Motorola One 5G review
Our Verdict
The Motorola 1 5G offers decent performance and 5G connectivity for a lower cost compared to other 5G phones. Just compromises in practically every other category make it 1 of the less-compelling mid-range 5G phones.
For
- Reasonably priced
- ninety Hz refresh rate
- Solid performance
Confronting
- Bulky, ugly plastic design
- LCD screen
- Lots of bloatware
- Disappointing cameras
Tom's Guide Verdict
The Motorola I 5G offers decent performance and 5G connectivity for a lower cost compared to other 5G phones. Simply compromises in practically every other category brand it 1 of the less-compelling mid-range 5G phones.
Pros
- +
Reasonably priced
- +
ninety Hz refresh rate
- +
Solid functioning
Cons
- -
Bulky, ugly plastic design
- -
LCD screen
- -
Lots of bloatware
- -
Disappointing cameras
Motorola One 5G: Specs
Price: $445
OS: Android 10
Brandish: half dozen.vii-inch LCD (2520x1080; 90 Hz)
CPU: Snapdragon 765
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 128GB; expandable up to 1TB
Rear photographic camera: Quad-lens: 48MP wide (ƒ/i.8), 8MP ultrawide
(ƒ/2.2), 5MP macro (ƒ/2.2), 2MP depth (ƒ2.2)
Front photographic camera: 8MP (ƒ/2.two), 16MP ultrawide (ƒ/2.2)
Battery: five,000 mAh
Size: 6.61 ten two.91 x 0.35 inches
Weight: 7.3 ounces
Blink and yous might miss the Motorola One 5G. This $445, half-dozen.7-inch behemoth has landed within Motorola's busiest year in recent memory. The company has launched a slew of Moto E and Moto G-series handsets in improver to the more characteristic-driven Motorola One line, re-entered the premium space with the Motorola Border family and plans to evangelize non 1 but two Razr foldables earlier 2020 is through.
The differences between each offer in this deluge of phones are ofttimes slight and hard to parse out, but the Motorola One 5G certainly benefits from the all-time lift pitch of the lot: information technology's the cheapest 5G phone you tin can buy in the U.Southward., relieve for T-Mobile'due south just-launched Revvl 5G.
However, Motorola is far from the only visitor thrusting itself headstrong into the venue of cheap 5G phones. And amidst the likes of the OnePlus Nord, Samsung Milky way A51 and A71 5G, LG Velvet, and the upcoming Pixel 4a 5G, the Motorola I 5G simply doesn't stand up out.
Our Motorola One 5G review finds a device that, while powerful, suffers from a cumbersome design, with an unremarkable display, outdated software crippled past bloatware and a gimmicky array of cameras outperformed by the rest of its class.
Motorola One 5G review: Price and availability
The Motorola One 5G is available exclusively through AT&T, where it costs $445. There's just ane configuration, with 128GB of storage and 4GB of RAM, and one colour — Oxford Blue.
While the AT&T exclusivity is a bummer, the Motorola One 5G's depression toll almost makes it the most affordable 5G device on sale in the U.Due south. at the time this is beingness written. The Samsung Galaxy A51 5G costs $499, as does the soon-to-ship Google Pixel 4a 5G. TCL has long teased the inflow of its first 5G telephone, the TCL 10 5G, with a price under $500, though the visitor hasn't elaborated on that since that handset was appear way back in January.
Motorola One 5G review: Design
In previous years, spending less than $500 on a smartphone might have guaranteed a chintzy plastic build and bromidic blueprint. Fortunately, thanks to efforts effectually the industry — from OnePlus, to Google, to Apple tree and even Samsung with its latest Galaxy A serial devices — that expectation is slowly being eroded.
Alas, the Motorola One 5G doesn't detect itself in that elite company. This is a phone that is cheap and certainly feels it, with the entirety of its bulky frame clad in glossy, tacky plastic, and a stippled, iridescent finish on the back that simply tries likewise hard to catch the middle.
