Saved you a click: it’s Motorola’s Moto G Stylus 5G (2023)
Fortunately it shows up in the article preview as well 👍
Am I supposed to recognise it just by seeing it?
No, the text preview
Oh! My bad. My app doesn’t show a preview.
Surprisingly, Jerboa seems to be the only one which showed the preview.
Liftoff also shows a preview on my end
Oh, I didn’t like it much so I uninstalled it.
Glad to see Motorola doing well.
It’s just Lenovo with the Motorola name slapped on it, unfortunately. Google stripped all the useful bits and sold it off about a decade ago.
So Motorola is basically just another Chinese brand now.
just Lenovo
So is the chances it has a factory installed rootkit on it 90 or 99%?
It’s 200%. They put two rootkits on every phone now.
3.5mm jack Yes
So it’s a contender. The rest are DEAD TO ME
Plus an SD card slot.
WhatYearIsIt.jpg
SD slots aren’t all that uncommon still.
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The Nokia XR21 also has a 3.5mm jack. It’s likely weaker performance-wise but it has a battery life of approximately 3 days so it won’t run out of juice as quickly.
I guess the reviewer doesn’t care about software updates, because Motorola’s support is abysmal.
We just need lineageos support and we’re set.
According to the article it’s only getting one year of Android version updates!? For a phone that normally sells for 400 US dollars, that’s just unacceptable.
Reads headline: “oooo interesting”
It’s a Motorola: “ah, shit”
Motorolas are my favorite type of phone. I’m never going to use Apple and Samsung phones are bloated with garbage I don’t want. It’s not like there’s another real option.
Nothing Phone, OnePlus (i still like the new Color Oxygen OS), Pixel
The Nothing Phone is the only other real option, but it’s also one phone while Motorola has several options for several different price ranges. OnePlus is purely Chinese (I know Motorola isn’t perfect but it could be worse). Google Pixels aren’t cheap.
Pixels are now super cheap in Europe (in The Netherlands in particular)
Could get a 7 for €400 and now 7a for less than that
Also, would you have a link? The 7 is still 579€ on Amazon.nl and 577 on Bol
Belsimpel, T-Mobile or Tele2 in combination with any carrier plan.
I assume you’re not using a Prepaid plan but if you are then my comment was misleading. Everyone I know here has a carrier subscription so I usually list those prices (but with one-time payment for the phone).
Now that the 7A is out, 7 doesn’t seem to be getting discounts anymore.
Google Store sometimes has 7A sales for ~€450.
Does the 7 has working Dual SIM support? On the 6 it’s broken since release. It’s 2 years now and still not fixed. Phone calls randomly drop and after 30 minutes or so the modem just crashes and needs both SIMs to be deactivated and actives again. Absolut shit show.
Idk I don’t use Dual SIM
Good to see they are reaching that price range, but it’s probably more “good value/price ratio” than cheap.
OnePlus may be Chinese but the OS has some privacy features like removing permissions for apps you don’t use. Out of the Androids I’ve used, it has way more customisation than I expected.
What is the difference between OnePlus and Motorola being chinese? It’s a serious question, i thought Motorola was fully chinese owned?
OnePlus was fully designed and created in China while Motorola was bought out by Lenovo. Motorola is still fishy but it’s technically still an American company so I feel better about it. It’s just false hope that my data isn’t being stolen, privacy is dead anyways.
Alright :) In my opinion the companies are all not that trustworthy unfortunately. Because Motorola is not that good with updates it’s not the brand for me.
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They have. OnePlus was great until the OnePlus 5. Now they have become just another premium smartphone brand. Same thing will happen to Nothing eventually.
The third iteration of Nokia is back to building phones, and the smartphones they sell are part of the Android One program (stock Android, two years of updates guaranteed).
Arent they owned by a Chinese company these days?
No, they are owned by HMD Global which is a company that was initially comprised mostly of former Nokia executives. They produce in China though (like everybody else).
Interesting, do you have one?
Yes, the Nokia X10. Worked rather well over the last two years, although the only thing I can compare it to are devices I got from work (mostly older Samsungs with a ton of crapware).
