Motorola One 5G Review: Best Bought With a Carrier Discount
"The Motorola One 5G offers a huge display, helpful software and excellent battery life."
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Huge 90Hz display
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Exceptional battery life
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Excellent software with nice features
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Strong specs aside from 4 GB of RAM
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Good main and macro cameras
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Just a guaranteed software update
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Sub-par ultra-wide front and rear cameras
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Shiny plastic body that is prone to fingerprints
As high-end phones keep getting more expensive, well above $ 1,000, we've thankfully seen new value phones in the $ 400-700 range that offer an exceptional experience at a reasonable price. Motorola has always offered this type of offering with its Moto G line, albeit at a lower price, and has now begun moving up to this mid-range price with the Motorola One line.
The Motorola One 5G is the latest offering and a solid package for under $ 500 from AT&T and Verizon. Here's why you should consider this for your next phone.
Hardware, design and display
Motorola knows that big screens and big batteries sell phones if you're trying to get value for money. The One 5G is huge and has a 6.7-inch display. But it's interesting because it's incredibly large, with an aspect ratio of 21: 9, and not wide. Even with noticeably large bezels, it's narrower than the largest phones out there, like the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra – though it's actually taller than the Note.
The extra high aspect ratio is great for seeing more of your Twitter feed, email inbox, or Instagram page, but it makes it really difficult to reach the top of the screen for the many apps that have buttons and Surface elements are still at the top. That's hook 22. The phone isn't big enough to carry a load in your pocket, but it can be awkward to get up with one hand. And I say that as a big person with big hands. My friend found the size of the phone absolutely weird.
The side-mounted fingerprint sensor built into the power button is also so high that you can't comfortably rest your thumb on it with the corner of the phone in the palm of your hand. This is a strange decision. And the volume rocker is even higher. These are definitely usability hurdles.
A big screen is great to look at, but difficult to work with – even if you have big hands.
The display itself is great for the money. It is very bright and colorful, completely usable in sunlight and has a refresh rate of 90 Hz, which makes movement pleasantly fluid. Colors get a little washed out at maximum brightness and darker off-axis, but those are minor issues with a phone under $ 500. If you are not used to the highest quality Samsung, Apple or OnePlus phone displays, you don't know what you are missing.
For less than $ 500, don't expect a next-level design or material. And you don't get them in the Motorola One 5G. This is a shiny plastic phone. It looks pretty good, especially when the light hits the shimmering dot pattern and throws off rainbow reflections. But it feels as slippery as it looks, and it will never be fingerprint-free. The plastic feels thick and sturdy and I'm sure it will withstand drops and bumps for years. But it is prone to small scratches. It only took a few days for them to be strewn on my back.
Software, performance and battery life
Motorola has a good reputation as a software. It's great because it's 95% typical Android, no different from what Google has on their own phones, but with a little Motorola flair that makes the software more helpful and useful without adding weight or getting in the way. Motorola gestures are a treat. Make a chopping motion and the flashlight will come on. Flip the phone twice to launch the camera, turn the phone face down so as not to disturb it, and pick up the phone while it is ringing to silence it. It all works in a delightful way.
The side-mounted fingerprint sensor also serves as a key combination. Gently double-tap it to open a context menu where you can open apps or tasks of your choice. These can be regular apps or certain functions in apps, e.g. For example, you can navigate directly home on Google Maps, write a tweet on Twitter, or create a reminder in Google Calendar.
The problem with the software is not what it is today, but what it will be in the future. Motorola only commits to one major software update which is Android 11 due to the unfortunate launch timing, not the Android 12 version from 2021. That means you will get a software update very soon and only in the future still sporadic small security updates. If you are interested in developing new features, this is not the phone for you.
Since this is an AT&T branded phone, I need to take a moment to relieve the network operator of reloading this phone with an amount of bloatware that is offensive to the customer. In addition to the usual branded apps like AT&T Cloud and AT&T Smart Wi-Fi, you get numerous subpoenas like 1-800-Flowers, AMC-Theater, Bubble Island 2, DC Universe, NBA, Pet Rescue Saga, etc. A total of 25 additional apps are installed. Each one is rubbish and shouldn't be pre-installed on any phone. And I disabled every possible prompt during (and after!) Setup to install more. Stop it, AT&T.
The data sheet selects all the boxes except for the weak 4 GB RAM.
Luckily, you can work with 128GB of storage which I only used 35GB of after installing all of my usual apps and downloading loads of media. Motorola has a pretty tight suite of software (outside of that AT&T bloat) so there's plenty of room for your own data.
Elsewhere on the spec sheet, the Snapdragon 765 processor is a good price at this price point considering it can power devices up to $ 1,000 in some cases. This "midrange" chip is more than capable of handling anything you throw at it and has plenty of headroom that you can use for a few years. I can't say the same about the phone's 4GB of RAM, which feels stingy in 2020. I haven't come across excessive cases of apps killing in the background, but I know that 4GB is the bare minimum for running modern mobile games. Who knows how well this will do over time, even though the processor is more than capable.
