I tested the Moto G Stylus 2025, and this is one cheap phone you shouldn't sleep on

Motorola's Stylus lineup has represented the higher end of the company's midrange phones for years. After LG's departure, it was one of the only other smartphones to carry a built-in stylus, aside from Samsung's premium S phones like the Galaxy S25 Ultra. So naturally, with the Moto G Stylus 2025, there's a bit of pressure to really entice customers away from a flagship phone that costs more than three times as much.

Fortunately, I think Motorola has nailed it. The Stylus 2025 improves on last year's model in ways I didn't think the company was ready for, with specs that easily rival some of the best Android phones. And while the $400 price tag means you won't get all the capabilities of a premium Android smartphone, the Moto G Stylus 2025 has just about everything you'd need without all the superfluous bells and whistles that end up costing you $1000 or more.

Moto G Stylus 2025: Price, availability, and specs

The Moto G Stylus 2025 was announced on April 8 and went on sale in the United States on April 17. The phone retails for $399 when purchased unlocked from Motorola and retailers like Amazon and Best Buy.

Color options include Gibraltar Sea and Surf the Web, although availability may depend on the carrier. Depending on where you buy it, you get 128GB or 256GB of storage, but it'll come with 8GB of RAM either way.

Moto G Stylus 2025: What I like

I've previously noted how there are a lot of things to like about the Moto G Stylus 2025, and after spending more time with the phone, all of that still rings true. The phone has a wonderfully simple yet effective design that mirrors some of last year's flagships like the Edge 50 Ultra. The camera housing has evolved to a more stove-like design, while the vegan leather encases the entire back nicely. It's a soft and very comfortable phone to hold.

It's a pretty large phone, with a display at 6.7 inches, but the bezels are smaller than you'd expect for a phone at this price point. The phone is also a hair thinner than the Moto G Stylus 5G 2024, but the battery capacity is still the same, which is nice.

Motorola did something I didn't expect with the Stylus display, pushing it beyond what many midrange (and most flagships) offer by giving it a Super HD resolution. It's not a resolution I've seen much on a smartphone, but it makes the OLED display appear incredibly crisp.

It's surprising, given how Motorola is pushing a higher resolution than the base Galaxy S25, while increasing brightness to 3,000 nits. The result is a sharp, bright display that's almost as good as the new Razr Ultra 2025, and frankly, I would love to see more flagship phones with this resolution.

The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, coupled with 8GB of RAM. I would've loved to see a more powerful chip, maybe something in the 7 series, but after using the phone over the past few weeks, I can happily report that the phone performs quite well. The software is snappy, apps open quickly, and games play quite well.

You may experience some dropped frames if you're playing something graphically heavy like Honkai: Star Rail on the highest settings, but the phone is more than capable of smooth gameplay on high settings.

The Moto G Stylus 2025 runs Android 15 out of the box. It's not much different from Android 14, and Motorola's Hello UX is a mostly inoffensive take on Android. There's not much built-in customization, at least on the levels you'll find on OnePlus phones, for example, but I don't see this as a downside, especially if you want to keep things simple. After all, it's a $400 phone, so anyone buying this most likely isn't a power user.

I appreciate the noticeable lack of bloatware. Aside from a random gaming folder that you can easily disable and the Glance screen that's turned off by default, Motorola has done a great job minimizing unnecessary software on its midrange and budget phones.

I also appreciate that Motorola is improving its software update promise, even by a little. The phone is set to receive two OS upgrades and three years of bi-weekly software updates. Last year's Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 has been receiving updates pretty consistently, and the Moto G Stylus 2023 received Android 14 before the Razr Plus 2023 did, so I'm hoping Motorola can keep this up.

There is some AI here, but don't expect a Pixel 9a here. Motorola's Moto AI features are mostly reserved for higher-end phones, but there are still some goodies here worth pointing out. Circle to Search is one of my favorite features, and it's great to see it on this phone.

In addition to the usual Google Photos AI editing capabilities, Motorola also included a new Sketch to Image feature that generates images in different styles based on what you draw. It's a neat feature and works fairly similarly to Samsung's feature of the same name, although not as fully featured. Still, it's a fun feature to show off and potentially a great way to keep a toddler occupied if necessary.

Another way Motorola applies AI is to the camera experience. The company upgraded the Moto G Stylus 2025 to a 50MP Sony LYTIA 700C sensor, and while last year's phone took pretty respectable photos, I've not been disappointed with the photo quality from this camera either. For the most part, images are crisp and vibrant, particularly in good lighting.

