Moto G9 Power Review: Huge battery on a budget

The G9 Power is a component of a reasonably long lineage of long-lasting devices from Motorola. But it is a rather different phone to its predecessor: not only does it boost the battery capacity (up from 5,000mAh during this G8 Power to 6000mAh here), it also ups the screen size - but cuts the resolution - while simplifying the camera experience to form for a stripped-back and even cheaper device.

It's fairly rare to ascertain product prices drop generation to generation, but that's exactly what the G9 Power has gone with. That places it into a really affordable bracket, aiming at those looking to shop for a phone outright for SIM-only use. It's got some specifications that miss the mark, but at this price that's entirely expected, so how does the complete experience stack up?

Display

Screen size (inches)	6.8 IPS LCD
Touchscreen	Yes
Resolution	720x1640 pixels
Finishes	Electric Violet & Metallic Sage
Fingerprint Sensor	Rear
3.5 mm Headphone Jack	Yes

Because there's such an enormous battery inside the Moto G9 Power is quite chunky. But we're not talking morbidly obese. This handset has rounded edges and corners, while its footprint isn't that different to several current top-end flagship devices, so it's fairly comfortable to carry. it isn't lightweight, though, being about an equivalent as an iPhone 12 Pro Max - i.e. one among the most important, most complete phones on the market immediately.

Not that Motorola is looking to compete directly with such an Apple product. the corporate has been slowly but surely refining its handsets over the years, trimming back on the bezel, on excesses, and within the case of the G9 Power on some features too. There's still, the much-desired staples here - the three .5mm headphone jack is in fact, for instance - but while there is a rear fingerprint scanner it's positioned thus far up the device's body that it is a little bit of a pain-in-the-backside to use.

The G9 Power's screen bezels are trimmed to a relative minimum, too, delivering a rather large 6.8-inch panel (on the diagonal measure) - which suggests there is a lot of screen real-estate to occupy your eyes. There is no notch either, although the punch-hole front camera may be a wider diameter than you will see on many other devices, and, as such, it is a little eye-catching during a not-so-good way.

But the large downer about the G9 Power's screen is that the resolution: it'd attempt to sell it as an "HD+" resolution, but with just 720 by 1640 pixels it's closer to the "HD Ready" tellies from years back. For a product you employ fairly on the brink of your face that limited pixel density are often seen - games boast jaggies on diagonal lines, details just lack compared to what else you'll get on the market. But, hey, this is often a sub-£/$200 phone, so it's well in line with what to expect.

In terms of design and finish, the G9 Power feels fairly plasticky because, well, it is. But it's robust and well built enough to survive its share of (unintended) abuse. We're not totally sold on the purple or green colour options though - subdued because the "Metallic Sage" option looks compared to its name, it's hardly top-end eye-candy. The subtle texture to the rear does bring some dynamism, though, while fingerprints are fairly hidden within the main.

Performance & Battery

Processor make	Snapdragon 662
RAM	4 GB
Internal storage	64GB
OS	Android 10
Battery	6000 mAh
USB Type-C	Yes
Fast Charging	20W

When handling budget phones you would possibly not expect great performance, but actually, we've found the G9 Power to handle reasonably well as a day-to-day device. No, it isn't a flagship replacement, but you already knew that it wouldn't be for this type of cash.

Under the hood may be a Snapdragon 662 chipset, which is sweet enough for handling multiple apps and even some gaming. So if you are a Candy Crush fiend or, like us, love a touch of South Park: Phone Destroyer then there's nothing game-breaking in here. The phone's graphical chops aren't 100 percent up to task, though, as you will see certain textures aren't rendered sharply and sometimes frame-rates drop. But we have seen tons worse and it's all manageable.

The much bigger sell for the G9 Power is its battery life. That 6,000mAh cell is around 50 percent greater in capacity than many competitors, making it a genuinely two-dayer between charges. The way the battery decreases seems really consistent, too, whatever task we've thrown its way the graph of depletion remains on an almost fixed curve.

The phone comes with a 20W TurboPower charger within the box, while there is a USB-C connection on the bottom - so when it does come to recharging, it doesn't take too long. Which is handy, given how massive this battery capacity is.

So the G9 Power's overall Google Android-based software experience is pretty strong, avoiding hiccups but sometimes being a touch slow to serve results. Furthermore the Wi-Fi connectivity is slow - an extended complaint of ours for the facility series - so larger documents and apps can take longer to download. there's 128GB onboard as standard and microSD expansion is out there do you have to want to save lots of tons more files and photos.

Motorola is additionally adept at not overloading its software with excesses. There's one app - called Moto - which handles some additional controls: Personalise, Gestures (Actions), What's New, Display, and Play (Gametime). So whether it's picking new wallpapers, using actions - like a physical motion to mute - or for games to activate don't Disturb, it's all here.

Unlike its pricier predecessor the G9 Power also add NFC (near field communication) so it's possible to use it for wireless payments, like Google Pay.

Cameras

Rear camera	64-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2 megapixel
Rear autofocus	Yes
Rear flash	Yes
Front camera	16-megapixel

The Moto G9 Power doesn't attempt to go all fancy when it involves cameras. there is a main 64-megapixel unit, which uses four-in-one processing to output 16-megapixels by default. That helps to retain extra detail - and therefore the actual photos from this camera are fairly decent in terms of sharpness.

The G9 Power's problems are found in its speed - or lack thereof. The camera application is basically slow and laggy when actually taking an image. it isn't a strong phone, so you will need a gentle hand to make sure you are not caught out by that shutter lag (and there is no optical stabilization either).

Look at the camera unit to the rear and you would possibly wonder why there are four circles. It's because, additionally to a light-weight, there are actually three lenses in total. The addition of a depth sensor and macro camera, however, adds little of use to the experience. The depth sensor is for assisting with background blur in Portrait mode, but it is a bit hit and miss, while the macro lens fails to focus then snaps into suggesting to revert to the quality camera instead - so we've taken no successful close-ups with this lens.

On the front the 16-megapixel selfie camera peeps out of that oversize punch-hole opening, delivering resolute enough results. it isn't as ready to resolve quality also because of the main rear camera.

The Moto G9 Power are some things of a gear change for the series. It ups the battery life compared to its predecessor, making for an ultra long-lasting handset while achieving a lower cost point too.

However, as a result of that price shift some spec has had to offer. The screen features a noticeably low the resolution, while the processing and graphical power is restricted - to not the purpose it's problematic for many applications, but it does have some impact on gaming and therefore the camera app is slow and laggy.

It's about an equivalent price but features a higher-resolution screen, which is its big one-up over Motorola. However, the software experience isn't as up to scratch, and therefore the battery - while still massive - can't match the G9 Power for longevity either.