Going back to basics, sort of

This story was originally published 2020/04/23
8:48 am PDTApril 23, 2020 and last update 2020/05/02
6:00 am. PDTMay 2, 2020.

When the first Moto G landed in 2013, it was a phone that certainly turned its head. Not because it was big, fast, or packed with amazing and innovative features, but because it was cheap. The G series has come a long way in the past seven years (yes, it really has been a while), but during that period, we feel that the G lost its way more than once, becoming too expensive or losing a key budget phone trends. . Fortunately, these new G-series phones fix some of Moto’s missteps – they are legitimately good values. Last year’s Moto G series was quite expensive, so it’s good to see Moto have redesigned its philosophy in 2020 with the G Power and S Stylus.

These phones are fast enough, but they won’t come close to the flagship phone experience. Cameras do the job, but a Pixel or OnePlus phone will never be better. The screens? Hey, you won’t hate looking at them, but Samsung’s OLEDs impress them. But starting at $ 250, the new Moto G phones are a step in the right direction for Motorola, and a good value for budget phone buyers.

Design, hardware, what’s in the box.

The G Power and G Stylus have many basic design features in common, so much so that it can be difficult to tell them apart at a glance. Motorola has made its latest G phones look much more modern with perforated displays and slimmer bezels. The camera hangs in the upper left corner, and three of the four sides of the screen have more or less the same bezels. The bottom “chin” is still slightly larger to make room for LCD controllers, but it’s much smaller than last year’s G-series. There’s not even room to stick a Motorola logo!

Moto G Power

The G Stylus and Power have plastic backs, which is one step below last year’s G7 glass design. That said, plastic is lighter and doesn’t feel cheap. However, they feel a lot like plastic. There is a fingerprint sensor on the back with the Motorola logo on the inside. That’s the only brand on the phone, which I quite like. The power button and volume control are on the right edge. They are tactile enough, but they move a bit. At the bottom, it has the speaker (stereo with earphone), a USB-C port, and an increasingly rare headphone jack.

These devices are a bit heavy (barely 200g), but that’s the consequence of having huge batteries even in a lightweight plastic case. Motorola still refuses to add NFCs to its low-budget G-series phones in the United States. So these phones cannot make mobile payments through Google Pay. Although they still bother me to set up Google Pay, which seems very unnecessary.

Moto G Stylus

On the G Stylus, the eponymous stylus attaches to the bottom of the phone. There’s no Galaxy Note-style spring-loaded eject mechanism, so you need to grab the end of the pen with a fingernail to remove it. I feel like I’m constantly hitting myself trying to get the pencil out, and it’s rarely worth it when I do. The pencil is small and not comfortable to hold, and lacks any kind of pressure sensitivity. It is just a small capacitive bump that is only slightly more precise than your finger.

Note the shadow around the camera.

Both phones have the same 6.4-inch 1080p LCD panel. Colors and brightness are intermediate between smartphones, but that’s what I would expect for the price. In “saturated” display mode, things look shocking, but the screen lacks the richness of a good OLED. Motorola’s screen exhibits some consistency issues around the puncher, which is typical every time you bite down on an LCD panel. It looks like a slight shadow surrounding the opening, which can be a bit annoying on light backgrounds.

These are cheap phones, so you wouldn’t expect any bonuses at the till. And you would be right. You get the phone and the charger. That’s.

Software and performance

Motorola adopted a common Android user interface years ago when it was part of Google, and the company has maintained that interface as part of Lenovo. The Moto of the Google era was also innovative with software features. Unfortunately, that has not continued with Lenovo. There is less to make The G Power and G Stylus stand out as the main Android experience has displaced custom features like Moto Voice and Moto Display. I’ve long cited Moto Display as one of my favorite things about Motorola phones, and it’s still good, it’s just not dramatically better than the always-on display functionality on most other phones. The new G phones don’t even activate the Moto screen when you shake it like older Moto devices.

While Moto is straying from the ingenuity of past software, the overall experience is still above average. There are no duplicate bloatware apps or adware, it ships with Android 10 and the home screen has Google Discover. I will also point out that Moto Actions is still a great added bonus on G series phones; The cut to activate the flashlight is so useful that I’m surprised that nobody copied it. These features are available on both phones, but the G Stylus does have a few minor additions related to, you guessed it, the stylus. When you remove the stylus, you get a small floating icon similar to the Samsung Air Command. It links it to applications like the new Moto Notes, but you can customize it as you see fit.

Motorola has a seedy track record with Android updates, but it’s hard to find a phone under $ 300 that doesn’t have it. These phones will likely only receive a major OS update and a few quarterly security patches. Updating the operating system is probably too late too.

Moto’s clean software expertise helps keep performance at acceptable levels. G-series phones with the Snapdragon 665 are certainly fast enough. Nothing happens as fast as on a high-end 800-series chipset phone, but you can get used to small delays. Very rarely did I see a real lag on these phones, and that was mainly when installing or updating apps in the background.

Battery life is one of the main selling points here. The G Power has a huge 5,000 mAh battery, which keeps it running for about three days. It’s liberating to be able to use your phone without any hint of range anxiety. The smallest 4,000 mAh battery in the G Stylus lasts for about two days, and that’s good overall. It’s just not as special as G Power’s longevity. I honestly don’t think the smaller battery is a good compensation for the stylus. Unfortunately, charging the G Power and the G Stylus is a little disappointing. These devices only support 10W charging; Motorola insists on calling this “fast charge,” but that seems awfully nice. It takes years to recharge the batteries in these phones.

Cameras

I don’t think anyone expects a budget phone to take amazing photos, and the new G-series phones don’t. However, they take photos surprisingly well. The G Stylus has a 48MP primary sensor, and the G Power has only 16MP. Despite that, the difference in photo quality is negligible. Software processing is just as important as the sensor these days, and Moto isn’t really taking advantage of the higher resolution in the G Stylus. With that said, both phones take solid photos outdoors with low shutter speeds and accurate colors.

In low light, the G Stylus manages to keep the shutter lag lower due to its pixel grouping. So, you get fewer blurry shots and better lighting (generally). Again, the difference between the phones is not dramatic, but the G Stylus is the winner.

Power G:

G Stylus:

Both phones have a wide-angle camera sensor, but only the G Power uses it the way you’d expect. It takes wide-angle photos, but the G Stylus uses it exclusively for wide-angle “action camera” video. Similar to one of the company’s Motorola One devices, it can hold the G Stylus vertically and capture ultra-wide video. It looks great, but I’d probably rather have a fixed camera. Both phones also have a 2MP macro camera, which produces disappointing photos. You need excellent lighting for a chance to get something even loosely usable.

Should you buy it?