Moto G5 Plus News, Specs and Where to Buy
If you're considering a new phone to bring to Tracfone's BYOP program, you may want to consider the new Moto G5 Plus which is now available for pre-order. |
| Moto G5 Plus with Tracfone BYOP |
Now we have news about the upcoming Moto G5 and G5 Plus. So if you're curious about the next generation of Moto G phones, keep reading.
Moto G5 Rumors and Release Date
A number of images and information about the Moto G5 was leaked in the weeks prior to the official announcement, and some of that information has been not quite accurate. However, with the G5 and G5 Plus officially announced at the end of February 2017, we now know full details on these new smartphones.Only the Moto G5 Plus will be available in the US, and it is available for pre-order from several online sources including Amazon and Bestbuy. Full release of the G5 Plus is expected at the end of March.
Now let's look at what everyone is interested in, the specs for the new Moto G5.
Moto G5 Plus Specs and Features
The new Moto G5 Plus has a lot of great features packed into a compact frame. It is a solid step up from the G4, with only a small price increase.The Moto G5 Plus has a 5.2" full HD screen. This is smaller than the G4, which had a 5.5" screen. Both phones have 1920x1080 resolution and the G5 Plus has Gorilla Glass 3.
There are two versions of the G5 Plus available, one with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB memory, the other with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB memory. Both versions use the fast, 2.0 Ghz Snapdragon 625 octa core processor.
Let's take a look at the full specs on the G5 Plus to see all it has to offer.
Moto G5 Plus Specs:
- Android 7.0 Nougat
- 4G LTE and compatible with both GSM and CDMA carriers
- 5.2" full HD touchscreen with Gorilla Glass 3
- 2.0 Ghz Octa-core processor
- 2 or 4 GB RAM
- 32 or 64 GB Internal Memory
- Micro SD card slot for up to 128 GB additional storage
- 12 MP Rear Camera, 5 MP Front Camera
- Fingerprint sensor to unlock device instantly
- All metal design
The G5 Plus is a well-rounded phone, with powerful processor, great camera, and lots of connectivity options.
For photo and video needs, the G5 Plus has a 12 MP rear camera with dual auto-focus technology which means faster and more accurate focusing capabilities and 5 MP front camera.
You also get full metal construction, which gives them a high-end feel and appearance.
The Moto G5 Plus is available in the US, with two memory/RAM combinations. Starting price will be $229, with the higher RAM/Memory option coming in at $299 (this is $50 less than the G4 Plus with same options) and it will come unlocked and ready to use on any of the major carriers (Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T).
Buy the Moto G5 Plus:
Moto G5 Plus on Amazon $229 (Discounted price of $184 available with Amazon Prime offers/ads)
Moto G5 Plus on BestBuy $229
Based on these specs, the Moto G5 Plus looks very attractive as a solid performer for the smartphone enthusiast. It has all the capabilities to keep up with daily demands.
We will update with full details as soon as more becomes clear, but this new phone sure looks impressive.
Keep up with the latest posts, news and deals by joining us on Facebook. We also have a YouTube channel where we hope to provide additional content in the coming months.
leave a comment with your thoughts or questions about this new phone.
Take a look at our Guide to Activating a smartphone with Tracfone BYOP if you have questions, or visit our List of the Best Unlocked Smartphones for more buying options.
And we just reviewed the LG X Style which has some great features for the price, so check it out if you're shopping for a new phone.
Thanks for visiting!
Will these phones include a 1year phone card offered in package deal at any point?
ReplyDeleteJust read this in an article.
