New Moto G 5G Plus does phones in 2020 right, delivering specs and value

Motorola has announced the Moto G 5G Plus, which is shaping up to be one of the best value smartphones we’ve seen this year. In addition to a 5G connection, the phone has a big screen with an all-important 90Hz refresh rate, Motorola’s first dual-lens selfie camera, a quad-lens camera on the back, and a massive battery. All this will cost from 349 euros, or about $395.

There aren’t many boxes left unticked on paper for the Moto G 5G Plus. The design follows on from the Motorola Edge and Edge Plus, adopting a 21:9 aspect ratio for the 6.7-inch screen, and adds in a 90Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling. It’s a strong feature seen on many much more expensive phones. Interestingly, the dual-lens selfie camera — the first time Motorola has used this type of system — consists of two individual lenses, rather than a single “pill”-shaped cutout.

The dual-selfie camera has a 16-megapixel main camera and a second 8-megapixel ultra-wide for group selfies. The quad-lens camera on the back is set inside a square module with a long vertical flash unit next to it. The main sensor has 48-megapixels and is joined by an 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, a 5-megapixel macro sensor, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765 5G processor delivers both the power and the 5G connection to the Moto G 5G Plus. Note that it’s not the Snapdragon 765G used in the Moto Edge, so it doesn’t come with the enhanced graphics ability and higher clock speed. It should be fine for everyday use though, and comes with either 4GB/64GB or 6GB/128GB of memory, depending on the model you buy.

What else? A massive 5,000mAh battery should see the phone last for at least a full day even with a 5G connection, plus there’s a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a MicroSD card slot, a 15W TurboPower charger, NFC for contactless payments, and Android 10 software. The phone is quite thick at 9mm, but not overly heavy at 188 grams, so expect the body to be made from plastic. Look at the photos and you can see a thick bezel running around the edge of the screen.

Motorola will launch the Moto G 5G Plus in Europe on July 8. It costs 349 euros or around $395 for the 4GB/64GB model, and 399 euros or about $449 for the 6GB/128GB version. The phone won’t come to the U.S., but Motorola tells us it plans to launch a 5G device that will cost less than $500 in North America this fall.

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