Motorola Moto G5s Plus Review: Plans | Pricing | Specs

With a solid metal body design, clean Android interface and robust battery performance, the Motorola G5s Plus poses a significant challenge to every other mid-range handset.

Motorola launched a lot of phones in 2017. It doesn't feel like it was all that long ago that the Lenovo subsidiary was launching the Motorola Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus, and already they've been superseded by new models.

As the name suggests, the Motorola G5s Plus is an upgrade from the existing G5 Plus that's been on sale in Australia for a few months now. However, unlike some point upgrades, Motorola's actually done quite a bit of work to differentiate the G5s Plus from its predecessor.

Design

• Metal body design
• 5.5-inch display

• Read more on the Motorola Moto G5s Plus design

  

  The difference is immediately apparent when you take the Motorola Moto G5s Plus out of the box. Motorola has shifted from plastic bodies on its budget G line phones to full metal, and while that's no style revelation in the premium space, it's quite rare for lower-cost phones.

  You could very easily fool folks into thinking that the Moto G5s Plus is a more expensive handset than it actually is simply from the build quality alone, which is superb. I don't generally like gold handsets (call it a quirk if you must) but the Moto G5s Plus's take on gold is one that's undeniably eye-catching.

  The standard Motorola rounded edges style is very much present here, so you can tell it's part of the same design family as the Moto E4 or Moto X4 phones. It's just that with the Moto G5s Plus it's scaled up somewhat.

  That's because the Motorola Moto G5s Plus differentiates itself from its predecessor with a jump in screen size. Where the G5 Plus had a 5.2-inch display, the G5s Plus features a 5.5-inch full HD display. There's no water resistance at play, although, like predecessors, it features a water-repellant coating that should handle a little light rain.

  The Motorola Moto G5s Plus measures in at 153.5 x 76.2 x 8mm with a carrying weight of 168 grams. While top and bottom bezels are very much in effect, the minimal side bezels mean that it's a pleasant phone to hold and use for most tasks.

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Camera

• Dual lenses on a mid-price handset
• Good but not great quality

• Read more on the Motorola Moto G5s Plus camera

  
  Dual lens cameras used to be the sole province of premium handsets, but we're seeing more and more devices in the budget and mid-range space incorporate multiple lenses. In the case of the Motorola Moto G5s Plus, it features dual 13MP rear sensors, along with a front-facing 8MP selfie camera.

  Motorola's approach to that dual camera is one that we're fast becoming familiar with in the budget phone space because it's broadly very similar to that found on the four-camera-toting Huawei Nova 2i, in that you don't actually access each lens separately. Instead, they're combined for portrait-style focus effects, with a slider to modify focus intensity. It's a nice enough tool to have for highlighting specific parts of your photo, but it's also a definite feature gap away from dual lens cameras that offer different angle or colour effects.

  The Motorola Moto G5s Plus's camera performance was generally good, but never exactly great. The largest problem I had with it while testing was a simple speed issue. It's not terribly fast to focus, nor is it particularly swift to process photos once taken. Again, that's somewhat to be expected on a phone at this kind of price point, and I've certainly tested worse cameras. Don't expect anything super-sharp or super-fast and you'll do fine. Here are some sample shots from the Motorola Moto G5s Plus:

  

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Performance

• Snapdragon 625 gives decent mid-range power
• Variable RAM could make a big performance difference

• Read more on the Motorola Moto G5s Plus performance

  

  How do you produce a phone at a mid-range price with a larger display and more cameras than the previous model? If you're Motorola, you do that by throwing in the same essential beating heart as the last model in the form of the somewhat ageing Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor. Motorola pairs this with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM, depending on where you source it from.

