​Moto G5 Plus phone: full, in-depth review

2017 Has seen some impressive phone launches at the high end. However, the most revolutionary stuff might be appearing at the lower end. The gap between expensive phones and cheap phones has started narrowing at a dramatic pace. Whereas last year we were impressed with cheap phones that only exhibited a few compromises, we’re struggling to find any weak points in the new generation. Moto’s G5 Plus is in this category.

There are no weak points with this $400 Android smartphone. So why pay more?

Good at everything; Impressive battery life;

None;

Motorola Moto G5 Plus review review

Nippy performance for the cash; Decent battery, with handy TurboCharging; 4K video recording is a nice extra;

Not as great value as the vanilla Moto G5; Screen only slightly bigger; By-the-numbers design;

Moto G5 Plus review

The Moto G5 Plus is an impressive phone for under £250. It's barely any bigger than the normal model which is odd but it might well be worth spending the extra to get more storage, a better processor and a significantly better camera.

Motorola Moto G5 Plus review

At £170, the Moto G5 is still a true budget king. The Plus was always going to have to work hard to justify an £80 premium, and the scant few extra features it delivers don’t really do enough. Sure, the rear camera is a welcome step up, and the battery gets a noticeable boost too, but the screen size hardly budges and build quality isn’t a massive step up from the vanilla phone. For a handset with “Plus” in the title, that’s sort of misleading. Whether the upgrades are worth the extra cash is entirely dependant on what you want to use the phone for. If you want your budget phone to handle gaming, shoot 4K video and work with Android Pay, then you'll want the Plus. The camera is much faster to use, and quality is better too; if photos that pop are all you care about, the Plus could be a winner. But if that all sounds like overkill and you just want a smartphone that does the basics brilliantly without costing a fortune, the standard Moto G5 still rules the roost. Buy the Moto G5 Plus SIM free here from Lenovo

Nippy performance for the cash; Decent battery, with handy TurboCharging; 4K video recording is a nice extra;

Not as great value as the vanilla Moto G5; Screen only slightly bigger; By-the-numbers design;