All of these phones get great battery life. The new Stylus has a smaller 4,000-mAh battery capacity than the Power and Play, so you’ll get around two days of juice compared to three with the other two. Still, that’s more than any other cheap phone sold in the US.
Moto’s G Stylus edges out ahead with smoother operation and speedier interactions thanks to its superior processor. I expected a better chip inside though, especially since the OnePlus Nord N10 5G uses the more powerful Snapdragon 690 5G for the same price.
Motorola says the Snapdragon 662 processor inside the Moto G Power runs similarly to last year’s model, but my benchmark scores actually came in slightly lower. In no way does this mean performance is poor—in fact, it can run most apps and games reasonably well. I didn’t notice a drastic difference compared with the Stylus. It’s just bizarre that a new phone doesn’t have better performance than its predecessor.
The Moto G Play is noticeably more sluggish. It’s only ideal if you use a few apps, send texts, emails, make phone calls, and don’t do much else. I tried playing Alto’s Odyssey, but the stutters were so frequent that my character often crashed into the dunes. Not fun.
The Play and Power both have 720p-resolution LCD screens, and they look OK—though last year’s Power had a 1080p display. They’re colorful and sharp enough, but they’re too dim if you’re out in the sun. The Moto G Stylus has a Full HD screen, but its chunky build makes it difficult to use with one hand.
Slightly Better Cameras
Low-light photos are often the bane of cheap phones, and that’s still true here.
The G Stylus and Power share the same 48-megapixel main camera, and both have a dedicated Night mode that captures multiple photos and merges them together for a brighter shot. The results are better than the camera in last year’s Moto G Stylus, but it’s still far from the level of detail and quality you can get from Google’s Pixel 4A. Unless it’s daytime and conditions are great, nothing is incredibly sharp, and there’s a ton of noise.
