Moto G8 Plus first impressions: At Rs 13,999, this is a promising phone

Moto G8 Plus: Design, display, speakers

Design-wise, the Moto G8 Plus appears similar to the Moto G7 with its 19:9 aspect ratio, broad chin, and not-so-thin side bezels. The back has a gradient look, whereas the Action camera is located at the top left corner flanked by an array carrying 48MP lens, 5MP depth sensor, Laser Autofocus component, and an LED flash. The usual Moto branding with the fingerprint sensor is placed next to the camera array aligned to the centre.

The rear is not made of glass, but the glossy back still looks premium. However, the gradient black finish looks a bit outdated now. Motorola could have either kept it simple and clean like the Motorola One Vision or it could have tried unique pattern designs like the ones we’ve seen on Realme 3 Pro, Redmi Note 8, and Vivo S1.

At the back, the Moto G8 Plus features a triple rear camera setup. (Express Photo: Mohammad Faisal)

The Moto G8 Plus has a really nice grip and fits in hands pretty well. However, the placement of volume buttons to the right edge is too high, and that is not convenient. The Moto G8 Plus comes with stereo speakers tuned by Dolby. The sound is loud and the bass levels look good, but I could not test it thoroughly with the little time I had with the device.

The Moto G8 Plus has an LTPS IPS display and while its not as bright as an AMOLED display, it is bright enough to use the device outdoors. The viewing angles are good and the screen produces vivid colours.

Moto G8 Plus: Performance

The device is powered by the Snapdragon 665 octa-core processor paired with 4GB of RAM. While the Moto G8 Plus is performing pretty well for day-to-day tasks and multi-tasking, I have yet to push it to the extreme. The stock Android experience on Moto G8 Plus surely frees it from bloatware and gives a snappy feel.

The smartphone can play casual games without any trouble and can retain most of the apps running in the background. The Moto G8 Plus should be able to play graphics-heavy games like PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty: Mobile but I have yet to test it out.

The Moto G8 Plus is available in two colour models– Cosmic Blue, Crystal Pink. (Express Photo: Mohammad Faisal)

Moto G8 Plus: Camera

The Moto G8 Plus sports a triple rear camera setup, whereas the primary lens is a 48MP Quad Pixel sensor. The images offer ample details and the colour reproduction is quite good. Even under low light conditions, the camera is capable enough to click nice pictures. Also, the camera UI has a Night Vision mode that improves the overall visibility and sharpens the details a little.

Moto G8 Plus camera sample: Normal shot (Image resized for web) (Express Photo: Mohammad Faisal)

Moto G8 Plus camera sample: Normal shot (Image resized for web) (Express Photo: Mohammad Faisal)

Moto G8 Plus camera sample: Left– Normal | Right– Night Vision. (Express Photo: Mohammad Faisal)

For video recording, you have the option to choose between the normal video and the Action Cam video. The Action Cam has a wider field of view and as mentioned above, it captures horizontal video while you keep the phone vertical. The Action Cam video supports FHD at 60fps video recording whereas the 48MP camera supports 4K video recording as well. However, both the 48MP lens and Action Cam support enhanced video stabilisation up to FHD resolution at 30fps. Anything beyond that and you have normal video recording.

The colour reproduction of the selfie camera is pretty good and it supports a bunch of features like bokeh effect, studio lighting, colour pop and more. The edge detection on this phone is very good. The rear camera also supports modes like Spot Colour, Portrait, TimeLapse, Slow Motion and more.

Moto G8 Plus camera sample: Left–Normal | Right– Bokeh mode. (Express Photo: Mohammad Faisal)

Moto G8 Plus camera sample: Spot colour shot (Image resized for web) (Express Photo: Mohammad Faisal)

Moto G8 Plus: Battery and more

Although I did not extensively use the phone, the battery backup does seem to be promising. Given the phone supports 15W fast charging, it should not take more than 2 hours to charge the 4,000mAh battery to full. The fingerprint-unlock works really fast but the face-unlock takes a second to recognise the face.

Moto G8 Plus: Early Verdict

With the limited time, I had with the device, Moto G8 Plus appears to be a solid smartphone.  The device is performing well and I found the camera and battery to be its strength. I will be doing a lot of intense testing in the coming days to find out whether the Moto G8 Plus can compete with the likes of Redmi Note 8 Pro and Realme XT.