Motorola Moto E5 Play

If you are looking for a clean, untouched, uncluttered Android experience, the Moto E5 play is certainly a device you should consider buying. It offers all of the above at a great budget price, with the other specs being decent as well.

The design of the phone is very plasticky, but we’re not expecting glass bodies or carbon fiber coatings, certainly not at this price. The bottom and top bezels could have been smaller, but then again, this is a trade-off we would be willing to make if we were spending less than USD 120 on a cell phone.

So, if you are starting out with the whole smartphone experience, or are just looking for a decent backup handset, then the Moto E5 play might be a perfect device for you, considering everything it has to offer.

The phone is described as being a utilitarian phone with capable specs, and nothing else. The device is quite rugged and can handle a few accidents of daily life. Some variants of the phone include a fingerprint sensor on the back, while some don’t. This is especially true for US sellers, such as Verizon, Boost or Cricket. 

A very acceptable smartphone experience, the Moto E5 play offers competitive features for a great price. A full HD screen, varying color options, and decent cameras make the phone a great first-time option or a decent backup handset.

The design of the phone is exactly like something we’d expect from a budget smartphone. In fact, it is similar to the Moto G 1st generation that was released years ago. Put them side by side, and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference at first sight. 

There is a large top and bottom bezel around the 5.2-inch screen, as stated before. The back pops off easily to remove the battery and access the SIM slot and expandable memory slot. The Motorola logo at the back actually houses the fingerprint scanner, which is a nice design element.

The all plastic design doesn’t get anyone jumping, but the phone is sturdy enough to get through some rough handling.

A 5.2 inch LCD display is what adorns the Moto E5 play. It has an HD resolution, which is 1280 by 720 pixels. The screen is good enough for regular use, although some issues are clearly visible. The brightness isn’t too high, and the screen resolution is just a tad too low for the size of the screen, making elements appear soft. 

The viewing angles aren’t the most solid ever, but they’re by no means the worst out there. All in all, the display is great for typical usage, nothing more than that.

Beware, this phone is not made for power users. It runs on the Snapdragon 425 chipset, which clocks in at 1.4 GHz, and is paired with 2 GB of RAM. These specs are enough for quick web browsing sessions, basic multitasking, and other regular usage tasks. The phone runs on Android Oreo 8.0 out of the box.

Even though the hardware is limited, the phone can still run heavy games like PUBG mobile on low settings for an acceptable experience. The device does experience a bit of lag on other demanding apps like Maps, or photo and video editing apps. The phone has 16 GB of internal storage and up to 128 GB of expandable storage

Unexceptional but decent- these are the best words that could be used to describe the Moto E5 play’s cameras. At USD 100, we’re not expecting S9 or Pixel level quality in photos, but it was all good. The rear camera has an 8 MP sensor, while the front camera is of 5 MP.

The images turn out to be sharper than one would expect, without much blur or haze. The HDR feature is a nice addition, although it does not carry over to the video recording mode. This results in videos having a messed-up light-dark balance. The phone can capture 1080p video, but you need another device to view it in since the screen is only 720p.

The battery on the Moto E5 plus is of a 2800 mAh capacity, which is enough to power users through a day of regular usage. The interesting feature, however, is that the battery is removable, as opposed to other smartphones offered today with non-removable batteries. When running an HD video for about 90 minutes, the phone drops down from 100 to 86, which means that you should be able to keep the device running for an entire day. Do remember to charge the phone when you get home because it certainly won’t make it through the 2nd day without charge.

Rapid charging capabilities are there, but Motorola ships only the regular capacity, 5 W charger with the device. It takes about 3 hours to charge the phone from 0 to 100, which would certainly be a lower time with a 10 W charger and rapid charging.

The Moto E5 play offers everything that you would look for in a budget smartphone experience. A good set of cameras, decent performance, a battery to last you through a day, and a very competitive price- these are the standout features of the Moto E5 play. Even though the design feels cheap and the screen isn’t the best in the business, for what it costs, the Moto E5 play is certainly a great option.