First Impressions of The Moto G Stylus 5G (2023): A Stylus-Driven Smartphone Experience with 5G Data Speeds
Key Highlights :
The Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) is a smartphone that pairs a stylus-driven experience with 5G data speeds in a $399 package. It looks to improve on the original Moto G Stylus 5G from 2022, but with a newer Snapdragon chipset, improved stylus latency and a 120Hz display refresh rate. The 6.8-inch FHD+ screen, 256GB of storage and 5,000 mAh battery capacity also make the Moto G Stylus 5G's specs sound strong.
The Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) is available as of June 2, 2023 at Cricket, and will later become available through many of the best phone carriers, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, Google Fi Wireless, UScellular, Consumer Cellular, Optimum Mobile, Spectrum Mobile, Xfinity Mobile, Boost Infinite and Boost Mobile. You'll also be able to purchase the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) universally unlocked at Amazon.com, Best Buy and Motorola.com starting June 16.
Design and Display
The Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) comes in this beautiful Rose Champagne color that many will find attractive, but there’s also Cosmic Black if you’re looking for something more simple. The rear chassis now features a matte finish, which makes it less of a fingerprint magnet than last year's model. We also like how this device transitioned to flat edges — it just makes for a better hand-feel.
Honing in on the display, this is a 6.6-inch Full HD+ screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, up from the 60Hz refresh rate on the previous model. So that means smoother scrolling, either with a finger or with the included stylus. The stylus pops out of the bottom and launches a quick menu of favorite apps, with the note-taking app obviously front and center. We had no trouble whatsoever jotting down a quick to-do list, finding the latency to be snappy enough. That said, we'd want to put the Moto G Stylus 5G's stylus against something like S Pen for the Galaxy Z Fold 4 to see the difference between a value-tier stylus phone and premium-tier one.
Performance and Battery Life
The Moto G Stylus 5G is powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, and comes with Android 13. It will be updated to Android 14, but that’s it in terms of OS upgrades, which is a bit disappointing for the phone's price. Users will still get 3 years of security upgrades, though. Otherwise, the device comes with up to 256GB storage and is expandable with a microSD up to 2T.
If we were to take this phone out and about, the 5,000 mAh battery should get us 2 days of battery life. We’ll need to put the Edge Plus through our continuous web surfing battery test to see how true that is, but Motorola’s phones do typically offer strong stamina. The previous-generation Moto G Stylus 5G scored an impressive 10 hours and 50 minutes in our benchmarks. That didn't quite make the best phone battery life list, but it’s better than the average smartphone. Unless we strained the phone with hours of straight gaming, video chatting, and videos, the phone got us through the day.
Cameras
In terms of camera performance, the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) offers a 50MP main camera with a combined 8GB Ultra-Wide and Macro Vision lens. There is a 16MP selfie cam on the front, too. Looking at variety of sample shots, the device seems to take suitable photos and videos. It successfully reproduced clouds wrapping around Chicago high-rises on a rainy day, for example. We'll need to take a closer look at the photos compared to other phones of the same price, though.
Conclusion
The Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) looks to offer an accessible combination of a stylus experience for users who also want to benefit from 5G data speeds. It comes in a beautiful Rose Champagne color, with a matte finish chassis, flat edges and a 6.6-inch Full HD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The device is powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, and comes with up to 256GB storage and a 5,000 mAh battery. In terms of camera performance, the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) offers a 50MP main camera with a combined 8GB Ultra-Wide and Macro Vision lens and a 16MP selfie cam. We'll need to take a closer look at the photos compared to other phones of the same price to get a better sense of its performance. But overall, the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) looks to be a value choice for those note-takers who revel in the feedback of pressing a pen to paper — er, stylus to screen.
