Motorola One 5G Ace review: a weak hand

The Motorola One 5G Ace is a $ 399.99 call that does a slightly convert impression of a more expensive earphone. It ’ s big, which feels like a flagship kind of thing, evening if that ’ s not rigorously truthful. It ’ s relatively heavy, which, in keeping with the wisdom of Jurassic Park ’ s unluckiest lawyer, means it ’ s probably expensive. It ’ s glazed. I held it up for a friend to look at it from six feet away, and he described it as “ sleek, like an previous iPhone. ” And of course, there ’ s 5G, which was ( until slightly recently ) reserved for premium devices .
It makes a great inaugural impression, but once you look closer, you start to see where it lacks the polish of a high midrange or flagship phone. Its processor stumbles with big tasks, that boastfully screen lacks the resolution or faster refresh rate normally found on high-end devices, and its cameras can ’ t compete with the best. As is so often the case, you get what you pay for .
Though $ 400 is low-cost by 5G earphone standards, it ’ s still more expensive than quite commodity non-5G alternatives. The Ace is one or two hundred dollars more than other capable budget options — some of which even offer 5G, excessively. The question, as constantly, is what compromises did Motorola make to offer this earphone at $ 400, and are those acceptable trade-offs for person considering it ?

Our review of
Motorola One 5G Ace

Verge Score

6.5

out of 10

Good Stuff

  • Big, bright display
  • Excellent battery life
  • Well-priced for 5G

Bad Stuff

  • Camera struggles with low-light and high-contrast scenes
  • Bulky and heavy
  • Screen lacks contrast and resolution

Buy for $349.99 from Best Buy
Buy for $399.99 from Amazon

Motorola One 5G Ace hardware

The One 5G Ace features a generous 6.7-inch screen. Depending on how you feel about boastful phones, that might be one of this device ’ randomness best sell points. Battery is another lastingness : the Ace is equipped with a 5,000mAh battery ( likely a subscriber to its large size ), which is head and shoulders above the 4,000 or 4,500mAh capacity distinctive in budget and midrange phones .



The Ace is a boastfully call that makes itself known ; you won ’ metric ton forget it ’ s in your pocket, for example. It ’ s a hair grandiloquent and wider than the Galaxy S21 Ultra and 1mm slurred. It ’ randomness on the heavier side, excessively, at 212g, credibly owing to the battery. I found its size a small awkward. It feels like a tense to reach my finger across the sieve with the earphone in one hand. I besides fumbled it a couple of times, picking it up besides promptly and forgetting how much it weighs. This is very likely a Me Problem, though ; my conserve thinks it ’ s comfortable to hold one-handed .
The screen is a 1080 x 2400 LCD panel with a standard 60Hz refresh pace. It ’ sulfur bright and viewable even in send sunlight, but it lacks the dainty contrast of OLED. Viewing it from slenderly off angles results in a loss of contrast and flimsy color chemise. Its resolution is stretched a bite thin on a screen this size, and if you ’ ve had higher-resolution phones before, you will probably notice it doesn ’ triiodothyronine count quite as wrinkle .



similarly with review rate : quick scroll motions and animations are good a little choppy, particularly if you ’ ve used a 90Hz or 120Hz filmdom. If you aren ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate switching from a phone with better solution or a fast refresh rate, you won ’ thyroxine feel like you ’ re missing out on anything, and you ’ ll credibly just appreciate what is a identical large, pleasant-to-use screen .
With chasten manipulation, I generally got two days out of the Ace ’ s huge battery. Gaming or watching a lot of videos would cut that down, but it ’ south hard to imagine a real-world scenario where you wouldn ’ t arrive at least a day and then some on a full charge. A 15W fast-ish charger is included in the box .
The Ace uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G 5G chipset. It had no problem handling my casual scrolling through Twitter and Instagram, and it generally felt pretty alert cruising through Zillow and starting the television camera. It struggles with certain heavier tasks, like using certain JavaScript features on a web page ( image sliders on this web site, for case ) .



The Ace is offered with either 4GB of RAM / 64GB of memory or 6GB of RAM / 128GB storage, both of which are expandable via microSD card. I tested the 6GB of RAM variant. Overall, it feels like an allow amount of processing power for a $ 400 phone. The rear-mounted fingerprint scanner is promptly and mask-friendly as a bonus, and the Ace includes a 3.5mm earphone laborer .
then there ’ s 5G. deserving note : the Ace supports Sub-6GHz 5G only, which is the more far-flung “ countrywide ” diverseness. We however have complicated feelings about the country of 5G in the US, but carriers are pouring resources into expanding and improving their existing 5G offerings. In that common sense, choosing a phone that supports it immediately will mean your device is future-proofed for what 5G brings in the future couple of years. Don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate expect a night-and-day deviation fair so far, though .


Motorola One 5G Ace camera

Motorola has equipped the Ace with three rear-facing cameras : a 48-megapixel standard broad that kicks out 12-megapixel images, an 8-megapixel ultrawide, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. Around presence, there ’ s a 16-megapixel selfie camera .
When it stays in its lane, the Ace is capable of very decent photos
Motorola besides throws in a handful of useful software features. There ’ second an optional on-screen flush, which I appreciate as a serial crooked photo-taker. You can opt for a very wide-format picture using the independent camera, turning the integral screen into a giant finder, which is a playfulness creative exercise. There ’ s besides a Pro modality if you want to take control of more settings. I didn ’ triiodothyronine use it a lot, partially because its imperativeness on displaying be Kelvin color temperature values stressed me out .
Like most others in this class, the Ace takes decent photos in good unhorse conditions. I like its treatment of semblance and white balance. Food looks appetizing, and it handles mix lighting well. Overall, when it stays in its lane, the Ace is capable of very nice photos .

