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You can expand that through the use of a microSD card for up to another GB of space for apps, games and media. Motorola has given all of its latest G-series handsets the notch treatment. But unlike the regular Moto G7, with its teardrop design, the G7 Power adopts a more conventionally styled notch, with the earpiece and selfie camera front and center — similar to what you'd find on one of Apple's latest iPhones. The only problem with this look is that it's hardly original.
Increasingly, phones have notches like the one Motorola bestowed on the G7 Power. Couple that awkward design with the G7 Power's rather noticeable bottom bezel and body clad in glossy plastic, and you're left with a phone that tries and fails to conceal its budget roots.
It doesn't help that the G7 Power is also very big, with its 6. There's still a 3. However, Motorola unfortunately hasn't added true IP-rated water resistance or near-field communication to any device in the G7 range, so this phone feels a bit dated, even at its low price. The G7 Power trades the 6. That's great for energy efficiency but not quite so good for the appearance of on-screen content. Text and icons can't help but look a hair jagged on the G7 Power, though the farther you hold the phone away from your eyes, the less noticeable the effect. If you can see past the resolution deficit, this is still a display you'd be happy to use to watch anything.
Motorola might be stretching those pixels a bit wider than we'd like, but at least the G7 Power's color reproduction and brightness didn't leave much to be desired. Those are respectable numbers for a budget-priced LCD-toting smartphone. In fact, both are nearly dead-even with the pricier Moto G7 and its showings of percent and 0. For Delta-E, closer to zero is better.
However, the G7 Power really impressed in its brightness. At nits on the max setting, this member of Motorola's midrange family totally outshone the pricier G7 and its nits. All that extra light coming through the display makes a big difference outdoors on a sunny day, when dimmer screens make reading text a struggle. In those scenarios, we'd definitely rather take the Power than its siblings. And truthfully, if you can see past the resolution deficit, this is still a display you'd be happy to use to watch anything.
The searing neon lights of Times Square were the perfect backdrop for the web slinger's antics, and as I shifted the device in my hand from side to side, those colors stayed remarkably consistent.
What G7 Power does lack, however, is a secondary 5-MP shooter to enable depth-of-field effects. However, this isn't a terribly huge absence either, because the Moto G7's shallow depth-of-field portraits and bokeh aren't all that impressive, as is the case with many other budget phones' dual-lens systems.
For those reasons, I came away reasonably pleased with the G7 Power's performance against its more expensive sibling. Inside the park, the G7 Power compares favorably against one of our favorite camera phones for the money, the Nokia 7. Like other Motorola handsets of the past, the G7 Power does get a bit overzealous with the saturation; Bryant Park's iconic fountain isn't quite as red as the device would lead you to believe.
That said, there really isn't much difference between these phones' photos, even though the Nokia 7. The G7 Power really struggles in portraits and bokeh, however. Because the phone has only one rear-facing lens, the device needs to rely on software, not optics, to blur the background. Some high-end devices, like the Pixel 3 and iPhone XR , can accomplish software-based bokeh without a noticeable drop in quality. However, Motorola's computational photography isn't quite up to that level, and that leads to unwelcome artifacts and inconsistent blurring on the edges of my colleague Shaun's face.
Additionally, Nokia's handset just does a much better job picking up those finer details in Shaun's face, as well as his skin tone. Finally, the G7 Power's 8-MP front-facing camera also seems pretty much the same as the one in the G7. Problem is, it's not a particularly great shooter for selfies, as its shots are often noisy and just blurry enough that they always seem slightly out of focus.
The Nokia 7. The Snapdragon system-on-chip and the 3GB of RAM in the G7 Power are sufficient for ordinary duties, like web browsing, navigation and social media. Just don't expect this phone to handle demanding games. So how does it perform? That means our benchmark tests should be easy enough to predict, and so it proved:. So would you notice this drop in speed in the real world? And here, the Moto G7 Power does not disappoint:.
So finally, we come to the camera. And this is a key point of difference between the Moto G7 and G7 Power.
In theory, that gives the Moto G7 two clear advantages. Moto G6 owners will be unsurprised to learn that both snappers are very, very good for the price. The one area where the Moto G7 does have a clear advantage is video. While the Moto G7 Power is limited to p footage at 30fps, the Moto G7 can capture 4K video with the same 30fps speed. I can only assume that Motorola wanted to hold back a premium feature to justify the price hike, but if 4K footage is important to you, then the Moto G7 has the edge.
It has a fake bokeh effect you can enable if you like, but this tends to blur hair into oblivion. And, as ever, the beauty settings turned all the way up should come with a health warning. Image 10 of So this is awkward, then. Sign up for our daily newsletter Newsletter. Mobile phones. Alan Martin.
Our Rating. Price when reviewed. In the meantime My original review of the Moto G7 Power continues below. Image 11 of See related.
Motorola Moto G7 review: No longer the budget smartphone king?