Budget phones are a tricky thing to do for smartphone manufacturers. In one hand, there has to be enough bells and whistles to draw attention while on the other, the end-product has to be light for both the customer and the company. In the last few years, Xiaomi and Realme have dominated the sub-Rs 10,000 segment with multiple options but with recent increase in prices, most of the good options have soared past the Rs 10,000 mark.
This is where Motorola found an opportunity with its Moto G8 Power Lite. Keeping aside its mouthful name, this is a phone ticks the basic necessities on paper and yet, does not cost a bomb. In fact, in a pandemic-induced economic slowdown era, the Moto G8 Power Lite at Rs 8,999 makes for a sensible choice to go along with business for budget smartphone buyers.
That said, the Moto G8 Power Lite isn’t alone as you also have an option to consider the Realme Narzo 10A. How does the G8 Power Lite fare as a budget smartphone then?
Design and build
Gone are the days when sub-Rs 10,000 phones flaunted shiny new metal bodies. Glass isn’t an option in this segment and hence, phone designers have to rely on plastic bodies to keep costs low. Plastic, however, makes for interesting design and the Moto G8 Power Lite is a fine example of that.
Motorola has gone for the trendy new matte finish on the Moto G8 Power Lite and it makes the phone attractive. The matte finish makes the rear visually smudge-free and gives the confidence to carry the phone without a case. The confidence is also partly due to the 20:9 aspect ratio display, which makes for a tall and slim body. That said, Motorola bundles a plastic case and a screen guard in the box.
But that’s not all. Motorola’s attention to detail is visible with the design of the camera hump. The layout is similar to the Moto G8 Plus but the camera humps stand out, giving a 3D vibe to the flat design. That along with the capacitive fingerprint sensor masked by the Motorola logo makes the Moto G8 Power Lite one of the most striking looking smartphones in its segment. Especially, in the Arctic Blue colour, the G8 Power Lite is an attention magnet.
The loudspeaker is at the back instead of on the sides, which makes for muffled sounds when the phone is kept on its back. The edges hold the buttons which are tactile and satisfying to click. What’s not satisfying though is the presence of a micro USB port, which brings back the hassles of aligning your charging cable right at all the times.
At the front, the Moto G8 Power Lite has a fairly modern design with a big 6.5-inch display having a waterdrop notch on the top. The bottom chin is thick but that’s the case with all other phones in this segment. Did I mention that this is one of the very few phones in the market to feature a LED notification light stuffed in its top-bezel?
Two things that caught my attention were weight and water repellency. Despite having a 5000mah battery, the weight distribution on the Moto G8 Power Lite is well balanced. Also, if you take it out during the rains, the phone shouldn’t die as it has a water-repellant coating.
On the whole, the Moto G8 Power Lite is definitely a well-designed phone with a good build quality. It certainly looks more interesting than the Realme Narzo 10A and the Redmi 8.
Display
The Moto G8 Power Lite gets a standard 6.5-inch display with narrow bezels to the sides. This is a standard IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 720p, which is on par with what you get from all other phones at this price. 720p resolution isn’t exactly the sharpest on a 6.5-inch display but it feels stupid to complain after considering the price. For most regular tasks, you won’t feel the lower resolution unless you pixel peep.
What impressed me more was the quality of the display. This is a bright and vibrant screen. Watching YouTube videos and scrolling through photos or webpages is a nice experience on the whole. There’s some light bleeding from the edges while on dark backgrounds but that does affect the viewing experience in general. For a budget phone user, this display is more than enough for basic tasks and entertainment.
Performance
If you consider on-paper specifications, the Moto G8 Power Lite falls right in between the Redmi 8 and Realme Narzo 10A in terms of hardware capability. There’s a MediaTek Helio P35 chipset, which is not exactly a fast chip by 2020 standards. It falls behind the Narzo 10A’s Helio G70 but is superior to the Redmi 8’s Snapdragon 439. Hence, you cannot expect good gaming performance from demanding titles.
That said, Motorola has balanced it out elsewhere. You get 4GB RAM as standard and there’s 64GB of onboard storage, which is expandable to 256GB via a micro SD card. Adding to the list is a bone stock version of Android 9 Pie. It is sad not to see Android 10 at launch but after reaching out to Motorola, I was told that the Android 10 update is coming by September.
