Moto G5 Plus vs Honor 6X: We pit Lenovo’s new Moto G5 Plus against Honor‘s 6X at Mobile World Congress 2017 as both phones share enough commonalities to make this an interesting face-off. Does the more established Moto name win out, or do Honor’s efforts with the 6X make it the better buy?
Moto G5 Plus vs Honor 6X: Specs at a glance
| Moto G5 Plus | Honor 6X | |
|---|---|---|
| Screen size | 5.2-inches | 5.5-inches |
| Screen resolution | Full HD (1920×1080) | Full HD (1920×1080) |
| Weight | 155 grams | 162 grams |
| OS | Android 7.0 | Android 6.0 |
| Front camera | 5-megapixels | 8-megapixels |
| Rear camera(s) | 12-megapixels | Dual 12/2-megapixels |
| Processor | 2.0GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 | 2.1GHz/1.7GHz HiSilicon Kirin 655 |
| Memory | 3GB RAM | 3GB RAM |
| Storage | 32GB + microSD up to 256GB | 32GB + microSD up to 256GB |
| Battery | 3000mAh w/ Turbo Charge | 3340mAh |
Moto G5 Plus vs Honor 6X: Which is best for me?
When Lenovo unveiled the Moto G5 and G5 Plus a major change was immediately apparent in this generation of phone’s material choices and build quality. The G5s bring predominantly metal bodywork to the table, with colour-matched plastic capping to disguise their antennas. In the case of the G5 Plus there’s a nice chamfer line around its edge, metal hardware controls and a slight protrusion from the circular camera module on the phone’s back, all in all, making for a notable step up from 2016’s G series.
In the case of the Honor 6X, its design is an evolution of last year’s Honor 5X, which already boasted a metal-clad body. The biggest change between last year’s and this year’s ‘X’ model has been the move from a brushed finish to a sandblasted one, a finish shared with the G5 Plus. The Moto comes in two colourways at launch; a gunmetal grey and pale gold hue, whilst Honor has gone all-out on the colour options up for grabs when it comes to the 6X, with gold, silver, grey, blue and rose gold (some are market specific).
Despite both phones launching in 2017, their focus on affordability means that they’re not as cutting edge as some pricier handsets, evident by the microUSB ports found at the base of both phones. You do at least get fingerprint sensors – a rear-mounted one with a metal chamfer line on the centre of the 6X’s back and set into the cover glass of the Moto G5 Plus, beneath its display. Which one is in a better position is a matter of personal preference, but they both feel decidedly snappy.
As for the screen above the G5 Plus’ fingerprint sensor, the Moto team have scaled things down from last year’s handset, with a 5.2-inch Full HD IPS LCD front and centre. The smaller size makes it more manageable in one-handed use and technically produces a sharper image than the 5.5-inch screen employed by the 6X. What’s more, Honor’s screen might be better geared towards media consumption, simply because it’s larger, but viewing angles are also a tad weaker than the G5 Plus’, particularly with regards to brightness drop-off.
Lenovo and Honor have taken to very different approaches to the Android user experience on offer from their latest handsets. In the case of the 6X, it launches on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, wrapped in a heavy skin of Emotion UI 4.1. We’re hoping it’ll make the jump to Nougat and the company’s own EMUI 5.0 or 5.1 soon enough, as there are enough new features in these newer software releases to make the jump worthwhile.
The Moto, meanwhile already enjoys the stock benefits of Android 7.0 out the box, and just as on the company’s previous handsets the tweaks and changes to the stock experience are minimal and meaningful. Emotion UI will give you greater control over the look and feel of your phone, but the G5 Plus’ OS packs in handy quick-launch features like a double twist to open the camera, whilst also offering a cleaner, easier to navigate UI.
The powerplants of these handsets are pretty evenly matched, especially if you try and compare them in everyday usage. The Honor’s Kirin 655 technically outclasses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625, but only marginally, and despite more power, the 625 actually feature a more efficient design that should age more gracefully. As for storage, a glance at the specs and you can see that whichever way you slice it, you’ll get 32GB of onboard storage and loads of room for expandability, with some versions of both phones also offer dual SIM functionality too.
If battery life is a key deciding factor for those after a new blower, then the 6X might pip the Moto to the post by packing in an extra 340mAh on top of the 3000mAh cell offered up by the Plus, however, Moto’s own tried and testing Turbo Charge tech might make it the better option overall by being able to offer respectable longevity and a quicker recharge time too.
Lacklustre cameras can make or break an otherwise top-notch smartphone in today’s market and you’ll find fierce competition in the mid-range space, particularly from these two devices. The Honor 6X packs a sharper selfie snapper than the Moto, but also the more interesting primary camera arrangement, with a dual 12/2-megapixel sensor that aims to distill down the imaging experience from the company’s Honor 8 flagship. Those two sensors help gauge depth data for more natural-looking bokeh and background defocus, as well as ironing out some of the noise found in low light shots. The camera software also means the 6X offers a more versatile shooting experience, with more modes and tweakable elements.
As with the many other elements of the G5 Plus, the camera experience concentrates on delivering the best smartphone snapper possible for the price. There’s a lower resolution front-facing 5-megapixel shooter, but the 12-megapixel rear sensor offers a lot of promise, namely as a result of the similarities it strikes with the camera module found on Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, with its impressively wide f/1.7 aperture (for superior low light performance) and the super snappy dual-focus pixel technology at play. The Snapdragon chipset also means that you can shoot at up to 4K video on the G5 Plus, whilst the 6X tops out at 1080p.
Both the Honor 6X and new Moto G5 Plus offer top-notch mid-range hardware and there’s less than £40 between their SIM-free prices (£224 for the 6X versus £259 for the G5 Plus) too. The Honor 6X is a great phone right now, with its larger battery and more interesting camera capabilities, but the G5 Plus looks as though it’ll offer greater longevity and includes a more up-to-date and cleaner software experience to boot.
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