Replace my Galaxy S5 for c. $200?

January 4, 2018 3:24 PM

I love my Samsung Galaxy S5... except for the fact that I'm on my second one that's starting to go wonky after only about a year. Buying a second refurbished S5 seems silly; what's a comparable phone that will replace it within my budget? I have ATT and am happy to purchase through them or Amazon or Best Buy. What's the best deal now that we're in 2018? My very short wishlist inside:

I'd like the display to be between 5.1"-5.2". My only other priorities are a good camera and decent battery life; I want to get through the day on a single charge with frequent texting and moderate Facebooking. It is my only phone, so it'd be nice if I could actually talk on it. I don't care about color, or watching videos, or, like, being able to scuba dive with it.

posted by TwoStride to Technology (8 answers total)

I recently replaced my dead-to-bootloop LG G4 with a Motorola Moto G5 Plus, thanks to the Wirecutter recommendation.

It's right at $200, depending on storage. The camera's ... OK (not great in low light) but it fits your other specs. I'm pretty happy with mine.
posted by minsies at 3:42 PM on January 4, 2018

Moto G5 Plus is what I'm looking at as well, to replace my Nexus 5.
posted by rhizome at 4:07 PM on January 4, 2018

Thirding the G5 Plus. I'm routinely at more than 60% battery at the end of the day.
posted by kbuxton at 4:12 PM on January 4, 2018

Another vote for the moto G5 plus. I am very happy with it. I check messages throughout the day, play 1.5 hours of podcasts on speaker, and read on it over lunch, and it's well over 50% charged (as high as 70%) when I get home after work. It comes with very little bloatware and I really haven't noticed any bugs with the phone itself in the 7 months that I've had it. The only feature I slightly wish it had is NFC, but you don't mention that as a requirement.
posted by bread-eater at 5:08 PM on January 4, 2018

Another another vote for the G5 plus. My wife got a Moto G5 plus for Christmas and she loves it. She has had Moto G phones since they first came out and has always been satisfied. We bought hers straight from Motorola's website on Black Friday, but B&H Photo was running a great holiday sale with 2 day shipping and a bunch of accessories, so shop around if you go with the G5.
posted by token-ring at 7:17 PM on January 4, 2018

In case you're considering other options, my suggestion would be a LG G5 or similar LG phone (probably in the V series), but do some research to make sure the model you choose isn't one known to bootloop (such as the G4). In my experience, LGs have great cameras; I've used the G4 and several AT&T-specific models previously, and know folks who have used the G3, V5, and V30 and love them. I bought my first non-LG phone last year and I am continually disappointed by the camera -- it is definitely difficult to find a decent camera in the price range you are looking for, in my experience.
posted by possibilityleft at 4:47 AM on January 5, 2018

Hello from my Moto F5 Plus... :)
posted by DarlingBri at 5:10 AM on January 5, 2018

Thanks, AskMe! The strong consensus makes me feel better about choosing the emergency replacement phone if I need to...
posted by TwoStride at 8:22 PM on January 5, 2018