If you buy quickly, Verizon will both waive its $10 extra charge for 5G (if you're on an Above Unlimited or Beyond Unlimited plan) and as much as $650 off the device price if you both switch and trade in a handset.

This is the most affordable 5G-native phone on Verizon when Samsung's Galaxy S10 5G starts at $1,300 ($54 per month). It's also not as ambitious with a smaller, more conventional screen, but it beats having to choose between a giant, particularly expensive flagship and a mid-range Motorola phone that needs a mod to connect to 5G.

As with any early 5G phone, you're really buying this for bragging rights. Verizon's 5G coverage is still limited to parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, and it's mainly effective outdoors. It will take a while before coverage is more readily available (only 30 markets by the end of 2019), and future phones are more likely to have improved battery life and performance. Still, it's baby steps like this that will help make 5G a practical reality.