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Moto G8 Plus: Cheaper mid-ranger with rotated camera

Numerous lenses: Motorola Moto G8 Plus.
Numerous lenses: Motorola Moto G8 Plus.
We already liked the predecessor of the Motorola Moto G8 Plus due to its good camera performance. With the successor, the camera concept has been revised, but this hasn't only led to improvements. This is a summary of our test results.

The Motorola Moto G8 Plus actually comes on the market for 30 Euros (~$33) less than its predecessor. This has already happened with other models and manufacturers, but it's unusual in view of the growing price increases in the high-end and mid-range sectors. For 269 Euros (~$297), you can now buy the Moto G8 Plus; you won't get it much cheaper on the Internet at the moment.

The battery has also become larger and the smartphone lasts much longer than its predecessor: We measure a great value of more than 16 hours in our battery test. The exterior is still sleek but not quite as high-quality as with the predecessor.

But the most important thing with the Moto G7 Plus predecessor were the cameras: The manufacturer already managed to impress with this at the beginning of the year. The Moto G8 Plus features a new setup with a main camera that has a higher resolution, as well as a wide-angle lens. A depth sensor is also back on board; this should enable taking particularly nice portrait shots. The front-facing camera has also been significantly upgraded and now has a powerful resolution of 25 megapixels. A detailed analysis of the image quality, even under poor lighting conditions, can be found in our review of the Motorola Moto G8 Plus. 

This all sounds great at first, but Motorola has made some headstrong decisions: The wide-angle lens is only usable for video recordings and is installed with a rotation of 90°. This allows you to record video in the normal landscape mode and in the 16:9 format while holding the phone upright. This is meant to highlight the action cam character of the camera and actually works quite well. It's a pity, however, that there are no advantages for photography. The optical image stabilizer from the predecessor is no longer on board.

Overall, the camera is still very good at displaying images and the changes to the system are certainly an extension of the smartphone's capabilities. But if photos are more important than videos to you, the new wide-angle lens doesn't offer any benefit.

Finally, something that is a little melancholic: An important design feature of Motorola has said goodbye. You can find out which one in the review of the Motorola Moto G8 Plus.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Moto G8 Plus: Cheaper mid-ranger with rotated camera
Florian Schmitt, 2019-11-21 (Update: 2019-11-18)