Editor’s Desk
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Final yr’s Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 was a surprisingly spectacular midrange telephone, 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 might put different flagships on the spot, but once more.
Whereas it isn’t precisely the AI powerhouse that the Pixel 9a is perhaps, Motorola has upgraded the Stylus 5G in different methods, largely with higher {hardware} specs and a few enhancements on the software program entrance. The result’s a telephone that, at the very least on paper, feels prefer it ought to value much more than it does at simply $399.
I’ve had the Moto G Stylus 2025 for a couple of days now, and whereas I am excited to essentially put it by its paces, listed here are a few of my favourite issues that I’ve observed, primarily based on my early impressions of the telephone.
Lets speak about that design
Motorola appears to have settled on a design for 2024 and 2025, so the Stylus 2025 would not look too completely different from its predecessor except for the bigger digicam housing. That is not a foul factor, and I fairly just like the design of the Stylus 2025, particularly whenever you take its new colours into consideration.
Motorola started its partnership with Pantone a couple of years in the past, a collaboration that has seen each corporations making use of some quite distinctive shade choices to Motorola’s telephones, such as the Razr. The Moto G Stylus 2025 comes decked out in two Pantone colours, and whereas they each look nice, Surf the Internet actually stands out with its vibrant blue-ish/ indigo hue.
The colour appears nice on the telephone’s body and tender vegan leather-based again, giving it an virtually neon vibe that I do not usually see on smartphones.
Recently, Motorola appears largely in opposition to launching telephones with the standard white or black shade methods, forcing customers to select units with a little bit of aptitude added to them, even when they’re simply mid-range or finances telephones. The Moto G Stylus 2025 follows this pattern, trying arguably extra enticing than Samsung’s Galaxy S25 sequence at half the worth of the most affordable mannequin (though the Navy Galaxy S25 is a good one).
The entrance appears nice as properly
Then there’s the show. Motorola has executed an incredible job shrinking the bezels down on its Stylus telephones, to the purpose the place the Moto G Stylus 2025 might virtually be mistaken for a flagship telephone.
That mentioned, there’s extra to the show than meets the attention, at the very least at first look. Motorola is utilizing an OLED panel with a “Tremendous HD” decision, which I admittedly hadn’t beforehand heard of on a telephone. With a 2712 x 1220 decision, it seems to sit down someplace between a Full HD+ panel discovered on most mid-range and higher-end telephones as of late and a Quad HD+ show discovered on premium phones.
The result’s a show that is pushing extra pixels than even the $800 Galaxy S25 whereas retaining a clean 120Hz refresh charge.
The Moto G Stylus 2025 has higher show specs than the bottom Galaxy S25, a telephone that prices twice as a lot.
Not solely that, however the show can attain a formidable 3,000 nits of peak brightness, which is greater than all Galaxy S25 fashions, together with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It additionally contains flicker prevention, which is nice for folks with PWM sensitivity.
That is arguably the perfect show on a Moto G telephone, and I hope Motorola continues to include extra spectacular shows into its units, particularly its flagship fashions just like the upcoming Razr 2025.
Protecting the lights on
With show specs like that, it is pure to marvel about how battery life can be affected. In any case, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is not probably the most highly effective or environment friendly chip, and whereas the battery has a good capability of 5,000mAh, I’d have wished to see one thing bigger.
Nonetheless, Motorola appears to have mitigated any considerations, score the telephone for over a day of use on a single cost. To date, the telephone 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 telephone situations itself to my habits, however thus far I am fairly happy with battery life.
However that is simply a part of the story.
Motorola outfitted this $400 telephone with 68W wired charging and 15W wi-fi charging. These are specs I often solely see on higher-end OnePlus phones, so to see them on a telephone this inexpensive is a really welcome shock. I have not fairly timed how briskly the telephone totally prices but, however it’ll 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 with the ability to cost them shortly can be simply as useful. I actually hope this turns into a norm for U.S. telephones, particularly at this worth.
Every thing else (thus far)
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 mentioned, Circle to Search is truthfully a function I do not assume I can stay 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 feature of the same name. I have not performed with it a lot, however early impressions are fairly good thus far (something that may produce a fairly 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 mentioned, I am unsure why Motorola determined to incorporate a shade sensor, aside from for uniformity on the digicam housing, and I want it had been neglected.
And naturally, there is a built-in Stylus. Like final yr’s mannequin, the stylus has a way more sturdy design and would 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 fascinating that Motorola’s passive stylus retains getting higher as Samsung continues to remove features and functions 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 couple of days and shall be testing it extra forward of my full evaluation, however I am already shocked at simply how good this telephone feels to make use of. Within the wake of pretty mediocre telephones which are by some means priced even greater, the $400 Moto G Stylus 2025 appears like a giant step in the appropriate course for not solely Motorola however for cheap Android phones.
Together with the Pixel 9a and even the OnePlus 13R, the Stylus 2025 reveals that you simply will not should 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 worth of $399.
