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Like the Moto G6, the Moto E5 comes in three different flavours: the regular Moto E5 which is on review here, the Moto E5 Plus, which comes with a ridiculously large 5,000mAh battery, and the E5 Play, which is the baby and cheapest of the bunch. is crisp enough on some smaller screens, but for a 5.2-inch display, we could see some of the softness. App icon edges weren’t entirely smooth. Looking from a much sharper display to this one, it can seem blurry. The Moto E5 Play launched as US exclusive, though a different phone with the same name is now available in the UK (more on that below), while Australia is only getting the Moto E5 or Moto E5 Plus.
On the plus side, the display’s peak brightness of 340cd/m² is bright enough to remain legible under normal ambient light. Take it out in the sunshine, however, and you’ll struggle to see the phone’s display. Sensors - Fingerprint Reader†, Proximity, Accelerometer, Ambient Light, Magnetometer (e-Compass), Sensor Hub Despite the plastic housing, the Moto E5 doesn’t have a removable battery and nor does the model we were sent have provision for dual-SIM operation. You can, however, add up to 256GB of extra storage to the phone’s internal 16GB via a microSD card via a space on the E5’s SIM tray. With flash enabled, image noise is suppressed on the E5 Play, but there’s still a discrepancy in colour accuracy and the flash makes colours look a tad warmer.The E5 Play's display is better than we typically see in this price range. It has a 5.2-inch 1,280-by-720 IPS panel that works out to 282 pixels per inch (ppi). That's much sharper than the grainy 480p panel on the Alcatel 1X (208ppi). Viewing angles are good and colors are bright and accurate, though the screen can be reflective outdoors. Network Performance and Connectivity Note: we popped a T-Mobile SIM card into our review unit, and it connected to the network successfully.) Make no mistake, the E5 Play looks like a budget phone. The all-plastic build and uninspiring looks aren’t going to win any design awards, but the phone feels robust and the removable plastic rear cover allows you to easily replace the phone’s 2,100mAh battery, access the 128GB microSD card expansion, or swap out the nano-SIM. Video looks great, too. The Moto E5 can only capture clips at 1080p and 30fps with no image stabilisation but, just like the E5’s stills, videos look crisp, with balanced exposure and loads of detail.
The quality is good, and the sensor captures plenty of light and detail. However, with no electronic image stabilisation (EIS), videos appear a little jittery, especially if you’re walking around while filming. However, when I started digging into the phone’s features, I was pleasantly surprised: the fingerprint reader is fast, battery life is good, and the replaceable battery is a genuine rarity these days. What’s more, the forward-facing speaker works well for watching content on your phone, the taller 18:9 display gives you more screen to scroll on, and its front- and rear-facing cameras are impressive. The E5 Play isn’t waterproof, though Motorola claims the phone is ‘water repellent’ due to ‘advanced nano-coating technology’ – so it should survive the odd accidental splash of water. Just don’t take it in the bath. The front of the phone is all glass with a thin protective plastic lip around the perimeter. The 5.2-inch screen only covers about two-thirds of the front, meaning there’s a large bezel above and below it. The front-facing camera and flash are above the screen, situated on each side of the earpiece that also serves as the only speaker.The Moto E5 Play contains a sizable 5.2-inch LCD display, though you don’t expect a super fancy screen on a smartphone this cheap. Its 720p resolution is considered HD, and it matches the resolution of the 1st-gen Moto G. If you like taking selfies, you’ll be pleased to know that the 5-megapixel front-facing camera is very impressive. The E5 Play is able to capture plenty of detail, and colours and skin tones look natural. It copes well in low light, too, as the phone has a forward-facing flash.
The E5 Play has a 5.34in 960 x 480 FWVGA+ (18:9) TN display. The phone’s resolution is rather poor for a modern-day phone, and given that the Vodafone Smart N8 has been out for over a year and sports a 720P display, it’s rather disappointing to see Motorola hasn’t upped the pixel count. There’s one big compensation for this, however, and that’s battery life. In our test, the Motorola Moto E5 lasted a stonking 19hrs 39mins, which is four hours longer than its nearest rival in this category, the Moto G6 Play, and miles better than the rest of the competition. Significantly, the Honor 7A lasted 11hrs 39 in this test, a full eight hours short of the Moto E5. The Play is capable of recording 1080p video at 30fps, but footage is jittery when panning around and frames drop in darker areas. The 5MP front camera is on the soft side outdoors, but does have a front-facing LED flash for better indoor shots and video. Software By comparison, the 5.7in E5 and 6in E5 Plus both have an 18:9 720p IPS display. All three phones have the same processor and have the latest iteration of Android Oreo pre-installed.READ NEXT: Vodafone Smart N9 review: No better than last year’s Smart N8 Motorola Moto E5 Play review: Display The hardware you do get looks pretty good, though: a 13-megapixel camera at the rear, with an aperture of f/2 and phase-detect autofocus, capable of shooting 1080p video at up to 30fps; plus a 5.5-megapixel f/2.2 camera at the front. Unusually, there’s an LED flash at both the rear and the front. As you’ll see from the graph above, the phone looks on-par with other budget phones, but in practice it’s a different story. Motorola’s decision to pair the 1.4GHz quad-core processor with only 1GB of RAM is regrettable. By comparison, the regular E5 has 2GB, while the Vodafone Smart N8 has 1.5GB. That extra bit of RAM goes a long way; it allows for a more fluid experience, and especially when you’re switching between apps. The Moto E5 Play is protected from splashes and light rain by a water-repellent coating, like many of Motorola’s other phones. But don’t confuse this with waterproof. It’s not a very water-resistant phone. The entire handset measures 151 x 74 x 8.85mm and weighs a light 150 grams. Call quality is mixed. Earpiece volume is reasonably loud, letting you take calls outdoors, but clarity and noise cancellation aren't the best. Processor, Battery, and Camera
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