A budget Moto phone for power users

Motorola’s funds lineup has been by means of some difficult evolutions through the years. It’s added and eliminated choices on each ends, from one-off experiments with the ultra-cheap Moto G Pure, to the Moto G Stylus and Moto G Energy frequently buying and selling locations as the highest possibility. Typically, it means there’s an inexpensive Motorola system for everybody, nevertheless it typically leaves me confused about which one to advocate. Not anymore.

The $400 Moto G Stylus (2025) is the simplest low cost Motorola cellphone to advocate, and right here’s why.

Together with Motorola’s uncertainty over the right way to area its budget Android phones, it’s undergone a number of design swings through the years. Once I began reviewing telephones, Motorola was all about vibrant colours with centrally positioned digital camera bumps. I liked virtually all of them as a result of they made in any other case low cost telephones appear and feel extra thrilling. Then, it appeared like Motorola was content material to roll out grey rectangle after grey rectangle, full with corner-mounted cameras that appeared like most different budget-minded Android telephones. That mentality seeped out into the mid-range and flagship Edge launches, too, which had me fearful about what the way forward for my favourite Moto designs would appear to be.

Not too long ago, although, Motorola has rediscovered its enjoyable roots. It’s jumped headfirst again into vibrant Pantone colours throughout all worth factors, from the top-end Razr Ultra all the way down to essentially the most inexpensive, and outright dangerous Moto G (2025). For the 2025 iteration of the Moto G Stylus (there’s just one mannequin this 12 months, so no LTE-only confusion), which means a duo of gorgeous blue shades, Gibraltar Sea and Surf The Internet, each with vegan leather-based again panels. I’m glad Motorola despatched me Surf The Internet, because it’s a bit extra of a royal blue than the Gibraltar Sea’s navy blue, however I’d take both one over the muted grays and pale purples that Samsung likes to roll out at this worth level.

It’s not simply the change in coloration preferences that’s swept Motorola’s current lineups, although — I feel its Moto G designs look higher than ever, too. Sure, they’re all at the least considerably impressed by the brand new Motorola Edge blueprints in the identical manner that Samsung’s Galaxy A collection pulls proper from the Galaxy S25 trio, however I feel it really works out a bit higher in Motorola’s favor. The place Samsung’s low cost telephones are likely to look fairly generic with their easy digital camera cutouts, the Moto G Stylus may fall anyplace in Motorola’s vary, from being a budget cellphone it’s to tricking you into considering it’s a flagship Edge system.

Outdoors of the overall plastic-ness of the Moto G Stylus, the gradual, regular enchancment in construct high quality would virtually make you assume it’s an Edge system, too. Up to now, a few of Motorola’s funds choices have had points with some flex to the again panels, however I haven’t observed any of that right here. The plastic body can also be inflexible sufficient for me to proceed utilizing the cellphone with no case, although I may think that combining a MIL-STD 810H ranking in opposition to drops and IP68 certification for water and mud provides to a few of my funds peace of thoughts.

In fact, I can’t faux that Motorola’s construct high quality matches that of its Galaxy A collection rivals, because the precise alternative of supplies actually doesn’t. Though Motorola upgraded its sturdiness scores this time, the Moto G Stylus (2025) continues to be largely plastic with only a Gorilla Glass 3 show, whereas the Galaxy A36 5G places Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus Plus on each the back and front. Whereas I feel I may in all probability let this one slip out of my arms a couple of times, I’d really feel higher about barely more durable glass on most surfaces.

After which, there’s the Moto G Stylus’s signature function — its stylus. Today, it’s just about your solely possibility if you’d like a cellphone with a built-in stylus however can’t stump up the money for Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Extremely. Truthfully, the extent of performance between the 2 isn’t a lot totally different. Now that Samsung has eradicated Air Actions and the power to make use of the S Pen as a distant digital camera shutter, it’s not rather more than a tapping and drawing possibility, regardless of costing thrice as a lot.

On prime of that, Motorola’s stylus controls are, nicely, simpler. Once you slip the stylus from its housing on the backside proper nook, it routinely opens a menu with Moto Notice, Screenshot, Free-form Crop, and Sketch to Picture buttons. The Moto G Stylus additionally helps a Handwriting Calculator, which is a intelligent concept that I’ve tried a couple of times, however I don’t do sufficient math to justify its presence, neither is my handwriting adequate for the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset to distinguish my 7s from my 2s each time.

