Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) hands-on review: Note-takers will love this
The Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) looks to improve on the original Moto G Stylus 5G from 2022, but with a newer Snapdragon chipset, improved stylus latency and a 120Hz display refresh rate. The 6.8-inch FHD+ screen, 256GB of storage and 5,000 mAh battery capacity also make the Moto G Stylus 5G's specs sound strong.
Stylus smartphones are apparently still alive and well, with the Moto G Stylus 5G looking for an edge among the best phones with pen features in terms of price. At $399, it’s not quite a premium phone, but instead offers an accessible combination of a stylus experience for users who also want to benefit from 5G data speeds.
We went hands-on with the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023). Here are our first impressions, plus everything you'll want to know about availability, battery life, cameras and more.
Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) price and availability
The Moto G Stylus 5G costs $399.99 and is available as of June 2, 2023 at Cricket. The device will later become available through many of the best phone carriers, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, Google Fi Wireless, UScellular, Consumer Cellular, Optimum Mobile, Spectrum Mobile, Xfinity Mobile, Boost Infinite and Boost Mobile.
You'll also be able to purchase the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) universally unlocked at Amazon.com, Best Buy and Motorola.com starting June 16.
Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) design and display
The Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) comes in this beautiful Rose Champagne color that many will find attractive, but there’s also Cosmic Black if you’re looking for something more simple. The rear chassis now features a matte finish, which makes it less of a fingerprint magnet than last year's model. We also like how this device transitioned to flat edges — it just makes for a better hand-feel.
Honing in on the display, this is a 6.6-inch Full HD+ screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, up from the 60Hz refresh rate on the previous model. So that means smoother scrolling, either with a finger or with the included stylus.
The stylus pops out of the bottom and launches a quick menu of favorite apps, with the note-taking app obviously front and center. We had no trouble whatsoever jotting down a quick to-do list, finding the latency to be snappy enough. That said, we'd want to put the Moto G Stylus 5G's stylus against something like S Pen for the Galaxy Z Fold 4 to see the difference between a value-tier stylus phone and premium-tier one.
Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) performance
The Moto G Stylus 5G is powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, and comes with Android 13. It will be updated to Android 14, but that’s it in terms of OS upgrades, which is a bit disappointing for the phone's price. Users will still get 3 years of security upgrades, though.
Otherwise, the device comes with up to 256GB storage and is expandable with a microSD up to 2T.
That extra storage could be useful for taking lots of photos and video with the phone. In terms of camera performance, the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) offers a 50MP main camera with a combined 8GB Ultra-Wide and Macro Vision lens. There is a 16MP selfie cam on the front, too.
Looking at variety of sample shots, the device seems to take suitable photos and videos. It successfully reproduced clouds wrapping around Chicago high-rises on a rainy day, for example. We'll need to take a closer look at the photos compared to other phones of the same price, though.
Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) battery life
If we were to take this phone out and about, the 5,000 mAh battery should get us 2 days of battery life. We’ll need to put the Edge Plus through our continuous web surfing battery test to see how true that is, but Motorola’s phones do typically offer strong stamina.
The previous-generation Moto G Stylus 5G scored an impressive 10 hours and 50 minutes in our benchmarks. That didn't quite make the best phone battery life list, but it’s better than the average smartphone. Unless we strained the phone with hours of straight gaming, video chatting, and videos, the phone got us through the day.
Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) outlook
It's far from an alternative to the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. But the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) is shaping up to be a value choice for those note-takers who revel in the feedback of pressing a pen to paper — er, stylus to screen.
