Moto G5S

Moto G5S deviates from the lacklustre design of the G-series and arrives looking good and bumping up the internals where necessary. Coming at a price of Rs. 9,999, this is a solid phone for rough users who want a capable performance paired with their hardy handset.

Moto G5S is an above average, capable phone. While it does falter with the performance which is twinned with a mediocre battery, Moto G5S makes sure that it offers a premium smartphone experience at an affordable price for budget users.

Moto G5S comes with an all-metal design like the Moto G5S Plus, which makes it sturdy and classy. You also get a single glass slab that covers the screen and a glass that covers the front camera. It is a bit heavier than Moto G5, at 157 grams. However, it’s not going to cause any discomfort. The fingerprint sensor is underneath the display which is quite fast and accurate. It is also possible to reprogram the fingerprint sensor to the home screen if you are more adjusted to the kind of capacitive buttons. The dimensions 150×73.5×8.2mm add a bit of heft to the phone but is quite average. On the whole, it is a solid build.

The Moto G5S display is not a significant improvement over Moto G5, getting up to 5.2-inches from 5-inch of G5. It has IPS LCD technology and a 1080p display which is excellent though not as deep as AMOLED screens offer. It has 423 pixels per inch (ppi) which makes the photos clear, the text sharp and easy to read and web browsing a delight. The brightness is quite decent, and sunlight legibility holds outdoors, and colour reproduction is accurate. However, you can understand the budget nature of the phone when you see the black borders around the display before the chunky bezels – something premium phones have dropped.

Moto G5S is equipped with the same Snapdragon 430 chipset that Moto G5 came with. On the other hand, Moto G5S Plus has bumped up its internals making G5S’s processor dated. Naturally, benchmark scores put it at a multicore score of 2,294 points much lower than the 4,312 points that G5S Plus got. It runs navigation and other apps smoothly, though many apps running consecutively could result in a slowing down. Light games run without a problem, but heavy games can experience stutters and need to run at lower settings. Otherwise, real-life performance of G5S is satisfactory.

Unlike G5S Plus, Moto G5S does not come with a dual camera-setup, and so depth sensing is not an option. However, it is an improvement over Moto G5. It has a 16MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and comes with phase detection autofocus and Led flash. It can capture impressive shots, with a level of clarity and detail that could match up with expensive flagships. However, it does struggle with metering, and sometimes, there could be over bright pictures too. While auto HDR mode can balance it out, it does not always kick in at the right moment. Low light shots are not as impressive. The autofocus struggles to lock on subjects, and there is a lot of visual noise that is captured.

Like Moto G5, G5S comes with a 5MP selfie camera, which produces decent images but struggles in low light situations. It does benefit from the LED flash that it is equipped with, especially useful for low-light conditions, but it is not effective either.

Video shooting is not as great as Moto G5S Plus. While G5 Plus can record 4K videos at 30fps and 1080p videos at 60fps, G5S can only record 1080p videos at 30fps – a significant drop in the video shooting experience.

The Moto G5S has the same 3000mAh battery as G5S Plus. It can easily go through two days with light use on a single charge. In 12 hours use, the phone can lose only 25% which is a fantastic feat. A 90-minute video in 720p running at maximum bright saw it lose only 16% power which is impressive, and similar to G5S Plus; however, it is odd since G5S Plus comes with a larger display. It also comes with fast charging and can get from 64% to 94% in 30 minutes.

Moto G5S offers a significant build quality improvement over G5, but it does not go as far as Moto G5S Plus to redefine the phone entirely. It does have decent cameras which can click awesome shots, a punchy display but the performance stands similar to G5 which is a shame. However, it remains a well put together phone which can be a delight for budget users – though G5S Plus remains a compelling alternative.