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Moto G Stylus 2025 review
The year Motorola's camera app stopped being the weak link.
The verdict
The 2025 Stylus is a large step up from the 2022 model, and the reason is software as much as silicon: the rewritten camera app finally enhances photos instead of ruining them. The headphone jack and memory card slot survive. Gemini and a 64-bit-only system are the new irritations.
Buy it if
- You are upgrading from a Stylus two or three generations old — the jump is large
- You still want a headphone jack and expandable storage on a modern phone
- You want an in-screen fingerprint reader rather than one on the power button
- You want cheap high-capacity storage: a 1 TB microSD brings the total past 1.2 TB
Skip it if
- You rely on old 32-bit Android apps — this system is 64-bit only and they will not migrate
- You do not want Gemini; it is built into the ROM and takes effort to push aside
- You want a choice of colours — there are two, both leather-effect
- You expect the power button to just be a power button
Prices change daily, so we don't list them here. The button opens the current listing.
Specifications
| Model year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Android 15; Motorola lists up to two Android upgrades for this line |
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, 4 cores at 2.4 GHz and 4 at 1.8 GHz |
| Display | 6.7 in pOLED, 2712 x 1220, 120 Hz adaptive, up to 3000 nits, Gorilla Glass 3 |
| RAM | 8 GB |
| Storage | 256 GB on this listing, 128 GB also sold, plus microSD — owners run 1 TB cards |
| Rear cameras | 50 MP main with OIS (Sony LYTIA 700C) and 13 MP ultrawide with macro |
| Front camera | 32 MP |
| Battery | 5000 mAh |
| Charging | 68W TurboPower wired and 15W wireless |
| Durability | IP68; MIL-STD-810H |
| Fingerprint reader | In-screen |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 6 |
| Headphone jack | Yes |
| Camera app | Moto Camera 5 |
| Colours | Pantone Gibraltar Sea and Surf the Web, leather-effect finish |
What it is
Motorola's stylus phone, updated, and according to long-term owners the generation where the line stops feeling mid-class. One owner who has run Motorola phones since the Nexus 6 — and replaced each one roughly every two years as its internal storage failed — describes this as the best phone they have owned.
The hardware underneath: a Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, 8 GB of memory and a 6.7-inch pOLED at 2712 x 1220 that runs at 120 Hz and reaches 3000 nits — brighter, on paper, than several phones costing three times as much. The battery is 5000 mAh with 68W wired charging and 15W wireless, which is unusually quick for the price. It is IP68 rated and MIL-STD-810H tested, and it keeps both the headphone jack and the memory card slot.
The camera app is the real upgrade
This is the most useful thing in any owner account of this phone. Earlier Stylus models shipped with Moto Camera 3, which owners describe as taking a decent enough photo and then pixelating and blotching it in post-processing — bad enough that experienced users installed Google Camera ports to get around it.
Moto Camera 5 behaves like Google Camera: it enhances the image in post-processing rather than damaging it. The same owner who used a GCam port for years on the 2022 model now uses Motorola's own app for most shots.
If you dismissed earlier Stylus phones because of camera output, this is the change that should make you look again.
What stayed, and why it matters
The 3.5 mm headphone jack and the microSD slot are both still here. That is increasingly rare, and owners frame it as the reason they keep choosing Motorola over Samsung and Google.
The arithmetic is worth spelling out: 1 TB microSD cards are now priced roughly where 512 GB cards were a few years ago. One owner reports a total of about 1,256 GB of storage for around $460 all in. No Samsung or Apple phone comes close at that price.
Three things owners dislike
Gemini is built into the ROM rather than offered as an update. One owner took several attempts to push it aside and return to Google Assistant across most of the system, and expects that option to disappear eventually.
The system is 64-bit only. Old 32-bit apps do not migrate, and backup-and-restore refuses them as incompatible. If a long-unsupported app is part of your workflow, check it before you buy — the owner who raised this lost a decade-old photo editor with no real replacement.
The power button has become a multi-function button that does everything except turn the phone on and off. Owners who chose Motorola specifically for not copying Apple find this irritating.
Smaller improvements
The fingerprint reader has moved from the power button into the screen, which owners prefer. Wi-Fi 6 and a newer Bluetooth stack are both noted as real improvements over the 2022 model. The screen is described as brighter with a better refresh, though the same owner suspects the panel is technically unchanged and credits the software.
Colour choice is narrower than previous generations, which is a minor annoyance rather than a flaw.
Who it competes with
Against the Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 the question is how much the camera app and the newer chip are worth to you. Against the Motorola Edge 2025 you trade speed, polish and a real IP rating for a stylus, a jack and a card slot. Against a Samsung or Pixel at the same price, you are buying storage and ports instead of camera hardware.
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