Additionally, whereas evaluating a $400 Android cellphone to a $1,300 one in most respects is unfair, I’ve to present Motorola credit score for creating the rather more comfy design right here. Samsung’s huge, flat-topped (and bottomed) body has by no means been very comfy to me, whether or not it had barely rounded sides or not, but the Moto G Stylus places simply the appropriate stage of roundness round all 4 sides. It by no means feels prefer it’s digging into the palm of my hand, which makes utilizing its 6.7-inch AMOLED rather more fulfilling.

The show itself is simply plain good, too. Motorola caught with just-okay LCDs for some time not that way back, so to see it improve 12 months after 12 months to the purpose the place it peaks at almost 1,000 nits brighter than the Galaxy A36 5G and has a barely increased decision (444 pixels per inch as an alternative of 385) makes it really feel like Motorola has just a bit bit extra to present to the funds section proper now. Motorola has additionally greater than rectified the terrible viewing angles that plagued the Moto G Energy a number of years in the past, making it in order that I can comfortably control the Moto G Stylus whether or not I’m working across the kitchen or attempting to maintain up with NWSL and MLS matches concurrently.

I’m, sadly for the Moto G Stylus, reviewing a few tablets on the identical time proper now, so it’s been robust to select a 6.7-inch show as my major streaming companion, however I’ve been happy with it as a strategy to test highlights whereas working benchmarks on different gadgets or waste time in Pokémon Go and Stardew Valley, each of which I’ve picked again up after an extended, very long time away. I additionally admire that this cellphone nonetheless has a headphone jack reverse its stylus on the underside edge, displaying that sure, Samsung, you’ll be able to have each with out dropping a 5,000mAh battery.

The final word I’ve on the Moto G Stylus (2025) design considerations its packaging. In the previous couple of years, Motorola has adopted naturally coloured, plastic-free packaging for its Moto G gadgets and a few of its Edge gadgets, and I anticipated that to proceed this time round. As an alternative, my evaluate unit arrived in a white field with some barely shiny textual content on it, which seems like Motorola going again on a number of of its eco-minded objectives. I suppose packaging doesn’t matter an excessive amount of within the grand scheme of issues, however I appreciated giving Motorola a inexperienced thumbs up for its efforts prior to now, and now I can’t inform if I can nonetheless accomplish that.

In fact, constructing a handsome funds cellphone is barely half the battle — I’ve praised loads of low cost designs through the years solely to show round and report that they’re little greater than fairly faces. Nevertheless, what earns the Moto G Stylus factors in my e book is that it reaches somewhat bit increased. It combines stable internals with its eye-catching design and in the end has extra of a declare to the Moto G Energy title than the Energy itself.

Particularly, the Moto G Stylus packs a extra environment friendly Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset (constructed with a 4nm course of) as an alternative of the Moto G Energy’s Dimensity 6300 chipset (constructed with a 6nm course of). The Stylus additionally doubles the Energy’s base storage with 256GB as an alternative of 128, although each telephones enable for enlargement by way of microSD playing cards and provide matching 8GB of RAM. As at all times, the spec sheet solely tells a part of the story, so it’s time to run the Moto G Stylus by means of our typical set of benchmarks and select a number of alternative rivals.

So, I stacked up somewhat little bit of all the pieces. I picked out the Moto G Energy (2025) to determine which Motorola cellphone had the very best declare to energy, in addition to Samsung’s Galaxy A26 5G and A36 5G, the latter of which additionally makes use of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset. Then, for good measure, I added Nothing’s Telephone 3a Professional, which is a bit more costly however steps as much as the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset for somewhat extra punch.

Throughout the board, the outcomes had been… unsurprising, virtually to the purpose of being boring. The Telephone 3a Professional set the tone in each single-core and multi-core CPU efficiency, whereas the Moto G Stylus and Galaxy A36 5G had been neck and neck in second place. The Stylus and each Galaxy gadgets then jumped previous Nothing’s first Professional-grade funds cellphone (a contradiction if ever I’ve written one) within the extra complete PCMark Work check, as did the weaker Moto G Energy.

