Motorola Moto E5 Play

VERDICT

The Moto E5 Play has its flaws, but a low price and capable camera save it from the bin.

- Christopher Minasians

MERCIFULLY, THERE ARE still smartphones aiming to be budget champions, even in this age of £1,000-plus handsets. Motorola’s Moto E5 Play, which launches at under £100, is one such smartphone.

There’s not much disguising its cheapness: the plain, all-plastic design quickly gives it away. Still, it feels sufficiently robust, and the removable plastic rear cover allows you to easily replace the 2,100mAh battery, access the microSD card slot (cards up to 128GB are supported) or swap out the nano SIM.

There’s a fast-charging Micro USB port on the bottom, and a 3.5mm headphone jack up top. The phone’s speaker sits above the display, which means you get forward-facing sound. It’s not especially loud, however, and it doesn’t sound particularly refined.

PIXEL PAUCITY

A fingerprint reader sits on the back – always nice to see on a budget phone – and it works remarkably well, too. There’s no IP-rated waterproofing, but the Moto E5 Play has been treated with a water-resistant coating, so it will survive the occasional splash. It also lacks NFC, unlike the similarly priced Vodafone Smart N9 (Shopper 369).

The Smart N9 also has a higher-resolution 1,440x720 screen, which makes the Moto E5 Play’s 5.3in, 960x480 display look even worse. Besides this low resolution, there’s also noticeable colour shift when the screen is tilted, so viewing angles are fairly narrow.