what's going on guys my name is wade
with tech daily so
i've been using the new 2021 moto g
stylus for the last couple of weeks now
actually i've been using all the newly
released moto phones that came out this
past month and
i've basically come to the conclusion
that this stylus
is the only motorola device worth
getting this year
it's not just because it's bigger and
nicer with a fresh new design
it's not just because it has a bit of a
spec boost and solid feature set
including that stylus support no it's
mainly because
this 2021 moto g stylus is an
actual upgrade over last year and that
sounds weird
new phones should be upgrades from their
previous versions
but that simply can't be said about most
other new motorola phones this year
in fact new 2021 moto devices like the
g-power and the g9 power
are literal downgrades they are worse
devices
than their 2020 counterparts so in my
eyes
this new 2021 stylus is not only a
worthwhile upgrade for
previous stylus users but it's also
probably the moto phone
that any other person should be
considering two if they want a 2021
motorola device now setting aside
motorola's poor decision making with
their smartphone lineup this year
i think the stylus on its own is a solid
device anyway
it offers a lot for the money it's
obviously very unique
it's a good enough alternative to the
note and
i guess technically the s21 ultra now
with its s pen edition
there's a lot to like here so let's go
ahead and get into it and i'll talk
about my experience with this
device and fill you in on everything you
need to know about the new 2021
moto g stylus physically this phone did
change
a little bit versus last year but a lot
of that is just superficial
it's got a fresh new shiny finish but
it's still an all plastic build
there's no official water resistance
rating but it's water repellent
again so it should handle an accidental
spill
no wireless charging either or any other
new add-ons
but looking around you've still got all
the essentials
there's a micro sd card slot a
redesigned
fingerprint sensor a headphone jack down
below next to the usbc charging port
and even a new look to the camera module
which i think does
add a lot in increasing the sort of
premium look to this phone which i know
sounds a little weird but that's just my
opinion
also what you stare at all day long is
set up the same too
corner camera cutout pretty slim bezels
all around
but the biggest change here with the
phone physically is
its bigger size it's now 6.8 inches
up from the 6.4 inch form factor of last
year and i consider this to be a great
move this phone's only other real
competitor
was the lg stylo 6. that phone is 6.8
inches as well but it's
massive with huge bezels and a dated
design
this phone packs that same big screen in
a smaller
more modern form factor and writing with
a stylus for example on a screen size
like this is just great not to mention
consuming contents and playing games and
whatever else you want to do
sure it's gonna be a bit of a stretch
for some people now
but i think given how robust this phone
is aimed at being
bigger here is better and with that new
side mounted fingerprint sensor i think
that was the right move
too sure the rear sensor with little
dimple and motorola logo
was iconic but i think it would have
been too uncomfortable
on this phone the side mounted power
button combo is easy to use
it's comfortable it's fast you can also
enable a capacitive shortcut setup where
a light double tap brings up a
customizable menu of apps
that may or may not be all that useful
but the bottom line
is this setup i think was the right move
and more than anything nowadays i'm just
glad to have it
motorola also did bring back face unlock
on this phone too
and it works fine when you can utilize
it but i think that fingerprint unlock
is the way to go
now unfortunately it's not all positive
with the g-stylus
one thing that motorola did mess with is
the speaker setup they basically just
took away the dual stereo sound that
last year's stylus and a bunch of other
motorola phones had
and we now just get that single downward
firing speaker
motorola made this change on all their
new phones this year
it's a shame i don't really get it i'm a
big proponent of stereo speakers
but the out loud listening experience is
still pretty decent and actually this is
really the only sort of
downgrade or negative change on this
phone at least
so there's that and here's a sound
sample so you can get an idea
[Music]
obviously the main reason why you'd even
consider this phone in the first place
is because of the built-in stylus
support and
while motorola didn't bring any new
changes or features here
i think this familiar setup and feature
set
still offers a lot of value the stylus
itself is housed
in pretty much the same place but it now
has that clicky pop
out top that makes it easier to grab for
and put away
the pen is also a little bigger than
last year which i find makes it more
comfortable to hold and easier to write
with
the tip of the stylus for whatever
reason is thicker this year
and more rounded less pointy but that
all doesn't really matter
because this setup is still just your
basic metal pointer tool
there's no bluetooth connection between
the pen and the phone
this stylus doesn't offer any additional
button functions
it is the same simple little stick
that's basically an extension
of your finger just a little more
precise so you can of course just
utilize a stylus
to interact with the phone as you would
with your hand and tap away at anything
you want i know a lot of people just
like being able to do this
but of course when you pull that stylus
out you're also prompted with a shortcut
menu that houses
some stylus-specific apps and features
that are only available
on this phone for example the dedicated
notes app lets you draw
write and type out whatever it is you
need you can write out a shopping list
do some coloring sketch out a diagram
you can combine
typed text and handwritten notes to the
app offers a lot
and i think this is where most people
will use the stylus
you don't have to utilize motorola's
notes app either though you can
theoretically use
any app that offers stylus and drawing
support
so keep notes for example is a great
alternative there are also some other
stylish shortcuts like the ability to
quickly take and edit screenshots
that's super helpful at times there's a
dedicated coloring book to help pass the
time
and you can even customize the stylus
menu to display
any app shortcut you want it doesn't
have to be stylus related or even
motorola specific
while the stylus related tools and
features obviously fall
short when compared to samsung's note
and the s21 ultra
i think there's still plenty here that
makes the stylus both useful and fun
the real downside is just the fact that
this rudimentary setup
means that the lag and latency when you
draw or write
is still very obvious motorola did
nothing
to improve that and you might have to
slow your writing down a little bit
in order to keep your lines accurate
this is obviously a product of the
