Motorola Moto G Pro / G Stylus review

48MP main cam with a dedicated ultra-wide action cam

Motorola has a knack for including an unusual set of cameras on some of its smartphones. This is the case with the Moto G Pro as well.

The Moto G Pro main cam is the popular 48MP sensor (f/1.7 aperture). The sensor size is 1/2.0" and is aided by the laser autofocus positioned below the other three vertically-stacked cameras.

The second camera is where it gets unusual. It's a 16MP ultra-wide, which is used for capturing action videos - much the same way an action cam like a GoPro would take them. In fact, this is the reason why Moto calls this one their 'action cam'.

The aperture is f/2.2 and the lens itself is 14mm equivalent providing a 117-degree field of view. Another quirk is that the sensor is rotated so that you shoot the horizontal videos while holding the phone upright - in portrait orientation.

Unfortunately, though, the camera is used for videos only. You can't snap photos with it, which is a major misstep.

Considering the price range of the phone, we aren't expecting a telephoto camera but an ultra-wide one for stills would have been nice. Most, if not all, of the Moto G Pro's competitors offer one.

Anyway, the third camera on the back is a dedicated macro. It's 2MP with fixed focus and features an f/2.2 aperture.

One the front, we have a 16MP f/2.0 camera with a tiny 1/3.06" sensor and 1.0µm pixels.

Camera menus

Motorola's default camera app is quite different from the rest of the camera apps. Swiping left and right cycles through only three modes - the default photo mode, video recording, and the last used mode. Tapping on the squares icon opens up the rest of the camera modes like manual, portrait, night, etc.

Camera menus

The familiar settings icon in the upper-right corner of the viewfinder opens up options such as video resolution, aspect ratio settings, etc. In other words - nothing out of the ordinary.

Daylight samples

During the day, the main camera captures relatively sharp photos with good amount of detail. However, sharpness deteriorates quickly once the light drops and you can see that in the dark areas of the stills. Some amount of noise is also visible, once again mostly in the shadows but can also be seen in the sky if you look close enough.

Daylight samples

Color reproduction is pretty close to the real thing and dynamic range is around what you'd expect from a phone at this price. In challenging light conditions, you can see plenty of details in the shadows without much penalty in the highlights.

Low-light samples

We weren't expecting miracles during the night but there are some things that the competition does a little bit better. For instance, the dynamic range is a bit too narrow here, with shadows being way too dark while highlights look (mostly) well-contained. It gives the impression of a really dark scene, which wasn't the case.

In other photos, however, the phone seems to capture the right exposure and provide enough detail in the shadows but messes up the highlights in the process.

Low-light samples

Noise is rather well-controlled, contrast is nice and colors are close to real-life. Sharpness and detail could be a tad better when put side by side with some of Xiaomi and Realme's contenders.

Turning the so-called Night Vision mode on will only give you small advantages over the standard photo mode. The night mode brightens up the whole scene, brings out a lot more detail from the shadows, light sources do look a little bit better and makes the colors juicier. But in the process, the Night Vision produces more noise, irons out fine detail and images are noticeably softer overall.

Night Vision samples

We recommend resorting to the Night Vision only if the scene is really dark and requires you to do some images tacking. The good news is that taking photos in night mode is quite quick.

And here's a comparison between the Moto G Pro and some of its rivals in our photo compare tool.

Moto G Pro vs Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G and the Realme 6 in our Photo compare tool

Macro samples

The macro shots are what we've expected them to be. The 2MP camera doesn't have autofocus so getting a crisp shot of the subject is challenging. The 2MP sensor lacks detail by default due to its lower resolution but it delivers vibrant colors. Make sure you are shooting in conditions with enough light.

Macro shots

Selfies

For 16MP selfies, they don't look all that sharp and detailed. The dynamic range also seems to be adequate enough bringing out the subject's face from the shadow.

Selfie samples

Portraits

Unfortunately, we ran into an issue with the Portrait mode. It doesn't detect the subject's face, and it doesn't seem to blur the background at all. We will update this section once an update arrives and fixes the issue.

Video recording

The Moto G Pro can do 4K videos up to 30fps and 4K at 19:9 aspect ratio. But the highlight feature is the dedicated action cam that can do 1080p videos with great stabilization. And you shoot with it by holding the phone vertically, which is rather unusual, but it makes it easier.

Let's start with the 2160p video sample. We can once again see some issues with the dynamic range. Even on a bright sunny day, shadows are crushed and you can see that with the black passing cars and the trees. Colors are also a bit washed out but we find the sharpness to be on par with the competition. Also, virtually no noise can be seen in the sample.

Full HD videos look exactly the same - same processing. Sharpness is lower, which is understandable.

We shot a couple of stabilization videos to see what's up and turns out there's no stabilization in 4K with the main camera as seen below.

Using the action cam, you can capture well-stabilized videos with a wide field of view almost like a proper action cam. Unfortunately, image quality is not the best, the dynamic range is quite narrow too.

The 1080p@60fps video sample below lacks stabilization too.

It's only in 1080p@30fps mode that the action cam allows for electronic image stabilization. The result is quite good but again, video quality is not that great.

You can also take a look at how the Moto G Pro stacks against the competition in our video compare tool.

2160p: Moto G Pro vs Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G and the Realme 6 in our Video compare tool