This is the $300 Android phone to beat in 2023 - and it even has a stylus
Motorola's Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) sees notable feature improvements that go toe-to-toe with Samsung and Google's mid-rangers. This sale puts it at the top for me.
Saved you a click: it's Motorola's Moto G Stylus 5G (2023)
3.5mm jack Yes
So it's a contender. The rest are DEAD TO ME
Plus an SD card slot.
WhatYearIsIt.jpg
SD slots aren't all that uncommon still.
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The Nokia XR21 also has a 3.5mm jack. It's likely weaker performance-wise but it has a battery life of approximately 3 days so it won't run out of juice as quickly.
I guess the reviewer doesn’t care about software updates, because Motorola’s support is abysmal.
Bought one for my kid because he's a little artist. Seems nice. I use a Pixel, but honestly I miss the moto "chop chop to turn on the flashlight" feature from my old Moto.
I miss that flashlight thing too. Also on Pixel now but I used an app called edge gestures to activate my flashlight. I just swipe up on the edge of my screen and hold to activate/deactivate. Not as awesome but very functional. If course I use edge gestures for everything, calling/texting certain contacts, activating apps I use regularly, it's such an awesome tool. Been using for years at this point and can't imagine using my phone without it.
If you go to Settings -> System -> Gestures, there's an option for "Quick tap to start actions", one of the options is to turn on the flashlight when you double tap the back of the phone.
Nice little feature.
That is not an adequate replacement for chop chop.
Reads headline: "oooo interesting"
It's a Motorola: "ah, shit"
Motorolas are my favorite type of phone. I'm never going to use Apple and Samsung phones are bloated with garbage I don't want. It's not like there's another real option.
Sony, Asus, Nothing, Pixel....
I'm not doubting the hardware, but software is a real issue. Carriers are now pushing 36 month plans... what good is that if your device is basically out of date after 18 months.
I’m trying to wrap my brain around why anyone would want a stylus for their phone.
Niche case- I'm a maths teacher and it's been good for replying to emails from students with problems.
I've had a Galaxy Note 9 for a few years now and, at least in my use case, I rarely use the stylus. It's very convenient to have when I need to take notes in a meeting or something that I need to send a copy off somewhere, but day to day, I really only remember the stylus is there when I drop the phone and it pops out lol.
Life hack: remove stylus permanently to receive lighter smartphone ;)
Some people like to make art on their phone. Others like to use it for note taking. I came across a TikTok creator that has the S23 Ultra and he uses the stylus to edit/make photos and videos.
Some find it easier to swipe with as well.
I wish I could use a stylus on my phone. When I edit photos, my fingers are less precise to hit the right spots.
Art, annotation, memos, hand drawn animation, business'y stuff of that nature
It kinda depends on the stylus though: Some are actual digitizers(pressure sensitivity for use as a paintbrush, some even recognize tilt and rotation for calligraphy) while others are just a rubber nib on a stick(rubber finger...on a stick..no electronics just rubber).
It's great to quickly draw a diagram or something similar to explain something to someone. I could use pen and paper but I prefer doing it on my phone since it's already there. I don't do it daily but I enjoy having this option. When I was taking a break from the Galaxy Note lineup I was sorely missing it.
Have one with my tablet and it's great for sketching.
Even the biggest phones, imo, just don’t have the real estate for decent note taking. Tablets, esp with low aspect ratio screens, are the sweet spot.
Sometimes I'm on the go and I need to highlight, underline and make comments on pdf files. A stylus makes these much easier. Other than that I've used it about once for taking a photo using the stylus when the camera was on a tripod.
Osu! mobile :)
art maybe? idk never used one myself
I got the version with the stylus of this phone solely because the version without the stylus didn't have an NFC chip. The stylus is kinda neat though.
Wow a stylus. The thing I literally never use ever and forget exists. Exciting!
Hooray, I will finally get to turn all my one handed actions into two handed actions! /s
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I have the 2022 version of this phone, and it's great value for money in the USA. Adequate performance, lots of internal storage, headphone jack, MicroSD slot, and good battery life. I didn't buy it for the (crappy) stylus, I bought it for the good value for money.
The 2023 version most notably updates the SoC from SD695 to SD6g1, which is about 15-20% faster and more efficient. It also adds stereo speakers, which is nice. It seems like everything else is only a marginal change or the same from last year.
Man, is the US market for cheaper phones so bad that this is a contender? And this is US$400!
Short answer yes.
The longer answer has to deal with the way that our cellular networks are set up. Most people “rent to own” their phones here and usually trade in their phone long before they get to the owning part.
Contracts are set up so you can get discounts, but only if you stay with the carrier for 2-3 years. The discounts are given as monthly credit towards your bill and if you pay off the phone early you forfeit all future credit.
This system allows for carriers to sell more expensive phones at rates that, while not low, most people will stomach. Phone manufacturers avoid selling good budget phones here and I think that’s a big part of the reason. Why sell a budget phone when you can probably convince someone to finance a flagship?
Now, as an enthusiast aware of other budget phones you might think importing might be an option, but that unfortunately isn’t the case. A couple years ago all the carriers here switched off using the 3G network for phone calls and instead we use Voice Over LTE (VoLTE). This new system requires cellular carriers to explicitly support phones/models for them to be able to make traditional phone calls. These support lists are not public and make it incredibly difficult to tell if a phone not sold by the carrier will function on their network. Gone are the days were you can just check the bands the phone supports and pop in a sim.
This got a bit long and probably was more me ranting than actually explaining anything, but I hope someone finds it at least a little bit informative
I would love to see comparison to the Poco F1 which at the time had the same price. I suspect its pretty close, despite the 6 years gap. That being said, the F1 was unreal value at the time.
Moto's update support has been horrible since post Googorola. They are a decent option but never a truly great one.
Moto has a history of horrible updates to its devices. This is despite the fact that Moto has a near stock UI.
Well if it is that good and people buy it, it can get a custom rom.
Yes but in this specific case I'm skeptical about the integration of the pen with custom roms
According to the article it's only getting one year of Android version updates. That's pitiful, Samsung gives three or four years of Android version updates for similarly priced phones.
Well... it has a headphone jack (at least according to this)
Is nice, but 2GB less RAM and missing OIS that the previous model has.
But can it run Lineage
Not a single phone has released their proprietory camera driver blobs in recent history. I wish that would happen. There will always be a loss of image quality in custom roms which don't use the stock version on the phone.
I know what I'm switching to!
That's a bit of a weird switch. As a fellow s10e user, I got this phone because it's small. The Moto G Stylus is not small at all.
For that price point I've had a really good time with using Xiaomi phones. Specifically the Redmi Note series. They're similarly cheap but they're built well and feel expensive, not with a plastic case or anything like that.
You can do a lot better for the price if you're prepared to go without the stylus. Also no OIS on a main camera, and only one year of Android version updates, on a 400 US dollar phone (300 is only a limited discount) in 2023? Surely not. At this price point you can get a Northing Phone 1 or Samsung Galaxy A73 5G, witch both have a much faster and efficient processor, better cameras and much better software support with more Android version updates, some form of water/dust resistance, and OLED displays.
No wonder why Motorola phones are no longer available in my country.
I think I'll pass on a lenovorola
If it wasnt for grapheneos I would get it but honestly might be a nice work phone too or a travel one
I've been getting the g power series for a while now. Battery life is important to me in my field of work. And for ~$200 it's hard to beat. No, it doesn't have a great display, or even true 5g. No OLED or high refresh rate. It does have a 5000ma battery that can last two or three days of use. Head phone jack, SD card slot. Features somehow missing from premium offerings?