Motorola may not be the biggest name in the smartphone world, but it still releases some impressive phones — often for relatively low prices. It just so happens that three more devices are on the way: The Moto G 5G, the Moto G Stylus and the Motorola Edge Plus (2023).
That’s two low-cost phones, one of which comes with a handy built-in stylus, and a more-expensive flagship device. That’s quite a lineup of new phones. Here's everything you need to know about all three devices and what they’re capable of.
Motorola Edge Plus (2023)
The Motorola Edge Plus (2023) is the latest flagship from Motorola, and it comes with the price and specs to match. So what do you get for $800, which is the same price as an iPhone 14 and Samsung Galaxy S23?
For starters, there's a 6.7-inch Full HD+ OLED display with a whopping 165Hz refresh rate. That display is made from Gorilla Glass Victus, with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+, and the phone offers an “endless edge” 4-curved design.
Other hardware includes the powerful new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, 8GB of DDR5 RAM, 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage, and an optical in-display fingerprint sensor. The triple lens camera includes a 50MP main lens, 50MP ultrawide and a 12MP portrait lens with 2x optical zoom. The selfie camera is a whopping 60MP, and the phone offers quad pixel technology for better low-light performance.
That camera is set to come with a bunch of extra features, including video night vision for better low-light performance, horizon lock to keep you stabilized, auto-focus tracking that locks onto the subject and video portrait mode.
Motorola has produced a bunch of phones that made our best phone battery life list, and it looks like the Motorola Edge Plus (2023) might also make the cut. It comes packing a 5.100 mAh battery, which Motorola says will last for 2 days. And the 68W wired charging can apparently restore a day’s charge in just 9 minutes. There’s also 15W wireless charging and reverse wireless charging capabilities.
The Edge Plus (2023) comes with Android 13 out of the box, but will be upgrading to Android 14 in the near future. Users can expect 3 years of Android OS updates and 4 years of security updates to boot.
The Edge Plus also happens to be compatible with the "Ready For" platform, which allows various extra connectivity features to the phone. That includes playing games on a big screen, using the camera as a desktop webcam, or connecting the phone to your PC.
The Motorola Edge Plus (2023) will be available from May 25, with pre-orders opening on May 19.
Moto G 5G
Priced at $250, the Moto G 5G is a lot more affordable than the newest version of the Edge Plus. But that price tag comes with some caveats, with less powerful and impressive hardware.
Nowhere is that more apparent than with the Snapdragon 480+ 5G chipset, which is significantly less powerful (and a lot cheaper) than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. So this is not the kind of phone that will be able to handle high-spec mobile gaming and other intensive processes.
There’s also a 6.5-inch HD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 48MP camera with quad pixel technology for low-light performance, a macro vision camera, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, microSD support up to 1TB and a 5.000 mAh battery Motorola says will last 2 days. Again, this might be another addition to our best phone battery life list if that claim proves to be accurate.
Unfortunately, there’s no NFC, which means the Moto G 5G won’t be offering access to mobile payment systems like Google Wallet. Which is pretty strange considering how ubiquitous those services are these days.
The Moto G 5G will go on sale on May 25 in Ink Blue and Harbor Gray coloring.
Moto G Stylus
The Moto G Stylus is a very cheap alternative to the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Styluses are often seen as a premium feature, but this model will cost you only $199. The Moto Note app is also accessible when your phone is locked, offering quick and easy note-taking abilities.
Naturally, that price tag comes with some compromises. There’s no 5G or NFC,, and there’s a similar 6.5-inch HD+ display as the Moto G 5G. This one comes with 90Hz refresh rate, alongside a 50MP camera system, complete with quad pixel and macro vision, an 8MP selfie camera, 4GB of RAM, a MediaTek Helio G85 GPU, a curved chassis, 128GB of RAM, and support for microSD cards up to 1TB. Like the Moto G 5G, the battery is rated to last two days.
The Moto G Stylus is available in Midnight Blue and Glam Pink, and goes on sale on May 5.
