Skyrocketing smartphone prices do have a side effect—better affordable phones. Most people can't (and probably shouldn't) buy a $1,000 phone every few years, and that's why the budget to midrange market is thriving. Motorola's Moto G Stylus and Moto G Power are the latest Android phones to add to the not-too-expensive pile.
These are good phones, but they show that Motorola is growing complacent. The company has cornered the budget market for some time, yet its phones are quickly falling behind. Competitors like Google and Apple are offering dramatically better handsets that don't cost much more. In particular, the Pixel 3A and iPhone SE have some superior features, like significantly better cameras, faster performance, and a promise that software support will continue for much longer. Of course, the new Moto G phones have perks these other devices don't, like expandable storage and three whole days of battery life. However, Motorola needs to learn that it will have to add more than that to the spec sheet to stay competitive.
The Moto G Power and Moto G Stylus are very similar. Both have the same nondescript design—they're almost the same size, and the plastic backs are close to alike—and both are equipped with 6.4-inch LCD screens. That includes a hole-punch 16-megapixel selfie camera too. Powering both phones is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 665 chipset with 4 GB of RAM. The Gs also each have a headphone jack and a MicroSD card slot, in case you want to add more storage. On the back, you'll also find a 2-megapixel macro camera for extreme close-up shots.
But there are many other differences to know if you're deciding between the two.
Moto G Power ($250): The Power is all about battery life, and it's fitted with a 5,000-mAh capacity, which is why it's a little thicker than the Stylus. Because it's a little cheaper, you only get 64 GB of storage. The main camera has 16 megapixels, and it's joined by an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera.
Moto G Stylus ($300): The Stylus is a little thinner and lighter because it has a smaller 4,000-mAh battery. Instead of a big battery, you get ... a stylus! As the name implies, it's built into the phone. You also start out with double the storage: 128 GB. The camera system is quite different, with a main 48-megapixel sensor at the core, paired with a 16-megapixel ultrawide that can only be used for videos (more on that later).
Three days. That's how long I managed before needing to charge both of these phones. The large battery capacities paired with low-power specs mean either phone will have no trouble powering through a full day of heavy use. The G Power's bigger battery did get me to the night of the third day, whereas I had to plug in the G Stylus to its USB-C charger earlier in the morning on day three. When it comes to endurance, it's hard to beat these two Motos.
Performance isn't as excellent, but it's sufficient. You're going to see the screen stutter now and then, and apps won't feel as snappy as they are on more powerful phones, but in my testing, I was able to do all the things I usually do without feeling like pulling my hair out. That even includes winning a few matches in Call of Duty. Just be prepared for long loading times.
Both phones have the same screen, and it's solid. It's no OLED, so you're not going to see deep blacks and punchy colors, but it's plenty sharp. Minimal bezels around the screen help make this design feel a bit more modern than say, the new iPhone SE. I do wish the screen got a tad brighter—there was one day when I was outdoors walking my dog (with a face mask!) when I had to run to a shaded area to be able to properly read a message. That was on a particularly sunny day, and most of the time, I didn't suffer many readability issues.
Both the G Power and G Stylus run Android 10, and aside from some bloatware you'll want to uninstall, you get a pretty simple and uncluttered experience. Gone are the days when manufacturers piled on unnecessary skins that hogged system resources. But Motorola hasn't improved its stance on software updates; this phone will only get one Android version upgrade and "security updates on a regular basis." By "regular," Motorola means quarterly updates, but even that's "subject to change."
That's not good. Most Nokia phones, which also sit on the more affordable end of the phone market, get two years of Android upgrades and three years of security updates. Pay a little more for the Pixel 3A and you get the same guarantee, and the new iPhone SE will likely last you five years before Apple stops issuing updates. These updates are important; not only do they provide new features, they also keep the software secure by patching potential vulnerabilities. It's disappointing that Motorola doesn't rank longevity and security as priorities.