The Motorola Moto G8 Power is an affordable Android smartphone with complete hardware and a huge battery. On paper, the price-quality ratio is excellent, but what about in practice? You can read it in this extensive Motorola Moto G8 Power review.
Motorola Moto G8 Power
MSRP € 229,-Colors black and blue
OS Android 10
Screen 6.4 inch LCD (2300 x 1080)
Processor 2GHz octa-core (Snapdragon 665)
RAM 4GB
Storage 64GB (expandable)
Battery 5,000 mAh
Camera 16, 8, 8 and 2 megapixels (rear), 16 megapixels (front)
Connectivity 4G (LTE), Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, GPS,
Format 15.6 x 7.5 x 0.96 cm
Weight 197 grams
Other Headphone port, water resistant
Website www.motorola.com/nl 8.5 Score 85
- Pros
- Clean Android Software
- Versatile cameras
- Smooth performance
- Excellent battery life
- Negatives
- Update policy could be better
- No 5GHz WiFi
- No nfc chip
Motorola has been known for years for its affordable smartphones with a generally good price-quality ratio. Last year the new Moto G8 series appeared, with the Moto G8 Plus as the first model (269 euros). You can read my Moto G8 Plus review here. Recently, the Moto G8 Power is also for sale for a suggested retail price of 230 euros. This device has, among other things, a changed camera setup, a much larger battery and therefore a lower price. I've been testing the phone for the past few weeks.
Design
When I took the Moto G8 Power out of the box, I didn't feel like I was holding a £230 smartphone in my hands. The device looks modern and luxurious because the screen almost fills the entire front and the edges are very narrow. The back shows a pattern, contains a quad camera and feels sturdy. The smartphone is well finished, lies comfortably in the hand and has an accurate and fast fingerprint scanner in the Motorola logo on the back.
The main disadvantage of the plastic back is that it attracts fingerprints and dust. I suspect that the material also scratches relatively quickly. After my two-week test period, the smartphone still looks like new, but I also used it carefully and did not put it in a pocket with my keys.
It is nice that the Moto G8 Power has a water-repellent housing and therefore does not have to break due to a rain shower. The device has a USB-C connection and a 3.5mm port to connect your wired headphones.
Motorola sells the smartphone in the colors black and blue. I tested the black version.
Moto G8 Power screen
The screen of the Moto G8 Power measures 6.4 inches, which is an average size for a smartphone in 2020. The relatively large screen is characterized by a small hole in the top left corner. The selfie camera is located in this hole. Last year's Motorola One Vision also has a camera hole, but it's so big that it stood out and got in the way with some apps. The hole of the Moto G8 Power is considerably smaller and did not disturb me for a moment.
The screen quality is also fine, especially for such an affordable smartphone. The screen looks sharp due to the full-HD resolution and the LCD panel shows beautiful colors. The maximum brightness is high enough to view the screen outside, with a March sun above my head, without any problems.
In this price segment you can also buy a smartphone with an OLED screen. Such a display offers an even nicer image and is slightly more energy-efficient. Samsung, among others, sells such devices. Motorola would – at least with me – score points by putting an OLED screen in the Moto G9 Power.
Hardware
To make an affordable smartphone, a manufacturer has to make concessions. That is no different with the Moto G8 Power. For example, the device lacks an NFC chip, so you cannot pay contactless in stores with this phone. 5GHz WiFi is also not supported. The Moto G8 Power can only connect to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network, which is a shame because 5GHz Wi-Fi is more stable and faster.
Fortunately, Motorola has not cut corners on the most crucial parts. For example, the working memory with 4GB is nice and large, the Snapdragon 665 processor runs smoothly and the smartphone has a large 64GB storage memory. You can expand this with a micro SD card. The Moto G8 Power also supports dual SIM, or two SIM cards.
An important nuance: although the phone is fast enough, you occasionally experience stuttering. For example, if you switch between the camera and a game. Heavy games run fine, but are usually not playable on the highest settings. Considering the price of the smartphone, you can't complain about this.
Divine battery life and smooth charging
The main selling point of the Moto G8 Power is its 5000 mAh battery. Such a large battery is rare, especially in an affordable phone. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, for example, also has a 5000 mAh battery, but that's because the smartphone has a huge 6.9-inch high-resolution screen and powerful hardware.
