Moto G Stylus and Moto G Power mid-range phones coming this spring

Smartphones haven’t been the same since Apple launched the first iPhone with a capacitive touchscreen display designed for finger input. But some things are still easier to do with a fine-tipped pen or stylus than a finger, which explains why Samsung’s pricey pen-equipped Galaxy Note line of phones has remained popular over the years.

As expected, the new Moto G Stylus brings pen input to Motorola’s budget line of smartphones. While the phone may not let you do everything you could with a Samsung’s phone, Motorola’s phone will sell for just $300, which makes it about $650 cheaper than an entry-level Galaxy Note.

Motorola says the Moto G Stylus should be available in the US and Canada this spring. Or for $250 you’ll be able to pick up a Moto G Power with a bigger battery, but no stylus.

One big difference between Motorola’s stylus-enabled phone and Samsung’s is that the Moto G Stylus has a capacitive stylus. That means it won’t support pressure-sensitive input and you can’t hover it over the screen to perform actions. But it should make writing and drawing a little easier and more precise.

The other difference is that the Moto G Stylus is very much a mid-range phone with mid-range specs, as is its sibling, the Moto G Power

For the most part, the two phones have similar specs, including:

• 6.4 inch, FHD+ display
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor
• 4GB RAM
• 128GB storage + microSD card reader (up to 512GB)
• Android 10
• 16MP front-facing camera
• 4G LTE Cat 13
• 802.11ac WiFi
• Bluetooth 5.0
• Stereo speakers
• Dual microphones
• USB-C
• Fingerprint reader
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• 10W fast charging

There are a few key differences though. The Moto G Power lacks a stylus, but it has a 5,000 mAh battery compared with the 4,000 mAh battery for the Moto G Stylus.

Motorola says the Moto G Power gets up to 3 days of battery life on a charge, although that will obvsiouly vary depending on usage.

And while both phone shave three rear cameras, the Moto G Power sports a 16MP primary camera, an 8MP wide-angle camera, and a 2MP macro camera. The Moto G Stylus has 48MP primary, 16MP wide-angle, and 2MP Macro cameras. Both the primary and wide-angle cameras on the stylus-enabled phone support quad-pixel technology, which means they can combine data from multiple pixels for higher-quality 16MP images or 4MP wide-angle shots.

Moto G Stylus

Moto G Power

via Motorola