Motorola Moto G8 Power Lite Review

Competition is fierce for budget smartphones. We’re spoilt for choice in the under $300 category with most of the competitors coming equipped with big batteries, and multiple cameras in tow. The Moto G8 Power Lite is right at home in this contest and running fast in the middle of the pack.

Look and Feel

Straight out of the box the G8 comes ready to go in a clear case. Convenient as it might be it does seem like the handset has come prepackaged as a way to hide the plastic back. 

The blue gradient on the reverse of the phone isn’t unpleasant, I quite like the colours and even prefer the matte over the reflective glass-wannabes you see in similarly priced handsets. No reflective surface means no smudges or fingerprints to deal with which is a win in my book - the problem isn’t with how it looks but more so how it feels. The light weight plastic feels like a fake nail or a guitar pick and is a dead give away that you’re holding a budget handset. If that bothers you then use the case included in the box, or if not then don’t.

According to the manufacturer the G8 has a water-repellent design which helps to protect against moderate exposure to water, but without an IPX rating I wouldn't trust it on adventurous outings.  If Motorola is going to mention this, it would be nice to see a little bit more from the dust and moisture protection side. After all, you'd be hard-pressed to find a device that couldn't handle some minor splashes. 

Apart from that the phone has all the standard trimmings. Glass screened 6.5-inch display, encased with some slightly larger than average bezels and a tear drop camera notch. Girth is sitting slightly above average too, coming in at 9.2mm without the included case and nudging a full centimetre with it on. The lightness of the handset cancels out the extra few millimetres and on a whole creates a phone that sits snugly in your hand or pocket.

Battery and Performance

5,000mAh battery power is quite the figure. We’re lucky these days to nab a phone that lasts more than 24 hours between charges, but this baby puts them to shame spanning almost 36 hours without touching a charging cord. The battery capabilities are impressive, 3 days of shameless usage between charges is a welcome change from the midday boost we’ve grown accustomed to, and it more than justifies getting this phone for a teenager or anyone prone to forgetting their phone charger.

Battery use aside, the performance of the G8 Power Lite is nothing to scream about. You can expect slight delays in opening apps for the first time and you won’t see your texts appear in real time as you type them. But it’s nothing painful, just what you’d anticipate from a phone that costs less than a spa day. 

Photography and Camera Samples

Despite the high camera count the Moto G8 Power Lite doesn’t take show-stopping photos, but they are decent for the price. The handset has the same issues as most other budget phones, deterioration of pictures in low light, slow shutter speeds, blurred moving objects, lack of depth.

All in all, the photos can be pretty good in the right conditions, but tend to get worse the lower the light gets and the more complex the shooting environment becomes. It doesn’t take much to notice a difference, in the shots below one was with my blinds open and the other with them closed. Even with this slight change the pictures become more distorted and the G8 finds it harder to focus. Neither picture is unusable however, but there is a marked difference you need to be aware of.

Full light

Low light

When using the dedicated macro mode, the G8 has trouble finding the correct point of focus, and will pull away more often than not when you manually select the focus point by tapping on the screen. There’s no real need to use this mode. 

Macro Mode

Primary lens

Moving subjects are difficult for every camera and require a steady hand and a snappy shutter speed to not be left with a blurred mess. As with most phones at this price, you’ll struggle to get a good shot of a moving object. My advice is to hedge your bets and use continuous mode and just pick the best of the bunch.

Continuous shot 1

Continuous shot 2

Continuous shot 3

Continuous shot 4

The camera software can make a difference in some cases, allowing for better focus at certain points and a steadier zoom. The 4x digital zoom isn’t too bad, you can still make out your subjects at full zoom which is really all you can ask for from a smartphone camera.

While the shots from the Power Lite aren’t especially stunning they’re nothing to scoff at. It’s still enough to get you some extra likes on your dog’s Instagram - just keep the pictures bright.

Motorola Moto G8 Power Lite camera samples

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Take a closer look at our camera samples. Click or tap on a picture to expand.

Moto G8 Power Lite -Final Thoughts

Battery is the absolute stand out for the Moto G8 Power Lite but everything else is commonplace. The handset functions well, is fast enough and takes decent photos in the right environments. At just $279 it’s a steal, and  worth the purchase if battery life or price are your biggest concerns.

Want to check out more of the Moto G8 series? Read our Moto G8 review here.

Anula Wiwatowska

Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram

Anula is the Off-Site Editorial Lead for WhistleOut Australia, and an award winning tech journalist. She has been writing about the Australian telco industry, and consumer technology for over five years, and has been known to tell her Uber driver which phone they should upgrade to next.

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