Editor’s Desk
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Final yr’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 yr, the Moto G Stylus 2025 manages to step issues up a notch in ways in which I didn’t count on, and it could put different flagships on the spot, but once more.
Whereas it isn’t precisely the AI powerhouse that the Pixel 9a may be, Motorola has upgraded the Stylus 5G in different methods, principally with higher {hardware} specs and a few enhancements on the software program entrance. The result’s a cellphone that, a minimum of on paper, feels prefer it ought to price 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 actually put it by means of its paces, listed here are a few of my favourite issues that I’ve seen, based mostly on my early impressions of the cellphone.
Lets speak about that design
Motorola appears to have settled on a design for 2024 and 2025, so the Stylus 2025 does not look too totally different from its predecessor except for the bigger digicam housing. That is not a nasty factor, and I fairly just like the design of the Stylus 2025, particularly while 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 somewhat distinctive shade 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 seems nice on the cellphone’s body and mushy vegan leather-based again, giving it an nearly neon vibe that I do not typically see on smartphones.
Currently, Motorola appears largely towards launching telephones with the everyday white or black shade methods, forcing customers to select gadgets with a little bit of aptitude added to them, even when they’re simply mid-range or price range telephones. The Moto G Stylus 2025 follows this development, wanting arguably extra engaging than Samsung’s Galaxy S25 sequence at half the worth of the most affordable mannequin (though the Navy Galaxy S25 is a superb one).
The entrance seems nice as nicely
Then there’s the show. Motorola has finished an amazing job shrinking the bezels down on its Stylus telephones, to the purpose the place the Moto G Stylus 2025 might nearly be mistaken for a flagship cellphone.
That stated, there’s extra to the show than meets the attention, a minimum of 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 take a seat someplace between a Full HD+ panel discovered on most mid-range and higher-end telephones today 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 price.
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 folks with PWM sensitivity.
That is arguably the very best 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.
Maintaining the lights on
With show specs like that, it is pure to surprise about how battery life can be affected. In spite of everything, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is not essentially the most highly effective or environment friendly chip, and whereas the battery has a decent 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. To this point, the cellphone manages to exceed my expectations, simply lasting a full day in common use. I hope to see how that modifications as I exploit it extra and the cellphone situations itself to my habits, however up to now 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 absolutely expenses 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 having the ability to cost them rapidly can be simply as useful. I actually hope this turns into a norm for U.S. telephones, particularly at this value.
Every thing else (up to now)
As famous, the Moto G Stylus 2025 is not an AI powerhouse, so do not count on something like a Pixel’s Gemini Nano methods right here. That stated, Circle to Search is actually a function I do not suppose I can reside 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 up to now (something that may produce a reasonably spot-on R2-D2 out of an almost 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 yr’s Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 did not disappoint within the imaging division. That stated, I am undecided why Motorola determined to incorporate a shade sensor, aside from for uniformity on the digicam housing, and I want it had been omitted.
And naturally, there is a built-in Stylus. Like final yr’s mannequin, the stylus has a way more sturdy design and does not look or really feel as low-cost as earlier fashions. I do not count on 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 attention-grabbing that Motorola’s passive stylus retains getting higher as Samsung continues to take away options and capabilities 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 will probably be testing it extra forward of my full overview, however I am already shocked at simply how good this cellphone feels to make use of. Within the wake of pretty mediocre telephones which might be one way or the other priced even larger, the $400 Moto G Stylus 2025 seems like a giant step in the correct course for not solely Motorola however for affordable Android telephones.
Together with the Pixel 9a and even the OnePlus 13R, the Stylus 2025 reveals 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 method.
Flagship for much less
The Moto G Stylus is likely one of the finest midrange telephones you should purchase proper now. It affords loads of specs that match or surpass dearer telephones and it is all for a resonably low value of $399.