Switching over to the graphics facet, the 20-run Wild Life stress check put the Telephone 3a Professional proper again on prime of the pile, with the remainder of the opponents shaking out in descending order by worth. The Moto G Stylus (2025) got here up simply in need of the Galaxy A36 5G however stayed simply above the Galaxy A26 5G, all of which simply breezed previous the Moto G Energy (2025).

I’d say the Moto G Stylus’s day-to-day efficiency mirrors its benchmarking outcomes, too — good and dependable, even when not on the prime of the pile. It’s spent most of its time with me as a backup system, popping out largely after I’d put down the Razr Extremely or Galaxy S25 Edge for an hour or two whereas reviewing them. By way of that, although, it’s responded to virtually all the pieces I’ve requested, tackling social media scrolling and mindlessly listening to YouTube playlists by means of my wired Marshall headphones, just because I had to make use of the headphone jack finally.

It has, in fact, additionally include me as my default Pokémon Go machine, giving me an opportunity to discover a recreation I haven’t performed for the reason that finish of school. Even with the heavy mixture of GPS monitoring and near-constant graphics utilization between the frequent gyms and Pokestops right here within the metropolis, the Stylus has taken to my adventures fairly nicely, solely slowing down a couple of times on an 80-degree day that may have put a hurting on nearly any cellphone.

One factor you might need anticipated just a bit little bit of in a productivity-minded system, although, is an AI function or two. In spite of everything, Motorola simply rolled out a brand new suite of Moto AI enhancements to its current Razr launch, a lot of which is headed for the Edge lineup, too. Sadly, that appears to be the place it’s staying for now, because the Moto G Stylus solely will get Sketch to Picture with its stylus and Circle to Search, which has turn out to be as widespread as Google Lens.

Oh, and when you’re after an inexpensive cellphone which you could hold for some time, you won’t be thrilled to listen to that the Moto G Stylus is barely in line for 2 Android updates and a 3rd 12 months of safety patches. Samsung’s Galaxy A36 5G will get six years of assist on the identical worth level, and the marginally dearer Pixel 9a provides a seventh 12 months to the combination. On the brilliant facet, Motorola has cleaned up the bloatware in Good day UX, paring down the Moto G Stylus to a gaming folder and Look widget by default. You’ll have to uninstall 1Weather, which is annoyingly nonetheless right here, nevertheless it’s simple sufficient to do.

After which, there’s the battery life — the opposite piece of Motorola’s inexpensive productiveness puzzle. Like most inexpensive Motorola telephones, the Moto G Stylus packs a hearty 5,000mAh cell, and I’ve had no issues placing it by means of greater than a day’s value of labor. Curiously, our managed battery drain check would make you assume it falls far behind Nothing’s Telephone 3a and 3a Professional, however I feel the precise efficiency is about even. I’ve referred to as on it for a barely totally different mixture of duties in usually hotter climate, however I haven’t confronted a lot battery nervousness.

Even when I had, the Moto G Stylus (2025) claims a number of the greatest charging at this worth level. In actual fact, it expenses sooner than any Galaxy system or Pixel, irrespective of how a lot you spend. Motorola packed its prime funds providing with blistering 68W wired TurboPower charging and 15W wi-fi charging for good measure.

In my expertise, the wired capabilities (with a compatible charger) can get you again in your ft in only a shade below an hour — the identical time it takes to fill Nothing’s Telephone 3a with a USB PD PPS charger. I did have somewhat hassle reaching peak speeds earlier than I noticed Motorola’s TurboPower block solely appears to belief the cellphone’s included USB-C cable, which has identifiable pink ideas, for the complete 68W price. I’m undecided why that’s, nevertheless it’s one thing to bear in mind.

With Motorola’s funds telephones pulling more and more from its flagship Edge lineup, it solely is sensible that the Moto G Stylus’s digital camera bump appears acquainted. To my eye, it’s about the identical dimension because the one on the Edge (2025), and it has an identical orientation of three sensors. There’s only one downside, although: The Moto G Stylus (2025) solely has two rear cameras. So, that third sensor that sits under the flash is simply type of, nicely, there for appearances.

