The Moto G5 Is A Great Contender

Last year, Lenovo launched smartphones for beginners and the middle class with the Moto G4 andMoto G4 Plus , which had a lot to offer for a comparatively little money. But are the successors, now presented at the MWC, actually an improvement? We have both smartphones in hands-on.

Are Phablets Out Of Fashion? At least the new Lenovo smartphones have shrunk this year. Instead of 5.5 inches like the previous model, the Lenovo Moto G5 now measures five inches, the Moto G5 Plus 5.2 inches. The displays have retained their full-HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels).

The Moto G5 and G5 Plus are similar to the predecessors this year. Instead of a little grippy plastic back, Lenovo now relies on a metal plate. It does not feel really high quality - but it is stable and quite robust. While the G5 Plus was completely enclosed in metal, the normal G5 is only the middle metal back plate. The edge is also made of plastic. Plus for the small model: you can remove the back and even replace the battery.

The Moto G5 works with an eight-core Snapdragon 430 (1.4 GHz) and two gigabytes of memory. You only have 16 gigabytes of internal memory available. The Moto G5 Plus is also the eight-core Snapdragon 625 (2.0 GHz). It has three gigabytes of memory and 32 gigabytes of internal memory. But do not worry: with both models you can expand the memory by up to 256 gigabytes via microSD card.

Specs at a glance: Moto G5
Screen	5.2-inch 1920×1080 IPS LCD
OS	Android 7 Nougat
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 (octa-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.4GHz CPU + Adreno 505 GPU)
RAM	2GB
Storage	16GB
Ports	Micro USB
Camera	13MP rear camera with phase detection auto focus, f/2.0 lens
Battery	2800mAh (removable!)
Price	€179/$199 (probably ~£170)
Availability	March 2017