Motorola Moto G7 Power, we have tested it

A little over a month ago, Motorola renewed its famous Motorola Moto G mobile series. It did so with a series of changes aimed at improving the technical characteristics of most of the models presented. The design, on the other hand, remains conservative compared to the previous generation, as we already saw in our analysis of the Moto G7 Plus. The only changes we find come from the inclusion of a notch whose shape depends on the chosen model. The terminal that concerns us today is the Motorola Moto G7 Power, a device that has a new name and that presents a different proposal from the rest of the versions of the G7 series. 5,000 mAh battery, Snapdragon 632 processor and Android 9 Pie as the base system. Will it be enough to convince users during this 2019? We see it below inour review of the Motorola Moto G7 Power .

Motorola Moto G7 Power data sheet

Design that does not stand out and plastic-based materials

Motorola has not decided to take risks with the design of the Motorola Moto G7 Power. The terminal has lines that remind us of practically any competing phone, and its appearance is not very different from that of other Lenovo and Motorola phones.

Notch in the shape of a peninsula in the upper part and a lower frame whose thickness is in the middle of the rest of the mid-range terminals. This results in a terminal with very contained dimensions despite having a 6.2-inch screen , although it is true that compared to my OnePlus 6T it is somewhat longer despite having a 0.2-inch lower panel.

In what has to do with the back, here the lines are exactly the same as the rest of the Moto G7 and even other models of past generations such as the Motorola Moto G6. A 2-centimeter optical glass that surrounds its only rear sensor and protrudes slightly (it does not limp on horizontal surfaces) and a fingerprint sensor that is located within the brand's logo. What should be noted about this is the material with which it is built.

Again we find plastic along the surface of its back together with frames that repeat the use of polycarbonate as the main construction material. The appearance of it, as Motorola is accustomed to us, is glossy , and as in previous generations, it is a magnet for fingerprints. Does it make it worse than other similarly priced mobiles?

Not at all. In fact, the use of plastic helps it to achieve a weight within what we can consider normal despite integrating a 5,000 mAh battery. This does not mean that I would have liked to see materials based on aluminum or glass, although most likely their weight would have exceeded 200 grams.

Another aspect that should be noted in the design of the Moto G7 Power is its thickness, only 9.3 millimeters . Compared to my OnePlus 6T, it exceeds the total thickness of the device by 1.1 millimeters, which is worth noting considering that the battery of the Motorola mobile exceeds that of the OnePlus model by 1,300 mAh.

Improvable quality screen with insufficient resolution

Before receiving the terminal I have to admit that the screen of the Motorola Moto G7 Power did not expect much, especially in what has to do with the resolution of the panel. The surprise in this regard has been pleasant.

The technical data tells us that we are facing a 6.2-inch IPS panel with HD + resolution and 279 dots per inch. How does this translate? Although the 720p resolution of the screen may seem insufficient, the truth is that I have not missed sharpness when watching videos or navigating between applications such as Twitter, Slack or Telegram. The improvement of the panel comes from the hand of the colors.

It is in the reproduction of multimedia content where the shortcomings of the screen come to light. A contrast too steep and color reproduction rather poor compared to other terminals similar price. In this regard, I expected much more from the Moto G7 Power, even more so when its starting price exceeds 200 euros.

What has surprised me about this is its maximum brightness and the default color calibration. Thanks to the 500 nits of brightness that the panel offers, the visibility of the screen outdoors or in bright lights is quite correct and even at the height of my OnePlus 6T. Also, the calibration to a rather warm tone of the panel means that the visibility of the panel indoors is not heavy on the eyes despite having been using the terminal for several hours.

Satisfactory user experience thanks to Android - almost - Stock

In the performance section, Motorola terminals have always demonstrated a more or less remarkable solvency, and the Motorola Moto G7 Power is no exception.

The internal hardware of the terminal consists of a Snapdragon 632 processor together with the Adreno 506 GPU and 3 and 32 GB RAM and storage in the case of my unit. As with the display, Motorola has decided to implement a 630 series processor instead of the 660 series to reduce manufacturing costs. It should be noted that the type of onboard memory is the eMMC standard . No UFS 2.0 or 2.1. How does all this data translate into a real user experience?

The truth is that during my more than two weeks of use, the terminal has not given me any type of problem when executing applications or games. Applications like Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Feedly, and YouTube have worked perfectly for me. Relatively short loading times and smooth operation without jerks or slowdowns when reloading content.

Internal memory speed in Andro Bench and processor score in Antutu.

This also translates into when using several applications at the same time, such as Slack and Feedly, even when using the multi-window. In this regard, it is appreciated that Motorola opts to integrate an almost native version of Android. It is not as electric or as fluid as Oxygen OS, but the difference is not infuriating, and the experience falls within the expected in a terminal of 200 euros .