The excellent news, at the least, is that Motorola selected two fairly stable sensors for its stylus-toting funds cellphone. The 50MP major sensor is identical stacked LYTIA 700C that Motorola used on its Edge (2025), and it has popped up on different nice camera phones. It delivers some fairly stable ends in good lighting. I admire that Motorola didn’t merely slap an inexpensive 50MP sensor on there and name it a day, because the shared sensor means the funds and flagship gadgets ought to course of photos fairly equally.

Motorola’s second shooter is a reasonably commonplace 13MP ultrawide sensor with a 120-degree subject of view. This one doesn’t match the sensor on the Edge, although, as you’ll see in a second, it appears to course of its photos higher than the Razr Extremely did at launch. There’s no bizarre darkening impact within the sky, nor do I really feel like the colours are fairly as overblown — they’re punchy, simply inside extra affordable limits.

Anyway, let’s get to some samples.

The primary row of photographs provides you a reasonably good concept of how the Moto G Stylus handles a sunny day. There are punchy colours from left to proper, whether or not the topic is up shut, just like the set of rainbow balloons, or somewhat additional away, just like the dry-docked boat on the appropriate facet. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be Motorola is counting on vivid colours to cowl over worse particulars, both. It’s simple to select particular person droplets of rain on the balloons, and you may simply select totally different folks strolling across the background of Baltimore’s Little Italy Pageant.

I’m additionally happy with the portrait mode detection on the colourful signal I noticed in Washington, DC. Sure, it has fairly well-defined edges, however the Moto G Stylus additionally blurred the tiny gap in the course of the signal, a pleasant contact that different funds telephones typically miss.

This second row presents an identical have a look at the Moto G Stylus’s coloration recreation. It makes my brunch forward of the Grand Slam Monitor occasion in Philadelphia look nearly pretty much as good because it tasted — and it tasted fairly good. Spring is one thing like avenue honest season right here in Baltimore, so when I discovered myself with a closed avenue and an awesome view of one of many metropolis’s older church buildings, I needed to seize a snap or two. Regardless of not having a devoted telephoto sensor, I’m happy with the central crop from the 50MP major sensor, and I don’t discover any shift in coloration profile from 1x zoom.

Shifting to the ultrawide sensor — and the software-based macro mode — it looks like Motorola has higher management over a constant coloration science than in years previous. I’ve examined my fair proportion of Moto G gadgets that include important shifts from the first sensor to the ultrawide, however I don’t really feel like that’s the case right here. The 13MP sensor nonetheless holds onto first rate particulars from its bigger pixels, and the punchier colours carry somewhat extra life to my photographs, particularly within the flags in entrance of the Washington Monument.

This time, the brilliant pinks of the hydrangea I captured in macro mode appear to bleed collectively only a bit. I do know there aren’t sharp edges throughout the flowers themselves, so the Moto G Stylus is including some sharpening after the actual fact, and whereas it really works for the water droplets, it emphasizes a number of of the wrinkles within the flowers just a bit bit an excessive amount of.

I’ve already talked about the dearth of a telephoto sensor, which could trace at how the Moto G Stylus handles longer focal lengths, which is to say that it doesn’t, actually. I feel the cellphone is simply positive as much as about 4x zoom, because the US Capitol nonetheless appears sharp sufficient with okay particulars within the bushes lining the Nationwide Mall. I’d really feel positive posting that one to my Instagram story with out zooming in, although I wouldn’t say the identical for the shot at 10x zoom. Sure, it’s nonetheless identifiable because the US Capitol, nevertheless it seems like a lower-resolution rendering, and I can solely select the yellow Penske truck within the foreground as a result of I’ve seen the identical one a thousand instances across the metropolis.

Wrapping us up, the Moto G Stylus (2025) has a 32MP punch-hole selfie digital camera on the prime of its 6.7-inch show. It’s completely positive on your primary selfie wants — I’ve no points with the small print in portrait or commonplace modes, although I’m undecided I really like the shift in picture processing. I feel the usual selfie appears somewhat extra color-accurate, placing a barely darker shadow onto my shirt, whereas the portrait shot makes all the pieces appear somewhat bit brighter. It’s a slight shift, however one which I discover after having taken selfies on so many Android gadgets. On the very least, Motorola’s portrait detection is spot-on.

