Moto E5 Play is a very close LG K30 competitor with similar features & price range. However, E5 Plus belongs to a higher segment and falls in the range of LG Stylo 4.
In this post, we’re going to compare K30, Moto E5 Play, and E5 Plus. We’ll first start off with the differences, then similarities and will end it with the conclusion.
So, Let’s begin with the differences between the 3 –
Difference between LG K30, Moto E5 Play & E5 Plus
The phone on the left is LG K30. The middle one is Moto E5 Play and the last one is Moto E5 Plus
1. Price & Release Date – Difference between LG K30, Moto E5 Play & E5 Plus
PRICE & RELEASE DATE | LG K30 MetroPCS / T-Mobile | Moto E5 Play MetroPCS / T-Mobile | Moto E5 Plus MetroPCS / T-Mobile |
---|---|---|---|
Model Number | LM-X410MK/X410TK | XT1921-3 | XT1924-7 |
Release Date | May 2018 | July 2018 | July 2018 |
Current Price | Around $70 | Around $60 | Around $110 |
LG K30, Moto E5 Play & Plus came at around the same time in mid-2018.
As K30 and Moto E5 Play are close competitors they fall in the same price bracket of $60-$80. However, E5 Plus retails for almost twice the price.
2. Body & Design – LG K30 vs Moto E5 Play vs E5 Plus
BODY & DESIGN | LG K30 | Moto E5 Play | Moto E5 Plus |
---|---|---|---|
Colors | Aurora Black | Gray | Mineral Blue |
Body Material | Metal & Plastic | Plastic | Plastic |
Dimensions | 5.85” x 2.95” x 0.34” (inches) | 5.9" x 2.91" x 0.35" (inches) | 6.37" x 2.96" x 0.37" (inches) |
Weight | 5.93 oz | 5.29 oz | 7.05 oz |
Removable Battery | ✖ | ✔ | ✖ |
Waterproof | ✖ | Water-Repellent Design | Splash Resistant |
The T-Mobile variant of LG K30, Moto E5 play & E5 plus comes in Aurora Black, Gray & Mineral Blue color respectively.
Only K30 uses metal in its construction. It has a metal back with a plastic frame. Moto E5 Play and Plus have a plastic body.
Even with its plastic body Moto E5 plus is the biggest and heaviest among the 3.
Among the 3, only Moto E5 Play has a removable battery
Neither of the phones is waterproof, but Moto E5 plus is resistant to splashes and E5 play has a water-repellent design. No such protection from water is taken care of in the case of LG K30.
3. Display – LG K30 vs Moto E5 Play vs E5 Plus
DISPLAY | LG K30 | Moto E5 Play | Moto E5 Plus |
---|---|---|---|
Screen Size | 5.3" (inch) | 5.2" | 6.0" |
Aspect Ratio | 16:9 | 16:9 | 18:9 |
Screen Resolution / Wallpaper Size | 1280 x 720 pixels | 1280 x 720 pixels | 1440 x 720 pixels |
Display Type / Technology | IPS LCD | TFT LCD | IPS LCD |
Gorilla Glas / Glass Screen Protection | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
Contoured /Curved Edge | ✔ | ✖ | ✔ |
Pixel Density | 277 ppi | 282 ppi | 268 ppi |
Moto E5 Plus has a huge 6-inch display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. Both K30 and Moto e5 play have the older 16:9 screen with a screen size of 5.3 & 5.2 inches respectively.
K30 has an IPS display while the Motorola phones have a TFT LCD display.
All 3 phones have HD resolution. Thus, the pixel density of Moto E5 plus is lowest due to the bigger screen size.
Out of the 3, only Moto E5 plus have a glass screen protection of Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
4. Hardware & Benchmark – LG K30 vs Moto E5 Play vs E5 Plus
HARDWARE & BENCHMARK | LG K30 | Moto E5 Play | Moto E5 Plus |
---|---|---|---|
Processor / CPU | 1.4 Ghz Quad-Core, Cortex A53 | 1.4 GHz Quad-Core, Cortex A53 | 1.4 GHz Octa-Core, Cortex A53 |
Chipset | 28nm, Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 MSM8917 | 28nm, Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 MSM8917 | 28nm, Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 MSM8940 |
GPU | Adreno 308 | Adreno 308 | Adreno 505 |
Antutu Benchmark Score | 38303 | 44256 | 58825 |
LG K30 and Moto E5 play use the same hardware (1.4 GHz Quad-core processor) with the same amount of RAM (2 GB). However, E5 plus has a much more powerful 1.4 GHz Octa-core CPU paired with 3GB of RAM.
