It was a Sunday night and my spouse, canine, and I have been lounging in our dwelling after an extended stroll. My pup appeared notably photogenic within the heat rays of the sundown filtering by way of my dusty home windows, so I took my telephone’s stylus out for a fast sketch. I confirmed my outcomes to my spouse and she began cackling. I blame the pen.
I do not thoughts getting access to a built-in stylus on a smartphone. I do not use them a lot, however they are often enjoyable for doodling and useful for signing paperwork. I notably take pleasure in utilizing the stylus in Samsung’s smartphones as a distant shutter for the digital camera, however this is not a operate obtainable on Motorola’s telephones. Alas, the styli remained inside their housing for a lot of my time with the brand new Moto G Stylus ($200) and Moto G Stylus 5G ($400). Still, if it is one thing you know you need, these are nearly the one low cost telephones with one.
Classic G
The new Stylus fashions are completely effective Android phones, however they’re removed from my first alternative in case you’re simply after a cheap phone. They’re part of Motorola’s 2023 Moto G lineup, which additionally consists of the Moto G Play ($170), Moto G 5G ($250), and Moto G Power 5G ($300). Whew. Design-wise, they appear to be the dictionary’s definition of “smartphone” and aren’t too unwieldy to carry, although they’re slippery. Thank goodness there is no glass on the again—one much less space to crack.
It’s cheaper, however the Moto G Stylus is tougher to advocate than its sibling. It would not have any 5G connectivity, which is the least you’ll be able to anticipate from a telephone lately—sure, even on a decent funds. If Samsung’s $200 Galaxy A14 5G has it, there is no purpose Motorola cannot embody it. The slower speeds of 4G LTE have been noticeable when downloading away from Wi-Fi.
This telephone is powered by a MediaTek Helio G85 chipset with 4 GB of RAM. My benchmark assessments present a tiny enchancment over last year’s Moto G Stylus, however my outcomes have been nonetheless barely down from the 2021 model. I don’t know why a funds telephone from two years in the past has higher efficiency, however it did. Day to day, I used to be in a position to handle simply effective. Games like Pako Forever ran effectively sufficient, and I used to be in a position to ship emails, browse Instagram, and reply to messages. Daily, some apps would take some time to launch, and issues would stutter lots when switching between apps. Launching the digital camera is very gradual—do not ever anticipate to snap a photograph shortly.
The Moto G Stylus 5G steps issues up a number of notches. As the title suggests, there’s 5G assist, so it is typically extra responsive as you browse and use the telephone on a mobile connection. It additionally has a superior Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor with 4 GB of RAM, which places its efficiency barely decrease than Samsung’s Galaxy A54 5G. There are nonetheless just a few stutters and hangups, however every little thing feels a lot snappier, and it isn’t anyplace close to as irritating to make use of.