Interesting, thanks for your feedback
Sony, Asus, Nothing, Pixel…
I’m not doubting the hardware, but software is a real issue. Carriers are now pushing 36 month plans… what good is that if your device is basically out of date after 18 months.
I’m trying to wrap my brain around why anyone would want a stylus for their phone.
Niche case- I’m a maths teacher and it’s been good for replying to emails from students with problems.
I’ve had a Galaxy Note 9 for a few years now and, at least in my use case, I rarely use the stylus. It’s very convenient to have when I need to take notes in a meeting or something that I need to send a copy off somewhere, but day to day, I really only remember the stylus is there when I drop the phone and it pops out lol.
Life hack: remove stylus permanently to receive lighter smartphone ;)
Some people like to make art on their phone. Others like to use it for note taking. I came across a TikTok creator that has the S23 Ultra and he uses the stylus to edit/make photos and videos.
Some find it easier to swipe with as well.
I wish I could use a stylus on my phone. When I edit photos, my fingers are less precise to hit the right spots.
Art, annotation, memos, hand drawn animation, business’y stuff of that nature
It kinda depends on the stylus though: Some are actual digitizers(pressure sensitivity for use as a paintbrush, some even recognize tilt and rotation for calligraphy) while others are just a rubber nib on a stick(rubber finger…on a stick…no electronics just rubber).
It’s great to quickly draw a diagram or something similar to explain something to someone. I could use pen and paper but I prefer doing it on my phone since it’s already there. I don’t do it daily but I enjoy having this option. When I was taking a break from the Galaxy Note lineup I was sorely missing it.
I want stylus for my phone so that I can sign directly on my documents. Right now, I have to print it, then sign, then scan it.
Another use of stylus is for note taking, and solving math equations (which is often very tough to write).
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Well…yea…but then he wouldn’t need a stylus!
Sometimes I’m on the go and I need to highlight, underline and make comments on pdf files. A stylus makes these much easier. Other than that I’ve used it about once for taking a photo using the stylus when the camera was on a tripod.
art maybe? idk never used one myself
I got the version with the stylus of this phone solely because the version without the stylus didn’t have an NFC chip. The stylus is kinda neat though.
have you heard of a notepad
the only advange to a keyboard that I can see is for drawing or signing documents
Chem stuff and math
Oh, interesting!
True. Although looking back over the last five years, and even more so since COVID, the majority of the documents I’ve had to sign that were emailed to me have been secure digital signatures so I feel like even this advantage is becoming less relevant.
Is using the stylus really more efficient than typing your notes into your phone though? I guess it’s likely a preference thing but I’m amazed there’s that big of a market for that.
Yes if you need shapes as well ie chemical compounds
There are languages that are just not convenient to type on a keyboard. A stylus combined with a proper OCR keyboard app could read the handwriting and compose messages in a lot less time.
I like it for OneNote specifically; in a uni setting it’s nice to have a stylus handy to jot margin notes or drawings alongside my text input, do a non-rectangular crop on a photo I just took of the lecture slide to put in notes, or just idly doodle. Stylus pens are super smooth and gives me good brain feel when I do swooshy doodles.
Osu! mobile :)
Bought one for my kid because he’s a little artist. Seems nice. I use a Pixel, but honestly I miss the moto “chop chop to turn on the flashlight” feature from my old Moto.
I miss that flashlight thing too. Also on Pixel now but I used an app called edge gestures to activate my flashlight. I just swipe up on the edge of my screen and hold to activate/deactivate. Not as awesome but very functional. If course I use edge gestures for everything, calling/texting certain contacts, activating apps I use regularly, it’s such an awesome tool. Been using for years at this point and can’t imagine using my phone without it.
In case you didn’t know, Pixel phones also have a built in feature called quick tap that lets you toggle the flashlight (or do a few other things) by tapping the back of the phone twice.
I did know but I use it for my camera. Thanks though!
If you go to Settings -> System -> Gestures, there’s an option for “Quick tap to start actions”, one of the options is to turn on the flashlight when you double tap the back of the phone.
Nice little feature.
That is not an adequate replacement for chop chop.
