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Moto E5 Play Review: Overview & Price

In this Motorola Moto E5 Play review we will be going over what makes this phone a smart purchase. As well as showcasing the best Moto E5 Play contract deals.

The Moto E5 Play is the definition of a budget phone; it's not going to blow your socks off but if your looking for cheap and cheerful then this could be the one.

Priced at £90 here in the UK, it's undeniable that this thing is cheap.

Check out these Moto E5 Play deals..

Here are some of what to expect from the Moto E5 Play specs;

HD display
Front and rear cameras
Fingerprint scanner
16GB Internal Storage
2GB RAM

Ideal for those looking to keep a healthy bank account but also want to be able to make and receive calls whilst doing the odd bit of browsing too.

Is the Moto E5 Play waterproof? Find out shortly in this review.

Let's take a closer look…

Moto E5 Play Review: Design & Display

So when it comes to the Moto E5 Play design, there is nothing too extravagant but it definitely doesn't look bad.

It has a glass front with a plastic lip around the edge, the phone doesn't feel like a flagship but it fits comfortably in one hand.

On the back of the phone there is a nice texture that has a matte finish, it is rather slippy though and we found with sweaty hands it would cause us to end up juggling to keep the device in our hand.

There is a clean looking fingerprint sensor with the Moto logo built into it too, it allows you to gain quick access to the phone rather than typing in the security code.

Above the sensor, there is a premium looking camera setup that fits nicely into the design, when placed flat on a desk you will find that the phone sits still and won't give you an annoying wobble like some of the flagships with raised cameras.

Motorola Moto E5 Play 5.3 inches Smartphone 1GB RAM 16GB SIM-Free Unlocked Gold (Renewed)

There is also a removable battery, SIM slot and microSD slot present too which allows you to add extra internal storage if necessary.

Around the front of the device, you will find a rather large bezel at the top and bottom of the phone, the top bezel is to house the front-facing camera and flash, situated either side of the earpiece that also doubles as a speaker.

On the right-hand side of the phone is where you will find the power button and volume rocker, situated a little higher than expected meaning you will have to stretch your finger a little to reach them whilst holding the phone in one hand.

At the bottom there is a micro-USB port that allows you to charge up the device, then at the top is where you will find the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Enabling you to connect your headphones up without the need for an adapter or wireless headphones.

Weighing in at 150 grams, the phone is rather light and won't make your pants fall down from having it in your back pocket for too long.

One thing to note is that the Moto E5 Play is not waterproof, however, the protecting coating does mean it is splash resistant but definitely keep the phone away from water as it will damage the device.

The Moto E5 Play has a 5.2-inch LCD display, it's not going to give you the most amazing OLED experience, but it does the job.

The screen has a 720p resolution meaning that it is HD, colours look good but going from an OLED display or better LCD you will notice a big difference.

Sometimes we found that images would look blurry and we did struggle with the brightness, its generally low and using the phone in direct sunlight is a struggle.

As a whole, though the display does the job and most users will be satisfied with its performance considering the price for the phone, don't expect a cinematic experience but its good for the price.

Moto E5 Play Review: Performance

The Moto E5 Play runs Android 8.0 Oreo with a Quad-Core Snapdragon 425 chipset.

Couple this with the 2GB of RAM; you have a phone that manages to breeze through the UI without lag or stutter.

This makes the Moto E5 Play specs pretty strong for such a budget phone, they certainly won't win any gold medals but are more than enough for browsing, media and more.

The phone isn't the fastest or most powerful in the world but general browsing, reading and playing games here and there is fine for the E5 play.

We did play a couple of games from the play store such as Asphalt and PUBG and were surprised to find that the phone did actually run then, however, there was lag and the fps was dropping regularly.

The Moto E5 Play also comes with 16GB of internal storage, enough for keeping pictures and videos on the phone, but if your someone who downloads movies and likes to stream then we recommend opting for something with a little higher storage, or investing in a microSD which can boost you all the way up to 128GB.

You will find all of the basic features on this phone too, flashlight, calculator and a maps, Motorola tend to keep their software pretty clean meaning that it's super easy to get used to.

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Switching between apps does have a slight delay, and navigating does start to slow down after a while when the phone starts to get a little hot.

The speaker is good on the E5 Play and we didn't have any issues with playing music, the sound was crisp and clear and enhanced our media experience.

Keeping in mind that the phone is sub £100, we were rather impressed with the Moto E5 Play specs, it does exactly what you would expect of a phone at this price and is fine for the average user.

Moto E5 Play Review: Camera

The Moto E5 Play certainly isn't a Huawei P20 Pro or Google Pixel 3, so you won't be getting any mind-blowing images, unfortunately.

