Moto G8 Power Lite
A battery with a phone attached.
The Moto G8 Power Lite is an affordable counterpart to the Moto G8 Power, which is in turn one of the Moto G8 siblings along with that phone, the Moto G8 Plus and G8 Play. It’s also arguably a more apt successor to the Moto G7 Power than the G8 Power, as it’s cheaper than the 2019 smartphone, rather than pricier as the G8 Power is.
The key selling point of the G8 Power Lite is, as the name suggests, its battery capacity: with a 5,000mAh power pack this is a phone that’s built to keep going for a long time, and thanks to its middling chipset and low screen resolution, it’ll see you through two days of use in a pinch. One downside, though, is its micro USB port, which only allows for modest charging speeds and data transfer speeds compared to the standard USB-C, and means that charging your phone back up again will feel like it takes two days.
In some ways, it feels like Motorola is trying to prove something with the Moto G8
Power Lite’s specs. There are three rear cameras, although only the 16MP main snapper feels useful, and its 2MP macro and depth-sensing buddies feel tacked on. Similarly the 6.5-inch screen is as big as a plus-size premium phone’s display, but it’s only HD, and content looks so low-res blown up to this size that arguably a smaller screen would be better. Still, this is the kind of display you’d expect to find on a phone at this price point, and it’s certainly not terrible. It’s bright, and while colors don’t exactly ‘pop’, they’re not too dark or grimy either. The display is LCD, which means it has a rather low contrast rate compared to the more common OLED screens, and this can be noticeable when you’re watching movies or playing games.
That’s not to say the Moto G8 Power Lite does a poor job of being a cheap phone that’s trying to be a mid-ranger, but the extra elements feel tacked on, while the phone nails the elements that are more common in cheaper phones: the rear fingerprint scanner feels intuitive to use, the plastic frame feels sturdier than those of other phones that use the same material, and the 3.5mm headphone jack is a welcome addition.
All in all, the Moto G8 Power
Lite is one of the best phones you can buy at its price point, thanks to its long-lasting battery and the aforementioned design elements. We just think that Motorola could make an even better phone by fully embracing its low-end nature and cutting out some of the superfluous elements.
The Moto G8 Power Lite is cheap and has a long-lasting battery, and if that’s all you’re looking for from your phone, it’s likely a device you’ll be happy with. In some ways Motorola has tried too hard to hide the phone’s ‘budget’ roots, notably with the large screen and three rear cameras, and these attempts fall a little flat, but look past the pretences and this is one of the best cheap phones you can buy. Tom Bedford
The key selling point of the G8 Power Lite is, as the name suggests, its battery capacity.