The Motorola One 5G is absolutely gigantic, too. While at that place have been other 6.7-inch phones before, near of them have been on the pricier side, with slimmer bezels than what you'll find on this device, too equally curved display drinking glass that helps fit more brandish into a compact chassis.
In dissimilarity, the Motorola One 5G does not take a curved screen, and at more than three tenths of an inch thick, information technology isn't nearly every bit slender in hand equally the six.seven-inch Milky way S20 Plus, for example. The telephone's narrow 21:9 attribute ratio does assist things a bit, but this is still very much a device that requires two hands to operate. That said, I do similar the side-mounted fingerprint sensor and power key, which puts unlocking within easy reach of your pollex (at least if you're right handed).
On the front, you'll detect dual hole-punch selfie cameras in one of the stranger in-display implementations we've seen every bit of belatedly. The lenses themselves are separated, rather than joined together in one pill-shaped cutout. Motorola'southward approach looks considerably less elegant and takes up a fair bit of space in the upper-left corner. Also, because of design limitations inherent in LCD panels, there'south a noticeable degree of dimming and discoloration effectually the photographic camera holes that is impossible to unsee on stark white screens.
1 perk of the Motorola One 5G's design is its iii.five-millimeter headphone jack, which at least ways buyers won't have to shell out more coin on a fix of wireless headphones.
Motorola One 5G review: Display
Motorola had to cut costs somewhere to get its cheapest 5G phone down to that sub-$500 price point. As a result,this phone has an LCD screen, as opposed to the OLED panel similarly priced 5G phones features.
Mind you, the Motorola One 5G's half dozen.seven-inch, full-HD screen boasts a 90Hz refresh rate for smoother animations and scrolling, and comes HDR10 certified to show a greater breadth of color and more detail within brilliant or dark scenes. However, LCD applied science doesn't ability off pixels to bear witness true blacks like OLED panels do, which, in turn, limits the vividity of images.
Case in point: the trailer I watched for flavor ii of The Mandalorian is flush with scenes of a dimly-lit, derelict street in the night of night. On an OLED console, the pitch-black heaven would blend seamlessly into the bezels of the device, allowing the street lamps and graffiti-scrawled walls to stand out from the background. But the Motorola 1 5G's panel lacks that range, and so these moody setpieces end up looking somewhat muted.
The Motorola Ane 5G fares better in the brighter moments, similar in 1 part of the same Mandalorian trailer that sees an X-Wing carving through dominicus-kissed clouds. The HDR10 capability of this console deftly paints a lush gradient of lavender, cream and gray. But in other scenes, even the most saturated hues don't quite pop.
Nether our colorimeter, the Motorola Ane 5G peaked at 118.4% of the sRGB color infinite in its default profile, and accomplished a respectable Delta-E color accuracy score of 0.25. (The closer to zero, the more accurate the colors.) That'southward very close to the likewise LCD-powered iPhone SE, which reached 112.9% — though if y'all really prefer saturated hues, the AMOLED-equipped Galaxy A51 outshined both, with its 212.two% result. The Motorola telephone'south maximum brightness topped out at 590 nits — meliorate than the A51'south 565 nits, but far off the Pixel 4a's 681 nits, or the iPhone SE'south 653 nits.
Information technology is worth pointing out that of all the devices I just mentioned, only the Motorola One 5G offers a 90Hz refresh charge per unit. Faster refresh rates do indeed brand phones feel a pilus snappier, but personally, given the option between a smoother display or an OLED ane, I'd have the OLED option every time.
Motorola One 5G review: Camera
You get many cameras with the Motorola I 5G. On the dorsum, they take the grade of a 48-megapixel wide-angle lens, 8MP ultrawide, 5MP macro, and 2MP depth sensor. On the front, you'll find non one but two selfie shooters: a standard 8MP optic, coupled with a 16MP ultrawide for group shots, or to capture more of your surroundings.
That's half dozen cameras across the front end and the dorsum, which is already slightly concerning, considering phones at this price that tend to pack a plethora of optics rarely use any of them individually to whatever nifty effect. Unfortunately, the Motorola One 5G suffers from this quantity-over-quality problem.
