Our 10 favorite features every owner should try

Our 10 favorite features every owner should try


While Samsung’s S Pen gets most of the attention, Motorola quietly competes with an affordable alternative with its Moto G Stylus 5G lineup. The 2024 version, the Moto G Stylus 5G, is back with its signature stylus, long battery life, which lasts even longer with optimization, and other great features packed into an affordable Android smartphone. It gives you a taste of what Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra users get for a fraction of the price. Here’s a look at the best features it offers.



Read our review

Moto G Stylus 5G (2024)

Moto’s hardware keeps getting better, so why can’t its Android experience keep up?


10 Vegan leather back

Durable and free from fingerprints

This year’s Moto G Stylus 5G has a vegan leather back, which feels like genuine leather but skips animal products for an eco-friendly choice. It’s tough against micro-scratches and fall damage. The texture gives you a premium feel and solid grip. It’s comfortable to hold for long periods without adding bulk. Another bonus: no fingerprints or smudges.

9 Handwriting calculator

Handwriting recognition for quick math

The handwriting calculator lets you write mathematical expressions on the screen. The phone recognizes your handwriting and calculates the result, so you don’t have to type calculations. This tool is handy for fast, intuitive calculations and isn’t limited to basic math. It even handles complex formulas such as trigonometry.


8 Gesture navigation

An immersive full-screen experience

The Moto G Stylus 2024 gives you the choice between the classic three-button navigation and a gesture-based system. Going gesture-based opens up the display for an immersive and fluid experience, which is great for watching videos or playing games. Gesture navigation replaces the old buttons. You’ll swipe up to go home, swipe and hold for recent apps, or swipe from the edges for the back function.

7 6.7-inch POLED display

Sharp resolution and fluid refresh rate

The Moto G Stylus 2024 features a 6.7-inch POLED display with sharp Full HD+ resolution, delivering rich colors, deep blacks, and an acceptable contrast for an immersive viewing experience. The display also supports a smooth 120Hz refresh rate for fluid animations and a responsive feel. It automatically adjusts to 60Hz when idle to save battery. With 10-bit color depth and peak brightness up to 1,200 nits, Motorola has ensured excellent outdoor visibility.


The Moto G Stylus 2024 held in front of a bush outside with the display on.

6 MicroSD and 3.5mm jack

Bringing back a classic combination

The Moto G Stylus 5G offers a microSD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack. While many phones are phasing out expandable storage, the Moto G lets you add up to 2TB of space with an SD card for all your media and apps. If you’re an audiophile who loves the dependable, quality sound of wired headphones over Bluetooth, the 3.5mm jack will be a welcome addition.


The Moto G Stylus held upside down showing off the plastic silver frame.

Free-form and full-screen app management

The sidebar multitasking feature allows quick access to favorite apps in free-form or full-screen modes, allowing you to handle multiple tasks efficiently. By swiping from the side of the screen, you can open a customizable sidebar with your preferred apps. You can resize and move the sidebar in free-form windows, offering a desktop-like experience where multiple apps run simultaneously.

For example, keep a small calculator window open while watching a video or browsing the web in the background. The feature also supports full-screen mode, making it easy to manage apps. Apps can be dragged and positioned anywhere on the screen or minimized into small icons.


4 5000mAh Battery

Lasts all day, and then some

If battery life is your top priority, the latest Moto G Stylus 5G won’t disappoint. With mixed usage, the 5000mAh comfortably lasts a day and a half, often keeping about 50% charge by the end of the day. This includes an average of three hours of screen time and plenty of music or podcast playback in the background. When it’s time to recharge, the phone supports 30W fast charging to top up the battery quickly. As a bonus, 15W wireless charging is also included this year, a feature typically reserved for higher-end phones.


3 Capable camera performance

Great value for money with multiple shooting options

The 2024 version of the Moto G Stylus 5G stands out in the mid-range market with its impressive camera setup at its $400 price point. It features a simple yet effective dual-camera system, including a 50 MP wide-angle lens with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) for sharp, stabilized shots and a 13MP ultra-wide lens with macro capabilities.

This year’s 32MP front camera delivers solid selfies and video. Although low-light performance may introduce some noise, the camera system offers excellent value for the price.

The phone supports Full HD video recording and a slow-motion option of up to 120 fps. Additional modes like Pro Mode, Spot Color, Night Vision, Panorama, and Ultra-Res Mode allow for creative versatility.


2 Hello UI

Fast, responsive, and easy to use

Motorola’s Hello UI, built on top of Android 14, offers a near-stock Android experience that prioritizes a fast and user-friendly interface. Motorola tries to load you up with bloatware during setup, but you can skip most of it. Without the bloatware and flashy animations typically found in heavily customized skins like Xiaomi’s MIUI, the phone stays snappy and responsive. It’s easy to use and great if you prefer a simple, straightforward phone experience. The stylus fits right in, making tasks like note-taking or drawing feel natural.

A close-up on the Moto G Stylus 2024's fingerprint sensor.


1 Dolby Atmos stereo speakers

Immersive sound from all directions

The Moto G Stylus 5G features Dolby Atmos-certified stereo speakers, offering decent sound quality for media consumption, gaming, and hands-free calls. Dual speakers positioned at the top and bottom of the device provide an immersive audio experience, especially in landscape mode.

Dolby Atmos support improves this by providing directional audio, creating the effect that sound comes from multiple directions for a more immersive movie or game experience. The technology also optimizes the audio profile, delivering a balanced sound with clear dialogue and rich music.


Stylus and value for less

This phone is a solid alternative to a stylus-equipped phone if you aren’t ready to drop $1,300 on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. At $400, it’s an upgrade from last year’s model and gives you a lot of bang for your buck. While it doesn’t come with the AI extras or high-end chipset of more expensive models, it still performs well for everyday use, all at a fraction of the cost.

A render of the Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) against a white background.

Moto G Stylus 5G (2024)

$350 $400 Save $50

If you’re in the market for a phone with a stylus and you don’t want to break the bank, the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) is going to be hard to beat. With an upgraded 120Hz OLED screen and up to 16GB of RAM paired with as much as 256GB of storage, it’s got the specs slider maxed out at its $400 price point.




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