The rear camera has an 8MP sensor and the front-facing camera has a 5MP, both of these lenses are capable of capturing a decent image too.

We found the camera to get actually pretty impressive considering on paper it doesn't look the best, images turn out crisp with not many burred edges.

Their contrast isn't great but the HDR feature helps to keep the image detailed in both dark and light patches of the photo.

The camera is pretty basic although you do get a Pro mode and a slow-mo mode to play around with and capture some fun shots.

Images in good lighting come up decent and we think more users of this phone will be satisfied with the cameras overall performance.

In low light the camera does struggle but that is to be expected from a sub £100 phone.

The Moto E5 Play is capable of shooting video footage too which is decent, again strong lighting is needed for the video to be worthy of putting up on social media but for the most part, we found the video footage to be average.

Again there is a slow-motion mode when recording video too, which is fun to play around with and can make for some hilarious footage of the dog!

Overall the Moto E5 Play camera isn't the main attraction of this device but we did find it was decent and the average user will be happy with how it performs especially in good lighting.

Moto E5 Play Review: Battery Life

The Moto E5 Play has a 2800mAh battery, which is capable of getting you through a full day of usage depending on how you use the phone.

We used the device pretty intensely, played games, watched a couple of videos and generally hammered the phone.

The phone does have fast charging as long as it's supported by a 10-watt charger, this will speed up the process of charging the device and means you can grab a quick 30% in around 45 minutes.

Motorola Moto E5 Play 5.3 inches Smartphone 1GB RAM 16GB SIM-Free Unlocked Gold (Renewed)

The good thing about the charger on this phone though is that it is removable, so rather than waiting all that time for the battery pack to charge up, we recommend buying another battery and just taking that with you if you know you are going to be away from a charger for a long period of time.

Overall though the performance of the battery was decent, it's not going to win any medals but for the value of the phone we were impressed and once we took 2 battery packs with us, we were happy and found it to be a lot easier.

Throughout this Motorola Moto E5 Play review, we found the battery to be the most disappointing, it can get you through a full day but for us we found ourself reaching for the charger 2 times a day.

Moto E5 Play Review: Summary

So is this phone for you?

Well if you're looking for a device that can do the basics, make phone calls, texts and browse the internet then yes.

The Moto E5 Play is undoubtedly a budget phone, but it does offer some cool features, it has a nice design and an average camera.

The phone is more than capable of shooting some good images, especially when in good lighting.

The Moto E5 Play design is impressive, it looks slick and has a strong build quality ensuring durability.

Video recording is available too and the removable battery is cool but it does mean you will need to invest in a spare if you want the phone to last you a lot longer.

Unfortunately, the Moto E5 Play is not waterproof, which means you will need to be careful when using the phone around water.

The Moto E5 Play is for users who would like to save money on a phone, someone who isn't bothered about having the latest smartphone and only uses their phone for emergencies or once every now and then.

The phone will save you money and does most of the things that more expensive phones do.

Motorola Moto E5 Play 5.3 inches Smartphone 1GB RAM 16GB SIM-Free Unlocked Gold (Renewed)

However, if you're looking for a good camera and a gaming handset, then you will need to invest a little more in your phone and should check out our other mobile reviews.

We hope you have enjoyed our Motorola Moto E5 Play review, feel free to leave a comment and share and give us some feedback to help us improve.

You can check out the cheapest Moto E5 Play deals at the top of this post.

Moto E5 Play Review: Full Specification

Launch: 2018, July

Body:

Dimension: 151 x 75 x 9 mm (5.94 x 2.91 x 0.35 inches)
Weight: 150g (5.29 oz)
Sim: Nano-SIM
– Splash resistant

Display:

Type: IPS LCD capacitive display, 16M colours
Size: 5.2-inches, 74.5 cm² (-66.7% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution: 720 x 1280 pixels, 16:9 ratio (-282 PPI density)

Platform:

OS: Android 8.0 (Oreo)
Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8917 Snapdragon 425 (28nm) / Qualcomm MSM8920 Snapdragon 427 (28nm)
CPU: Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU: Adreno 308

Memory:

Card slot: microSD, up to 256GB
Internal: 16GB, 2GB RAM

Camera:

Primary:
– 8MP, f/2.0, AF
Features: LED flash, panorama, HDR
Video: 1080p@30fps
Secondary:
– 5MP
Features: LED flash

Sound:

Loudspeaker: Yes
3.5mm Jack: Yes
– Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic

Comms:

WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot
Bluetooth: 4.2, A2DP, LE
GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
Radio: FM radio
USB: MicroUSB 2.0

Features:

Sensors: Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, proximity, compass

Battery:

Non-removable Li-Ion 2800 mAh battery

Misc:

Colours: Black, Dark Lake, Flash Grey
Price: As seen in the above post