As for the Moto G7 Power's performance in games and heavy tasks, the Snapdragon 632's solvency has surprised me for the better. I have tried titles like FIFA 19 and Asphalt 9 and the performance of both has been totally satisfactory. Even with the graphic quality at maximum, the user experience has been really good . It is true that the frame rate per second in Asphalt 9 has nothing to do with that of my OnePlus 6T, but the price is almost three times the value of the G7 Power.

Last but not least, it is worth noting the good performance of its rear fingerprint sensor . An almost non-existent error rate and good recognition speed. Face unlocking, on the other hand, shows some shortcomings as it is based on Android's native software face unlocking. Both in range and possibilities, the speed leaves a lot to be desired, even more so when the light level is not ideal.

Interesting functions of the Motorola Moto G7 Power

Next, we leave you with a series of interesting functions of the Motorola customization layer:

• Moto Display (see notifications on the lock screen)
• Dark mode
• Native gesture system (activated in the Moto app)
• Attentive screen (screen stays on if we look at it)
• Quick capture (to take pictures by turning the wrist twice with the mobile in hand)
• Screenshot with three fingers
• Pick up to mute (to mute the call by shutting off the proximity sensor with your hand or ear)

Camera clearly below other mid-range mobiles

When looking at the technical characteristics of the Motorola Moto G7 Power camera, we could already get an idea of ​​the photographic results, and although this is not always the case, the quality offered leaves a lot to be desired , at least as far as the main sensor is concerned.

Rear camera

In technical data, we find a single 12-megapixel rear camera with f / 2.0 focal aperture and 1.25 um pixels. The results during the day, although correct in relatively simple situations, offer a somewhat poor quality, especially when it comes to dynamic range . Good definition and a somewhat cold interpretation of the colors for my taste, although it is in the average of the competition. It does not have a good macro , so in this aspect we will not be able to get too close to small objects such as insects, stones or leaves. The good thing is that we have a manual mode , so we can play with some parameters of the image.

Daytime photos of the Motorola Moto G7 Power

Regarding portrait mode, although the Camera application is capable of generating a blur in real time (the Google Camera application does the post-processing), the results are again quite poor. And it is that despite the fact that the system is capable of detecting our face, cutting areas such as the nose or hair leaves a lot to be desired , even more so when the competition tightens in this regard. A second sensor to assist the main one would have been the ideal thing to improve the results in this type of photographs.

Photographs in portrait mode of the Motorola Moto G7 Power

And how does it behave at night? Here the Motorola Moto G7 Power camera manages to raise the general result of the photographs somewhat thanks to its 1.25 um pixels. When the object or the scene in photographs is close to the camera, the result is correct, with good luminosity and noise camouflaged by the famous watercolor effect that manufacturers usually introduce to avoid “staining” the dark areas. In the event that we want to photograph distant landscapes or objects, the quality declines in all aspects (definition, luminosity, contrast ...).

Night photos of the Motorola Moto G7 Power

Finally, it should be noted the power of the LED flash light , much higher than that of most phones I have tested and even higher than my OnePlus 6T. It's kind of cool for my liking, but at least it manages to illuminate people near the rear sensor.

Front camera

The front camera, unlike the rear camera, is at the same level as other similarly priced mobiles .

On a technical level, the camera consists of an 8 megapixel sensor with a focal aperture f / 2.2. The results, far from being bad, are in the middle of the price range of 200 euros. During the day, we find acceptable results, not good but more than correct. The aperture level of the lens is enough to take group selfies , and the interpretation of the colors leaves images somewhat contrasted in most occasions.

During the night, as usually happens with most mid-range mobiles, the terminal manages to raise the brightness at the cost of losing definition. And, as we can see in the images, the watercolor effect appears in much of the photograph .

Video

The video section has surprised me and for the better. Although it is true that the same deficiencies that we find in the photography section are found in the video, the general quality is quite good, since the terminal supports recording up to 4K at 30 FPS and 1080p at 60 FPS with a level of digital zoom up to 8x.

Starting with the stabilization level, the Moto G7 Power's Camera application manages to stabilize the videos with hardly any bumps in the focus of the image. We do not find an optical stabilization, but it is not missing at any time.

As for the level of focus, the terminal has a pretty good autofocus and even with my OnePlus 6T . The rest of the details, as I mentioned previously, are penalized by the quality of its sensor (dynamic range, color representation ...).

All camera modes of the Motorola Moto G7 Power

We leave you below with a list with all the camera modes of the aforementioned terminal:

• Photo
• Portrait
• Spot Color Cinematography
• Panorama
• Live filter
• Slow motion
• Fast camera
• YouTube live
• Stickers in AR

All the camera options of the Motorola Moto G7 Power

We leave you with the complete list of all the camera options of the Moto G7 Power:

• HDR
• Flash
• Timer
• Focus
• Stabilization

The best autonomy you can find in a mobile

No, this is not an exaggeration. I'm talking about the mobile phone being able to give us a range of more than three days of more or less intensive use thanks to its 5,000 mAh battery.

