We check out Motorola’s latest entry-level phone!

Motorola has been relatively silent for the 1st half of 2018 in the Philippines. To make up for it, the brand made their presence felt with the availability of some of their 2018 phones. One of these phones is the big-batteried moto E5 Plus.

Launched last April, the successor of last year’s moto E4 Plus gets a few upgrades while offering the same 5000mAh battery. Key upgrades on the moto E5 Plus include an octa-core processor and a bigger 6-inch display.

Before we talk about the device, let’s check out what’s inside the box.

What is in the box?

The moto E5 Plus’ box is dressed in orange, with Motorola’s logo in silver and the moto E5 Plus branding at the bottom. At the back of the box, you have renders of the Moto E5 in different colors (our review unit is the black one) along with key spec highlights that include a 6-inch MaxVision display, a 5000mAh battery, a 12-megapixel rear camera with 1.25um pixels and laser autofocus, and a Snapdragon processor.

Inside the box, you have the moto e5 Plus, a screen protector, a TPU case, a 10W charger, a MicroUSB cable, a headset, a sim ejector, and some documentation. It’s a good thing that Motorola included a screen protector and case as part of the package so that you can give proper protection to the moto E5 Plus.

What made it similar to the moto X4?

While the moto E5 Plus has roughly the same design cues from its predecessor, its appearance is much closer to the moto X4 with its curvy and glossy back, along with a protruding circular camera module. Below the camera module is a fingerprint scanner embedded with Motorola’s logo—a clever design cue from Motorola. One may think that the moto E5 Plus has a dual rear camera setup, but the reality is that only one of them carries the 12-megapixel f/2.0 camera. The other circle houses the laser autofocus module instead.

Don’t be fooled by the glass-like back panel of the moto E5 Plus: the rear is actually made of acrylic, and the moto E5 Plus’ reflective wave pattern helps it give an illusion that it is made out of glass. While the acrylic back is prone to smudges, the upside of using plastic is that it is tougher against drops compared to glass.

Since it comes with a 5000mAh battery, the moto E5 Plus is noticeably thicker and heavier compared to its competitors. Despite that, the moto E5 Plus is easy to hold thanks to its curvy design. Like the moto E4 Plus, the moto E5 Plus comes with 10W rapid charging to juice up the big battery quickly.

On the front, you have a 6-inch HD+ display protected by Gorilla Glass. Viewing angles are decent, and the added screen estate makes it an ideal device for video consumption. The HD+ resolution may be a downer, but this helps the moto E5 Plus to make the most out of its already huge 5000mAh battery. The top portion houses the earpiece (that doubles as a speaker), the 5-megapixel camera, and an LED flash.

 

You have a microUSB port at the bottom, a headphone jack on top, your SIM tray on the left, and power and volume controls on the right.

What hardware does it come with?

Powering the moto E5 Plus is a Snapdragon 430 processor paired with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. Getting an octa-core processor is a welcome upgrade for the moto E5 Plus; the RAM and internal storage configuration is enough for the casual user. Like most Motorola phones, the moto E5 Plus comes with stock Android 8.0 Oreo with a few preinstalled apps such as Moto actions, Moto display, Linkedin, and Outlook.

Speaking of software, one of our major concerns with the Moto E5 Plus is its questionable eligibility for an Android Pie update. Motorola’s blog on Android Pie updates has not included the E5 and E5 Plus in spite of being launched this year. We are hoping that Motorola changes their mind when it comes to this.

 

For the cameras, the moto E5 Plus’ 12-megapixel f/2.0 rear camera comes with 1.25um pixels for better low light performance and laser autofocus for improved focus accuracy. The front camera is the same 5-megapixel snapper from the moto E4 Plus, though the octa-core processor and GPU upgrade should give the moto E5 Plus better image quality.

We will snap several photos and selfies with the moto E5 Plus for our full review, so stay tuned.

 

How much is it?

The moto E5 Plus is priced at Php 9,999. While it is a thousand bucks more expensive than last year’s moto E4 Plus, the price hike is pretty justified by upgrades such as an octa-core processor, bigger display, more RAM, and laser autofocus, while swapping last year’s metal build for acrylic.

Motorola Moto E5 Plus specs

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor
• 3GB RAM
• 6-inch MaxVision IPS HD display, 720 x 1440 resolution
• 32GB internal storage, expandable via microSD
• 12-megapixel f/2.0 rear camera with 1.25 um pixels, PDAF, Laser autofocus, LED flash
• 5-megapixel front camera, with LED flash
• Dual SIM
• 3G, LTE
• WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, Fingerprint reader,
• 5000mAh battery with 10W quick charging
• Android 8.0 Oreo