Both are solid, well-built handsets that laughed off my feeble attempts to bend and twist them.

That said, I don't want you thinking they're flimsy or fragile. The G5 and G5 Plus are not metal phones they're plastic with a sliver of metal glued to the back. I've probably labored the point enough already, but my final word would be to ignore the marketing spiel. There's also virtually no discernible difference in texture between the metal and plastic parts, which further disguises the marriage of materials. The G5 Plus uses a drawer to absorb all your little cards - a clever double-sided one that accepts two SIMs and a microSD, in fact - so the limited amount of metal isn't as conspicuous. Looking at the entire rear panel inside-out, you can clearly see where a thin metal sheet has been bonded to an otherwise all-plastic frame. This is most obvious on the G5, as you have to pry off the back piece to get at the SIM and microSD slots.

Motorola has been careful in its description of the new phones' 'metal finish.' That's important because you aren't getting an aircraft-grade aluminum unibody (which would be a significant leap in construction) but a lone metal panel that fills the majority of the back plate on both devices. For me, though, this is little more than a gimmicky selling point. That hasn't changed with this generation, but the value proposition now includes metal, a premium building material that hasn't featured on any previous models. The Moto G concept has always been about putting affordability first. But I'm not convinced that's a good thing. With the G5 and G5 Plus, Motorola has continued down that road to the extent that its latest smartphones bear little resemblance to their storied predecessors. The domed back was abandoned in favor of a flatter, boxier shape, making for a more serious look compared to past G models. Last year's G4 series represented the biggest shift at the time. Every year since Motorola released the first G, it's made relatively minor tweaks to a common design language.

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