Motorola has a slew of new phones to announce today and they are targeted at the budget and mid range segments. The new phones include updates to their popular budget conscious Moto E and G series with a new Moto G6, Moto G6 Play, Moto E5 Plus, and a Moto E5 Play – and you won’t believe the battery life on the E5 Plus.
Motorola is not only emphasizing lots of value for all of these new phones, but they are also focused on offering a bloat free experience. And all come running Android 8.0 Oreo.
The new Moto G6 is the most premium device in the new lineup with a swanky, but fingerprint prone Gorilla Glass back. Starting at just $249 it packs in a 5.7″ IPS LCD 1080 Full HD+ 18:9 display, a dual rear camera (12MP + 5MP and f1.8 aperture) with portrait mode, it’s running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, and offers Dolby Audio, a 3,000 mAh battery, USB-C charging, expandable storage and water repellent coating – which means it’s not quite waterproof but it can handle an accidental spill. Its front side fingerprint sensor works with gesture swipes, which enables it to effectively replace the Android control keys. The portrait mode on the G6 also has some neat tricks – after you’ve taken a photo, it allows you to edit the focal point right from within the camera app.
The Moto G6 Play offers a similar form factor but it’s made of polymer glass, and it comes running on a Snapdragon 427 processor. It packs in a similarly sized, but lower resolution 720P display, and it lacks a dual camera. Pricing for the Moto G6 Play begins at $199.
The Moto E5 Plus lacks the dual camera and more advanced optics of the Moto G6, but it packs in a large 6” HD+ (1440 x 720) IPS LCD display along with a MASSIVE 5,000 mAh battery that Motorola claims can last 36 hours. The battery life alone could make it the most enticing phone in the new lineup. The E5 Plus comes running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor and comes with a 15W TurboPower Charger which provides 6 hours of usage in just 15 minutes.
Last but not least, the E5 Play is a step-down and the most pocket-friendly of the 4 new phones. It sports a 5.2” LCD display, comes running on a Snapdragon 425 or 427 processor, and it runs on just a 2,800 mAh battery. We don’t have pricing yet for the E5 Plus and E5 Play, but we expect them to both be priced around $100.
Motorola’s E and G series have long been established as killer budget phones, with the Moto G6 being Motorola’s best seller worldwide. With ZTE basically being forced out of the U.S. market this week, the timing for these new budget-focused Motorola models couldn’t be better. All of the new Moto E5 and G6 series phones will be available in May
Update May 10th, 2018: Motorola has announced pricing and availability for the entire line up. That includes pricing for the moto g6 which will retail for $249 USD.