The Ace, unfortunately, does not constantly stay in its lane. Often, it tries to do excessively a lot with excessively fiddling. In some high-contrast ultrawide shots, I saw a lot of randomness where it tried to boost shadows — noticeable discolor noise like I haven ’ thymine seen since I was reviewing point-and-shoot cameras [ redacted ] years ago. Night Vision mode produces a very bright picture that barely looks queerly artificial and overcook. Ultrawide photograph in anything less than bright outdoor light look very smoothed-over from randomness reduction .
There ’ sulfur besides some obtrusive shutter lag, which would decidedly bother person trying to photograph a moving subject like a child. It was more of a minor annoyance in my particular use cases of sleeping kat and street scenes .
even images taken in standard photograph mood with the main camera expect overworked with close inspection. The television camera captures a good come of detail, but sharpening can be aggressive and crunchy. A photograph I took of the sunrise in my backyard was spoiled by some obtrusive halo-ing around darkness subjects in the foreground. If the Ace had precisely exposed for the sky and let shadows be, it would have been fine !
To be clear, it ’ s not a trouble that a $ 400 earphone can ’ t do all of the things the Ace is trying to do ; it ’ sulfur just that it credibly shouldn ’ t try in the first place .

Motorola One 5G Ace software

The Ace ships with Android 10, and an update to 11 has been promised. That ’ s the alone major platform update you ’ ll make. beyond that, Motorola will provide two years of security system updates, up until January 2023. Motorola is, unfortunately, behind the crook by offering barely one major update, even for a budget device .
Motorola ’ s take on Android includes customizable home screen fonts, icon shapes, and colors, along with a couple of annoying pre-downloaded apps that can be hidden but not uninstalled. I like Moto ’ s wield of lock in screen notifications, or “ glance notifications ” as it calls them. They ’ rhenium helpful without being intrusive .



“ You get what you pay for ” is an appropriate takeaway here, and I mean that in both a admonitory and a complimentary sense. Despite some resemblance, this international relations and security network ’ t a $ 1,000 phone, and you won ’ thyroxine get a $ 1,000 experience. But for $ 400, you should expect to get a telephone that will get you through your day without giving you trouble. It should do the things you need it to do — even some things you want it to do — and it should see you through a couple of years at least .
The One 5G Ace meets all of those requirements, even though it does fall short of good midrange and high-end devices. Though adequate to, its processor can ’ t quite hang with the best of them. The camera is a small awkward. The screen, while enough big and bright, international relations and security network ’ thyroxine going to offer the rich viewing feel of a competing device with an OLED .
Despite some resemblance, this international relations and security network ’ t a $ 1,000 earphone, and you won ’ thymine get a $ 1,000 experience
For now, the Ace doesn ’ t have much direct 5G-capable contest for $ 400, but that will change quickly. If you plan to hang on to your telephone for the adjacent pair of years, it does make sense to pick a 5G exemplar now. For a snatch more, the $ 460 Google Pixel 4A 5G offers a superior television camera, a decent screen, and a slenderly better processor. Or you could save some money and get the $ 300 OnePlus Nord N10 5G with a 90Hz screen that ’ south about as big and a better television camera, though it offers a less knock-down processor. If it ’ s an option, you could wait things out for a few months. More low-cost 5G devices are on the way .
I don ’ t have a trouble recommending the Motorola One 5G Ace if — and it ’ s an crucial if — a big blind and capital barrage are priorities for you above all else. But if you think you ’ ll want a better television camera or a decent riddle, it would be best to look elsewhere .
photography by Allison Johnson / The scepter

Agree to continue: Motorola One 5G Ace

Every ache device now requires you to agree to a serial of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It ’ s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting precisely how many times you have to hit “ agree ” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don ’ triiodothyronine read and decidedly can ’ thymine negociate .
To actually use the Motorola One 5G Ace, you must agree to :

  • Motorola Privacy Policy
  • Google Terms of Service
  • Install updates and apps: “You agree this device may also automatically download and install updates and apps from Google, your carrier, and your device’s manufacturer, possibly using cellular data. Some of these apps may offer in-app purchases.”

To add a Google history, you ’ ll besides need to agree to two more things :

  • Google Play Terms of Service
  • Google Privacy Policy

The following agreements are optional :

  • Back up to Google Drive: “Your backup includes apps, app data, all history, contacts, device settings (including Wi-Fi passwords and permissions), and SMS.”
  • Use location: “Google may collect location data periodically and use this data in any anonymous way to improve location accuracy and location-based services.”
  • Allow scanning: “Allow apps and services to scan for Wi-Fi networks and nearby devices at any time, even when Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is off.”
  • Send usage and diagnostic data: “Help improve your Android device experience by automatically sending diagnostic, device and app usage data to Google.”
  • Carrier location access: “Your carrier occasionally requires location data to improve its services and analytics.”

additionally, for Google Assistant, there ’ s an option to agree to use Voice Match : “ Allows your adjunct to identify you and tell you apart from others. The Assistant takes clips of your voice to form a unique part model, which is entirely stored on your device ( second ). Your voice model may be sent temporarily to Google to better identify your voice. ”
Final count : three mandatary agreements to use the phone at all, another two for Google explanation services, and six extra optional agreements .

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