Motorola Moto G5S Plus review: Dual rear cameras arrive, but how’s the performance?

Motorola’s Moto G series has been one of the most successful versions of the company in India, even though it didn’t change the design drastically till the Moto G5. Moto G was the de facto mid-range smartphone for many in India, but in the last two years there has been growing competition from other players, especially Xiaomi and its Redmi phones. The 2017 Moto G5 series sees a complete design overhaul. The phones now have a metal unibody design, and lot more SKUs. Moto G5S Plus is one of the newer additions with dual-rear cameras as the highlight. So how does the phone fare in terms of daily performance and are those cameras worth the extra price being charged? Here is our review. Moto G5S Plus specifications: 5.5 Inch full HD resolution display (1080 x 1920 pixels) at 401 ppi | Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor at 2.0 Ghz | 4GB RAM + 64GB storage (expandable) | 13MP+ 13MP rear camera (RGB and Monochrome sensor) + 8MP front camera | Android Nougat 7.1| 3000 mAh battery | Moto G5S Plus price in India: Rs 16,999 for 4GB RAM Moto G5S Plus Design, Display review The design is very Moto. Yes, this will remind you of the Moto G5 Plus, except there’s a huge dual-rear camera at the back. The Moto G5S Plus is bulky phone, and the camera bump really stands out on this one. On the front, Motorola sticks with all glass and pill-shaped home button. This mobile has a metal unibody design that’s become common across the board. The fingerprint scanner is embedded in the front button as well and this was accurate most of the times I used it. Moto has also added on-screen home buttons, which come alive when you are using the phone. Frankly, this seems like a waste of space on the Moto G5S Plus’ 5.5-inch full HD resolution display. Moto G5S Plus is on the heavier side. The gold colour version we got for review is something I didn’t mind, but it is not a colour that everyone will approve. For some users, this might appear on a tad too bling. Moto G5S Plus sticks with the same 5.5-inch full HD resolution display that we have seen on the Moto series for sometime. At times I felt the display could have been brighter, considering a user is paying extra for this phone compared to the regular G5. Viewing videos, etc on the display is a good experience with decent viewing angles, but there’s no exceptional here on offer. This is in line with what the competition is offering. Moto G5S Performance, Software The highlight of the Moto G series has been the stock Android, though this is no longer a differentiating factor. Lenovo phones now sport a stock Android experience as well, while rival Xiaomi’s Mi A1 sports both dual rear cameras and stock Android. Still the lack of bloatware on the Moto G5S Plus will always remains one of its highlights. On the performance front, Moto G5S Plus gives very little cause for complaint. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor and 4GB RAM version we got is more than capable of handling gaming, multi-tasking, etc. There was no noticeable lag while playing games like Asphalt 8 or any extreme heating either. The mobile phone should satisfy most users with its day-to-day performance.

In the benchmarks it scores around 63,000 plus in Antutu benchmark, which is in line with other phones running a similar processor. I tried running the PCMark battery test on this, but it kept crashing for some reason so I eventually had to give up that idea.

Moto G5S Plus Battery Review

Turbo Charging is one feature that Moto G phones have sported since the time of Moto G3 Turbo Edition and this is one major plus. The fast charging will appeal to those users who aren’t so meticulous about charging their phones over night. On the battery front, at one point I got 8 hours of screen on time with this Moto G5S Plus which is impressive. For daily usage, the phone would last 12 hours plus with moderate to heavy usage, which is in line with most mobiles in this price.

Moto G5S Plus battery usage and Antutu benchmark score.

Moto G5S Plus: Dual rear cameras

Come to the USP of this phone, the dual rear cameras fail to live up the claim. The review unit I had was running a beta software, and while an update was issued for the camera, it failed to improve the problem of the dual-rear cameras.

The ‘Depth Mode’ as Motorola has named the ‘bokeh’ mode in this camera is just not fast enough when it comes to processing and saving the image. One is never sure if the image taken will be clear or not. At times, the soft haze extends to the actual object/person, which is never a good sign.

Some pictures turned out nice, especially portraits take were in office. But again, the depth effect was not so sharp in some cases and I feel these could have been brighter. Overall, in this mode the camera does struggle with smaller objects. In low-lighting the dual-rear camera is just not impressive and that’s an issue on most devices sporting two sensors. I’m hoping Motorola will fix the problems with a software update.

Sample shot from Moto G5s Plus. (Image resized for web)Sample shot from Moto G5s Plus. (Image resized for web) Moto G5S Plus performance, Moto G5S Plus price in India, Moto G5S Plus specifications, Moto G5S Plus features, Moto G5S Plus price" class="wp-image-4884723 size-full" data-lazy-loaded="true" src="http://images.indianexpress.com/2017/10/motog5splus_sample3.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px; width: 640px;" />Sample shot from Moto G5s Plus. (Image resized for web)Sample shot from Moto G5s Plus. (Image resized for web)

The rear camera in general is not bad in bright lighting conditions and it is possible to get some nice, detailed shots on this. However, the colour reproduction with reds, pinks does struggle and this is something I’ve not seen on previous Motorola phones. Also the auto-focus is sluggish and you need that extra second or two for taking the perfect picture, which is not the ideal in this price range.

Moto G5S Plus Verdict

Motorola’s Moto G5S Plus joins the growing list of mid-range, budget phones trying to offer dual-rear cameras. The design and display might not have changed, but there are two cameras at the back for those who want portrait style shots. As a general package, Moto G5S Plus has positives like a smooth performance, long battery life. But the USP which is the dual-rear camera is far from perfect. For now, I would say Moto G5S Plus is another option to add to this list and needs to offer more on this front to really stand out.