ReplyDelete"The Moto G5 Plus model which will be sold in the U.S.A will not have NFC but models sold in other markets will have the technology, eliminating the use of this phone for Android Pay in the U.S."
located here
https://www.xda-developers.com/on-moto-g5-criticisms-western-reviewers-should-note-the-moto-g5-is-not-made-for-them/
So this mean US is only getting the g5 plus and it will not be compatible with tracfone I assume since it is a sealed case. Thoughts?
it is compatible
DeleteDo they have promo codes just to add data? I use BYOP, purchased a year plan with triple minutes. I'd purchased a Xiaomi Mi4c from an online place in china. It's probably not authorized by Xiaomi, but it's a great phone with all the iPhone features, but only $200 (but less storage). Drawbacks is there's no usermanual in English and can't use Xiaomi cloud sync. Substitute with google+
ReplyDeleteBut I don't use the talk minutes or the texts much but the data is not enough, it's abysmally small. when is Tracfone going to improve data prices and coverage.
Also, I have an unlocked GSM phone. Can I swap from AT&T to Verizon as my carrier. AT&T is an awful company with terrible coverage in rural Iowa.
Any suggestions?
I just bought two of the Moto G5 Plus phones for use on Tracfone, one for me, one for my wife. I used to have a Moto X (2014 I think), so I just transferred its SIM card to the new G5 Plus and it all works fine. My wife's old phone is a 1st generation Moto G which didn't have a SIM card. When I tried to activate her new phone using a new SIM card (from the Tracfone BYOP kits), Tracfone said the Moto G5+ is not eligible to register. I don't know if that is just because it is so new and not on their list, or because of something else. Now I am trying to decide if I need to buy a cheap old used phone that has a SIM, activate it and move her phone number to it, then transfer that SIM into the new Moto G5+ for her. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteDid you try using one of those byop Sims you can order on Amazon for $1.00 I would start there. They worked fine for my g4 I went with the g4 after being concerned that the g5 may not work
DeleteYes, the new SIM was from one of those $1 kits. But the problem was that the new Moto G5+ was not eligible to be registered by Tracfone - they wouldn't accept its IMEI number. But I figured out how to get it to work:
ReplyDeleteWhile my wife's Moto G5+ was not eligible to register with Tracfone, my own identical new phone was working because I had an existing Tracfone SIM to put in it. The first time I started that new phone with my old SIM card there was a message that it might take 5 minutes to register or something like that, and then it worked. So I wondered what the Tracfone BYOP web site would say about it; was it considered eligible or ineligible? Turns out the IMEI number of that phone was acceptable, presumably because it was now a "known" phone because it had been auto-registered on the network to work with my old SIM. This was about 48 hours after I'd first booted my phone with the old SIM; I'm not sure if the registration is immediate or might take a day or two before it gets into the Tracfone website's database.
Next I put the new never-used $1 SIM card in my working Moto G5+ phone, and then used the BYOP web site to activate it and transfer my wife's phone number to the that SIM. Once that went through (took about 12 hours), I put that new SIM card in her Moto G5+ (the one they said they couldn't register), booted it, got the message about waiting 5 minutes, and then it all worked. So now both of the new phones are working.
So if anyone has a new Moto G5+ that Tracfone says they can't register, see if you can temporarily put an existing SIM card in it (from a friend or family member's phone, for example) and let it register the phone on the network that way. Then put your new SIM in it and try activating it via the web site. Hopefully that will work for you too.
Aha! Thanks Jim, you're giving me hope that I can get mine activated. The nano sim card is a problem. I've got a Samsung Galaxy 2 with a sim card that's activated but it uses the bigger sim. I might have to try your plan of getting a cheap moto phone and getting the nano sim activated.
ReplyDeleteREL Scott
ReplyDeleteYou can also just trim the SIM card to fit a nano size. There are plenty of online tutorials that show you how.
Yep, that's what I did. I was looking at the two sim cards and the gold area looked to be the same size so...I trimmed it and viola, it worked! So, my phone is now able to work on CDMA and GSM networks. Just switch out the sim and you're good to go. My daughter is going to college this fall at Northwest Missouri in Maryville, MO and there's no CDMA there. So, the plan is to forward my calls to the GSM sim card, shut it down, put in the GSM card and I should have a signal. Just checked it out here at home and it worked great.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, did you all know you can now forward your calls with Tracfone? Dial *72 and then the number you want to forward to, hit the green button like you're making a call, you'll hear a swooshy type sound and the phone hangs up. To undo it just dial *73, you'll hear the same sound and you're back to normal. Also, if you look up the instructions on the web, like I did, the instructions to undo it are wrong. It has #73, but it's *73.