  The results in a benchmark sense are relatively predictable. Here's how the Motorola Moto G5s Plus compares against similarly priced competitors using Geekbench 4's CPU test:

  Handset	Geekbench 4 CPU Single Core (higher is better)	Geekbench 4 CPU Multi Core (higher is better)
  OnePlus 5	1976	6506
  Oppo R11	1616	5895
  Motorola G5s Plus	843	4288
  Moto G5 Plus	842	4180
  Motorola X4	865	4087
  Samsung Galaxy A7	771	3998
  Huawei Nova 2i	918	3331
  Nokia 5	662	2833
  Nokia 6	664	2832
  Oppo A57	662	2810
  LG Q6	536	2005

  Here's how it compares using 3DMark's Ice Storm Unlimited test:

  Handset	3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Result
  OnePlus 5	39497
  Oppo R11	24525
  Motorola X4	16763
  Moto G5 Plus	13753
  Samsung Galaxy A7	13629
  Motorola G5s Plus	13163
  Huawei Nova 2i	10308
  Oppo A57	9516
  Nokia 5	9483
  Nokia 6	9435
  LG Q6	7779

  It is worth noting that we tested with the 4GB variant of the Motorola Moto G5s Plus, as sold directly by Motorola in Australia on its website. Pick up a G5s Plus in a store and you'll pay a little less, but you'll also only get 3GB of onboard storage to play with as well. As a result, expect those performance figures to dip a little.

  As always, benchmarks are only part of the story, especially because of the way that Motorola treats Android on the vast majority of devices. Simply put, it doesn't do much at all to pure Android beyond a few simple key gestures and tiny software tweaks that you might not even notice if they weren't actively pointed out to you.

  If you miss the days of affordable clean Android Nexus devices, I reckon Motorola's Moto approach might just be your next best thing. The Moto G5s Plus certainly isn't a powerhouse phone, but it's definitely one that will meet the power needs of its mid-range buying audience.

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Battery life

• 3000 mAh battery provides acceptable battery performance

• Read more on the Motorola Moto G5s Plus battery life

  

  Another design aspect of the Motorola Moto G5s Plus that it owes to its predecessor is its charging mechanism via the older micro USB standard. That feels a little dated, although it's really only an annoyance if you forget and try to plug the Moto G5s Plus in the "wrong" way.

  Motorola puts a 3,000mAh battery in the Motorola Moto G5s Plus, which is a solid quantity of power to match up with what is, after all, a low power processor. Pitted against that is the larger display of the Motorola Moto G5s Plus, so I was keen to see how it would perform. Using Geekbench 3's older battery test, here's how the Motorola Moto G5S Plus compared:

  Handset	Geekbench 3 battery test duration	Geekbench 3 battery score
  Motorola X4	12:42:00	7515
  Samsung Galaxy A7	12:40:30	7603
  Motorola Moto G5 Plus	11:15:40	6756
  Motorola G5s Plus	11:08:40	6686
  Huawei Nova 2i	9:37:10	5771
  OnePlus 5	9:33:30	5735
  LG Q6	8:44:40	3498
  Nokia 5	8:42:30	5044
  Nokia 6	8:19:10	4833
  Oppo R11	7:52:30	4725

  The Motorola Moto G5s Plus isn't the king of the mid-range hill when it comes to battery life, and there's clearly a small price to pay for that larger screen relative to the G5 Plus. That being said, single day battery life is definitely feasible, and my own testing backs this up.

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Verdict

• A good solid phone, but one that's now showing its age.

• Read our early Motorola Moto G5s Plus verdict

  

  The Motorola Moto G5s Plus stands out for its robust physical design and good battery life performance. At the time, it was the lowest cost dual lens camera we'd seen on a mid-range phone. That makes it a very good option for those who want to buy a phone outright.

  However, you do have choices. For the performance-centric, it's impossible to overlook the OnePlus 5, but equally tough to actually source one in Australia right now. Motorola's own Moto X4 is a little more pricey but even more nicely built, and Oppo's R11 has more photographic flexibility, as does LG's Q6.

  Motorola Moto G5s Plus: What the other reviewers say

  Site	Comment	Score
  The Verge	"The G5s Plus probably isn’t the budget king for most people if your main priority is saving a bit of money."	7.5/10
  TechRadar	"The Moto G5s Plus is one of the best big screen budget phones around."	4.5/5

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Pricing and availability

Motorola Moto G5s Plus

Motorola's solid G5s Plus

The Motorola Moto G5s Plus matches premium style with a more achievable price point.

Buy Now

• The Motorola Moto G5s Plus originally sold in Australia outright for $459 with 4GB of RAM onboard, or $429 with only 3GB of RAM on an outright basis only.