If you like the idea of having a stylus with your smartphone but don’t want to spend masses of money on a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, then Motorola might have the phone for you, as the brand has just announced two new handsets, one of which comes with a stylus.
The phone in question is the Moto G Stylus 5G (2022), and it’s designed to allow you to start writing without even unlocking the phone.
This successor to the previous Moto G Stylus 5G also has a 5,000mAh battery, a 6.8-inch FHD+ screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a mid-range Snapdragon 695 chipset, 4GB, 6GB or 8GB of RAM, and 128GB or 256GB of storage – plus a microSD card slot.
The Moto G Stylus 5G (2022) also has a triple-lens rear camera, with a 50MP main sensor, an 8MP ultrawide one and a 2MP depth sensor, while around the front there’s a 16MP camera. The phone has a 3.5mm headphone port too, and it runs Android 12, and comes in Steel Blue and Seafoam Green shades.
The other new Motorola phone is the Moto G 5G, which is slightly less interesting but likely also cheaper. It has a 6.5-inch 720 x 1600 screen with a 90Hz refresh rate, a 5,000mAh battery with 10W charging, a MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset, a choice of 4GB or 6GB of RAM paired with 64GB or 256GB of storage, and a microSD card slot.
The Moto G 5G additionally has a 50MP main camera, a 2MP depth sensor, a 2MP macro snapper, and a 13MP selfie camera, plus a 3.5mm headphone port and Android 12. This one just comes in Moonlight Gray. So it’s a slightly more basic phone and it doesn’t come with a stylus.
There’s no word yet on the exact release date or price, but expect to see them both soon, and likely with mid-range price tags. However, so far they’ve only been confirmed for the US, and that may not change, particularly in the case of the Moto G Stylus 5G (2022), as its predecessor was also US only.
Analysis: Old stylus vs new
You might be wondering exactly how much of an upgrade the new Moto G Stylus 5G is on the old one, and the answer is that it looks significantly better.
The old model has a smaller 6.4-inch screen with a standard 60Hz refresh rate, a much smaller 4,000mAh battery, a lesser Snapdragon 665 chipset, only 4GB of RAM, less storage at the top end, and slightly fewer megapixels on its main camera (48).
We noted in our review of that phone that both the performance and the cameras disappointed, so hopefully the upgrades here will fix that for the new model.