Item: Motorola moto g8
Rating: 4
Author: Michael Aulia

Motorola moto g8 review – Mid-range smartphones are quite popular because they are affordable and still good to be used as daily drivers. We’ve seen every smartphone brand releasing a mid-range phone like the OPPO A91 or the Google Pixel 4a (check our reviews out).

Usually they’d try to slip in one or two special features to keep the mid range phones exciting like having an AMOLED screen, facial unlocking, or great computational photography like the Pixel 4a.

But while the Motorola moto g8 may not really have anything special, it still is a good mid range phone with clean Android operating system.

Packaging & Unboxing

A case is included in the packaging so you can use the phone as soon as you take it out of the package.

Design & Features

Motorola moto g8 runs with a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 665 octa-core processor and 4 GB of RAM. The device has decent performance for daily use like browsing the web, checking emails, posting to social media, or take a few pictures here and there. Scrolling Twitter or Facebook is also pretty smooth, which I wasn’t expecting.

While opening apps may take about 1 second longer than using a high-end smartphone like the HUAWEI P40 Pro, the moto g8 is not a bad phone overall. It can play games like Hearthstone but more graphic-intensive games might stutter a bit here and there.

It has a 6.4-inch 720p display with a barely noticeable notch and has a small front camera lens on the top left like the Google Pixel 4a. The display is not the sharpest or most vivid, but it’s not a bad one either. Colour doesn’t look dull and so far I enjoy watching YouTube videos and playing some games on the moto g8.

You can unlock the phone using your finger, thanks to the fingerprint sensor located at the back of the phone. With the included case, it is easier to locate and unlocking is also reasonably fast.

The built-in 4,000 mAh battery provides a good amount of battery life on the phone and yes, it is charged via USB-C.

If you don’t like HUAWEI’s EMUI or OPPO’s ColorOS, you’ll be pleased to know that Motorola doesn’t really have their own OS skin that overhauls the Android UI. They do have some overlay features here and there (like Moto Gametime) but you’ll pretty much be experiencing Android’s vanilla.

Photos taken with Motorola moto g8

The phone has 3 rear cameras, one having a wide-angle lens so you can take that nice wide-angle shots, and also some macro shots. You can also take Portrait with bokeh but the results can either be great or weird – similar to my experience with the OPPO A91. Sometimes the computational photography creates a fake-look photo, but other times, they are pretty good.

If you zoom in closer to some photos, they also don’t have that much detail but for social media sharing, the photos are good enough.

I haven’t really done night shots test because unfortunately there’s a night curfew here in Melbourne so I haven’t been around much in the evening.

Other shots:

Motorola moto g8 Review Conclusion

The moto g8 is a good, mid-range phone that does a great job to keep things running smoothly. It has a good battery life, good display, and also a good camera to take your daily snaps. It also has a fingerprint unlock at the back of the phone.

While it’s definitely not a premium looking mid-range phone or has a special trick up its sleeve, the moto g8 does everything pretty well in a single, AU$299 package. JB Hi-Fi actually has it discounted to AU$239.20 at the moment, which is a pretty good deal for the performance and spec! You can also purchase it outright at Amazon.

For mobile plans, the moto g8 is also available at Vodafone with options of 12, 24, or 36 months plan. Check out the Vodafone page for details (available in Neon Blue and Pearl White).

Disclosure: Motorola moto g8 review sample was supplied for reviewing but all opinions are mine and not paid