PERFORMANCE: While the Motorola Moto G Stylus garners some high scores, many others score better. This phone could still be a good budget choice if you can get it at a good price or if you need only a basic smartphone. Ease of use on the Moto G Stylus was good. Some areas of this phone may not be the easiest to use but you should be able to get used to it. Performance of the Moto G Stylus was fair. This smartphone may be a bit sluggish on many tasks. You should try using it before you buy it. Call quality and convenience on the Moto G Stylus were not the best but they were very good. Sound while on a call was very good in a quiet room and with background noise. Your sound quality will vary due to many factors including background noise, if you are moving between cell towers, the quality of the phone on the other end of the call, and the quality of the cell tower and antenna.
DURABILITY: Overall, the durability of the Moto G Stylus was Very Good. The phone scored a Very Good on our scratch resistance test. This phone passed our tumble test. The tumble test results are as follows: After 50 drops in the tumbler, our experts rated it as Excellent. The phone had some minor scratches. Overall, it was in good working condition. After our more strenuous 100 drops in the tumbler the screen and body are tough. Our experts rated it as Very Good. The phone had scratches at edges, and the pen fell out. Overall it was still in good working condition. This phone passed our rain test where a gentle rain falls on the phone for 5 minutes. This phone is not IP rated for water intrusion and was not tested for that.
PORTABILITY/BATTERY: The 6.4-inch screen on the Moto G Stylus comes in a body measuring 6.3-inches tall, 3-inches wide, 0.4-inches thick, and weighs 6.8 ounces. Those measurements mean the phone is an average size phone. At 33 hours, it has an average battery lifespan. Its battery is not removable and the phone doesn't support wireless charging.
CAMERA: The main rear camera on the Motorola Moto G Stylus measures 48-megapixels. The camera does not have optical image stabilization so handheld photos in low light may be blurrier than cameras with optical image stabilization. Overall the camera performance was good, below that of many other models but still good enough for most users to capture fine still shots. Images are evaluated on high quality LCD displays. The test photos are taken in a brightly lit studio and in a controlled studio simulating sunlight. In the viewing tests the images were rated very good overall. These images are among the best results for color quality, exposure level, sharpness, and image noise. The Moto G Stylus comes with a 16-megapixel selfie cam. Overall the selfie camera quality was only fair, well below that of many models but still good enough for selfies viewed on social media.
DISPLAY: Overall the display quality was very good. The display resolution was high enough, close to or greater than 300dpi, so you see a smooth, crisp display but it didn't appear quite as crisp as our best displays. If the display does have a higher resolution, most people will not be able to tell the difference. Readability outdoors is a combination of brightness, measured in candelas per square meter, and reflectivity. The readability rating was very good. The maximum brightness level measured 1 meter from the screen was a high 445cd/m² and reflective glare was minimal.
