Moto G Stylus 5G Review: The Best Stylus Phone

Motorola’s 2024 Moto G Stylus 5G has arrived, and it has numerous significant changes over its predecessor, making it a superior mid-range smartphone. However, as usual, its main selling feature is the built-in stylus, which Motorola upgraded this year to make it more responsive. But the question is if the stylus is still the only selling point for the new Moto G Stylus 5G, or if something else would entice shoppers to choose it over the competition.

The good news is that this iteration features fresh new cameras that perform remarkably well for a Moto G phone. If you choose the new G Stylus, you will also get some of the finest battery life on the market right now and several other notable features. The bad news is that, for the most part, the competition provides more value for your money. For many customers, the disadvantages of the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) may exceed the benefits, particularly when it comes to software updates. So let’s examine what we’ve got here.

MOTO G STYLUS KEY FEATURE

The Moto G Stylus range has been a North American exclusive for a few years now, and it has a sizable fanbase overseas. Our curiosity was eventually satisfied, and we imported the most recent Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) model from the United States. Meet one of the few phones that isn’t a Note, although it certainly earns the name better than others.

The Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) closely resembles the most recent Moto Edge 50 series, whether Fusion, Pro, or Ultra. It boasts a thin design, a huge screen, and a one-of-a-kind eco-leather back shell that surrounds the rear cameras. The only significant difference between the Edge and the Stylus is the lack of total water protection; the Stylus has a water-repellent design, a fancy term Motorola uses for the basic IP52 classification.

The Moto G Stylus 5G has a 6.7-inch pOLED 1080p display with 1 billion colors and a 120Hz refresh rate. It uses the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor and 8GB of RAM, just like the Latin American version of the Moto Edge 50 Fusion.

The Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) has a dual camera setup on the rear, including a 50MP OIS primary with 2x lossless zoom and a 13MP ultrawide camera with macro capability. The front camera is 32MP. The phone has strong stereo speakers, a big 5,000mAh battery with rapid wired and wireless charging, and a clean Android 14 OS.

The 2024 Stylus model is a significant upgrade over the 2023 edition; although it uses the same chipset, it has a considerably better design, display, cameras, and, most notably, significantly enhanced stylus capabilities, including reduced latency, OCR, and improved stylus-related apps.

MOTO G STYLUS UNBOXING

The Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 comes in a tiny paper package that has the phone and a USB-C connection. That is it.

There is no charger, no case, and no perfumed box (unlike the Edge series in the rest of the world).

CAMERA

Moto G phones aren’t known for their photography abilities, with the best-case scenario being that the on-board cameras can capture decent images that you’d be glad to share with loved ones. To accomplish this, the Moto G Stylus 5G employs a 50MP primary sensor capable of 2x zooming by cropping in for a close-up. A 13MP ultrawide camera that also functions as a macro lens rounds up the back camera array.

The Pixel 8a is now the best camera phone under $500, therefore I utilized the Pixel 7a I had on hand in my comparisons, as the two Google handsets have identical camera specifications. The Moto G Stylus compares favorably to the Pixel 7a, and you can expect it to compete with the more recent cheap Pixel.

The Moto G Stylus captures this image of a fajita dish beautifully. The peppers and onions are extremely vivid, as is the rice in the rear of the plate. I believe the Pixel 7a shot has deeper tones – look at the sear marks on the steak strips and the sharp edges on the pico de gallo components. Still, I’m satisfied with the Moto G Stylus’ performance there.

In low-light conditions, the Moto G Stylus cameras perform less reliably. I tried to photograph my daughter posing at one of the more perplexing obstacles on a miniature golf course, but her puzzled expression is almost completely lost in the shadows. The Pixel 7a does a better job of balancing the image, brightening some of the shadows so you can see her features. In the Pixel shot, the homunculus she’s posed next to is also a brighter yellow.

Remember how the Moto G Stylus handled skin tones so well in my daughter’s photo shot? When I took a selfie with the phone’s 32MP front camera, the results were rather different.

The Moto G Stylus sample looks fine, but the Pixel 7a’s tendency to highlight dark tones makes me appear less ashen in that photo. Plus, I believe Google’s phone did a better job of maintaining the attention on the right edge of my hair. The Moto G Stylus takes decent selfies, but is not the best in its class.

