38 JULY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE389
MOTOROLACONTINUESTOstagger the
releases ofits new MotoG8family,thistime
with the MotoG8Power.The MotoG7Power
(Shopper376) was the best of the bunch last
time round, and this year’s updateonce again
includes ahuge5,000mAh battery to
prioritise longevity.
However,the MotoG8Power also goes for
aslightlymore mid-range set of overall specs,
including a1080p display, abig CPU jump
from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 to the
665, and aprice rise to £220. It could still be a
great phone –just not abudgetchampion like
the previous generation.
It’s also worth noting that the huge battery
comes at the cost of slimness: at 9.6mmthick,
the MotoG8Power feels abit chunkier than
most modern smartphones, and the same
goes forits 197g weight. Despitethis heft,
however,it’s rather stylish, with extremely
thin bezels and apinhole front-facing camera
instead of anotch.
Build quality could be better; the curved
edge of the backplateconnects awkwardly
with the body of the phone,meaning you can
feel asharp overlap if you run your fingers
over it –but there are quiteafewnicetiesto
make up forit. That backplatefeatures a
fingerprint reader,for example,and both a
3.5mm headphone jack and acombined
microSD/dual SIM slot are included, instead
of being leftout as on so many phones.
DUEAN UPGRADE
The MotoG8Power has a6.4in IPS LCD
screen with aresolution of 2,300x1,080, a
major upgrade on the 720p MotoG7
Power forsharpness.
Unfortunately,our tests
found it to be slightly
weaker on colour
performance than both
its predecessor and the
recent MotoG8Plus
(Shopper385).
With an sRGB gamut
coverage of 81.2%the G8
Power’s screen is good,
but not quiteasvibrant
as the MotoG7Power,
which managed 90%.
It is, however,better
illuminated, with a
maximum brightness of
525cd/m^2 ,and the
contrast ratio of 1,582:1
is decent, too.
MOTOROLA MotoG8Power
★★★★★
£220•From http://www.carphonewarehouse.com
VERDICT
An affordable phone that goes on and on, though
it’s not the game-changer its predecessor was
ANDROID 10 SMARTPHONE
In terms ofcore specs,
the MotoG8Power is
identical to the MotoG8
Plus, with both coming with
the Qualcomm Snapdragon
665 processor paired with
4GB of RAM. As such, it
shouldn’t come as any
surprise that performance
is basically identical.
Scoring 1,505 in Geekbench
4’s single-core test and
5,490 in the multicore test,
the MotoG8Power also
provides asufficient
performance upgrade on
the MotoG7Power,
especially formultitasking.
The Snapdragon 665
also ensures the MotoG8
Power keeps up on gaming performance.
It produced 18fps in the GFXBench
Manhattan onscreen test and 19fps in the
offscreentest; its predecessor scored 20fps
onscreen but only 11fps offscreen, so the
effects of the MotoG8Power’s higher,
more demanding screen resolution are
cancelled out by astronger GPU.
Against non-Motorola competition, the
MotoG8Power is on equal terms with the
Honor 9X (Shopper386) and Xiaomi’s Redmi
Note8T(Shopper387), so it at least matches
the kind of power you should expect forthe
moneyeven if it doesn’t drastically surpass it.
STAYING POWER
Conversely,its battery lifeis, again, abig
standout.Running for
22h 27m in our standard
battery test, you should
easily get acouple of day’s
normal use out of the
MotoG8Power,and
although the MotoG7Play
managed in excess of 26
hours –that resolution
change comes intoplay
again –this is still one of
the longest-lasting Android
handsets on the market.
The MotoG8Power
also takes the number of
rear camera sensors from
one to four.Besides the
16-megapixel main lens,
this includes an
8-megapixel telephoto
lens with 2x zoom
magnification, an
8-megapixel ultrawide
sensor and a2-megapixel
macro camera.
Surprisingly,however,
this completeoverhaul
doesn’t always produce
much better-looking photos
than the MotoG7Power.
In outdoor shots, the main
visible difference is that the
MotoG8Power’s shots are
brighter –somuch brighter,
in fact, that the automatic
exposure makes everything
look really washed out.
Despitethis, it picks up
plenty of detail and is
generally agoodpicture,but
arguably no better than its predecessor.
In low-light shots the MotoG7Power also
turns out to be better,again because the
newer model washes out details that are
already smeary from the lack of natural light.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
At least the MotoG8Power’s other sensors
give it some much-needed advantages over
the MotoG7Power’s single camera. A2x
telephotolens at this price is very good value
indeed, and the macro sensor does adecent
job at snapping extreme close-ups.
Even with the price hike,the Motorola
MotoG8Power is agoodphone overall.
However,itdoesn’tfollow last year’s model
in undercutting the competition, and this
opens it up to attack: the Xiaomi Redmi
Note8T, forinstance,is£50 cheaper and
performs just as well in most areas. It has
poorer battery life, andmisses the telephoto
lens (but still has four others to choose from),
but it’s probably abetter buy overall.
AlanMartin
Battery life
0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100
See page 100for performancedetails
PROCESSOROcta-core2GHzQualcomm Snapdragon 665•
SCREEN SIZE6.4in•SCREEN RESOLUTION2,300x1,080•
REAR CAMERAS16 megapixels, 8megapixels, 8megapixels,
2megapixels•STORAGE64GB•WIRELESS DATA4G•
NFCNo•DIMENSIONS158x76x9.6mm•WEIGHT197g•
OPERATING SYSTEMAndroid 10•WARRANTYOneyearRTB
- DETAILSwww.lenovo.com•PART CODEXT2041
SPECIFICATIONS
22h27m
