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Motorola just released its next budget-friendly device with a built-in pen. The Moto G Stylus 2023 is here to carry the torch from its 2022 predecessor. Its trademark is the built-in stylus pen. Is the Moto G Stylus 2023 something of note, or is the writing on the wall for this phone? Let’s find out in this review.
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Moto G Stylus 2023 Review: Build and design
The design of this phone isn’t quite premium, but it’s not bad for $200. The back is made of a smooth matte glass that, in Motorola fashion, plays with the light in an interesting way. When it catches the light, you’ll see this pleasing shimmer run down the phone. It’s quite a pretty phone.
The build quality of the phone is similar to the design. It’s nothing to write home about, but it’s really good at the $200 price point. It has some decent heft to it, and it feels solid. Comparing it to a more premium phone, the Moto won’t really feel like much, but it’ll feel better than most other $200 phones.
I can tell that Motorola put just a little bit of extra work into the design and build to make it feel more premium than its $200 counterparts.
Moto G Stylus 2023 Review: Display
The display is one of this phone’s strong suits despite the resolution. The Moto G Stylus 2023 is sporting a 6.5-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1600 x 720. So, it’s a 720p+ display, and that might turn some people away from it. However, there are some strong points to the display.
For starters, it does have a pleasing 90Hz refresh rate. It’s not the smoothest, out there, of course, but it does provide some fluidity in the software. It’s a pleasing addition.
Second, the quality of the display is very nice. Honestly, this display punches far higher than its $200 price. I was surprised at how much the colors popped when I assigned the wallpaper and saw the color scheme change. The colors aren’t only relatively punchy, but they have a nice color temperature.
I watched content on this phone, and I didn’t feel like I was using a budget device. That was for two reasons. The first reason is the display. The second reason is the…
Moto G Stylus 2023 Review: Speakers
The Moto G Stylus comes with a set of speakers that do not belong on a phone this affordable. At $200, you’d expect the speakers to be of poor quality with a tinny sound. However, that’s not the case. The speakers on this phone are really good. Not only are they good for the price, but they’re also pleasing in general.
The sound isn’t the most immersive, but it’s still rather full. This is helped by the fact that this is a set of stereo speakers. There’s a healthy balance between the lows and highs without either one overpowering the other.
While they are balanced, they still pop. You can hear the crisp high hats in late 80s hip-hop clearly along with the warm bass of 70s pop. Along with the nice sound, the speakers also get rather loud. So, the speakers in the Moto G Stylus 2023 are definitely better than what the price will suggest.
Moto G Stylus 2023 Review: Battery
Motorola has a thing about giving its mid-range phones large batteries, and this one is no exception. The Motorola G stylus 2023 has a large 5000mAh battery. When you pair that with the mid-range processor and the modest screen resolution, you can expect some nice battery life.
And, that’s exactly what I got! I had no trouble getting through the day with this phone on moderate to heavy usage. Heavy days involved hours of playing games, watching videos, and taking pictures. With all of this activity, I was able to get north of 8 hours of screen-on-time.
When I turned down my usage, I was able to get almost two days of battery life. These lighter days consisted of light gaming, occasional social media, basic messaging, and music streaming. Battery life is not a problem at all with this phone.
Moto G Stylus 2023 Review: Performance
Performance is the main area where the Moto G Stylus 2023 shows its mid-range ways. As you’d expect from a phone using a mid-range MediaTek processor, the performance is slow at times. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as bad as the OnePlus Nord N300, but it’s not great.
Navigating the software, I ran into a healthy amount of stutters and jitters. Apps take a few seconds to hop out of the splash screen. Scrolling through social media is literally a slideshow. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for a phone in this price bracket. It’s just that the display, speakers, and battery life all betrayed its $200 price tag, but the performance is there to bring it back down to earth.
Gaming
As you can expect, this phone’s gaming chops aren’t robust. Right off the bat, games like Genshin Impact are a no-go. It’s a choppy experience even on its lowest settings.
But, don’t let that paint the scene darker than it is. Genshin is in a league of its own. Playing less graphically intensive 3D games like Sky: Children Of Light is much better. The game runs smoothly with the occasional stutter.
Now, when it comes to 2D titles, you shouldn’t worry about the performance. You’ll be able to tackle those games with no issue at all.
Overall, you’re not going to pick up the Moto G Stylus 2023 for its performance. It’s not terrible, but it’s not all that good.
Moto G Stylus 2023 Review: Camera
The camera on this phone won’t win any awards for its quality. The Moto G Stylus is rocking a 50MP main camera with an 8MP macro camera. The pictures that this phone produces are decent for the price. They have decent contrast and a good amount of detail.
The main thing about the photos would be the colors. The camera produces images with some nice juicy colors. Even when the scene is pretty flat, the camera manages to pull out some nice colors. The images are meant to be seen on the phone’s nice display. It’s not a bad camera.
Moto G Stylus 2023 Review: Software
The Moto G Stylus 2023 comes with Android 13 out of the box which is a major win for this phone. Since Motorola’s MyUX is very similar to stock Android, you’ll be getting a relatively pure software experience.
Most of what you’d see on a Pixel is on this phone. So, you’ll have a faithful Material You experience complete with all of the visual and functional features. This is great for people who want to know what Material You is all about.
Stylus
A major part of the software experience is the built-in stylus pen. This allows you to write or draw directly on the screen when you need to. When you take the pen out of its silo, you’ll see a little toolbar pop-up that has different tools to help you utilize the stylus. Using the stylus is pretty smooth, and it’s as you’d expect from this series of phones.
Conclusion
The Moto G stylus is a good phone in general, but it’s great for the price.
You should get this phone if:
- You want a phone with a nice screen
- You want a phone with really good speakers
- You want a phone with a built-in stylus
- You want a phone with really good battery life
You shouldn’t get this phone if:
- You want a phone with smooth performance
- You want a phone with more than 64GB of storage
- You want a phone that’s great for gaming