Motorola made their announcement of the new Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus today at MWC, but O2 had their own special news – their O2 Refresh will be the exclusive sellers of the Moto G5 in ‘Sapphire Blue,’ whereas the basic colors are Lunar Grey and Fine Gold. With the Moto G5’s high-grade aluminum casing and the metallic Sapphire Blue, it promises to be a genuine head turner. O2 said that it would be available in the upcoming weeks for purchase through their O2 Refresh program where customers can upgrade if they pay off the balance of their current device. You may also keep your current device for 24 months, and the monthly fee will drop, or you can upgrade at that time.
The new Moto G5 is an all-metal smartphone with the same front design as the Moto Z, but the back is entirely different except for the large, round camera porthole. The Moto G5’s camera is flush with its curved back and does not protrude as it does on the Moto Z series where the juggernaut helps steady the available Moto Mods when attached. It sports a 5-inch Full HD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, 441 pixels-per-inch (PPI), and Gorilla Glass 3 for protection. The 64-bit Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor adds the brains to the Moto G5 and is clocked at 1.3GHz. The processor is running with an Adreno 505 GPU to handle the graphics. It packs 2GB of RAM and either 16GB/32GB of internal memory that is expandable up to 128GB via a microSD card.
The Moto G5 comes with a 13MP primary camera with Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF), f/2.0 aperture, and LED flash. The front-facing camera (FFC) is a 5MP shooter with a f/2.2 aperture for talking social media selfies or video chatting. The FFC does not have its own LED flash, but Motorola put on a ‘display flash’ that will make the display brighter to help take a selfie in lower light. A removable 2,800 mAh battery comes with Motorola’s Rapid Charger. It has the usual suspects – WiFi, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS, FM Radio, and a microUSB port v2.0 for charging and data transfer.
The Moto G5 has a front mounted fingerprint sensor, is nano-coated for splash resistance and will run Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. It measures 144.3 x 73 x 9.5mm and weighs in at 145 grams. The Moto G5’s pricing starts at €199 (and is not coming to the US) and will launch in March.