The Moto G7 Power is not exactly the world’s prettiest mid-range phone
Before making a highly anticipated high-end smartphone market comeback with a Snapdragon 865-powered flagship supporting 5G connectivity without needing a special Moto Mod accessory, Motorola still has a few loose ends to tie up in its extensive mid-range product portfolio.
Following in the footsteps of the immensely popular
Moto G7 family released earlier this same year, the
Moto G8 lineup was unveiled less than two months ago. Curiously enough, the US-based, Lenovo-owned company took the wraps off
G8 Plus and
G8 Play models, leaving out the “regular” and big-battery sequels to the G7 and G7 Power. What’s perhaps even weirder is that the Moto G8 Plus and G8 Play are not yet officially available stateside and there’s no word on any plans to change that in the near (or even distant) future.
But a standard
Moto G8 is still almost certainly in the pipeline, and after months of complete silence on the G8 Power gossip front, we have two pieces of solid evidence today supporting the existence and imminence of such a mid-end handset with a gargantuan battery on deck.
A new battery king is upon us
While the
Federal Communications Commission doesn’t refer to a seemingly mysterious XT2041 device by a possible marketing name, we’re pretty sure the Moto G8 Power is Motorola’s only phone on the horizon with a massive 5,000mAh cell under its hood. That number is confirmed by the FCC, mind you, matching the battery capacity of the
6.2-inch
G7 Power.
Speaking of screen sizes, it appears that the G8 Power measures 157.9mm in height and 165mm in diagonal, with the latter figure technically equating to around 6.5 inches. When taking bezels into consideration, however, we expect the Moto G8 Power to be billed as sporting a 6.2 or 6.3-inch display, much like the G8 Play and G8 Plus respectively. Of course, the unannounced handset is listed as slightly shorter overall than its predecessor, which probably means the chin will be thinner and the excessively wide notch could be replaced with the discreet waterdrop-style screen cutout of the G8 Plus.
What we obviously don’t know is whether the G8 Power will retain its forerunner’s 720p display resolution or jump to a “Full HD+”
pixel count to further mirror the G8 Plus. If the latter happens, the
absolutely mind-blowing battery life of the G7 Power could take a small hit, but since Motorola is likely to stick to a frugal processor (unknown make and model for now), we’re ready to wager the G8 Power will outlast most of its budget-friendly 2020 rivals between charges anyway.
Pre-loaded Android 10 and other expectations
Apart from the aforementioned product dimensions and battery size, the only other feature pretty much etched in stone for the Moto G8 Power right now is Android 10 software. You can thank the Wi-Fi Alliance for that, as the
XT2041 handset was certified a few weeks ago already running the newest OS version.
That means this no doubt affordable device will join the
Motorola One Hyper in running Android 10 on the software side of things out of the box, possibly beating the likes of the high-end (ish)
Moto Z4 to the fresh OS punch. Of course, that’s because we assume the Moto G8 and G8 Power will make their joint debut soon, perhaps as early as January 2020 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas ahead of a US commercial release likely to also take place before spring.
Since we believe Motorola plans to refine the G7 Power design and a screen resolution upgrade is not out of the question either, the Moto G8 Power could well start at a higher price than its $250 predecessor. Hopefully, the hike won’t be larger than 50 bucks, even if that means leaving the decidedly mediocre rear-facing camera of the G7 Power untouched for its follow-up effort.