After two days of use, almost 16 hours of screen with the @MotorolaESP Moto G7 Power.

Chapeau for autonomy. pic.twitter.com/M2RRjoKXUw

- Juan Carlos Broncano (@sinbronca) March 4, 2019

With an average of 13 and a half hours of screen time , the terminal has lasted me exactly three days of use during the two weeks that I have been able to test the terminal. My daily use routine includes handling applications such as WhatsApp, Slack, Twitter, Gmail, Telegram, YouTube and Spotify, as well as the camera application to capture videos and photos.

And it is that although it is true that most of the time these applications have drank from a WiFi network to connect to the Internet, the terminal is capable of maintaining those 13 hours of average screen with 4G activated . In the event that our use is limited to viewing multimedia content and using light applications such as WhatsApp or Twitter, then we can stretch the battery to more than 16 hours of screen.

Device charging times are not short either. The Motorola TurboPower technology of the brand offers us an average of 2 hours and 10 minutes from a percentage of 1 or 2% of battery , remarkable considering that it is a 5,000 mAh battery. This is due to the fast charging charger that integrates the terminal with 5V at 3A, 9V at 2A and 12V at 1.5A.

Connectivity that could improve but delivers

The connectivity section in this price range always tends to leave a bittersweet taste in the mouth due to the lack of some technology. In this case, the Motorola Moto G7 Power lacks two essential technologies in my opinion: NFC and Bluetooth 5.0 .

Since the use of the mobile phone during my free time has been based on the reproduction of music and videos through Bluetooth 5.0 headphones, I have missed the implementation of a more recent version of Bluetooth that helps improve sound quality and energy efficiency, although it should be noted that I have not had any problems with the mobile's Bluetooth. The NFC has also been one of the aspects that I most missed about my OnePlus 6T to pay in stores and commercial establishments without the need for a credit or debit card.

Another aspect that should be noted about the Motorola terminal is the WiFi range and its stability at relatively distant points from the router. In a place where my OnePlus 6T does not usually suffer connection problems (around 5 meters with several walls in between), the G7 Power has managed to connect with difficulty to the 2.4 GHz network . Once the terminal has managed to connect, the connection cuts have been constant. This is even more pronounced if we seal the upper part of the mobile.

As for mobile coverage when receiving calls and connecting to 4G networks, the Moto G7 Power has given me a satisfactory experience. It is true that I have suffered the odd cut in two calls in particular within a supermarket , although I attribute this to the fact that it is in a plant "underground".

Surprisingly loud sound and successful speaker position

Sound, along with connectivity, is usually one of the least notable sections of most mid-range mobiles. The Motorola Motorola G7 Power surprises precisely the opposite.

The only speaker that integrates in the front (specifically in the notch) offers us a fairly loud and clear sound . Its volume, higher than that of the OnePlus 6T, does not saturate at any time even if we usually listen to music with a lot of bass.

As for the nuances offered by the sound, the Moto G7 Power does not stand out from other models in the same price range. Low frequencies somewhat flat for my taste and a sound in high frequencies significantly higher than that projected in frequency ranges with low frequencies.

And how about the audio recording? In this regard, the terminal leaves serious doubts. Although the quality is good when the sound level exceeds a certain number of decibels, the noise reduction of the secondary microphone causes the audio to lose definition and volume when the sound is weak , with an effect similar to the Fade out of the songs when they come to an end. This occurs both when using the sound recorder (the terminal does not include any application) and when recording video.

Conclusions of the Motorola Moto G7 Power

After seeing all the points of the Motorola Moto G7 Power, we finally reached the conclusions. My experience throughout the two weeks of using the terminal has been satisfactory. Good performance even in heavy applications and the best autonomy ever seen in a mobile . All this is achieved thanks to the integration of an almost Stock Android version and a 5,000 mAh battery that together does not exceed a centimeter in thickness. Its sound also stands out both in quality and volume. The but of this terminal comes from the hand of other aspects.

The first of them, and surely the most remarkable of all, is the screen. Although the low resolution of the panel has not been a problem for me when it comes to enjoying multimedia content and applications, it does show that its quality in terms of color representation and contrast leaves a lot to be desired . To this is added its camera, whose quality is far behind the rest of mobiles of the same price range, and connectivity, which in my point of view could improve in aspects such as WiFi range or the integration of more modern technologies . I do not enter to assess the design section, because despite using plastic as the main construction material, it feels a robust terminal and not heavy at all.

Is the version with 3 and 32 GB worth the 209 euros it costs? It depends. If what we are looking for in a mobile is autonomy and good performance, then it is worth it. In all other aspects, Motorola's proposal is clearly inferior to other mobiles in the range of 200 euros. It will be necessary to see if over the months the price of the Moto G7 Power falls below 180 or 170 euros , as is usually the case with the company's mobiles.