Moto G7 Power – The Good Review

Motorola’s latest entry into the Moto G lineup is the phone that we didn’t know we needed

The Moto G7 Power, is expected to be a smartphone that can last for days on a charge. Hence the word “power” in its name. It actually looks like it could be a good compliment to the Moto G7 lineup, on paper, and that does appear to be true. Now while there is no true predecessor to the Moto G7 Power, it is a pretty big upgrade from the Moto G6, for roughly the same price.

Disclaimer: At Android Headlines, we now review all phones from the “good” and the “bad” perspectives. We’ve designed our reviews to help readers get a clearer perspective on what makes a phone worth buying or avoiding without the little details getting lost. The “good” review focuses on the positives for the Motorola Moto G7 Power, while you’ll be able to find all the negative details in our “bad” review.

The biggest selling point of the Moto G7 Power is the battery capacity and battery life. Motorola knows the recipe for insane battery life, and has fit that to a T on the Moto G7 Power. With a large 5000mAh capacity battery, a power sipping processor and an HD+ resolution display. In our testing, throughout the last few weeks, the Moto G7 Power has lasted us over two full days of use, and still had around 30 to 50-percent charge left. Meaning that it can get through at least three full days, even on heavy use.

Charging your Phone Every Night is a Thing of the Past

For many people, the battery life of a phone is the biggest feature. It is usually the make or break point, in regards to whether or not they will buy that particular phone. The Moto G7 Power has lasted longer than any other smartphone we’ve tested in recent memory. Beating out big names like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. That shouldn’t be a surprise, though, the Moto G7 Power has a larger capacity battery, a lower-resolution display and is doing less in the background.

That’s not the only strong point for the Moto G7 Power, however. The performance of this smartphone is pretty impressive, especially when you factor in the price. It was able to handle day-to-day tasks with ease, not freezing up nor slowing down.

When it comes to gaming, that is where phones at this price point may suffer, but that is not the case on the Moto G7 Power. We were able to play Asphalt 9 without any issues. Sure, the graphics weren’t as great as something like the Galaxy S10, but the game was playable and still looked pretty good. Most importantly, it did not make the phone that hot, we were still able to use the phone after playing Asphalt 9 for over an hour, which in itself is pretty impressive.

Many smartphone makers are moving to under-display fingerprint sensors, Motorola decided not to fix what wasn’t broken. Keeping the fingerprint sensor on the back as a capacitive sensor. It is located in the Motorola dimple, so it does look hidden, keeping the phone looking pretty clean. This fingerprint sensor is accurate and pretty fast too. After using phones with in-display sensors for the past few months, this capacitive sensor was a breathe of fresh air.

Motorola does have face unlock available on the Moto G7 Power. It works decently well. You pick up the phone, it sees your face and it unlocks. But it’s still worth mentioning that this is not a super secure method, since it is using the front-facing camera only. Meaning that it is going to be very easy to spoof the face unlock feature. If you’re worried about security, it’ll be a good idea to keep this turned off and only use the fingerprint sensor.

A Slice of Pie

In the past few years, Motorola hasn’t been pushing out software updates as much as they were. Even though they are using stock Android with a few added features on top, it is still taking months to get updates pushed out to their smartphones. With some not getting Pie til nearly six months after it was available. But security updates are coming out pretty quickly, about once a quarter, which is a good thing at least.

The Moto G7 Power does launch with Android 9 Pie on-board, and we have gotten a couple of software updates since the phone launched, which is good to see. It also has a semi recent security patch, the March 1, 2019 patch.

With Android Pie on the Moto G7 Power, you’re getting a near stock Android experience – that is partly why this phone runs so smooth on a lower-end processor and less RAM. Motorola of course, has its own suite of features that are built-in on top of Android Pie. Not everything that you’d find on Motorola’s flagships are available on the Moto G7 Power though. Only Moto Actions and Moto Display, which are configurable in the Moto app.

All the favorite Motorola gestures are included, like lifting the phone to unlock it, the ability to edit screenshots after taking them, the one-button navigation and so forth. These are all able to be turned on and off individually. So if you don’t want them all on, but you do want a couple on, you can do just that. Making things a lot more user-friendly.

Moto Display is still said to be the best always-on display option out there, and it has been around since 2014. With Moto Display, you can quickly see what notifications you have, as well as the date, time and battery percentage, without turning on the display. You can also drag your finger up on one of the notification icons to see more information on it. It’s a simple always-on display option, but it works really well. Motorola hasn’t really changed it in the past few years, and there’s really no need too. It does what it needs to do, and does it well.

The single camera on the Moto G7 Power is actually rather impressive. If you are able to give the camera enough light, it can produce some images that you’d think came from a much more expensive smartphone. Like the image in the Flickr Gallery linked below, of the Roborock S5 vacuum. That had plenty of light, and it actually came out pretty good. It didn’t blow out the background, or kill the colors either. Those are two issues we normally see with smartphones in this price range.

When it comes to low-light situations, the Moto G7 Power does struggle a bit. That shouldn’t be a surprise, given it is a single sensor and it’s not a great sensor in the first place. But it can take pictures at night and they are usable. They aren’t as great as the Google Pixel 3 with Night Sight included, but not too bad either. The bottom line with the camera on the Moto G7 Power is the fact that it is great for taking photos for Facebook and Instagram. But if you’re looking to use this to replace your DSLR, that’s not going to happen.

The Design is better than you’d expect for this Price

Motorola did follow the crowd and added a notch on the Moto G7 Power. But it’s an okay thing to do, because of the low price-point on this particular smartphone. It is also is a glass and metal sandwich, which may be a bit surprising when you see the price tag. It feels really good in the hand, the Moto G7 Power also feels great in the hand since the backside is almost completely flat. This is due to the phone being thicker than most others, thanks to that massive battery that is inside.

Thankfully, Motorola also kept the headphone jack, it’s up top where it should be too.

The design is not flashy, but it does feel more premium than you would expect from this smartphone. The downside, however is that with this being glass, it does pick up fingerprints pretty easily, which is unfortunate. But you’ll just have to wipe it down every once in a while to keep it looking clean.

The Moto G7 Power and the rest of the Moto G7 lineup is a pretty big upgrade from the Moto G6 lineup, and having this phone available is a big deal for a lot of people. Some want a phone that will last a couple of days on a charge, and the Moto G7 Power fits that bill. Some also want something that’s cheap, but can still get stuff done, the Moto G7 Power also fits that bill. It’s a good all-around smartphone from Motorola, and for just $250, it’s going to be difficult to find something else that can compete with it on price, specs and features.

Motorola’s Moto G7 Power is available now from Amazon, and it is available as a Prime Exclusive and as a non-Prime Exclusive smartphone. The Prime Exclusive version is only available for Prime members, and it also has Amazon apps pre-installed. It’s a good option for those that already use Amazon apps.