Motorola Moto E5 Play UK SIM-Free whatsapp sim 16GB Smartphone, Black

Product Information

Despite the limited hardware performance, we managed to get some gaming in. The Moto E5 Play is fast enough for even PUBG Mobile. The graphics aren’t great, and we struggled to spot enemies, but at the lowest settings, the gameplay was smooth enough most of the time for an acceptable experience (i.e., we won, handedly). Motorola is frequently one of the best manufacturers offering clean Android experiences in quality budget phones. The Moto E5 Play successfully continues that tradition. Release date and price Make no mistake, the E5 Play looks like a budget phone. The all-plastic build and uninspiring looks aren’t going to win any design awards, but the phone feels robust and the removable plastic rear cover allows you to easily replace the phone’s 2,100mAh battery, access the 128GB microSD card expansion, or swap out the nano-SIM. The E5 Play isn’t waterproof, though Motorola claims the phone is ‘water repellent’ due to ‘advanced nano-coating technology’ – so it should survive the odd accidental splash of water. Just don’t take it in the bath.

The hardware you do get looks pretty good, though: a 13-megapixel camera at the rear, with an aperture of f/2 and phase-detect autofocus, capable of shooting 1080p video at up to 30fps; plus a 5.5-megapixel f/2.2 camera at the front. Unusually, there’s an LED flash at both the rear and the front. The UK variant of the Moto E5 Play is a 5.34in phone with a 960 x 480 FWVGA+ (18:9) TN display. It runs Android Oreo out-the-box; has a quad-core Snapdragon 425 processor with 1GB of RAM; and has 16GB of internal storage space that can be expanded with up to 128GB of additional space through a microSD card.Note: we popped a T-Mobile SIM card into our review unit, and it connected to the network successfully.) The Moto E5 Play is protected from splashes and light rain by a water-repellent coating, like many of Motorola’s other phones. But don’t confuse this with waterproof. It’s not a very water-resistant phone. The entire handset measures 151 x 74 x 8.85mm and weighs a light 150 grams.

If you like taking selfies, you’ll be pleased to know that the 5-megapixel front-facing camera is very impressive. The E5 Play is able to capture plenty of detail, and colours and skin tones look natural. It copes well in low light, too, as the phone has a forward-facing flash. In the PCMark benchmark, which measures a variety of tasks including web browsing and photo and video editing, the E5 Play scored 3,477, much better than the MediaTek MT6739-powered Alcatel 1X (2,842). It can handle a reasonable amount of multitasking, but there's definitely some sluggishness when switching between apps, and I experienced some crashes. High-end gaming is also out of the question. That said, for average daily use (calls, texts, web, social networking, etc.) the E5 Play works just fine. We did experience some sluggishness with Google Maps, but it’s still smooth enough to do the job. More demanding apps, like photo and video editing apps, can be slow on this phone, but those uses aren’t really what someone should be looking to do with the Moto E5 Play. The Moto app that handles those features is actually the only add-on software we spotted on the phone. The Moto E5 Play is a great example of how clean Motorola keeps Android on its phones. Everything else pre-installed was the typical Google fare, like Chrome, calculator, maps, and the G Suite. (Different mobile carrier options may come pre-loaded with different apps, though.)The Moto E5 Play contains a sizable 5.2-inch LCD display, though you don’t expect a super fancy screen on a smartphone this cheap. Its 720p resolution is considered HD, and it matches the resolution of the 1st-gen Moto G. For typical use, the screen is good enough. The lower resolution won’t be too noticeable watching shows or movies, and though the viewing angles aren’t great and lose a bit of contrast, they’re not the worst we’ve seen.

It’s not the prettiest display to look at, either. There’s noticeable colour shift when tilting the phone, so viewing angles aren’t great, and colour accuracy, vibrancy and contrast ratio measure poorly.READ NEXT: Vodafone Smart N9 review: No better than last year’s Smart N8 Motorola Moto E5 Play review: Display Video looks great, too. The Moto E5 can only capture clips at 1080p and 30fps with no image stabilisation but, just like the E5’s stills, videos look crisp, with balanced exposure and loads of detail.