Lenovo’s Moto G5 and G5 Plus redefine the meaning of budget phones

You shouldn’t have take out a loan in order to buy a premium phone. 

Sure, monthly installment plans have made it easier to buy a phone instead of forking over a ridiculous sum upfront, but the total cost is still a lot.

Motorola’s best-selling phones, the budget Moto G series, have always offered a great bang for your buck, but they’ve never come close to premium devices in terms of quality.

At Mobile World Congress this year, Motorola unveiled the fifth generation of Moto phones, the Moto G5 and G5 Plus — now with metal bodies and features that compete with phones that cost double or three times as much.

Let’s start with the Moto G5. It’s got at 5-inch full HD display, 1.4GHz Snapdragon 430 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB or 32GB of internal storage (expandable with a microSD card) and a 2,800 mAh battery with support for rapid charging.

You’ll also find high-end features like a fingerprint sensor below the screen, a 13-megapixel back camera with lightning-fast phase detection autofocus and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies.

The Moto G5 Plus has a slightly larger 5.2-inch full HD screen, more powerful 2GHz Snapdragon 625 processor, 2GB or 3GB of RAM, 32GB or 64GB of internal storage (also expandable via microSD), and a 3,000 mAh battery with Motorola’s own TurboPower fast charging technology, which can get you up to 6 hours of battery life with 15 minutes of charging.

Compared to the Moto G5, the Moto G5 Plus has a slightly lower resolution 12-megapixel camera. But as we all should know by now, megapixels don’t mean everything. The resolution’s lower, but the images it takes should be sharper and clearer, especially in low-light situations, thanks to its large f/1.7 aperture lens. Motorola says the Moto G5 Plus’s camera is 60 percent faster than the previous Moto G4 Plus.

Moreover, both phones come with the Google Assistant, a feature previously exclusive to Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL. Activating the Assistant is simple: Just hold down the home button.

If you’re tired of paying way too much for your phone, you might want to consider these two when they go on sale in March. They’ll be available in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. 

The Moto G5 will start at 199 euros for 2GB RAM with 16GB of storage, and the Moto G5 Plus will start at 279 euros for 3GB RAM with 32GB of storage. In the U.S., the Moto G5 Plus will start at $229 for the version with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

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