Thanks to its very large battery, the Motorola Moto G8 Power lasts a lot longer than other smartphones. During my test period, I was unable to drain the battery in two days. I didn't manage to use it for a third full day either, but those who take it slower will have no problem with it.
The 18W plug that Motorola puts in the box charges the battery in a few hours. In view of the large battery, that's fine. Thanks to the excellent battery life, I did not feel the need to quickly connect the smartphone to the charger during the test period because I needed extra power. I just charged the device once in the evening when I went to bed and was able to go on for days afterwards.
The Motorola Moto G8 Power can't charge wirelessly, which I think is a logical cutback given the retail price.
Four cameras on the back
In the camera hole in the display is a 16 megapixel camera for selfies and video calls. The photo and video quality is fine and in line with competing smartphones. It's amazing that such a barely visible camera can take 'just good' photos. Video calling may take some getting used to because the camera is not in the middle but in an angle, which you notice when you hold the phone horizontally.
More interesting is the camera setup on the back. Motorola puts no less than four cameras in the Moto G8 Power. It concerns a normal primary camera, a wide-angle lens, a macro lens and a telephoto lens with resolutions of 16, 8, 2 and 8 megapixels. Such a camera combination can be found on more affordable smartphones and is a welcome innovation, because four cameras can do more than one. In this area, the Moto G8 Power has an edge over devices with fewer cameras.
On paper, then, because more cameras do not immediately equal better photos. I also noticed that in practice. The Moto G8 Power usually shoots great pictures, but is not the best camera smartphone in its price range. For example, the dynamic range is somewhat disappointing. On a cloudy day with a watery sun, the camera regularly goes wrong by capturing the sky too white. In the evening, the camera has trouble with the darkness and pictures show a relatively large amount of noise and faded colors.
The wide-angle lens, which has a wider field of view and therefore takes a wider photo, works properly but is less good than the wide-angle lens on an expensive smartphone. People can be stretched in photos and the edges of the picture are curved and less sharp. Expensive phones are less affected by this thanks to a better camera and refined software.
The macro lens on the Moto G8 Power allows you to shoot objects from a few centimeters away. A great feature if you like to capture (pets) animals, flowers or other objects up close. Although the macro lens is very usable, colors appear different than in real life. The macro photos look faded, which can make a beautiful flower look almost dead.
Below three normal photos, followed by three macro photos.
Finally, the telephoto lens. According to Motorola, it offers twice the zoom without loss of quality. This works nicely. A photo taken twice closer looks fine. Keep in mind the lower resolution (8 megapixels), which is enough for social media but not for a larger canvas. In addition, the zoom performance in the evening is less than during the day, which is because the telephoto lens captures less light and therefore makes a less clear photo.
Striking: on my Moto G8 Power, the camera app regularly freezes when I switch from the normal camera to the wide-angle or telephoto lens. Very clumsy. I have asked Motorola for an explanation and will update this article when I get an answer.
Motorola Moto G8 Power software
Motorola supplies the Moto G8 Power with Android 10, the latest available Android version at the time of publication. Google will probably release Android 11 in the summer. A Moto G phone can usually count on one major update, in this case 11. Looking at Motorola's update policy in recent years, it is unlikely that the Moto G8 Power will be eligible for Android 12 next. That would be a shame, because some competing smartphones do get two Android updates.
The Moto G8 Power will be updated quarterly for the next two years with an Android security update. That is common for a smartphone in this price segment. A small part of the affordable devices receive an update every month and are therefore safer than a device that only gets the same update months later.
If you want two years of software support and three years of monthly security updates, it's best to buy an Android One phone. Motorola also sells Android One devices.
Although the Moto G8 Power is not one of them, the smartphone offers almost the same software experience. Motorola hardly adjusts the Android 10 software, so you use the operating system as Google has in mind. Motorola's changes have been the same for years and still appeal to me. For example, you can quickly start the flashlight and camera by shaking and rotating the phone and it shows the time in standby mode if you hold your hand above the screen.
Conclusion: Buy Motorola Moto G8 Power?
The Motorola Moto G8 Power is an affordable smartphone that offers a remarkable amount of value for money. From a good and almost front-filling screen and solid hardware to versatile cameras and of course that battery life of two to three days. Motorola's software is also pleasant to use, although the update policy could be better. The lack of an NFC chip and 5GHz WiFi are other downsides of the device. But still, for a suggested retail price of 230 euros you buy a reliable smartphone that can in principle last for years and that is a nice thought.