We outset with the phone'due south 48MP chief lens, which seems impressive on paper until you consider that by default it churns out fairly-average looking 12MP shots that don't do good from that wealth of megapixels. I used this camera to snap a picture of a leafy limb extending off a pot of flowers, and the results are serviceable, albeit a bit done out, overly vivid and lacking fidelity in the highlights. The Pixel 4a'due south 12.2MP rear camera doesn't suffer this problem, delivering an exquisite shade of gold in one of the leaves and nailing the bawdy hue of the rustic wooden floorboards in the groundwork.
I employed the same cameras over again indoors, to become a sense of how the Motorola One 5G fares when lite isn't as readily available. Here, I was surprised to notice the device hold its own; sure, the image it produces is darker overall than the Pixel's, nevertheless its colors are slightly more lush at the expense of some missing detail, specially evident in the texture of the woods veneer on top of this desk. Nevertheless, neat at all.
I wish I could say the same for the performance of the Motorola One 5G's ultrawide photographic camera. This shot of a lawn is one of the poorest I've ever seen from whatever mobile ultrawide lens; everything is hazy and nighttime, and I accept absolutely no idea what's happened in the center of the frame. It's nigh equally if someone's smudged the center of a still-drying Polaroid. Information technology's so poor, it makes the Milky way A71 5G's endeavour look like it'due south come from a device that costs twice every bit much, even though it's simply $150 more expensive.
Motorola is very proud of the macro shooter on the Motorola Ane 5G, which even has its own ring flash that offers more straight illumination compared to a typical flash when you lot're correct upwards confronting a subject. Still, I'chiliad non especially impressed past the quality of the macro photographic camera itself, which struggled to focus compared to the macro shooter on the Galaxy A71 5G, while delivering less satisfying color overall.
I'thousand as well not sure if the inclusion of a macro lens will matter much to anyone at all; personally, I'd take much rather had a telephoto for optical zoom, even if information technology would have necessitated a price increase for the phone.
Finally, we see a couple of selfies of yours truly, using the shallow depth-of-field portrait mode available on the Motorola 1 5G and Galaxy A71 5G. Over the year'due south I've noticed Motorola's front-facing cameras tend to apply a slight yellowing to skin tones that I've never found flattering, though I suppose that'south non as serious a problem with this particular device. That said, I observe the Galaxy's rendition clearer, and its treatment of the bokeh around my shaggy hair more accurate.
Motorola Ane 5G review: Performance
The Motorola 1 5G carries the same Snapdragon 765 chipset that'southward been making the rounds in various mid-range 5G Android phones throughout 2020, as well as 4GB of RAM.
The 4GB of RAM would appear to be the weak link in this equation, as even your run-of-the-mill $500 Android handset tends to have at to the lowest degree 6GB these days. However, the Motorola 1 5G has performed admirably in our testing, with no egregious instances of slowdown or lag.
Equally with about other phones in this toll range, you're simply likely to observe a lack in performance when playing games that are particularly strenuous for the hardware. Titles similar Cobblestone nine Legends run well plenty, though a flagship device would certainly offer a smoother frame rate, sharper visuals and more plentiful graphical flourishes.
The Motorola 1 5G turned in a very respectable 1,952 points in the multi-core edition of the system-broad Geekbench v examination. That'due south really four points ameliorate than the OnePlus Nord, which benefits from Snapdragon 765G silicon — basically the aforementioned bit equally the 765 that Motorola'south using, but slightly overclocked.
Yet, the 765G's truthful appeal lies in its xx% faster graphics rendering compared to the stock chip, and it's here that the Motorola One 5G comes upwards a bit short compared to the OnePlus Nord.
In 3DMark's Sling Shot OpenGL ES three.1 graphics examination, Motorola's handset accomplished a score of 4,301, compared to the Nord's 4,521. The Motorola One 5G was also outperformed past the Galaxy A71 5G in the GFX Demote Aztec Ruins Vulkan examination for loftier-tier phones; here Motorola'southward device topped out at 475 frames at 7.4 frames per second, compared to the A71's 551 frames at 8.6 fps.
