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https://scmp.com/lifestyle/gadgets/article/3095268/which-budget-5g-smartphone-should-you-buy-moto-g-5g-plus-xiaomi
Lifestyle/ Gadgets

Which budget 5G smartphone should you buy? Moto G 5G Plus, Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G, and Huawei P40 Lite 5G compared

  • You don’t need to pay US$1,000 for a 5G smartphone, with handsets available for under US$500. All are fairly high-spec, with big HD screens
  • The Xiaomi has the best image quality; all take superb daylight photos, and the Motorola the best selfies. None are great for night shots or playing games
A Huawei 5G mobile phone takes a speed test at the Huawei 5G Innovation and Experience Centre in London, Britain. Photo: Xinhua/Han Yan

The new, superfast 5G networks promise a slew of benefits, from high-resolution video streams running smoothly even outside your own Wi-fi zone to transmitting big files in just a few seconds.

The trouble is that until now, 5G phones have been pretty unaffordable – back in spring, buyers had to shell out US$1,100 or more for a 5G capable phone, and the coverage isn’t even available nationwide.

But now, Huawei, Motorola and Xiaomi have all brought smartphones onto the market that cost well under US$500. You can get a Moto G 5G Plus or Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G for less than US$410, while the P40 Lite 5G by Huawei is selling for US$457.

The Motorola has the biggest screen at 6.7 inches. Both of the other phones also have full HD resolution (1,080 by 2,400 pixels) on 6.5-inch displays. The Mi 10 Lite offers better image quality, as its OLED technology allows a greater contrast ratio so you can see better in bright surroundings than with the LED technology in the Motorola or the Huawei. What’s nice about the Moto G is its slim upright format (21:9) which is great if you’re watching a video.

The Moto G 5G Plus has the biggest screen of the three phones tested, at 6.7 inches.
The Moto G 5G Plus has the biggest screen of the three phones tested, at 6.7 inches.

All three phones have screens with barely any border, and fingerprint technology is embedded, either on the side, as in the Motorola and Huawei, or below the main screen, as in Xiaomi’s model. The Huawei also unlocks using face recognition.

For the main processor, Motorola and Xiaomi rely on Qualcomm’s trusty Snapdragon 765, while Huawei uses its brand-new Kirin 820 processor. The chip is already made using the seven-nanometre process, using less energy. In tests, all three smartphones functioned smoothly, with little jerking.

The P40 Lite 5G beat the others by a slender margin in benchmark tests, but hardcore gamers are going to have to get expensive phones after all, as games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) reveal the limits of these affordable 5Gs: they only run smoothly if you reduce the level of detail a bit.

All three smartphones have four cameras on the back, and they take extraordinarily beautiful pictures in daylight. Unsurprisingly, the quality falls significantly when there’s less light, compared to top models like the Huawei P40 Pro+.

On Huawei’s P40 Lite 5G, you can switch to AI mode for especially vibrant colours, but the colours look pretty natural if you don’t use that function.

The Motorola is the best for selfies, as the front camera has two lenses, and thanks to the additional super-wide angle, you can cram an even bigger group of people into your picture.

The OLED technology in the Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G allows a greater contrast ratio so you can see better in bright surroundings.
The OLED technology in the Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G allows a greater contrast ratio so you can see better in bright surroundings.

Motorola and Xiaomi deliver Androids that are as uncluttered as possible, meaning important updates are available without lengthy delays. This wasn’t possible for Huawei due to US sanctions on China, so Google services and apps are unavailable.

To compensate, the P40 Lite 5G comes with its own Huawei mobile services and its own app gallery, where many popular Android apps are available. It also boasts a new feature, an app search function that searches other sources of Android apps, like the Amazon store or F-Droid.

This field test didn’t get much of a chance to check out the new 5G connectivity that all three phones use, as even Berlin only has a few 5G masts capable of providing high bandwidth and low latency. That’s due to change by the end of the year though.

If you’re looking for a smartphone, then you should seriously consider a 5G phone, especially if you need a new one anyway.

Think about it – Android smartphones usually get software updates over several years, but you can’t retrofit 5G.