Motorola continues to focus on battery life and even says the One 5G can be charged for two days. I wouldn't go as far as everyone uses their phone differently, but this is a great battery for sure. After all, 5,000 mAh is a ton of capacity, and with these simple specs and software features, it can easily cope with even the toughest days and there's a lot left over. You might only plug it in at night like everyone does with every phone.
Cameras
The Motorola One has a familiar setup with a 48-megapixel main camera that uses 4-to-1-pixel binning to output 12-megapixel photos for greater light sensitivity. There is also 8MP to spice it up. Ultra-wide-angle camera with a 118-degree field of view as well as a dedicated 5-megapixel macro camera and a 2-megapixel camera for collecting depth information. It's busy and it's quite a sight on the back of the phone.
The main camera is good and easily produces photos worth sharing on social media with no changes. There's a simple color profile, and with HDR enabled it doesn't go overboard. Most of the time there is plenty of clarity and sharpness, but if you shoot towards the sky or hard light you can get soft edges and blown out highlights. The situation is different in poor lighting conditions: without OIS, this camera has no chance. The "Night" mode gives a basic impression of Google Night Sight, making the entire scene bright in daylight and dramatically improving sharpness and colors. But it's still not great. The camera works well in auto mode in mixed lighting or indoors.
However, the ultra-wide camera completely misses the mark. Yes, you get that great wide angle perspective, but every photo is incredibly soft, washed out, and generally just not easy on the eye. It's fine for a shot here and there, but there's such a big drop off from the main camera that it's a disappointment.
I expected the macro camera to be bad and was seriously surprised. This thing is good and super fun to take pictures with. In addition, 5MP offers sufficient resolution and actually has autofocus. You get a lot of details and the minimum focal length is extremely short. The ring light is over the top most of the time, but luckily the camera doesn't need it to get crisp and clear shots. I'm not sure how often people get interested in taking macro photos and maybe the money would have been better spent on a good ultra-wide camera, but I'm glad it's good as it's included.
The dual selfie cameras follow the same script as the rear cameras: the main camera with 16 MP is good, the one with 8 MP ultra-wide is not. If you can stretch your arm far enough to stay beyond the set focal length, the main camera will give you a balanced and relatively sharp photo. Par for the course. But the ultra-wide footage, which is supposed to keep you from going this far to get more landscapes or people into the frame, instead frustrates you by being washed out and soft all over – not great. Hold on to the main camera.
Our opinion
Motorola's take on the affordable midrange 5G phone segment is good, and the company continues to prove that you don't have to spend a lot of money to get a solid smartphone with many of the latest features and great software. For less than $ 500, you can get a good software experience with well-designed additions, although this is easily dented by AT & T's exceptional bloatware (and Verizon won't be much better).
The performance is great and everything looks fine on this large 90Hz display. The quality of the main camera is okay for the segment, and the additional macro shooter is fun. Plus, you can do everything without worrying about running out of battery before the end of the day.
The only real downside is the hardware, both in size and quality. The Motorola One 5G is just too big for a lot of people to be comfortably one-handed use, even though it's well suited to showing you more content in apps without scrolling. And the hardware just feels cheap from top to bottom. But of course there must be shortcomings and compromises at this price.
Is there a better alternative?
The Motorola One 5G is competitively priced, but at the same time is only available from AT&T and Verizon, which slightly limits its market. If you're looking for a phone to use on T-Mobile or prefer to buy it unlocked, there are good options.
The biggest competitor has yet to be officially announced, but it will soon be: Google's Pixel 4a 5G will be released on September 30th. All indications are that this larger version of the Pixel 4a with 5G connectivity will also be under $ 500. At this price point, I'd recommend the Pixel 4a 5G over the Motorola One 5G as it has a dramatically better camera and Google software that includes three years of guaranteed updates. If you aren't into 5G or have a big phone, the $ 350 base Pixel 4a is an incredible value.
In terms of phones that you can buy right now, Motorola actually has a competitor: the Motorola Edge. It's regularly reduced to $ 500, has 5G, and is much better overall in terms of specs and hardware as the MSRP is actually $ 700.
How long it will take?
There is no doubt that Motorola phones are rugged. With this thick plastic case, I'm not worried that the Motorola One 5G will last a few years from a hardware standpoint. The only question is the software.
Motorola guarantees an important software update, in this case Android 11, which unfortunately was released at the same time as this phone. This means that in the future you will only receive a few security-relevant software updates that Motorola cannot handle particularly well. The Motorola One 5G's software may leave you feeling left behind long before the hardware fails.
Should you buy it?
Yes. If you work at AT&T or Verizon and want a big 5G phone under $ 500, the Motorola One 5G is an excellent choice. Especially since airlines are expected to offer big incentives, with discounts on financing plans that could bring the price below $ 400 or even $ 300 in some cases. At this price point, this phone really stands out. However, if you're ready to buy (and put on sale) with the Motorola Edge or wait a few weeks with the Pixel 4a 5G, other options are yours.
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