Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) review

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Let's face it, the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) is one of the few affordable smartphones with a stylus in North America, which makes it a pretty unique offer. Even better, for a $399 device, it offers a ton of premium features such as a great OLED screen, a likable design, promising cameras on both sides, a large battery, loud stereo speakers, and more. Did we say a stylus, too?

The TCL Stylus is a 2-year old device, already discontinued, and it was the only device that could have been considered as a proper rival because of its advanced stylus features.

The Sony Xperia 10 VI is a $399 price tag with a fully waterproofed design, an HDR OLED screen, the same chipset, and similar camera experience. It doesn't have a stylus, obviously, nor does it offer a wireless charger, and its display is stuck at 60Hz. But it has an HDR-certified display and can be submerged in water, so there is that.

Nothing Phone 2a costs the same, too, and it can win you with the unique Glyph UI on the back. It is IP54-rated for splash resistance, a better HDR display, offers a bit faster chipset and faster charging. It doesn't offer a stylus, though, and no wireless charging. We highly recommend exploring it.

The Galaxy A55 is about $370, and it tops the Moto with an IP67-rated dual-glass design and an HDR display. The cameras are a match, but once again - no stylus and no wireless charging.

If you want a much more advanced stylus experience, then you may want to consider last year's Galaxy S23 Ultra, which is better at everything, including the stylus functionality. Its price is double the Moto's, though.

Sony Xperia 10 VI • Nothing Phone (2a) • Samsung Galaxy A55 • Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Our verdict

The Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) is a lovely smartphone positioned into a competition-free niche.

The new Moto G Sylus impressed us with a beautiful and grippy body, one very bright OLED, very good battery life, speaker loudness, camera quality, and clean and fast Android OS and Moto perks. The performance is quite adequate, too.

The Stylus is the key selling point here, and it does a solid job. It features all the basic functions a stylus-packing phone should have, and they work as advertised. And that's plenty enough.

Of course, the Moto G Stylus 5G is not the perfect smartphone. Its charging speed is not that fast, and there is no charger in the box. We expected a real ingress protection rating, not some vague water-repellent design description. There is no HDR for the display. And finally, the video capturing is rather mediocre.

But in the grand scheme of things, the Moto G Stylus 5G is a worthy purchase and we do recommend putting it on your shortlist. It offers plenty of features for its $399 price and if you are after a Note on a budget, this is the one!

Pros

• Striking design with eco-leather back.
• Large and bright OLED, 120Hz.
• Solid battery life.
• Loud stereo speakers.
• Adequate performance, great stability.
• Very good photos day and night.
• Clean OS, many Moto perks.
• Built-in stylus and stylus-optimized apps.

Cons

• No official water ingress rating.
• Basic stylus without pressure-sensitivity or active remote features.
• Screen does not support HDR video.
• No charger in the box.
• Mediocre video recording quality.
• Just 1 OS update promised.