[SoundsGood]

Has anyone had a chance to try both versions of this phone? I'm curious to know how the 2GB version compares to the 4GB version in real life usage. I'm not as concerned with the storage difference (32 vs 64), just wondering about the memory difference.

[jasonandrews25788]

I've not tried it but IMHO you better get the 4GB version for better multitasking performance, 2GB will be enough though.

[anon(123856)]

Has anyone had a chance to try both versions of this phone? I'm curious to know how the 2GB version compares to the 4GB version in real life usage. I'm not as concerned with the storage difference (32 vs 64), just wondering about the memory difference.

I haven't tried the lower spec version either but I have the 4GB/64 GB version and would recommend it. It's a lot of phone for $299.

Having said that, I don't think I ever ran out of RAM on my 5X which is a 2GB device. But I felt the extra ram and storage are worth the extra money. Why not future proof a bit?

[SoundsGood]

I've never owned an Android phone before so I'm trying to spend as little as possible (without getting a piece of crap) just in case I don't like it. BTW, I just found a review on arstechnica that says "The cheaper of the two G5s is one we can get behind. 2GB of RAM is still just fine for a lower-end handset, and the 32GB of storage is easily expanded with a good microSD card and Android’s “adoptable storage” feature. Performance is fine"

[Javier P]

2GB should be enough for normal use, you'll feel the difference when multitasking with RAM hungry apps, like Chrome, but nothing terrible. About the SD card. I strongly recommend you to use it as portable storage, only for your media files (music, videos, pics ...) and NOT as adoptable storage. Plenty of potential bugs and issues with this feature.

[SoundsGood]

Gotcha. Thanks for that.

[anon(123856)]

2GB should be enough for normal use, you'll feel the difference when multitasking with RAM hungry apps, like Chrome, but nothing terrible. About the SD card. I strongly recommend you to use it as portable storage, only for your media files (music, videos, pics ...) and NOT as adoptable storage. Plenty of potential bugs and issues with this feature.

I agree about the sd card. I just put music and old pics on mine and save the internal storage for apps and the camera roll.

[anon(123856)]

I've never owned an Android phone before so I'm trying to spend as little as possible (without getting a piece of crap) just in case I don't like it. BTW, I just found a review on arstechnica that says "The cheaper of the two G5s is one we can get behind. 2GB of RAM is still just fine for a lower-end handset, and the 32GB of storage is easily expanded with a good microSD card and Android’s “adoptable storage” feature. Performance is fine"

I don't disagree but still think the higher end G5 makes more sense, but to each their own.

[Javier P]

I don't disagree but still think the higher end G5 makes more sense, but to each their own.

Yeah, I agree with this, I would buy the 4GB model as well, buy my wife bought the 2GB model and she's very happy with it, it runs very well and not problem at all with normal multitasking.

Another thing. Between the G5 and the G5 plus I would definitely recommend you to go with the plus model. I think it's a much better value for money than the basic G5.

[anon(123856)]

Another thing. Between the G5 and the G5 plus I would definitely recommend you to go with the plus model. I think it's a much better value for money than the basic G5.

Exactly what I was thinking. You get a lot for the extra $70.00.

I like Moto phones and their approach to Android but as I've said before the lack of timely security patches is a concern. But it is a $300.00 phone...

Hardware and OS wise I'm happy with it so far.

[Ry]

I like Moto phones and their approach to Android but as I've said before the lack of timely security patches is a concern.

If they don't make any promises about it, I won't make assumptions about how they should (or shouldn't) handle it.

[anon(123856)]

If they don't make any promises about it, I won't make assumptions about how they should (or shouldn't) handle it.

I'm just going by past experience with other Moto phones. My G5 is still on the January patch. Lenovo hasn't made much of a secret out of their lackluster support. The lack of communication only makes the situation worse. Please understand I'm only talking about security patches, not OS updates.

Android OEMs need to do a much better job at keeping phones patched. An unlocked phone with no carrier to placate with minimal changes to the OS shouldn't take so long to patch.

I knew what I was getting into as far as this goes.

[sent2null]

The main place one will see a difference in performance due to a variation in RAM is when multi tasking is going on. I find with my 2 gb G5 that I start hitting the sluggish wall when I've got more than 10 applications running in the tray at a time...beyond that I start getting period hiccups in scrolling and some times screen stutter.

Every time I clear the tray performance immediately gets restored. This consistency is incredibly relieving to me as my last phone (HTC M8) would get to a place where it was almost unusable and it didn't seem to help much that I would empty the tray...now in fairness that was not using the version of Android on my G5 (Android N) but the consistent memory impact is better than the wild insanity I would get with the HTC.

Now that said, I am pretty sure that I am going to purchase a second G5 plus at 4 gb as an upgrade to this one, I am positive it will end the current wall at 2 Gb and thus give me the perfect smart phone experience.

Everything else about the phone is damned near perfect. I love the size, the screen and Motorola leaving Android mostly alone is a god send...no stupid UI stupidity above stock Android...and the moto Actions app are completely not intrusive and actually provide some useful features if activated...such as the gestures features ....I have twist for camera activated for example.

The only thing I'd lament in not upgrading to a different phone is the rather middling camera performance...it's just shy of zippy fast and when the memory is loaded up can be annoying...hopefully with a 4G model that will disappear as well.

No need to buy a Pixel 2 or 3 when I can get lots of life out of another G5 plus but with double the ram.

Oh yes...and the 32 gb is fine for me I put everything on the expandable SD card any way.