available in grey or gold (and that O2-exclusive
blue model) – we spent our hands-on time with the
Lunar Grey model, which is attractively understated.
The G5 doesn’t boast the sort of striking design
that’s likely to turn heads - at least not until you
tell someone how little you paid for it. It’s mostly
straightforward, unassuming stu , but it’s the feel
of the phone, and its build quality, that really sells
it. This is a phone that feels and looks well-made
– ‘cheap’ never once sprang to mind. It’s simple,
AA36 PAGES.indd 53 09/03/2017 10:45
54 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36
it’s elegant, and there aren’t many better looking
phones that will cost you this little.
Hardware
O ering that sort of design and build quality at
less than £200 comes at a price of course, and
the Moto G5’s internal specs aren’t going to blow
anyone’s mind. Still, it should o er very solid
performance – and it has a few bells and whistles
that can still impress.
It’s powered by a Snapdragon 430 with a 1.4GHz
octa-core CPU and 450MHz Adreno 505 GPU.
That’s the same processor that’s in the new Nokia
6, which costs about £50 more than the G5, though
it’s also in the Lenovo K6 and some Xiaomi Redmi
models around the same price. It’s not going to
blow away any benchmarks, but in our time with
the G5 it felt snappy and responsive, and o ers
plenty of power for the average user.
The 5in display is full 1080p and 441ppi,
with crisp, bright colours. Below that you’ll fi nd
the fi ngerprint sensor, which doubles up as a
replacement for Android’s on-screen buttons.
In the UK, the G5 comes with 16GB of on-board
storage, along with support for microSD cards up
to 128GB. You’ll also get a choice between 2- or
3GB of RAM – with only a £10 price di erence,
we’d fi nd it hard not to recommend opting for
the higher-specifi ed model, as it’s likely to o er
a noticeable performance improvement for a
pretty negligible extra cost.
The rear camera is 13Mp with LED fl ash and
phase detection autofocus, while the front camera
is 5Mp. Taking photos with the autofocus was
AA36 PAGES.indd 54 09/03/2017 10:45
ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 55
almost instantaneous, and it held up well even in
the challenging lighting of a trade show like MWC.
There’s a 2800mAh battery, which should
provide a full day’s usage pretty comfortably,
and it also boasts rapid charging via Micro-USB
– another luxury for this price range. It should
provide four hours of battery life after just 15
minutes of charging, though we didn’t get a
chance to test that out in our hands-on time.
There’s also Bluetooth 4.2, 5GHz Wi-Fi, and
a water-repellent coating. What you don’t get is
NFC, so you won’t be able to use Android Pay or
its equivalents. Don’t worry though – you do get
a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Software
The G5 comes loaded with Android 7.0 Nougat,
and runs a version that’s close to stock, with
AA36 PAGES.indd 55 09/03/2017 10:45
56 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36
a few ‘Moto experiences’ added on. 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 fi rst phones included in
Google’s new expansion of the Google Assistant
services, previously limited to only a handful of
handsets. 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.
Finally, one welcome addition to the Moto G5
is the way it makes use of the fi ngerprint sensor.
Lenovo has already experimented with using the
sensor to replace Android’s on-screen controls
– the Lenovo P2 is a good example – but the G5
and G5 Plus take it one step further. You can now
swipe left across the sensor to go back, tap it for
home, and swipe right to open the list of apps for
multi-tasking. It’s a much more intuitive system
than the P2’s, which relies on combinations of
tapping, holding, and pressing the sensor button,
and within seconds we were comfortably swiping
away. It’s an especially welcome addition given
the G5’s relatively petite 5in screen – the extra
screen real estate gained by removing the onscreen
buttons makes the display feel much more
expansive than it really is.
Verdict
There’s fi erce competition in Android’s mid-range
market, but the Moto G5 looks like a clear standout.
The build quality, and battery all feel like they
AA36 PAGES.indd 56 09/03/2017 10:45
ISSUE 36 • ANDROID ADVISOR 57
belong on a much more expensive phone, while the
fi ngerprint gesture controls genuinely improve the
Android experience, while making the most of the
smaller screen size. And with all that at £169, you
just can’t argue with the price. Dominic Preston
Specifi cations
• 5in (1920x1080, 441ppi) touchscreen, 441ppi
• Android 7.0 Nougat
• 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 CPU
• Adreno 505 GPU
• 2- or 3GB RAM
• 16GB storage
• 13Mp main camera, LED fl ash, support for
1080p video at 30fps
• 5Mp front camera
• 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (2.4 and 5GHz)
• Bluetooth 4.2
• 4G LTE
• Nano-SIM
• 2800mAh removable battery
• Micro-USB rapid charging
• MicroSD support up to 128GB
• Water-repellent nano-coating
• 73x144.3x9.5mm
• 144.5g
AA36 PAGES.indd 57 09/03/2017 10:45
58 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 36
£259 • motorola.co.uk
L
enovo’s Motorola Mobility used MW
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