stylus and phone
not being paired up the phone isn't
exactly
made for the stylus like i said it's not
connected in any way
and the stylus isn't made for the phone
it's
just a cheap metal pointer but if you're
used to that little delay
maybe from last year's phone it's not
really a big deal
it's just still very far from the note
or galaxy tab or apple pencil experience
that i know a lot of us
are used to nowadays so you have to keep
that in mind
all in all the stylus support i think is
still reason enough
to consider this phone if you get even a
little bit of use out of it
and just to finish up with the screen
here the new moto g stylus
has the same 1080 resolution ips lcd
panel that we've seen
before it normally wouldn't even be
worth highlighting
but remember how i said that motorola
downgraded
some of their other 2021 smartphones
yeah this
is where those phones lost out like the
new g power for example it got a 720p
display which is just ridiculous so
while there's nothing
new or exciting here and you can
certainly get a better amoled display or
even a high refresh rate panel
on other phones for a similar price now
at least
it's not a crappy 720 resolution screen
like some other
new moto phones though just having to
say that is
really not a good look the last two big
elements
to this phone the internal specs and the
camera setup
fortunately are pretty decent and i
think for a vast majority of people
this device is going to be able to
handle most anything you want to throw
at it
this time around we get the snapdragon
678 chipset an adreno
612 gpu a newer setup over last year
still just four gigs of ram 128
gigabytes of storage but i've been able
to live with all that
just fine in fact i think this phone
performs quite good
honestly from average everyday use to
more intense stuff like games
i haven't had a blip or an issue at all
and i haven't come across anything
really this phone can't handle
if i have to complain about something i
think four gigs of ram
maybe makes this phone fall a little
behind and keeping apps current
some stuff tends to get relaunched or
reloaded once
a dozen or so things get opened up but
other than that if you want a game
on this phone you totally can whether
it's more simple stuff or more graphics
heavy titles
i haven't run into any issues really the
biggest thing about these moto phones
is just the lack of timely software
updates the g stylus i consider to be
one of motorola's more important devices
and yet it ships
with android 10. in fact i think only
one moto phone right now even has an
android 11 update
so it could be weeks or maybe even
months before we see an update for this
phone
will the average user care or even
notice
probably not but i feel like the lack of
solid software support versus the
competition
means you do lose out on some of the
value and some of the long-term
potential
obviously the pixel is in a league of
its own when it comes to software
support but even samsung offers
timely updates and a couple of years of
support on their mid-range a-series
devices
priced similarly to this phone with a
slow android 11 rollout
and likely just one android version
update in total
motorola continues to offer lackluster
software support
and i don't really understand why now on
the plus side
what they lack in software updates they
make up for in battery life
a lot of motorola's devices are known
for having pretty beefy batteries and
this phone is a solid offering too
the 4 000 milliamp battery inside is
enough for me
to power through a little more than
today's use at
70 brightness with plenty of social
media use and a bit of gaming
too it's not the crazy powerhouse device
like the moto g
power obviously and i'm not quite sure
it's the full two-day battery device
that motorola advertises
maybe not for everyone but it's solid
and i have no complaints
finally when it comes to the cameras the
moto g stylus
offers a decent set of capabilities that
i think most people
will be happy with around back the new
quad lens setup now includes
48 megapixel main lens 8 megapixel ultra
wide
2 megapixel macro for up close shots and
a 2 megapixel depth sensor
the 16 megapixel selfie camera i think
up front also has a lot of potential too
and inside the redesigned camera app
you'll find most of the tools and
options you'd want
i'm still personally not a big fan of
the macro lens for example but you can
shoot up to 4k video with this phone
which is great
there's night mode pro shooting controls
a couple other moto specific add-ons
like the spot color filter there's
enhanced video stabilization
and i think the results here are pretty
good
this phone produces a really natural
looking shot you could call it dull but
i call it realistic there's no fancy
color enhancements or saturation boosts
there's
a ton of detail in every shot which i
find to be most important where this
phone misses the mark more than anything
else
is usually when the lighting conditions
are less than ideal
shadowy areas tend to get lost dark
scenes can be
a little too dark with video i think
what impressed me the most
is that stabilization this phone is just
silky smooth
when it's shooting and i think the end
result looks great the selfie camera is
pretty good
too it's natural there's tons of detail
portrait mode ends up doing a nice job
with the background and foreground
separation
all in all there's a lot to like here
and enough to where this phone
can get the job done now unfortunately
i do think camera tech has just come a
long way in a short time
i don't know that motorola has put as
much effort into their camera tech as
some other companies have
and with a ton of other devices offering
flagship camera capabilities basically
at a fraction of the price
this phone obviously is just gonna fall
way short but if camera capabilities are
what you're after
then just get a pixel it's not much of a
comparison
all in all the new moto g stylus is a
fine phone
on its own at 299 dollars i think it's
well worth the money
and it's a unique device with a lot to
offer
there's nothing that's inherently
negative here and in fact there's a lot
to like
it looks great it's big it's got the
specs to get the job done
and that stylus i think is still a
selling point
even if there's been no real improvement
from the previous year
more than anything though like i
explained already this is the only phone
i consider to be a genuine upgrade over
last year
and the only 2021 moto device in the
lineup right now that's worth
getting i hate to harp on it so much but
motorola just
launched some disappointing devices to
start the year off
and i think this one in my opinion is
probably the only new moto device worth
considering right now
if you want a new device that's
genuinely worth the money
so there you go those are my thoughts on
the new moto g
stylus what do you guys think about this
phone is it something
you're considering right now let me know
in the comments down below
i'd love to know your thoughts of course
but hopefully you guys did enjoy this
video
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