The Motorola Moto G Stylus is not teeming with bloatware

The 2026 version of Motorola’s stylus cellphone is loads interesting.

My evaluate unit is a captivating lilac shade, has a pleasantly textured again panel, and features a MicroSD slot and what is likely to be the final surviving headphone jack on a mainstream cellphone bought in North America. The namesake stylus is not only a fancy plastic stick, it’s lively and comes with some neat methods.

Even the bloatware downside has been reined in. Don’t get me flawed, it’s nonetheless current. However the undesirable apps have been scaled again to a manageable stage in comparison with a few years in the past. There’s only one pre-downloaded app “folder” that’s really an app rather than three. The complete web page MotoHub widget, which was a privateness nightmare, is gone. The third-party climate app is now clearly recognized as “developed by OneLouder Apps” on the preliminary splash web page — one thing I complained about in my last Stylus review in 2023. If an app goes to ask to trace your location continuously, you must a minimum of have the ability to perceive who made it with out doing 10 minutes of googling.

The truth that bloatware is not my prime concern with the G Stylus is a significant enchancment. However the cellphone comes with a better price ticket this 12 months: $499, a full $100 value improve 12 months over 12 months. I’m certain the reminiscence disaster has one thing to do with that. Nevertheless it places the Stylus squarely within the midrange, and I’m not satisfied that it performs like a midrange cellphone ought to.

I don’t need to promote the G Stylus quick. The lively stylus is beautiful to make use of, and there’s nothing fairly prefer it in another finances or midrange cellphone. It’s strain delicate, does a fairly good job of handwriting recognition, and you’ll even configure it to amplify textual content while you hover over it. I’ve a sense that’s a function I’m going to actually admire in a couple of years.

The notes app comes with the choice to arrange your notes into collections, which makes it really feel much less like a dumping floor and extra like a tidy house for all of the random stuff I locate and need to bear in mind. The stylus is thoughtfully developed and built-in, and I feel it even rivals the much pricier Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s stylus expertise.

However the Moto G Stylus stumbles on a few fundamentals, one being pictures. The primary digital camera is ok; it’s a 50-megapixel sensor with an optically stabilized lens. It does a adequate job in daylight, though colours are very punchy and red-channel clipping could cause some disagreeable shade shifts. It offers a sure synthetic look to pictures. The ultrawide is ok, and it doubles as a macro digital camera so it offers autofocus for close-up pictures. Which means you get pictures you would possibly really need to use in comparison with the times of the crappy 5-megapixel devoted macro digital camera.

Right here’s the factor: there are 4 digital camera lens-looking issues on the again of the cellphone, certainly one of which homes the flash. There are solely two rear cameras obtainable within the digital camera app. What offers? The spec sheet claims the final one is a “3-in-1 mild sensor.” Motorola spokesperson Brendan Corridor says it “helps with Auto White Steadiness, Publicity, and Anti-Flicker.” Which, I assume. However little question a minimum of a part of its job is to seem like an actual, third digital camera lens, and that looks like form of an inexpensive trick.

The Moto G Stylus affords sturdy water and dirt resistance: each IP68 and IP69, so it could actually stand as much as water immersion and excessive strain spray. This is good news. However software program assist doesn’t look pretty much as good: solely two main OS upgrades and three years of safety updates supplied, and Motorola has a popularity for delivering these fairly slowly.

The Stylus 2026’s Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset coupled with 8GB of RAM looks like simply sufficient energy for this machine. I seen very slight hesitations right here and there, significantly after waking it and opening a brand new app. Granted, I’ve been utilizing flagship telephones for a lot of the final 12 months, but it surely’s been a very long time since I’ve consciously seen any form of lag operating my day-t0-day apps. It’s not sufficient to be an actual concern right now, however that is additionally the quickest the cellphone is ever going to run. It’ll maintain up for its two scheduled annual OS upgrades, however I do fear about it slowing down after that.

I admire the Moto G Stylus. I really like that it affords one thing actually completely different from the competitors — the lively stylus, a way of fashion, to not point out the headphone jack and microSD slot. There’s bloatware, however not as dangerous as earlier than. I simply want the cameras have been a bit higher and it got here with extra software program updates so I might suggest it as simply because the undefeated midrange champ: the Google Pixel 10A.

At a big low cost, the Moto G Stylus turns into a extra fascinating worth proposition. Previous to RAMageddon, I’d have stated Motorola was certain to supply some good reductions on it earlier than too lengthy. Now I’m not so certain. Backside line, if you wish to maintain onto your cellphone so long as potential and you’re taking a whole lot of pictures, you must persist with the Pixel.

Images by Allison Johnson / The Verge