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The screen needs to be on for the pixel gesture to work. Chop chop can be done with the screen off
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Tapping the back of the phone to the beat of music will turn on the flashlight by accident all the time. Chop chop is a very deliberate gesture
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Tapping does not always register. Sometimes I need to do it 2 or 3 times to get the flashlight to turn on/off, the moto gestures were almost 100% reliable for me
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I have the 2022 version of this phone, and it’s great value for money in the USA. Adequate performance, lots of internal storage, headphone jack, MicroSD slot, and good battery life. I didn’t buy it for the (crappy) stylus, I bought it for the good value for money.
The 2023 version most notably updates the SoC from SD695 to SD6g1, which is about 15-20% faster and more efficient. It also adds stereo speakers, which is nice. It seems like everything else is only a marginal change or the same from last year.
Man, is the US market for cheaper phones so bad that this is a contender? And this is US$400!
Short answer yes.
The longer answer has to deal with the way that our cellular networks are set up. Most people “rent to own” their phones here and usually trade in their phone long before they get to the owning part.
Contracts are set up so you can get discounts, but only if you stay with the carrier for 2-3 years. The discounts are given as monthly credit towards your bill and if you pay off the phone early you forfeit all future credit.
This system allows for carriers to sell more expensive phones at rates that, while not low, most people will stomach. Phone manufacturers avoid selling good budget phones here and I think that’s a big part of the reason. Why sell a budget phone when you can probably convince someone to finance a flagship?
Now, as an enthusiast aware of other budget phones you might think importing might be an option, but that unfortunately isn’t the case. A couple years ago all the carriers here switched off using the 3G network for phone calls and instead we use Voice Over LTE (VoLTE). This new system requires cellular carriers to explicitly support phones/models for them to be able to make traditional phone calls. These support lists are not public and make it incredibly difficult to tell if a phone not sold by the carrier will function on their network. Gone are the days were you can just check the bands the phone supports and pop in a sim.
This got a bit long and probably was more me ranting than actually explaining anything, but I hope someone finds it at least a little bit informative
Yikes, I knew your systems were different, but holy hell I didn’t expect all that. VoLTE is part of the GSM standards, how’d the USA carriers make it work like a proprietary system?
No clue, all I know is imported phones don’t always work, it varies from carrier to carrier, and the only way to check is with the IMEI
Yes but does it run LineageOS?
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In the US?
Wdym?
Well… it has a headphone jack (at least according to this)
I would love to see comparison to the Poco F1 which at the time had the same price. I suspect its pretty close, despite the 6 years gap. That being said, the F1 was unreal value at the time.
But can it run Lineage
Not a single phone has released their proprietory camera driver blobs in recent history. I wish that would happen. There will always be a loss of image quality in custom roms which don’t use the stock version on the phone.
Fairly sure Pixels can use GCam just fine on third party ROMs and the basic photography modes give identical output
Yeah, but pixels have a low market share unfortunately. Something like Samsung will have the majority market share in most countries. I had a one plus 5 and even with the gcam mod the image output was significantly low (pixels back then only had 12mp and the aspect ratio etc was terrible.)
Pixels are the standard for how custom ROMs should work, blame other OEMs for not confirming to standards and breaking APIs.
I do blame them. I also blame google for not offering those features in android in the first place… A lot of custom rom features are available in the Samsung rom so I don’t really use rooted devices anymore.
Especially hate how android changed with their anti-call recording stance, which now requires root, exposed and an xposed module just for this basic feature. Samsung offers this out of the box.
Moto has a history of horrible updates to its devices. This is despite the fact that Moto has a near stock UI.
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Yes but in this specific case I’m skeptical about the integration of the pen with custom roms
According to the article it’s only getting one year of Android version updates. That’s pitiful, Samsung gives three or four years of Android version updates for similarly priced phones.
Moto’s update support has been horrible since post Googorola. They are a decent option but never a truly great one.
For that price point I’ve had a really good time with using Xiaomi phones. Specifically the Redmi Note series. They’re similarly cheap but they’re built well and feel expensive, not with a plastic case or anything like that.