Motorola Ane 5G review: Bombardment life and charging
At five,000 mAh, the Motorola One 5G's battery is quite large. However, this phone lasted a merely decent average fourth dimension of 9 hours and 14 minutes beyond four trials of Tom's Guide's custom bombardment test, where devices are timed as they endlessly load spider web pages over a information connexion until they run out of juice.
That runtime is somewhat disappointing, because the Motorola One 5G seems to have a lot of qualities that should've made it a meliorate performer in our test. Aside from the huge battery, the display is LCD, and LCD panels tend to be less power hungry than OLED ones. Additionally, the pairing of Qualcomm's efficient Snapdragon 765 chip, coupled with a frugal 4GB of RAM, should've meant amend things for longevity.
The Motorola One 5G doesn't charge especially quickly either, with a meager 15W adapter included in the box. That got this device to 34% capacity subsequently a half-hour of charging.
A 15W brick might be sufficient for smaller phones with batteries that are half the size of the one inside Motorola'southward mid-range 5G device, but here it'due south woefully under-equipped for the chore.
Motorola One 5G review: Software
The Motorola 1 5G ships with Android 10 pre-installed, which is already out of date, at present that Android 11 is out. This wouldn't be particularly worrisome if not for the fact that Motorola is merely guaranteeing one software update for this device, as it does with all its cheaper phones. In other words, once your Motorola One 5G hits Android eleven, you'll probably never encounter another major update, barring modest patches and security enhancements.
To add together insult to injury, the Motorola Ane 5G is filled to the skirt with bloatware. It'due south been quite a while since I've used an AT&T-exclusive handset, and in that time I'd forgotten how much unwanted software floods the app drawers on these phones. While lots of these offending apps can be uninstalled, some, like Amazon Shopping, DC Universe and even Game Of Thrones: Conquest of all things can only be disabled — significant they'll all the same eat infinite on your device'due south onboard memory, even if yous never open them.
I counted 31 examples of bloatware in total. And that'southward not including the AT&T-branded services hither, some of which are arguably frivolous. (There's something called DriveMode, which is so visually sparse, it looks like information technology was whipped up in an hour.)
Exterior of these annoyances, Android x on the Motorola One 5G is pretty much your standard-fare Motorola feel, which is to say that information technology doesn't exhibit many modifications to core Android, salvage for some extra gestural shortcuts and low-cal enhancements. You take your chopping motion to fire up the flashlight and twisting motility for the camera, which have been present in almost every Motorola smartphone dating back to the start of the decade. In that location'south also a theming engine called My UX, which allows you to alter system fonts, icons and the accent colour, though it's no dissimilar in practice from what Google started implementing in its Pixels last year.
I new addition is Double Tap — a feature where you lot can literally double tap the Motorola 1 5G's side-mounted fingerprint sensor to call back six actions or apps of your choosing. It'due south a handy characteristic to have, though how much utility you extract from it will likely differ on a user-past-user basis. In my case, I had to remind myself it was there at all.
Motorola One 5G review: Verdict
If you're pining for a 5G phone for the absolute least amount of coin and y'all happen to belong to AT&T or are willing to switch to go it, the Motorola 1 5G is a decent phone. It performs well enough most of the time, and there'south nothing egregiously wrong with it.
However, I struggle to see why anyone would settle for Motorola's cheapest 5G telephone when so many other, better options exist for slightly more money.
The Samsung Galaxy A51 and A71 5G are far more than well-rounded devices, with brighter, bolder displays and superior multi-lens photographic camera systems. The OnePlus Nord (provided you tin can get it) is a performance champ for the money, offering upwards to 12GB of RAM and flagship-caliber smoothness. And the Pixel 4a 5G is probable to retain the Pixel 4a's stellar software and flagship-caliber photography.
Add it all up and the Motorola One 5G, with its beefy, tacky design and across-the-board mediocrity, feels like a phone that exists merely to satisfy a toll bracket; nothing more, nothing less. And though it'south amidst the cheaper options, this isn't a case of getting more than you pay for.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/motorola-one-5g
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