If you happen to’re eyeing the Moto G Stylus as an inexpensive video shooter, know that it tops out with 4K recording at 30fps from each the entrance and rear cameras, although it could possibly additionally document 1080p footage at 60fps. I largely caught to 4K video whereas strolling across the festivals in Baltimore, and I got here away fairly impressed with the stabilization in my clips, although I’d have appreciated to see 4K at 60fps assist for $400.

You’ll be able to try full-resolution variations of all of my digital camera samples (and several other dozen extra) at this Google Drive link.

If there’s one low cost Motorola cellphone value recommending, it’s this one — easy as that. Sure, the Moto G Energy would possibly provide a barely extra sturdy Gorilla Glass 5 show, however the Moto G Stylus (2025) checks all the opposite packing containers on its manner down. It’s extra highly effective, expenses sooner, presents higher coloration choices (largely as a result of Surf The Internet beats Leaf Inexperienced in my e book), and comes with the identical dependable IP68 certification, even when it skips the IP69 add-on. Oh, and it comes with a built-in stylus for added flexibility, which you’ll solely get from the Galaxy S25 Extremely in any other case.

That mentioned, the Moto G Stylus (2025) nonetheless suffers from a few traditional Motorola stumbles. There’s nonetheless a little bit of bloatware within the type of a gaming folder which you could flip off and 1Weather, which you must instantly uninstall — however at the least it’s much less bloat than in earlier generations. Proper now, the larger downside with recommending a budget-friendly Motorola system is that its software program assist is second to, nicely, everybody else. Two Android updates and a 3rd 12 months of safety patches aren’t sufficient when rivals like Samsung offer more than double that, and Google goes to seven years when you choose up a Pixel.

And whenever you put a reasonably brief expiration date on a $400 Android cellphone, it turns into a lot simpler to look elsewhere on your subsequent system. Positive, you might have a look at Motorola’s in-house Moto G Power (2025) ($299.99 at Amazon), which has the identical digital camera strengths, related light-weight software program, and almost similar vegan leather-based finishes, nevertheless it has the identical weaknesses, too. It’s saddled with the identical bloatware, the identical brief replace dedication, and drops all the way down to 30W wired charging as an alternative of 68W. That’s nonetheless fairly good in comparison with most choices from Samsung and Google, however much less thrilling whenever you’ve tried true TurboPower.

Outdoors of the Motorola umbrella, Samsung’s budget-minded Galaxy A collection in all probability makes essentially the most sense. Its Galaxy A36 5G ($399.99 at Amazon) is almost an ideal match for the Moto G Stylus, as long as you’ll be able to dwell with out the eponymous function. The 2 telephones share similar chipsets, matching batteries, and 6.7-inch AMOLED panels, whereas Samsung’s possibility provides a 3rd digital camera to the combination — a devoted 5MP macro sensor. The Galaxy A36 5G does come out comfortably forward of the Moto G Stylus by way of sturdiness, although, sandwiching Gorilla Glass Victus Plus on each side of its plastic body.

If you happen to dwell exterior the US, you may also need to try the Nothing Phone 3a ($379.99 at Amazon) or the Telephone 3a Professional ($459.99 at Amazon). They’re virtually similar exterior their digital camera bumps, that means each have Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipsets, 6.77-inch shows, and the intelligent Glyph Interface on the again for notifications and timers. Nothing OS has additionally been one among our favourite Android skins for the reason that begin, bringing a dot-based matrix to most of its widgets whereas retaining a comparatively mild, Pixel-like interface. If you happen to want barely higher zoom functionality, although, you’ll need to seize the Telephone 3a Professional with its bigger 50MP telephoto sensor.

One final possibility value contemplating is Google’s Pixel 9a ($449 at Amazon), however you’ll should spend extra. If you happen to’re prepared to attempt it, you’ll get the most important battery accessible on a Pixel, Google’s newest Tensor G4 chipset (the identical one discovered on all the flagship Pixels), and 7 years of updates that embody function drops. You’ll additionally get the widest number of AI-powered options from Google’s mid-ranger, which isn’t one thing you’ll discover on many cheaper Android choices.