In this Moto G8 review, I’ll cover everything you need to know about the phone, from its price and features to design, display, camera, and performance.

For anyone looking for one of the best cheap phones, Motorola is a good place to start. The popular smartphone maker has a huge library of Android phones that won’t cost you the earth but are packed with features. The Moto G8 is one of them, sitting at the bottom of their affordable G8 series of smartphones, it offers fantastic value paired with decent performance and a large battery. This cannot be considered one of the best android phones, but for this price it has a lot to offer.

Moto G8 test: price and news

Unveiled in March 2020, the Moto G8 is now available at a number of retailers at competitive prices. Take a look at the widgets on this page for more up to date information. At the time of writing, you can buy one for £ 184 in the UK and AU $ 283.77 in Australia. Unfortunately, the Moto G8 is not available in the United States.

The Moto G series is a long-standing line of budget smartphones that aim to give you the most for your money. The Moto G8 upgraded the G7 with an improved processor, larger screen and battery, as well as a more sophisticated camera system. It comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, 64GB of storage, and a MicroSD card slot to expand it further. The next generation of the handset, the Moto G9, launched at the end of 2020.

Moto G8 review: design and display

The Moto G8 is a big phone with a big screen. Measuring 161.27 x 75.8 x 8.95mm and weighing 183g, it’s thick to hold. Despite its plastic casing, it is a sturdy handset that will withstand shocks and bumps. It also comes with a transparent protective case included in the box. Those with small hands may find this a bit stretchy to use. With an 88% screen-to-body ratio, the bezels seem more prominent than the more expensive handsets, giving the phone a more budget option.

On the back, next to the three camera lenses is a fingerprint sensor to unlock it. It was placed slightly too high, but other than that it was much more reliable than the in-screen sensors used by other phones in this price range. On the bezel, there’s the power button and volume controls, along with a USB-C charging port on the bottom and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top. The screen itself is only interrupted by the hole punch-style camera in the upper left corner.

The 6.4-inch Max Vision display has an aspect ratio of 19: 9, which gives you ultra-wide immersive viewing at HD + (1560×720) resolution. The IPS panel looks like a cheap phone’s, it won’t be noticeable for everyday tasks like messaging or light web browsing, but it becomes pretty obvious when watching TV and movies especially because you don’t will not be able to broadcast entire programs. HIGH DEFINITION. I’m not saying it’s a bad screen, but you get what you pay for when it comes to display quality.

Moto G8 review: camera

A three-lens camera system sits on the back of the handset. This includes a 16MP primary lens, a 2MP macro lens, and an 8MP ultra-wide lens. On the front is an 8MP selfie camera.

Considering the fact that this phone costs less than £ 200, I was more than impressed with its point-in-time daylight photography. It doesn’t have the level of detail you’d get on a flagship or even mid-range phone, but the photos appeared bright and fairly crisp, though the colors were sometimes out of balance. Despite this, in the right lighting with the right point of focus, they will be good enough to be used on social media.

The 2MP macro lens, on the other hand, produced grainy photos that won’t be of much use. Likewise, the 8x digital zoom photos were blurry and won’t give you usable shots either. There’s also no dedicated night mode, so the flash will have to do the trick, although it does a good job of lighting up the scene and picking up detail at night.

Moto G8 review: performance and battery

Powered using the mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chip and 4GB of RAM, you’ll get some pretty solid performance from the Moto G8.

In Geekbench 5 it got a score of 310 in single-core and 1306 in multi-core, similar to the slightly more expensive Vivo Y70. It won’t blow you away with super-fast speeds, especially if you compare it to some of the best phones you can buy. But that said, it does a decent job of dealing with most day-to-day tasks and can even handle a bit of light mobile gaming. The Moto G8 only has 64GB of onboard storage, so you won’t want to fill it with big games anyway.

As you might have guessed at this price point, you won’t get super-fast internet either because the Moto G8 is not 5G compatible and doesn’t use the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology, opting for rather for Wi-Fi 5. There is also no NFC, so you will not be able to use the handset to make contactless payments via Google Pay.

The 4000mAh battery is the area where you get the most bang for your buck, it will easily last you all day. I played a video in full brightness for two hours and the battery level dropped by about 20%, which suggests that I would have had 10 hours of playback in all. It’s not bad at all for a cheap phone. In the box you get a 10W fast charger, it took about two hours to fully charge, which is okay. There is no wireless charging here.

Running Android 10, the Moto G8 has a lightweight Motorola skin that adds some useful features thanks to Moto Experiences. This allows you to control voice through the Google Assistant and Moto gestures like three-finger screenshot, pick up to mute, and swipe to minimize screen. It also comes with essential apps like Gmail and Google Photos. While not quite as satisfying as Samsung’s pure Android experience, this operating system is, without a doubt, one of the better versions of Android. It feels crisp, clean and intuitive.

Moto G8 test: verdict

If you’re spending less than £ 200 on a phone, you can’t expect blazing-fast performance, crisp photographs, or a dazzling display – but considering its price, the Moto G8 is a solid smartphone that will do. work when it. takes care of daily tasks such as phone calls, messaging and social media. The best part about it is that it will last you all day without the need for a charge, and having a decent camera is an added bonus. When it comes to cheap phones, this one is definitely worth considering.

Moto G8 test: also consider

If you are considering the Moto G8, other cheap phones that you might want to look at are the Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite and the Google Pixel 4a.

The Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite has a lot to offer, including 5G support and good performance. However, if you’re desperate for a decent camera and willing to spend a bit more, the Google Pixel 4a is a top choice. It is capable of taking fantastic photos, it has decent specs, and it runs on pure Android. It’s easily one of the best inexpensive phones you can buy.