Editor’s Desk
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Final 12 months’s Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 was a surprisingly spectacular midrange cellphone, one which I had a tough time placing down regardless of costing lower than half that of the flagship telephones I examined in 2024. This 12 months, the Moto G Stylus 2025 manages to step issues up a notch in ways in which I didn’t anticipate, and it might put different flagships on the spot, but once more.
Whereas it isn’t precisely the AI powerhouse that the Pixel 9a is perhaps, Motorola has upgraded the Stylus 5G in different methods, largely with higher {hardware} specs and a few enhancements on the software program entrance. The result’s a cellphone that, no less than on paper, feels prefer it ought to value much more than it does at simply $399.
I’ve had the Moto G Stylus 2025 for a number of days now, and whereas I am excited to essentially put it by its paces, listed here are a few of my favourite issues that I’ve seen, primarily based on my early impressions of the cellphone.
Lets discuss that design
Motorola appears to have settled on a design for 2024 and 2025, so the Stylus 2025 would not look too totally different from its predecessor apart from the bigger digital camera housing. That is not a foul factor, and I fairly just like the design of the Stylus 2025, particularly once you take its new colours into consideration.
Motorola started its partnership with Pantone a number of years in the past, a collaboration that has seen each corporations making use of some quite distinctive coloration choices to Motorola’s telephones, such because the Razr. The Moto G Stylus 2025 comes decked out in two Pantone colours, and whereas they each look nice, Surf the Net actually stands out with its vibrant blue-ish/ indigo hue.
The colour appears to be like nice on the cellphone’s body and delicate vegan leather-based again, giving it an virtually neon vibe that I do not usually see on smartphones.
These days, Motorola appears largely in opposition to launching telephones with the standard white or black coloration methods, forcing customers to select gadgets with a little bit of aptitude added to them, even when they’re simply mid-range or finances telephones. The Moto G Stylus 2025 follows this development, trying arguably extra enticing than Samsung’s Galaxy S25 collection at half the value of the most affordable mannequin (though the Navy Galaxy S25 is a good one).
The entrance appears to be like nice as nicely
Then there’s the show. Motorola has executed an excellent job shrinking the bezels down on its Stylus telephones, to the purpose the place the Moto G Stylus 2025 might virtually be mistaken for a flagship cellphone.
That mentioned, there’s extra to the show than meets the attention, no less than at first look. Motorola is utilizing an OLED panel with a “Tremendous HD” decision, which I admittedly hadn’t beforehand heard of on a cellphone. With a 2712 x 1220 decision, it seems to sit down someplace between a Full HD+ panel discovered on most mid-range and higher-end telephones nowadays and a Quad HD+ show discovered on premium telephones.
The result’s a show that is pushing extra pixels than even the $800 Galaxy S25 whereas retaining a clean 120Hz refresh fee.
The Moto G Stylus 2025 has higher show specs than the bottom Galaxy S25, a cellphone that prices twice as a lot.
Not solely that, however the show can attain a powerful 3,000 nits of peak brightness, which is larger than all Galaxy S25 fashions, together with the Galaxy S25 Extremely. It additionally consists of flicker prevention, which is nice for individuals with PWM sensitivity.
That is arguably the most effective show on a Moto G cellphone, and I hope Motorola continues to include extra spectacular shows into its gadgets, particularly its flagship fashions just like the upcoming Razr 2025.
Preserving the lights on
With show specs like that, it is pure to marvel about how battery life can be affected. In any case, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is not essentially the most highly effective or environment friendly chip, and whereas the battery has a good capability of 5,000mAh, I’d have wished to see one thing bigger.
Nonetheless, Motorola appears to have mitigated any issues, score the cellphone for over a day of use on a single cost. Thus far, the cellphone manages to exceed my expectations, simply lasting a full day in common use. I hope to see how that adjustments as I take advantage of it extra and the cellphone circumstances itself to my habits, however to this point I am fairly happy with battery life.
However that is simply a part of the story.
Motorola outfitted this $400 cellphone with 68W wired charging and 15W wi-fi charging. These are specs I normally solely see on higher-end OnePlus telephones, so to see them on a cellphone this reasonably priced is a really welcome shock. I have never fairly timed how briskly the cellphone totally fees but, however it can attain 50% faster than most different telephones I’ve used, and I’d really feel greater than comfy strolling out of the home at that cost.
It is good that we’re beginning to see bigger batteries, however with the ability to cost them shortly can also be simply as useful. I actually hope this turns into a norm for U.S. telephones, particularly at this value.
Every little thing else (to this point)
As famous, the Moto G Stylus 2025 is not an AI powerhouse, so do not anticipate something like a Pixel’s Gemini Nano tips right here. That mentioned, Circle to Search is truthfully a function I do not suppose I can dwell with out on a smartphone, so I am glad to see its inclusion right here.
There’s additionally a brand new Sketch to Picture function, which jogs my memory a little bit of Samsung’s function of the identical title. I have never performed with it a lot, however early impressions are fairly good to this point (something that may produce a fairly spot-on R2-D2 out of a virtually indecipherable drawing is okay in my books).
I am very curious to see how the cameras fare in my testing. The newer Sony Lytia 700C sensor sounds very promising, and final 12 months’s Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 did not disappoint within the imaging division. That mentioned, I am unsure why Motorola determined to incorporate a coloration sensor, apart from for uniformity on the digital camera housing, and I want it had been omitted.
And naturally, there is a built-in Stylus. Like final 12 months’s mannequin, the stylus has a way more strong design and would not look or really feel as low cost as earlier fashions. I do not anticipate S Pen ranges of precision on this passive stylus, though the corporate says it has 6.4X extra responsiveness than its predecessor. I do discover it fascinating that Motorola’s passive stylus retains getting higher as Samsung continues to take away options and features from its S Pen… however I digress. 🍵
Already giving flagships a run for his or her cash
I’ve solely had the Moto G Stylus 2025 for a number of days and might be testing it extra forward of my full overview, however I am already stunned at simply how good this cellphone feels to make use of. Within the wake of pretty mediocre telephones which are in some way priced even larger, the $400 Moto G Stylus 2025 appears like a giant step in the correct course for not solely Motorola however for low cost Android telephones.
Together with the Pixel 9a and even the OnePlus 13R, the Stylus 2025 exhibits that you simply will not need to pay a ton of cash for a flagship expertise, whether or not that is with a ton of cool AI options or with spectacular {hardware}.
I solely hope that different corporations are watching, particularly within the U.S., the place the midrange smartphone market appears to have stagnated. At this level, it feels as if the Android underdogs like OnePlus and Motorola are pushing the needle in any significant manner.
Flagship for much less
The Moto G Stylus is among the finest midrange telephones you should buy proper now. It presents loads of specs that match or surpass costlier telephones and it is all for a resonably low value of $399.
