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This metal-body wunderkind doesn’t look or perform like a $230 phone — but that’s what you’ll pay for it.
Motorola
Sure, you could spend $800 for a 5.5-inch iPhone 8 Plus. I’m sure it’s very nice, what with its shiny design, dual cameras, fingerprint reader and so on.
Or you could spend a fraction of that on Motorola‘s latest and get a phone that’s nearly as capable.
I’ve proposed this idea before, when I temporarily traded my iPhone 6S Plus for a $180 Nokia 6. Of course, that model is now selling at $229, but the song remains the same: Why spend a small fortune on a phone when you can get something almost as good for a lot less?
The latest example: You can get the new Motorola Moto G5S Plus for $229.99 when you pre-order it. That’s $50 off the regular price, which, let’s face it, already rocks. That’s also for the 32GB model; you can bump the storage to 64GB for an extra $70 — though you can also pop in a 32GB microSD card for about $10, as this Moto has an expansion slot.
Aside from the price, here’s what you need to know about this phone:
- It runs Android 7.1.
- It has a headphone jack.
- It has a fingerprint reader, one that also supports gestures (like its predecessor, the “best budget phone” G5 Plus).
- It has dual rear cameras.
- It has a 5.5-inch full-HD screen.
- It’s fast-charging: up to six hours’ worth of juice with just 15 minutes of charging, according to Motorola.
- It’s unlocked for use on any major U.S. carrier.
- Delivery is scheduled for Oct. 5, so you won’t have long to wait.
As with the aforementioned G5 Plus, however, you still don’t get NFC, and there’s just a single speaker. I honestly don’t think NFC matters for anything except mobile pay, but if that’s something you use (or want to use)…dealbreaker.
For everyone else…awesome deal! Okay, there are a few unknowns, like whether these dual cameras are anywhere near as good as others. But read the aforementioned G5 Plus review and you’ll get a good feel for what this phone has to offer. The dual cameras are some of the icing on that delicious phone-cake.
There’s yet another way I need to look at this: I could literally outfit my entire family with these phones for less than the price of a single iPhone X.
Your thoughts?
Can you outwit the horrors of Outlast?
Humble Bundle
Bonus deal: Game time! Man, do I wish I liked first-person survival horror games, because Humble Bundle has a gem: Outlast Deluxe Edition (Win/Mac/Linux) for free. This giveaway, which ends tomorrow, includes not only the core game, but also a DLC module called Whistleblower. Regular price for both: $29.
Awarded a 7/10 rating from GameSpot and an “overwhelmingly positive” review average from Steam players, Outlast is a seriously scary game that’s not about weapons or killing; it’s simply about survival. Here you engage in stealth-based gameplay, with parkour-inspired platforming elements.
You can get a DRM-free executable or a Steam key, your choice. Either way, the only thing you need is a free Humble account. Sweet!
Bonus deal No. 2: I’m trying not to go bananas while I wait for the new “Star Trek” to debut on Sunday (here’s how to watch it). In the meantime, I’m satisfying my sci-fi needs with this: Today only, Audible has John Scalzi’s “The Collapsing Empire: The Interdependency, Book 1” audiobook for $2.95. Regular price: $19.95.
Read by Wil Wheaton, this cool-sounding tale is all about interstellar travel. I’m a big Scalzi fan; his “Old Man’s War” ranks among my favorite sci-fi novels. This one scored a 4.5-star average rating from over 5,700 listeners. For $3, I’m in!