DESIGN AND SCREEN

The Moto G Stylus 5G’s 2024 generation features a new design. The rear panel is no longer plastic; instead, it now features a vegan leather (silicone) surface that is nicer to the touch and less likely to slip out of your hands or pocket. However, the frame is still plastic, so it does not seem particularly nice overall.

The vegan leather on the camera island appears to be a bed cover that was softly laid on top to outline the edges. This is the same strategy and design as Motorola’s premium Edge 50 series, which debuted earlier this year. The island is considerably larger than in prior generations, allowing it to contain larger lenses for the main and ultra-wide cameras.

Size-wise, the new Moto G Stylus 5G is significantly slimmer and lighter than its predecessor, with a thickness of 8.3mm and a weight of 190g versus 9.2mm and 202g for the G Stylus from 2023. It used to be a more difficult phone to grip, but after this adjustment, I can confidently declare that the 2024 G Stylus 5G is more comfortable in my hand.

It is still a large phone, measuring 162.6mm x 74.8mm, which is the same height as the Galaxy A35 5G but around 3mm narrower. Of course, I tried using the stylus, even though I am not a fan of them. I have to admit, however, that editing photographs in Lightroom Mobile and taking notes throughout the day were probably the two use cases that prompted me to consider purchasing a stylus phone. The one here seemed to work well for my purposes, but I don’t think it’s suitable for other creative work because it’s not the most precise one out there.

Motorola has reduced the latency of the built-in stylus, making it more responsive and thus a more comfortable experience. The pen menu has also been enhanced, and it now shows when you drag the stylus out of the phone, which is a convenient shortcut that saves time.

Unfortunately, the unwrapping experience is not as luxurious as Motorola’s more premium Edge devices, which have a pleasant aroma when opened. With the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024), you only get the phone and a USB-C cable. Of course, you also receive a SIM card.

The Moto G Stylus 5G’s display was already quite outstanding, especially given its 120Hz refresh rate. However, it lacked contrast and color. Fortunately, Motorola has replaced the previous model’s LCD panel with an OLED one.

The new display appears much better, as one would anticipate when moving to OLED. I had a terrific time watching videos and even Netflix episodes on my commute to and from work. I was also shocked at how apparent the 2024 G Stylus display was outside, so kudos to Motorola for improving the brightness.

The bezels are fairly uniform, with the bottom one being somewhat thicker. It doesn’t have the seamless quality look of higher-end phones, but all bezels are slim enough to be unobtrusive, at least by my standards.

HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?

The Moto G Stylus has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but you can add a microSD card of up to 2 TB. The Pixel 8a comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of non-user-expandable storage, whilst the Galaxy A35 has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage.

The phone continues to use the slightly obsolete Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset from last year’s edition. Nonetheless, it handled regular activities efficiently and did not slow down when I ran many apps at the same time.

Benchmark tests revealed reasonable performance. On the Geekbench 6 CPU test, which measures overall power, the phone scored 934 on the single-core test and 2,766 on the multi-core test. These performances outperformed last year’s model (690 and 2,457, respectively), while the Pixel 8a’s Tensor G3 chip achieved significantly higher scores of 1,545 and 4,208. The Exynos 1380 CPU in the Galaxy A35 performed better as well, scoring 1,010 and 2,790 respectively.

On the GFXBench Aztec Ruins gaming test with 1,140 pixels, the Moto G Stylus performed worse than the Pixel 8a. It only reached 10fps, which is far lower than the Pixel 8a’s 55fps.

Geshin Impact runs quite smoothly on the phone, stuttering primarily during intense battle scenes. However, the phone became warm to the touch after only 10 minutes. Less intensive games, such as Alto’s Odyssey, performed flawlessly without overheating the phone. If overall computational power and games are important, the Google Pixel 8a is a superior option.

Buy it if...

• Stylish design with eco-leather back.
• Large and brilliant OLED, 120Hz.
• Good battery life.
• Loud stereo speakers.
• Adequate performance and stability.
• Excellent shots day and night.
• A clean operating system with several Moto advantages.
• Built-in stylus and pen-optimized apps.

Don't buy it if…

• There is no official water intrusion rating.
• The basic stylus lacks pressure sensitivity and active remote features.
• The screen does not support HDR video.
• There was no charger in the box.
• The video recording quality is mediocre.
• Only one OS upgrade was promised.

FULL SPECIFICATION