2021 Moto G Stylus, Power and Play: large batteries, larger screens and low prices

Motorola begins 2021 with refreshments for its mid-range Moto G range of phones with new versions of the Moto G Power, Moto G Stylus and Moto G Play that promise low prices and days of battery life across the board. There’s also a new member of the Motorola One family called the Motorola One 5G Ace, which at $ 399 is the crown as Motorola’s cheapest 5G phone yet.

Motorola once again wants to offer an almost dizzying amount of cheap phones that only differ in price between 30 and 50 dollars. The new Moto G Play costs $ 169.99; the Moto G Power offers $ 199.99 (for a 3 GB RAM / 32 GB storage model) $ 249.99 (for 4 GB / 64 GB) configurations; the Moto G Stylus costs $ 299.99; and the Motorola One 5G Ace will cost $ 399.99. This is a strategy that ensures that there is a phone you can imagine on almost every price point, although it is slightly more difficult to choose between similar devices at such similar prices.

Motorola keeps the same names for its new 2021 series – unfortunately, it looks like the days of the numerically differentiated Moto G models have ended for good with 2019’s Moto G7 series. But the new phones offer big and small improvements compared to their predecessors in 2020.

The Moto G Play looks like the group’s toughest sale. While the price of $ 169 is intriguing, the meager 720p resolution – which spans a relatively large 6.5-inch panel – raises concerns, as does the year-old Snapdragon 460 processor, which is significantly less powerful than any other two new 2021 Moto G phones from 2021.. This is especially true as Qualcomm has already announced the Snapdragon 480, which promises to be twice as fast and adds more premium features like 5G to the mix.

There are also some bright spots. The 2021 G Play has 3 GB of RAM (which is in a better position than last year’s $ 149 Moto E) and a massive 5,000 mAh battery that Motorola says will last up to three days.

The new G Power and G Stylus do not look as much like last year’s models. Where the 2020 models offered the same processor, screen and design, the new models are different phones. The G Power offers a 5,000 mAh battery, a 620-inch 720p screen and a weaker Snapdragon 662, but the G Stylus argues for its higher price with a stylus, a larger and higher resolution 1080p 6.8-inch panel, and a more powerful Snapdragon 678 processor. (It sinks into a notch in the battery and only offers a 4000 mAh battery that is good for charging for up to two days.)

The larger G Stylus also offers standard 4 GB of RAM (as opposed to the G Power, which has both 3 GB and 4 GB models) and has more storage space (128 GB versus the G Power’s choice of 32 GB or 64 GB). You also get some camera enhancements on the G Stylus – while both phones have a 48-megapixel main sensor (which makes four-pixel 12-megapixel shots), a 2-megapixel macro camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor, the G Stylus also adds an 8-megapixel ultra-wide and a better selfie camera.

Image: Motorola

Lastly, there is the Motorola One 5G Ace, which (as the name suggests) is not quite in the same category as the other phones here. At $ 399, it’s Motorola’s cheapest 5G phone yet. And the weaker Snapdragon 750G 5G, downgraded cameras and a slower display rate allow the One 5G Ace to be a cheaper version of the $ 499 Motorola One 5G that the company released last year than anything else.

All four new phones will be launched by direct retailers on January 14, and pre-orders begin today. In addition, several of the new phones will also be released by major carriers in the future: the Moto G Play and Motorola One 5G Ace by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, while the G Power will only be sold by Verizon. The G Stylus will meanwhile completely skip the major US airlines, although Boost Mobile, Cricket, Consumer Cellular and Republic Wireless will offer it.