You can check the antutu benchmark score of 3 phones in the table above. As expected, Moto E5 plus scores much higher than the rest of the 2.
5. Software – LG K30 vs Moto E5 Play vs E5 Plus
SOFTWARE | LG K30 | Moto E5 Play | Moto E5 Plus |
---|---|---|---|
Android Version | Android 8.1 Oreo | Android 8.0 Oreo | Android 8.0 Oreo |
Multi Window /Split Screen / | ✔ | ✖ | ✔ |
Mini View / One-Handed Mode / Swipe to Shrink Screen | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
The current firmware version of all 3 phones is Android Oreo. Its highly unlikely that any of these would get an Android Pie 9.0 update.
LG K30 Firmware Download & Update
LG K30 and Moto E5 plus support multitasking. We can split the screen into 2 and work on 2 apps simultaneously at the same time.
6. Camera – LG K30 vs Moto E5 Play vs E5 Plus
CAMERA | LG K30 | Moto E5 Play | Moto E5 Plus |
---|---|---|---|
REAR | |||
Image Resolution / Megapixels | 13 MP | 8 MP | 12 MP |
Autofocus | ✔ | ✔ | Laser Autofocus |
Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF) | ✔ | ✖ | ✔ |
Slow Motion | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
Video Stabilization | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
FRONT | |||
Image Resolution / Megapixels | 5 MP | 5 MP | 8 MP |
Selfie Flash | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
LG K30 (13MP) and Moto E5 Plus (12MP) have a better rear camera as compared to Moto E5 play (8MP).
The autofocus on Moto E5 Plus camera is the fastest as it uses Laser autofocus as well as PDAF. K30 has PDAF, while Moto E5 play camera comes with regular Autofocus.
Moto E5 Plus has a feature-rich rear camera with slow motion, manual mode & video stabilization. K30 lacks all these features while Moto E5 play supports slow-motion and manual mode.
The Front-mounted camera on both the Motorola phones has Selfie Flash which is missing on LG K30.
7. Connectivity & Storage – LG K30 vs Moto E5 Play vs E5 Plus
CONNECTIVITY & STORAGE | LG K30 | Moto E5 Play | Moto E5 Plus |
---|---|---|---|
Screen Mirroring / Miracast / Screen Share/ Smart View | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
Internal Memory / ROM | 32 GB (Up to 23.65 GB Usable) | 16 GB (Up to 8.64 GB) | 32 GB (Up to 26 GB Usable) |
RAM | 2 GB | 2 GB | 3 GB |
The internal storage capacity of LG K30 & Moto E5 Plus (32 GB) is twice that of Moto E5 Play (16GB).
There is no option to Cast Screen on LG K30. However, using Chromecast we can mirror it on a TV screen. In Motorola phones, there is an option to Cast Screen which when turned on can detect nearby compatible devices for Screen Mirroring.
8. Audio & Sensors – LG K30 vs Moto E5 Play vs E5 Plus
AUDIO & SENSORS | LG K30 | Moto E5 Play | Moto E5 Plus |
---|---|---|---|
Speaker Location | Back | Front-Ported Speaker | Front-Ported Speaker |
Surround Sound | DTS:X 3D Virtual Surround | ✖ | ✖ |
Number of Microphones | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Magnetometer / Digital Compass / e-Compass | ✔ | ✔ | ✖ |
The speaker quality on both the Motorola phones is better than LG K30, thanks to the front-mounted speaker which doubles as an earpiece. They also have 2 mics as opposed to one found in LG K30.
LG K30 offers DTS:X 3D virtual surround sound in headphone mode.
When talking about the sensors, it’s quite surprising that the costliest phone among the 3 i.e Moto E5 Plus lacks Magnetometer Sensor (Digital Compass) which is found in both K30 as well as Moto E5 Play.
9. Battery & Charging – LG K30 vs Moto E5 Play vs E5 Plus
BATTERY & CHARGING | LG K30 | Moto E5 Play | Moto E5 Plus |
---|---|---|---|
Battery Capacity | 2880 mAh | 2800 mAh | 5000 mAh |
Battery Life / Talk Time | Up to 13 hrs & 40 mins | Up to 24 hrs | Up to 36 hours |
Quick Charge / Fast Charging | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
The biggest USP of Moto E5 Plus is its 5000 MAh battery. Coupled with Fast Charging it can beat the flagships as well in Battery life.
