Motorola bounds out the G8 with a harder, better, faster smartphone for the thrifty

Hole-punch-packing slimline Android that you can buy with pocket change

Motorola has confirmed its latest budget blower, the Moto G8, following last year's well-received G7 and it brings faster silicon, a larger screen, and ditches the dreaded notch for a more discrete hole-punch camera.

As with previous G-series phones, the G8 ships with an almost completely bloatware-free version of Android, keeping the stock experience largely intact. It wins points for using the current Android 10 (which has been around for several months, but many manufacturers still insist on using the older Android 9).

The G8 ships with a 6.4-inch HD+ display, with a fairly wide 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Incidentally, this is 0.2 inches larger than that on the G7, while the phone packs a respectable screen-to-body ratio of 87 per cent, thanks to its hole-punch camera.

Since this is primarily a budget blower, don't expect much in the power department. At the heart of the device is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 665 platform, which is a measurable upgrade on the Snapdragon 632 that ships with the G7. It also comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, while the latter can be expanded with a MicroSD card. It supports cards up to 512GB.

Lurking at the bottom of the phone is a USB-C port and a 3.5mm jack. The G8 supports 10W fast charging, which isn't the zippiest we've ever seen. There's also no mention of wireless charging, which isn't surprising, given the Moto G-series phones tend to dwell at the cheaper end of the market.

It does, however, come with a fairly big 4,000mAh battery, which Motorola said can last up to 40 hours between charges depending on usage.

On the photography front, the Moto G8 has three cameras arranged in a line, a bit like the old Huawei P20 Pro. This includes a 16MP primary shooter, a 2MP macro sensor, and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens.

UK pricing and availability is yet to be announced, but we reckon it'd be around the £250 mark, as was the case with the Moto G7.

Motorola Mobility, which is owned by Chinese tech brand Lenovo, has a reputation for making solid entry-level devices – although it hasn't always been the most diligent at forking over OS upgrades. It'll be interesting to see how this latest effort holds up.

Obviously we've asked for a review unit. ®