Oh, also, the moto g plus is an awesome phone! I'm really enjoying it. The battery life is incredible. I think I could probably go 3 days without charging up. I had the LG Rebel and it's a very capable phone but the moto is, wow..
ReplyDeleteI bought the Moto G5 Plus from Amazon with their Lockscreen Offer & Ads for $185. Also bought the Tracfone BYO Sim Kit for $1. I was worried the transfer from my old LG Sunset wouldn't go well, but I was pleasingly surprised. It took about 5 minutes and did it all online.
ReplyDeleteThe $1 Sim kit came with 4 different cards and I just chose the Nano card for AT&T compatible or Unlocked GSM devices and it worked great.
My positives, so far:
Very fast and responsive (compared to the LG Sunset)
32GB Storage + 2GB RAM (vs 8GB on the LG Sunset)
12 MP camera with f1.7 aperture... Even does slo motion 4K video (the camera on the Sunset was horrible)
I think the Amazon Lockscreen ads are worth the $40 knocked off the original $225 price.
The phone's battery is very impressive. I use the GPS for running with Map My Run. The GPS on the Sunset really drained the battery. I would have to charge the LG Sunset twice a day. This battery seems to last about 48 hours for me. I've been using the supplied "Turbo Charger", and it only takes about 20 minutes to top off the charge in the morning. The battery is NOT removable, however.
That's what I know so far... After having the phone for about a week. So far, I love it.
Just purchased a Moto G5 Plus and inserted my LG Premier SIM card into it and it worked just fine on TracFone.
ReplyDeleteI just purchased and activated this phone and it all worked smoothly. i bought the nano sim from Tracfone for $1. You have to get the right SIM for your area. On the Tracfone site, BYOP, there are SIMS for AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. You can ask Tracfone tech support to tell you which one to order on the BYOP page on their site. I used the chat window on the tracfone site to send them a link to this phone and they told me which SIM to buy. It worked perfectly. The tech guy told me I could get free shipping on the SIM by purchasing a $15 airtime card, which I did.
ReplyDeleteJust to follow up on my previous post. Now having had the phone for a couple of months I am even happier with its capabilities. FYI, I purchased an unlocked phone so I could use it for international travel. We just returned from two weeks in Norway where I purchased a TELIA 14 day SIM card which worked mostly without difficulty. The phone comes with a little tool for removing the SIM. I took this along and kept my Tracfone SIM taped to the tool packet. Just before our plane landed back in the US, I shut down the phone and put the Tracfone sim back in and the phone restarted and worked flawlessly.
ReplyDeleteThe only complaint I have is that it was close to impossible to transfer all my old data from my previous LG tracphone. When I went from an Alcatel 1-touch to the LG a year ago, all my apps and data transferred seamlessly. Going from LG to MOTO was not seamless, so I just gave up and loaded all my apps manually.
To Jim Stoner - could you clarify for me your comment about possibly borrowing a friend's sim card to allow the G5 plus to register? By this do you specifically mean only a Tracfone sim, or any currently-in-use sim card?
ReplyDeleteThanks! I am moving from a Moto G (1st gen) to G5 plus and would like to end up on Verizon network. I have the set of 3 TF BYOP sims to finish the transaction, but as of yet entering the IMEI says the device is not eligible.
Hi Rebecca. I'm not sure - I personally used another Tracfone sim and that worked. I'm not sure whether sim from another provider would have the same effect. My guess/instinct is that if the sim is for a phone/provider that is also using Verizon, it should work. The old "known" sim tells Verizon to recognize the new phone's IMEI and adds it to their database, and then when you try to register the new sim in the phone on Tracfone's site it works because the phone is already in Verizon's database. But that is just a guess... Sorry I couldn't be more definitive. If it does work, please post a comment to let everyone know.
