If we recall the specs, Moto E5 Plus has a 5.5-inch display with an 18:9 aspect ratio which is new for Motorola but not for most of the other companies. The Moto E Plus is powered by an older Snapdragon 427 quad-core processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage.
One of its great features is a massive 5,000 mAh battery, which the company claims will last up to two days on a single charge. Moto E5 Plus is the phone launched in 2018 with an old hardware and doesn’t even have many fancy features from today. Still, not everyone needs a cell phone with the latest features. For the elderly, sometimes a phone just needs to be a phone that can receive calls, browse the internet and click pictures. Running stock Android 8.0 Oreo, Moto E5 is a breeze to senior citizens who need a smartphone without much bloatware. Here we are reviewing Moto E5 Plus.
Good Build Quality with HD+ Display
Moto E5 Plus stands out in terms of design with its reflective wave pattern on the back. Moto E5 Plus is not very heavy, despite a larger battery. It comes with a plastic body still the reflective back design gives it a premium look.
The front panel is a 6-inch screen with thin bezels on each side, which is good. The screen struggles in bright outdoors even with brightness set to maximum, however, the viewing angles are decent. Overall, the display is an average HD+ display found on many budget phones.
The Moto E5 Plus is built to have the look of a metal frame and glass back, but it is made of plastic and polymers. Which is somehow good as the plastic back panel is less likely to shatter than a real glass one. The Face Unlock feature is missing and the fingerprint sensor is embedded in the Motorola logo.
Ordinary Camera
In our initial testing of Moto E5 Plus, the camera was found to be quick in focusing, which is great. The primary camera clicks good pictures for the asked price. The detailing and color reproduction is good enough in photos clicked in ample lighting.
The 12MP rear camera supports features like LED flash, laser autofocus, and PDAF. There is no ‘bokeh’ mode. Overall, the photos look good, though zooming in might show a lack of detail. Do not expect very high quality pictures, but they look just fine for social media. The 5MP selfie camera also clicks good selfies in proper lighting. It also comes with selfie flash for better photos in low-light.
Camera Samples
Mediocre Hardware and Performance
Moto E5 Plus is powered by octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor which is clocked at 1.4GHz and it packs an Adreno 505 GPU. Memory wise, it has 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. The internal storage is expandable up to 128GB. That should be plenty of space for storing photos of all their grandchildren. The processor is old and less powerful when compared to other phones in this range. If we talk about performance, loading large games like PUBG Mobile was slow. However, Asphalt 8 runs quite smoothly. Which is good for the phone with an old hardware.
Clean UI
Moto E5 Plus runs a stock version of Android 8.1 Oreo, which is a breeze for people who prefer minimum customizations in the OS. Moreover, the E5 Plus ships with the latest Android OS version. Also, Moto Actions with features like a quick screenshot, swipe to shrink the screen, pick up to stop ringing, and much more are not so bad.
Long Lasting Battery Life
Moto E5 Plus packs a 5,000mAh battery, which the company claims can give up to one and a half days of usage easily. So, this should be enough to get through one day with plenty of use, and sometimes two days with moderate uses. The light users like elderly should even make it into the third day.
The Moto E5 Plus also comes loaded 15W TurboPower charging which gets the battery charged very quickly. It goes from 0% up to 16% in just 15 minutes. It takes two-and-a-half hours to get a full charge.
Conclusion
There are a number of brands struggling to make it to the Rs 15,000 price segment in India. These phones come with the latest features and specs and in such scenario, Moto E5 Plus still ships with a less powerful and old processor when compared to rivals. There are good things as well like it comes at a low price, has a big 18:9 screen, great battery life, and smooth UI which makes it perfect for elder ones as performance should not be a major issue. Moto E5 Plus is now available in India at a price of Rs 11,999.
