Motorola has launched quite a few G-branded phones in the first few months of the year. So you would be forgiven if you missed the announcement of the Moto G Stylus 5G. As the name suggests, it’s a 5G-enabled version of the popular G Stylus phone, freshly updated for 2022. While the updates are welcome, the price of the phone has gone up to half a grand. The Moto G Stylus 5G hardly differs from its predecessor.
It is still mostly made of plastic with a glass front that is not completely without edges. The screen features a selfie camera in the upper left corner. Despite the plastic, the phone looks pretty stunning thanks to the Cosmic Emerald color, and the frame feels sturdy. Motorola has kept the USB-C and 3.5 mm headphone jack on the bottom of the phone, as well as the stylus slot and the unfortunately stand-alone mono speaker.
The power and volume buttons are located at the top of the phone’s right side, while the SIM card and microSD slot are on the left. Unfortunately, another change to the design is the fingerprint sensor, which feels like a step backwards. While the predecessor had a side-mounted fingerprint sensor integrated into the power button, the Moto G Stylus 5G moves this sensor to the back of the phone, where we not only have to reach it, but also touch it blindly.
The camera hump has changed to match Motorola’s newer style, opting for a square layout instead of a single row of cameras. There are four sensors on the back with a flash underneath. Oddly, the microphones are only on the top and bottom edges of the phone, with no front-facing cameras. The Moto G Stylus 5G has four cameras: a 48MP main camera, an 8MP Ultrawide camera, a 5MP macro camera, and a 2MP depth sensor.
While we’ve questioned the need for dedicated macro and depth cameras in the past (especially on budget phones), they’re here because Motorola thinks people want them. People are impressed by bigger numbers, so including four cameras as a selling point was probably a no brainer for Motorola, even if their utility is dubious at best.
