10mo ago

Moto jacks up G series prices, drops SD card in G Play 2024

G Stylus 2023 - went from $119 to $199, no longer attractive since 5G stylus is still $249

5G Power went from $179(?) to $299, lolwut? The 5G Stylus is a higher model and still $249

G Play 2023 is still $99 and a good deal but quite limited with 32GB flash and Mediatek CPU

G Play 2024 introduced at $149, a nice incremental upgrade to the 2023 model, has 64GB flash, but get this, they have dropped the SD slot.

The last bit is disturbing since no other 2024 models are yet announced. I wonder if they will drop the SD slot in all of them. Not good.

I got a 5G Stylus a couple months ago and still like it a lot. I had been thinking of getting one of the lower models for my brother since he doesn't care about 5G. The 2023 non-5G Stylus looked great at $119 but lame at $199. The 2023 and 2024 G Plays are both still of interest.

https://www.motorola.com/us/smartphones-moto-g-family

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Motorola was likely going to be my next phone because it had the SD card, 3.5mm jack and ability to flash roms.
Finding phones is just getting frustrating.
- Some new devices have 3.5mm jack, but no sd card support. Some have sd card support, but no 3.5mm jack. Fewer and fewer new devices have both these days.

...I'm concerned they may not recognize that the microSD slot is at least one of the nice selling points of their phones. With so many other phones tossing out microSD cards and headphone jacks, what beyond the price point remains to set them apart?
I guess there's the gesture controls for quick camera or flashlight use, but the former is undercut by these being budget phones with mediocre to poor cameras. Also with the devices being larger it makes the gesture controls feel a little more unwieldy compared to when you were using them on smaller phones.
It's a bummer, as I've otherwise appreciated their phones as cheaper, close to vanilla Android options.
- Yep. I hope the 3.5mm jack isn't going anywhere. With 256gb flash built into the 5g stylus I don't feel like I need expansion memory that much, but the slot is still handy for file transfer.

That's a bummer, I had a Moto E and couple of Moto G phones in the past which were great, but once I started seeing reviews that older generations were better than new ones that were coming out I decided to try using an older flagship (Galaxy S10+ for $200 in 2022) and it's been a solid experience. Sounds like I should continue going that route once security updates end on this phone.
- I have an older G (G4 = XT1625, from around 2017) and I liked it, but imho the 2023 one is a lot better. I don't have real complaints. I've been wary of Samsung though I suppose I'll have to consider them when the time comes

The Moto Stylus phones, do they have a proper stylus with preasure sensitivity like the Samsung S Pen or just a built-in "dumb touchscreen toucher"?
- Dumb touchscreen toucher, and doesn't work super well, but I like having it. It's handy for poking UI elements and light photo editing. Probably useless for good art.
  
  Ok thanks. I was kinda expecting that. Sad that Samsung is the only OEM with a proper stylus.

Well feeling less bad about switching to a OnePlus now

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