You get an idea that the Moto G8 Power Lite isn’t exactly a powerhouse but it has enough to keep you going for daily tasks without issues. During my usage, the Moto G8 Power Lite flew through everyday tasks with ease. Switching between a couple of basic tasks such as WhatsApp, Gmail and Messages was no brainer for the phone. Social media apps ran well, except for Twitter (the app isn’t well optimised for Android phones). There were a few noticeable jitters and slowdowns at times while posting photos or opening a few apps but none of them led to app crashes.
The Moto G8 Power Lite can also do a fair amount of gaming, provided that you stick to casual games and not run PUBG MOBILE on it. Motorola’s version of Android 9 Pie is clean and devoid of any bloat or system ads -- a welcome change from the ad-infested gaudy interfaces seen on other Chinese smartphones. With the exception of Facebook, there are no pre-loaded third-party apps.
You get a clean Android experience out of the box and the optimisations made by Motorola ensure it keeps running as intended. Motorola also bakes in its Moto Experiences features that make it easier to use the phone daily. Stock Android fans have a good reason to consider the Moto G8 Power Lite.
The single loudspeaker is good enough for basic YouTube watching listening to voice notes. That said, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack at disposal which is advisable for a better experience.
Cameras
High-resolution 48-megapixel camera sensors have not reached the sub-Rs 10,000 segment yet, which is why you have to be content with older sensors. On the Moto G8 Power Lite, there’s a 16-megapixel main camera with a F2.0 lens. This is accompanied by a 2-megapixel macro camera and another 2-megapixel depth camera. The front camera uses an 8-megapixel sensor.
These are not state-of-the-art cameras and hence, expectations need to be dialled down. Even in the viewfinder, you won’t like what you see. However, it is a different story once you click the photo.
Motorola has worked on its image processing algorithms nicely and it makes for good looking photos in daylight and cloudy situations. The photos look vibrant with near-natural colours and if you turn on the HDR, colours are boosted to allow for a wider dynamic range. The photos don’t have as much details as a 48-megapixel sensor but till the time you are not zooming in, there’s not much to differentiate. These are photos that you can use on social media without much editing.
The photos also have a nice balance in exposures and most of the time, it feels like the image processing comes for an expensive phone. There are occasional focus hunting issues and in challenging low light conditions, grains start creeping up slightly while the details are lost further. However, for an average consumer, the Moto G8 Power Lite’s main camera is more than enough to take decent photos.
IMAGE SAMPLES
The macro camera is good for shooting close up photos in daylight but try to avoid using it in poor lighting. The depth camera does its job nicely and in portrait mode photos, the subject separation is good. The front camera is decent too as selfies come out looking colourful and clear. Photos aren’t quite sharp and the beauty modes try to smudge out the skin and hair.
In terms of video, the Moto G8 Power Lite can shoot in 1080p up to 30fps. The video quality is decent but the lack of stabilisation does make for shaky videos.
Battery
This is the hero feature of the Moto G8 Power Lite. Motorola has plonked a 5000mAh battery in this phone and that makes it a difficult to phone to kill in a single day. Coupled with a power-efficient chipset and a low-resolution display, the Moto G8 Power Lite is easily a two-day phone, even with moderate usage. When used as a secondary phone without messaging apps, battery life goes beyond it. It feels so nice to not charge your phone so often.
Charging such a big battery is a pain and with the supplied 10W charger, it takes close to two hours to fill up. The presence of a micro USB port forced me to learn the alignment of the charging cable in dark rooms and I wish Motorola could have pushed for a USB-C port, given that all other phones in this segment have the Type-C port.
Conclusion
Is the Motorola Moto G8 Power Lite a worthy buy for Rs 8,999? Based on my usage and experience, it surely is. Motorola has done a couple of things right, including the display quality, battery life, a clean Android experience and a nice camera setup (main camera). Additionally, it looks great. There are some drawbacks too, especially when you consider the older Helio P35 chip, an outdated Android version, an average front camera and micro USB port. As a consumer, it completely depends upon you whether the combination of these pros and cons make sense.
Personally, I like the Moto G8 Power Lite. Compared to the Redmi 8 and Realme Narzo 10A, it brings a fresh perspective to this segment. It has got all the necessities right for someone who wants a dependable smartphone without burning the wallet.
For someone looking to buy a good sub-Rs 10,000 smartphone, the Moto G8 Power Lite joins the Realme Narzo 10A as our top recommendation.
Motorola Moto G8 Power Lite review
Pros
- Attractive design
- Long battery life
- Large display
Cons
- Older chipset
- micro USB port
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June 19, 2020 at 06:44PM
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Motorola Moto G8 Power Lite review: A handsome all-day phone - India Today
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