For the last few years, the Moto G phones have been our budget pick: They packed the best features for the price into a cheerful handset we liked using. Now, Lenovo's Moto brand is ready to push the limits even further with this year's Moto G5 and G5 Plus.

The biggest upgrades are a metal body and refreshed specs -- it looks and feels pretty luxe for a handset that will sell for under $300 and £260.

The G5 Plus is splash-proof, with rounded edges and a fingerprint sensor. In most markets the phone will also have NFC for mobile payments. No NFC for the US though, which is a huge bummer. There are some nice software perks and gestures on here. The fingerprint sensor underneath the display still isn't a home button by default, and that frustrates us because we're conditioned to press anything resembling a button.

However, if you flip on one-button navigation mode, you can suddenly swipe the fingerprint reader to navigate around. For example, left takes you back, double tapping will switch apps and you can swipe right for recent apps. A long press activates Google Now. You can tap twice to lock the device.

And yes, tapping sensor in this mode does take you home. If navigating this way drives you nuts, you can always bring back the typical Android screen controls.

New to the G5 series, you'll see notifications on the lock screen and you can launch the camera by pressing the Power button twice (the option's there in Settings).

Size-wise, the G5 Plus is a bit taller than the G5 with a slightly larger screen (0.2 inches, to be exact). It also has a bigger battery and a 64GB storage capacity that'll be available in some markets.

Lenovo's Moto G5 and G5 Plus will sell globally starting this spring, for $229, £259 (32GB) and $299 (64GB). Australian details weren't announced, but the UK price converts to AU$420. The Huawei Honor 6X, which also has a dual camera and metal build, will be a major rival.

Moto G5 Plus specs

• 5.2-inch 1,920x1080-pixel display
• 12-megapixel dual camera (Lenovo claims 60 percent faster autofocus for better low-light photos)
• 5-megapixel wide-angle front camera with auto-HDR
• 2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor (with TurboCharging)
• 2GB, 3GB or 4GB RAM depending on region
• 16GB, 32GB or 64 GB storage (varies by region)
• Up to 128GB microSD storage
• 3,000mAh battery
• Micro-USB charger port
• Dual-SIM support
• Splash-proof coating
• Android 7.0 software
• Fingerprint sensor with NFC support (varies by region)

Check out all the news from Mobile World Congress 2017 here.