The Moto G Stylus’ specs are enough to flow through daily tasks, browsing the internet, playing games, and keeping up with the stylus. The phone scored a 1627 on Geekbench 5, a rating that’s just below that of borderline flagships like the Motorola Edge (which scored 1733) and above the Google Pixel 5 (1600) – both of which sport the more powerful Snapdragon 765 chipset. No, that doesn’t include 5G connectivity – you’ll need to pay more for the Motorola One 5G phones for that. The new G Stylus inherits plenty from its predecessor, like 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (expandable to 512GB via microSD card), though its Snapdragon 678 is an upgrade on the older G Stylus’ Snapdragon 665. This isn’t new to the phone, as the Moto G Stylus 2020 had it, but the extra precision with the stylus still makes it easier to use. Like prior Motorola phones, this also includes Cinemagraph, which is a somewhat gimmicky way to take a video that allows you to select what’s in motion – which is admittedly way easier to do with a stylus. The Moto G Stylus packs the usual array of photo modes, like panorama and a decent but not standout Night mode. In our testing, we got decent but not standout shots when we could get them properly focused, and while that makes it more capable than other phones in shooting very close subjects, up-close photography is kind of a wash among all handsets. The macro lens is, like most other macro lenses, a bit of a struggle to get focused on the subject. Without a telephoto lens, the phone’s digital zoom makes do, crop-zooming in to mushy textures at the maximum 8.8x level. This low-light performance is a bit poorer for the ultra-wide camera, which also doesn’t produce as sharp of photos – understandable, given its lower megapixel count – but it’s still a helpful daylight alternative when trying to get more subjects and landscape in frame. The quality fades a bit under low-light conditions, merging dark colors into pockets of black or deep brown. The phone’s 48MP main shooter is the standout here, capturing good clarity and balanced colors for casual daytime shots. The new Moto G Stylus hasn’t changed much of the triple rear camera array that appeared on its predecessor, with a 48MP main shooter, 8MP ultra-wide lens (admittedly half the megapixels of the older phone’s 16MP ultra-wide lens) and 2MP macro camera, as well as a 16MP selfie shooter. The bar has five buttons: two permanent (to open a new Note and take a screenshot to edit) and three customizable, which by default open a new Coloring Book feature, open the Notes app proper, and open the Camera app with a Cinemagraph photo mode pre-selected (which can be more easily-edited via stylus).Ī new Moto Gesture lets you split the screen to sketch on one half and open an app on the other, while other apps have added or will add stylus-recognizing functionality, Motorola says, including big names like Evernote and Among Us. You can access Moto Note quickly via a shortcut bar that appears when you’ve pulled the stylus free – it’ll minimize to a circle with a pen icon, which dims if you’re navigating elsewhere. The signature Moto Note app has been expanded with more color options and the ability to load up images to mark up with the stylus, and by default it will automatically open when you pull out the accessory. Motorola claims the new Moto G Stylus operates better than the old, and whether that’s true or not, it’s the software that’s felt like it's improved the most. The old G Stylus had no feedback when you pulled the accessory in or out of the phone, but In another premium touch, sliding the new phone’s stylus back in its slot results in a slight vibration to let you know it’s locked in place. This is basically how the Samsung Note’s S Pen has worked for years, but it’s a nice premium touch on a budget phone. Instead of having to pry the stylus out with a fingernail, you can push in the bottom of the accessory for the end to pop out, which is much easier to grasp. The stylus still doesn’t have any smart functionality, but it’s been implemented a bit more sleekly into the design of the phone. The stylus itself is a thin inkless pen around a digit longer than your forefinger, with a mesh tip at the screen-touching end and a pop-out cap on the other. Other folks might find it vestigial, a holdover from the early mobile age that doesn’t have nearly as many applications as their finger – for them, this phone might not be novel enough. Quite the contrary, as the touch control paradigm has generally been a superior way to control your phone – but there are folks who prefer the option of pulling out their digital pencil to make notes, edit photos, or simply get more precision when browsing their phone. The stylus returns as a helpful but not revolutionary accessory.
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