You can get some pretty good natural-looking bokeh from images, and the macro shots from the ultrawide camera are also surprisingly good for those of you who like to take close-up shots of nature.

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Compared to last year's model, the Stylus 2025 doesn't attempt to brighten shadows nearly as much. On the other hand, images from the Stylus 2024 can sometimes appear a bit artificial and have flatter colors.

Where the AI comes in is with Action Shot, which can capture very high-speed images of moving subjects to reduce blur and ensure the subject is in focus. You can see from the images below how the Stylus 2025 does a much better job of capturing running water or a train in motion, although it may come at the expense of some dynamic range.

Basically, this is a nice feature to have if you own pets or have kids.

Battery life is pretty great, which is par for the course for Motorola's G series. I could easily get a day of use from the Stylus 2025, and you'll likely get the same or more, depending on your use.

Motorola also managed to get 68W charging on a $400 phone, which feels too good to be true for North America, but it really is incredible. From 1%, the phone will reach 50% in 20 minutes and 100% in 39 minutes. Someone tell Samsung.

Moto G Stylus 2025: What I don't like

Like last year's model, the Moto G Stylus 2025 utilizes an in-display fingerprint sensor. Frankly, it's not bad, but it's not my favorite either. It takes a second to register, and it's placed uncomfortably low on the display. This is the same issue I had with the Stylus 5G 2024, so it's annoying to see here, too.

Furthermore, the sensor flashes a very bright white when you use it, which is particularly jarring, especially when using the phone in dark spaces.

The camera also has a few quirks, which I hope Motorola can tweak or fix with future updates. The phone does well in good lighting conditions, and post-processing can sometimes nicely enhance images beyond what is captured, but it doesn't seem to do too well in trickier lighting situations. As a result, some images can appear too dark or heavy in contrast. Again, it's about preference, but I would like to see at least some improvements with how it handles darker scenes.

It seems funny that this is even an issue, given Motorola's curious and seemingly pointless inclusion of a 3-in-1 light sensor (that third "camera" on the back).

Furthermore, while video can be pretty decent and stable up to 1080p at 60fps, things will start to crap out once you hit 4K30. The camera would often crap out and completely crash when trying to record a 4K video, which is kind of a bummer.

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On the software front, it would have been nice to see Motorola give the phone more Moto AI features, even if they're cloud-based, although at $400, this isn't really something we should expect from a device at this price point.

Similarly, with Motorola's software promise, which admittedly could be better. We've seen the company offer a mid-range G-series phone five OS upgrades and six years of software updates, and it would be nice to see that level of support on what could be considered the company's "hero" Moto G phone in North America.

Finally, while its nice to still have a stylus phone other than Samsung's premium Galaxy S25 Ultra, it feels a bit laggy, even after Motorola alleged to improve responsiveness by 4X.

I do like that Motorola finally gave it some purpose by adding the Sketch to Image feature, but I can't help but wonder if Motorola would be better off including an active stylus like an S Pen for potentially better usability or just doing away with it altogether and giving us a bigger battery or something.

Moto G Stylus 2025: Competition

At this price point, the closest competitor for the Moto G Stylus 2025 would be the Samsung Galaxy A36. Because it's Samsung, you're getting a much better software promise and some fun built-in AI features like Object Eraser. However, charging speed is still slower, the screen isn't as sharp, there's less base RAM, and you don't get expandable storage.

You could also spring for the Pixel 9a if you don't mind spending a little more. This way, you could get a better software promise, more color options, and tons of AI features. However, it costs $100 more, and you'll miss out on the faster charging speeds.

You could also go for the Nothing Phone 3a or Phone 3a Pro, both of which are similarly priced and have impressive specs. However, they may also be hard to get a hold of as they're only available through Nothing's beta program, and carrier support isn't as robust or reliable.

Moto G Stylus 2025: Should you buy it?

You should buy this if...

• You're in the market for a good, affordable phone.
• You want a phone with a built-in stylus pen.
• You want good battery life and fast charging.

You shouldn't buy this if...

• You want all the latest AI features from Google.
• You plan to keep the phone for more than three years.

It's tough to find reasons not to recommend the Moto G Stylus 2025. Despite some of its drawbacks, this is one of the best Android phones under $400, and one you definitely shouldn't sleep on, even with more expensive phones like the Pixel 9a looming over it.

The specs and performance make this a great phone for the price, and the camera is surprisingly good, even if it needs a bit of tweaking. And while the phone isn't perfect, none of the negatives feel like dealbreakers to me, even after a few weeks. Ultimately, the Moto G Stylus 2025 solidifies Motorola as the king of affordable phones in North America.