48 MARCH2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE385
ODDLY,THERE’SNOMotoG8toaccompany
this MotoG8Plus; Motorola has taken the
unusual step oflaunching aplus-sized version
ofasmartphone that doesn’t yet exist.
Still, there’s reason tobeinterested. The
Motoseries has been arguably the best
single family of budget smartphones for
years, and the MotoG8Plus updates
things with aQualcomm Snapdragon 665
processor and redesigned camera setup
centred around a48-megapixel sensor.
The 6.3in screen dominates the front, with
reasonably thin bezels all the wayaround.
There are no sharp angles to speak of,and
this continues on to the rear,which gently
curves to meet asmooth polycarbonateback
that feels extremely comfortable to hold.
The only design misfire is how the rear
camera is laid out. It’s split intotwo sections:
the lower section contains two cameras, the
flash and the laser autofocus sensor,and this
is crowned with aseparatesingle, circular lens
that sits in the very top-leftcorner.It’s a
strange look and, with the circular Motologo
fingerprint reader in the middle,makes it all
look weirdly lopsided.
Still, that’s aminor thing, and farless
important than the other little extras
Motorola has included. There’s a3.5mm
headphone jack, which is
great to see,and it
supports microSD cards of
up to 512GB to augment
the 64GB of built-in
storage.It’s only
splashproofrather than
waterproof, but the
essentials are there.
GLARETACTICS
The MotoG8Plus has a
large 6.3in, 19:9 aspect-
ratio display, runningat
2,280x1,080. It’s only IPS,
not AMOLED,but it’s a
good screen all things
considered. In the Natural
profile,itcovers 88.5% of
the sRGB gamut, and
although the 935:1
contrast ratio is nothing
special, the peak
brightness of 605cd/m^2 is
very high indeed. You
won’t have any problems
reading the screen even on
the sunniest of days.
MOTOROLA MotoG8Plus
★★★★★
£240•From http://www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
The very first MotoG8model is big and
bright, with aheavily upgraded camera
ANDROID9.0SMARTPHONE
The Snapdragooon
645, meanwhile,isssan
octa-core processssor
with cores split evvvenly
between 2GHz and
1.8GHz. It’s backedby
4GB of RAM and 64GB
of internal storageee,
and makes the Moto
G8 Plus feel suitably
slick in normal use.
There’s been amooodest
performance boost
over the MotoG 777 Plus,
judging by thenewww
model’s Geekbenccch4
scores: 1,531 in the
single-core test an
5,639 in the multicoretttestttare
both decently up on the preceding
handset’s respective 1,326 and 4,869.
It should be noted, however,thatthe
Pocophone F1 (Shopper373) only costs £230
and absolutely destroys both Motophones,
having scored 2,454 and 8,427 in the same
tests. It’s also by thefar the best budget
gaming option, with 59fps in the GFXBench
Manhattan onscreen test; the MotoG8Plus
scored 19fps, so it will run basic games well,
but can’t competewiththe
F1 on challenging 3D games.
The MotoG8Plus’s
4,000mAh battery propels
it to awinning result in
our video rundown test,
however.With afinalresult
of 17h 55m, it outlasts the
G7 Plus by about seven-
and-a-half hours, and the
Pocophone F1 by just under
two-and-a-half hours.
DRASTICACTION
The biggest upgrade of
all is that rear camera.
First, aquick recap of
what it offers: there are
three lenses on the back,
only two of whichare for
stills: a48-megapixel
main snapper,which is
supported by a2-megapixel
depth sensor forarty
bokeh shots. There’s also
an 8-megapixel ultrawide
sensor,but this is just
used forvideo.
In our initial
oooutdoor shots, we
wwwere surprised that
ttthe MotoG8Plus was
ooonly slightly improved
- ––brightness is up,
wwwhile the level of
dddetail is about the
sssame –but the new
mmmodel’s larger
aaaperture really
cccomes intoits own
fffor low-light indoor
ppphotography.Not only
aaare the G8 Plus’s
ppphotos sharper,with
leeess noise,but colour
accuracy is better too.
Interms ofvideo,ttthhheMotoG8Plus offers
plenty of options, but not all of them are
hugely practical. Its main party trick –and it’s
agood one –isthe action cam mode,which
lets you shoot landscape videos while holding
the phone in portrait mode.
This mode is available in either HD or Full
HD at 30fps or Full HD at 60fps. Why the
breakdown? Because if you go for60fps, you
lose image stabilisation, and the resulting
footage is essentially unusable unless you pop
your phone on atripod or use agimbal.
GREATG8MATE
If you record video in landscape mode,4Kis
unlocked as an option, but as this mode also
lacks stabilisation it’s not video you’d
especially want to show anyone.Which is a
pity,asthe footageisnicely detailed when
it’s not twitching about.
In all, the MotoG8Plus is another fine
addition to the MotoGseries. There’sstiff
competition from the PocophoneF1, but
Motorola’s handset is good looking, pretty
nippyand very adept at taking photos.
AlanMartin
Battery life
0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100
Seepage98for performancedetails
PROCESSOROcta-core2GHzQualcomm Snapdragon 665•
SCREEN SIZE6.3in•SCREEN RESOLUTION2,280x1,080•
REAR CAMERAS48 megapixels, 2megapixels, 8megapixels•
STORAGE64GB•WIRELESS DATA4G•NFCYes•
DIMENSIONS158x76x9.1mm•WEIGHT188g•OPERATING
SYSTEMAndroid 9.0•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•
DETAILSwww.lenovo.com•PART CODEPAGE0000GB
SPECIFICATIONS
17h55m