The battery capacity of LG K30 and Moto E5 Play is near about the same but Moto E5 Play wins the race with Fast Charging support.
Double your LG K30 Battery Life via Dark Mode
10. Root Status – LG K30 vs Moto E5 Play vs E5 Plus
Root Status | LG K30 | Moto E5 Play | Moto E5 Plus |
---|---|---|---|
Can be Rooted | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
The Bootloader can be unlocked | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
Custom ROM availability | ✖ | Lineage OS, AOSP, Resurrection Remix, etc | Lineage OS, AOSP, Resurrection Remix, etc |
The predecessor to LG K30, K20 Plus was easily rootable. However, LG K30 bootloader cannot be unlocked, thus it cannot be rooted as of now.
Both Moto E5 Play & Plus can be rooted and there are a fair number of custom ROMs available to flash.
Similarities between LG K30, Moto E5 Play & E5 Plus
What they share in common | LG K30, Moto E5 Play & E5 Plus |
---|---|
BODY & DESIGN | K30, E5 & E5 Plus |
Memory Card Slot / Expandable Memory | ✔ |
NETWORK | K30, E5 & E5 Plus |
Sim Size/Type | Nano |
GSM/CDMA | GSM |
GSM Unlock Status | Locked |
Carrier | T-Mobile/MetroPCS |
Wifi Calling | ✔ |
VoLTE | ✔ |
SENSORS | K30, E5 & E5 Plus |
Accelerometer | ✔ |
Gyroscope/VR Compatibility | ✔ |
Fingerprint Sensor | ✔ |
Ambient Light Sensor | ✔ |
Proximity Sensor | ✔ |
CONNECTIVITY | K30, E5 & E5 Plus |
USB Port | Micro USB 2.0 |
USB OTG | ✔ |
Bluetooth | ✔ |
Wifi | ✔ |
Wifi Tethering / Hotspot | ✔ |
GPS | ✔ |
NFC / Android Pay / Android Beam | ✖ |
MHL / Slimport / HDMI Compatible | ✖ |
IR Blaster / TV Remote | ✖ |
CAMERA | K30, E5 & E5 Plus |
REAR | |
Flash | Single LED Flash |
Zoom | Up to 4x, Digital Zoom |
Video Resolution | 1080p @ 30 fps |
HDR | ✔ |
Manual Mode / Controls | ✔ |
Time Lapse | ✖ |
FRONT | |
Video | 1080p @ 30 fps |
AUDIO | K30, E5 & E5 Plus |
FM Radio | ✔ |
Headphone Jack | 3.5 mm jack |
ADDITIONAL FEATURES | K30, E5 & E5 Plus |
Notification LED Light | ✖ |
Handwriting Support / Stylus Pen Input | ✖ |
Wireless Charging / Qi-enabled | ✖ |
MEMORY / STORAGE | K30, E5 & E5 Plus |
Expandable Memory | ✔ |
Maximum SD card capacity/sd card size | up to 256 GB |
SOFTWARE | K30, E5 & E5 Plus |
Face Recognition / Smart Unlock | ✔ |
Flashlight | ✔ |
Google Assistant | ✔ |
The above table shows the common features which are found in LG K30, Moto E5 Play & E5 Plus. It also marks those features which are not found in either of these.
CONCLUSION
From the above comparison, we can conclude that Moto E5 Plus is much superior in hardware as well as features when compared to K30 and Moto E5 Play.
LG K30 is ahead of Moto E5 Play in these fields –
- Metal back gives more premium feel
- IPS Display
- Split Screen / Multi-Window support for Multitasking
- 13MP vs 8MP Rear Camera
- Phase Detection Auto Focus
- 32GB vs 16GB Internal Storage Capacity
- 3D Virtual Surround Sound via headphone
Moto E5 Play is ahead of K30 in these areas –
- Cheaper
- Lighter (5.93 v 5.29 oz)
- Water-Repellent Design
- One-Handed Mode / Swipe to shrink Screen
- Supports Manual Mode & Slow Motion in Rear Camera
- Selfie Flash
- Screen Mirroring / Miracast Support by default
- Front-Ported Speaker
- 2 Microphones
- Fast Charging Support
- Can be Rooted
You may also like to check out the below comparisons –
LG K30 vs K40 vs Aristo 4 vs Stylo 4 – Antutu Test
LG K30 vs Samsung J7 Star vs J7 Prime