ReplyDeleteRebecca-
ReplyDeleteJust activated a g5 plus to my tracfone account with no issues. I believe I used the AT&T sim. It is my girlfriend's phone, so I don;t have it right this second to pull the sim. if you read the card that it is attached to the sims, one of them says for switching a phone and another says for switching a phone or activating a new one, use the latter.
I also had to call them after activating the sim against the card to get it fully functional. This is especially true I believe if your previous phone was not a smart phone or 4G/LTE etc.
Well, I had some free time and gave the G5 plus a try. The activation went very smoothly.
ReplyDeleteI put the new sim card in the new phone, told the website I wanted to keep my old number, typed in the sim card number and IMEI and voila, it was a done deal. Existing phone went silent within just a few minutes, and the new phone had my existing number AND all minutes/data immediately without any further action on my part. The G5 advised of some system updates, so I installed them. First it updated the system to NPN25.137-43-5, which I believe is the update that finally fixed an ongoing problem this model was having with call quality specifically on Verizon, and then it installed NPN 25.137-83.
Smoothest transition to a new TF ever? Could be, at least for me. No dreaded phone call to customer service, even. Yay!
I am on day two and battery is 78%, but I do keep data and location turned off unless I am actually using them. I chose not to have all my apps and data transferred, preferring to reinstall them myself, but when I signed into the phone with my Google account, all my contacts were imported automatically. Camera seems OK, charger is a typical micro USB connection. It did seem to charge quickly.
Thanks for your help!
Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI'm in a similar situation (G5 plus, wanting to activate on TF Verizon/CDMA). Congrats on your new phone and thank you for your summary. Before I attempt the same, a few questions occur to me:
a) I'm using a retail unlocked G5 plus (not the Amazon variant), software channel retus. Was this the phone you used?
b) Did you notice your starting build? Mine is on NPN25.137-33 out of the box, which only has the Jan 2017 security patches.
I booted up the phone without any SIM in the hope that it would update the firmware over WIFI before I pulled the trigger on SIM insertion. So far (12 hours) it has *not* updated and steadfastly insists that it is up to date.
c) Did you attempt a similar update (pre SIM), or did you start off with inserting the SIM before the first boot and the updates appeared after?
d) How long before the updates came in on your phone?
e) From context, I'm assuming you used the Verizon/CDMA SIM. Were you coming from an earlier CDMA TF phone or was it a GSM?
Thanks in advance for any help or additional hints.
Cheers
Both phone and TF sim set was from local Best Buy. I put in the sim card before I fired it up (took me a minute to get it seated right), and I think I probably manually checked for updates through the settings/about phone/system updates. I didn't notice what the original build was, but the entire process of checking for updates on the phone wasn't more than about 15 minutes total including all the restarts it does during that time. I came from a 1st gen Moto G, CDMA but without sim card, so I was glad the website-based conversion went so smoothly.
ReplyDeleteI'd say put the sim in and try it; it's the cheapest part of the system if you have to get another!
So far the phone has been performing well with one very disappointing aspect - no pulsing LED notification light for texts, etc., which is a big deal to me since I have to keep my phone on silent constantly at work, and yet my assistant still needs to be able to get in touch with me. I ended up using an app that bounces a dot around the screen when I have a text waiting, which is fine if I notice it soon but as it does actually use the screen (meaning the background is dark but you can tell the screen is "live") I worry that a text missed for hours will cause battery loss due to this. Sigh. Will keep looking for an app solution (and when warranty is up, might just root the thing to use the battery-critical light in the speaker.) As the pulse light was a feature of my previous (1st gen) Moto G, I was not happy to find this feature lacking in the newer phone.
Good luck and let us know how the activation goes for you!