Motorola Moto G5S Plus

The new budget phone Moto G5S Plus finally arrives delivering on the promise of killer design and excellent performance. Priced at Rs. 11,800, it is capable of holding your attention with its looks and getting even in the competition with competitive hardware.

Moto G5S Plus redefines the G-series design, but that is not the only aspect that Motorola works on. It also comes loaded with a commendable performance, capable batteries, and satisfying cameras, making it a well-rounded phone for a budget user.

Every part of Moto G5S Plus is made up of metal – a build that was not present in the previous G series phones. There’s no plastic sneaked into it and built is premium. It is comfortable to hold, feels good in the hand, and when you switch to a high-end phone like HTC U11 – the transition does not feel like a huge drop. The fingerprint scanner is below the display and works fast. It can also be used to replace on-screen soft keys. While it does not come with waterproofing, it does have a nano coating that repels water and makes it splash-resistant.  However, unlike expensive models, it does not come with curvatures, which is a small drawback and expected at this price range.

G5S Plus has a 5.5-inch screen which is a tad bit larger compared to the G5 Plus’ 5.2-inch panel. However, it keeps the same number of pixel per inch as G5 Plus making the pictures less sharp – though it remains superb. It has striking colour contrast and vibrant tones which are accentuated due to the great viewing angles. It scored about 109% of sRGB colour gamut which is similar to G5S and also around the same as its competitors ZTE Blade V8 Pro’s 112%, and Huawei Honor 6x’s 114%. The brightness is not as great though – while G5S Plus delivers 400 nits, G5 Plus had scored about 591 nits. The latest phone scores lower than the average 433 nits too – giving a below-average brightness level. As a result, sunlight legibility is not adequate.

The G5S Plus has the midrange powerhouse Snapdragon 625 processor. It has been used before in G5 Plus and remains as snappy. Different tabs in Chrome and app-switching does not cause a slowdown.  No matter how many Chrome tabs we opened, it doesn’t freeze. It has eight Cortex-A53 cores paired with a 3GB RAM that does a great job to enhance the performance; however, it remains the same as affordable phones and is not something you can get excited about. Benchmark tests put it at a score of 4,312 points, which is odd as Moto G5 Plus has a much lower score of 3,824 while having the same hardware.

The Moto G5S Plus is the first phone of the Moto G series which comes with a dual camera-setup on its back. The phone has a dual 13MP array, with the secondary camera helping in depth sensing. The picture quality is great, and it is possible to blur the background to pop up the subject due to the presence of depth sensing. However, it is not as good as Apple or Huawei versions. The outlining of complicated subjects can be a problem. Plus, Moto G5S Plus suffers from shutter lag – which can cause a loss of expected details in the image. It is even slower than Moto G4 which makes it a disappointment. The photos, however, are still satisfying with excellent dynamic range and colour reproduction. The low-light shots, however, are just passable, having a softer colour and average contrast. There is a loss of details and a little noise captured as well.

The 8MP selfie camera comes with LED flash. While selfies are fine in daylight, indoors can cause a loss of details – making the flash necessary. While the LED flash does not make your face look good, it is still quite capable to produce a passable selfie.

The Moto G5S Plus does come with the feature to record 4K videos at 30fps. However, you can record 1080p videos at 60fps.

The Moto G5S Plus has a 3,000mAh battery. It is a smaller capacity than Moto G5S but works well and will leave you satisfied.  A 90-minute video played with maxed out brightness made it lose about 16% of the battery level. Moto G5 Plus lost 12%, but that is expected since the G5S Plus has a larger screen. Moderate use can easily get it through a day. It also comes with fast charging, using Lenovo’s TurboPower technology, and can replenish the first 60% quickly, though the next 40% may be sluggish.

Moto G5S Plus is not a massive leap from Moto G5 Plus. The camera is good but not great, and the processing power remains similar. However, the build quality has been taken up a notch, and larger screen works wonderfully. Fast processing and affordable cameras are a great plus for this phone. However, it faces a fierce competition from Redmi Note 4 which has better hardware but comes as a cheaper handset.