Motorola Moto G5s: Plans | Pricing | Specs

Alex Kidman

Last updated: Apr 4, 2019

Motorola's Moto G5s provides a basic smartphone experience with just a few Motorola-specific tweaks.

Metal body
Budget priced
Fast fingerprint sensor

Ordinary processor
Single lens camera

5.2 inches

Display size

1080 x 1920px

32GB

Internal storage

16 MP

Rear camera

3,000 mAh

Battery size

Finder rated as Average vs similar phones

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Display

Display Size

5.2 inches

Resolution

1080 x 1920px

Pixels per inch (PPI)

424 ppi

Camera

Rear camera megapixels

16MP

Rear camera aperture size

f/2.0

Video recording

1080p

Front camera megapixels

5MP

Front camera aperture size

f/2.0

Physical Dimensions

Dimensions

150mm x 73.5mm x 8.2mm

Weight

157g

Connectivity

NFC

Yes

Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n

Network category speed

Category 4

Power, storage and battery

Processor

Snapdragon 430

RAM

3GB

Operating system

Android 7

Internal storage

32GB

External storage support

Up to 256GB

Battery capacity

3,000mAh

Device features

Headphone jack

Yes

Fingerprint sensor

Yes

Water resistance rating

N/A

Wireless charging

Launch price (RRP)	$299
Launch date	2017-08

Go to Motorola's site More info

Alex Kidman

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A multi-award winning journalist, Alex has written about consumer technology for over 20 years. He has written and edited for virtually every Australian tech publication including Gizmodo, CNET, PC Magazine, Kotaku and more. He has also been the Editor of Gizmodo Australia, PC Mag Australia, CNET.com.au and the Tech and Telco section at Finder. Alex has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New England and a serious passion for retro gaming.

Where to buy

What's in this guide?

Design
Camera
Performance
Battery life
Verdict
Pricing and availability
Specifications

Motorola's G-series phones are all about essential smartphone features and just a small quantity of style. They're phones for the masses, in other words. The Motorola Moto G5s was the smaller sibling of the generally excellent Motorola Moto G5s Plus, and while it's a lesser phone, it's also one you should be able to score at an even better price, especially with the Motorola Moto G6 already available.

Design

Metal body design

The Motorola Moto G5s features a metal unibody design, and while that's not a fresh concept now, when it was new, very few budget range handsets offered anything but plastic bodies. It gives the Motorola Moto G5s a definite sense of style, and of course a degree of ruggedness compared to other budget handsets.
Physically, it measures in at 150 x 73.5 x 8.2mm with a carrying weight of 157g. The front panel is a 5.2 inch 1,080x1,920 pixel display with a fingerprint sensor at the base. It's all a very standard Android approach, but one that Motorola does rather well.
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Camera

Single lens camera only

The Motorola Moto G5s Plus features a dual lens camera, albeit one where the secondary lens is only used for depth effects, but the lower cost Motorola Moto G5s makes do with a single 16MP f/2.0 rear camera. Around the front lurks a simple 5MP f/2.0 camera for your selfie purposes.
Camera technology has progressed remarkably through the life of smartphones, and this is a benefit for the Motorola Moto G5s. No, it's not a stellar camera phone, because you simply won't get one at this price. But for basic photography in reasonable light it's a serviceable model, if not an exciting one. However, if you do crave more photographic flexibility within the budget space, it also does mean that a more recent budget range phone will likely outclass it.
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Performance

Snapdragon 430 provides limited power

Again the Motorola Moto G5s takes second place to the Moto G5s Plus. Where the bigger phone has Qualcomm's Snapdragon 625, the G5s is only packing the cheaper and lower power Snapdragon 430, alongside 3GB of RAM for the model officially sold in Australia. Motorola did produce 4GB variants of the Motorola Moto G5s, and that should give it a little more headroom for app performance.
The Snapdragon 430 is a processor you throw into a phone when you're building to a specific price point, rather than seeking high-end performance. Don't expect the Motorola Moto G5s to fly, but if you only need the basics, it should work fine.
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Battery life

3,000mAh battery

The one area where the Motorola Moto G5s doesn't play second fiddle to the Motorola Moto G5s Plus is in battery capacity, as both phones share the same 3,000mAh battery.
The Motorola Moto G5s Plus had good battery life, and the Motorola Moto G5s should (at least in theory) do a little better, thanks to a smaller display and lower power processor. Fast charging is also supported, but there's no capacity for wireless charging built in.
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Verdict

Another good Motorola handset, although its newer efforts do eclipse it

For its time, the Motorola Moto G5s represented solid value, and that's very much what Motorola wanted out of it. It has more premium phone lines, such as its X-series and especially its modular Z-series phones, but its G-series phones are the ones that sell the most to those who just want basic phone experiences.
The Motorola Moto G5s has been replaced by newer Motorola handsets such as the Motorola Moto G6, and that means it's best suited if you can get it at a discount price.
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Pricing and availability

The Motorola Moto G5s is no longer available for purchase in Australia

Specifications

Display

Display Size

5.2 inches

Resolution

1080 x 1920px

Pixels per inch (PPI)

424 ppi

Camera

Rear camera megapixels

16MP

Rear camera aperture size

f/2.0

Video recording

1080p

Front camera megapixels

5MP

Front camera aperture size

f/2.0

Physical Dimensions

Dimensions

150mm x 73.5mm x 8.2mm

Weight

157g

Connectivity

NFC

Yes

Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n

Network category speed

Category 4

Power, storage and battery

Processor

Snapdragon 430

RAM

3GB

Operating system

Android 7

Internal storage

32GB

External storage support

Up to 256GB

Battery capacity

3,000mAh

Device features

Headphone jack

Yes

Fingerprint sensor

Yes

Water resistance rating

N/A

Wireless charging

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Motorola Moto G5s: Plans | Pricing | Specs