Moto G8 Power and G8 Power Lite, hands on: Two long-lasting and affordable handsets, but the G8 Power wins out

Motorola’s cost-effective Moto G8 smartphone household has 4 customers: Moto G8 Moreover (£219.ninety nine inc. VAT from a third-bash vendor at the time of creating), G8 Electrical power (£219.ninety nine), G8 (£179.ninety nine) and G8 Electrical power Lite (£149.ninety nine).

Just about every of these handsets has distinctive specifications, and although the concept is to give a great deal of decision, it can all appear a little bit complicated. To insert to the confusion, the Moto G8 series is not available in the US, although there are successors to the G7 series in the form of the Moto G Electrical power ($249.ninety nine), Moto G Stylus and Moto G Rapidly ($199.ninety nine). All very clear?

Listed here we take a look at the price range Moto G8 Electrical power Lite and the greater-conclude Moto G8 Electrical power. Formerly we have evaluated the Moto G8 Moreover and the Moto G8. 

This is how the core specifications compare:

The speedy points of comparison are the Android variations, digicam setup, processor and display. 

The discrepancies between Android 9 and ten are well documented, but for those people who want the quite most recent Android version, evidently it is the Moto G8 Electrical power that wins out. Both of those handsets have Motorola’s gesture controls that enable you do a karate chop motion with the telephone to turn on the flashlight, for illustration, or twist the handset in your wrist to open up the digicam app.

On the processor front, the G8 Electrical power Lite, as the name indicates, is the a lot less able solution. I ran the Geekbench 5 CPU check on both handsets, with the subsequent success:

None of these scores are hugely impressive — flagship Android handsets rating around 800 (one core) and 3000 (multi-core), for illustration — and it is worthy of noting that I experienced to hold out for both handsets to act on display taps at instances. Nonetheless, the G8 Electrical power Lite was in some cases interminably slow to react, and far from at its best when resolving website webpages. Absence of responsiveness is a cardinal sin in any handset, so the G8 Electrical power Lite requirements to stand out elsewhere to make a compelling scenario for obtain.

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RAM and interior storage are the exact throughout the two designs (4GB/64GB), but if you want to enhance the storage then it is worthy of noting that the G8 Electrical power involves you to sacrifice the 2nd SIM slot in buy to use a MicroSD card. By distinction, the G8 Electrical power Lite lets you have two SIMs and a MicroSD card at the exact time.

The handsets have a little bit distinctive display sizes, and quite distinctive pixel counts. The G8 Electrical power surely wins right here: its display is practically imperceptibly more compact than G8 Electrical power Lite’s (6.four versus 6.5 inches), but the resolution change — two,300 x one,080 (399ppi) in the G8 Electrical power and one,600 x 720 (269ppi) in the G8 Electrical power Lite — is a little something you can recognize just about every day. The G8 Electrical power Lite’s average resolution does not improve online video viewing, text reading or website web page browsing I also felt the G8 Electrical power Lite lacked brightness, to the extent that it grew to become tricky to read outdoor in shiny sunlight.

You will find also a larger sized bottom bezel on the G8 Electrical power Lite, although the front digicam is in a slash-out on the still left aspect on the G8 Electrical power and a modest central teardrop on the G8 Electrical power Lite. The bezel change, together with the a little bit larger sized 6.5-inch display size, suggests that the G8 Electrical power Lite is practically a centimetre taller than the G8 Electrical power, with a display-to-physique ratio of eighty two.two% as opposed to eighty five.one% for the 6.four-inch G8 Electrical power.

There are big discrepancies in the two phones’ digicam setups. For selfies, you get just 8MP resolution on the G8 Electrical power Lite, with 16MP available on the G8 Electrical power. Both of those front cameras are sufficient for the odd photo right here and there, but neither is just foremost edge.

The much more cost-effective G8 Electrical power Lite has a few cameras at the back again — 16MP wide angle, 2MP macro and 2MP depth-sensing. This setup is able sufficient as very long as you you should not try to choose pictures in low light-weight conditions, and I uncovered the macro digicam somewhat entertaining.

The G8 Electrical power has 4 rear cameras — 16MP wide angle, 8MP telephoto (with 2x optical zoom), 2MP macro (2cm focus length), 8MP ultra-wide (118˚) and 8MP telephoto (2x optical zoom). The ultra-wide lens provides to the range of shots available, and although low-light-weight functionality nevertheless isn’t really excellent, it is if not a great all-round performer.

Both of those handsets are powered by a 5,000mAh battery, with the G8 Electrical power supporting quickly charging (18W) and the G8 Electrical power Lite presenting 10W rapid charging. 5,000mAh is big for a handset battery, and both Moto G8 designs turned in great benchmarks, functioning for two days of mainstream use on a full demand. It is really worthy of noting that the G8 Electrical power Lite expenses by using a legacy Micro-USB connector, although the G8 Electrical power is up to date with a USB-C port.

Even with their very similar names and big-capability batteries, there are much more discrepancies than similarities between these two telephones. The much more cost-effective handset does not normally appear off worse — if you will need two SIMs and MicroSD enlargement, then look to the £149.ninety nine G8 Electrical power Lite. But the Lite model’s display is disappointing and the processor is underpowered, and it is significantly larger sized and much more unwieldy. So if your price range stretches the added £70, we advocate the £219.ninety nine Moto G8 Electrical power.

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