Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 vs. Moto G Stylus 5G: Which stylus is best?

Samsung Milky way Z Fold iii vs. Moto G Stylus 5G: Which stylus is best?

(Prototype credit: Tom's Guide)

A Samsung Galaxy Z Fold three vs. Moto Yard Stylus 5G face-off seems like the stuff of madness. The quondam phone is a premium device carrying a toll tag as lofty as its feature prepare, delivering a folding screen and the best processor of any Android phone. the Moto G Stylus 5G, meanwhile, is a $399 budget telephone that costs a fraction of the Galaxy Z Fold's $1,799 price tag and doesn't offer nearly as many high-end features.

There is i thing these phones at reverse ends of the pricing calibration have in common, though — both offer the use of a stylus. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 tin support Samsung's S Pen, which is sold as a divide accompaniment for the foldable phone. The Moto Thou Stylus 5G comes with a congenital-in stylus that enjoys its own defended slot within the phone.

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The fact that there'due south two phones out there with stylus support raises a elementary question — which 1 offers the better stylus-friendly features? After all, if information technology's adequately close, y'all could easily justify some of the tradeoffs that the Moto Thou Stylus 5G requires, particularly if it ways getting a phone for $1,400 less.

Here's a closer wait at the Samsung Milky way Z Fold 3 vs. Moto G Stylus 5G stylus features — how they compare besides as if the Motorola phone's built-in stylus makes information technology a meliorate value than the Samsung foldable.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold iii vs. Moto G Stylus 5G specs

	Samsung Galaxy Z Fold three	Moto G Stylus 5G
Cost	$1,799	$399
Screen size	External: half dozen.2-inch OLED (2268 x 832); Internal: vii.6-inch OLED (2208 ten 1768)	6.8-inch LCD (2400 10 1080)
Refresh rate	120Hz adaptive	60Hz
CPU	Snapdragon 888	Snapdragon 480 5G
RAM	12GB	6GB
Storage	256GB, 512GB	256GB
Rear cameras	12MP wide (f/ane.8); 12MP ultrawide (f.2.two, 123-caste FOV); 12MP telephoto (f/2.4, 2x optical zoom, 10x digital zoom)	48MP (f/1.7) master, 8MP (f/2.two) ultrawide, 5MP (f/2.2) macro, 2MP (f/2.4) depth
Front camera	10MP (f/2.2), 4MP under-display (f/1.eight)	16MP (f/2.2)
Battery size	4,400 mAh	five,000 mAh
Battery life (Hrs:Mins)	vii:52 (60Hz); 6:35 (adaptive)	ten:50
Size	6.ii x 2.vi x 0.56 to 0.62 inches (closed); six.2 10 5 ten 0.25 inches (open)	6.67 x 3.05 ten 0.37 inches
Built-in stylus?	No	Yep

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and S Pen: What you can do

The South Pen works with the Milky way Z Fold 3 much in the same way it did with previous Milky way Note phones equally well as the Milky way S21 Ultra. You can use the stylus to jot down notes or draw on the phone's screen. And thank you to the actress screen existent manor offered by the Galaxy Z Fold 3's unique blueprint, you lot've got more drawing area to piece of work with than any other phone.

The best feature with the S Pen is its ability to jot down notes without having to wake up the Galaxy Z Fold 3. If your Fold is opened, just printing the button on the Due south Pen and touch the stylus to the phone'southward brandish — that will activate an off-screen memo feature which lets you take notes to your center's content, without having to first fire up the phone and open up a note-taking app.

Galaxy Z Fold 3 and S Pen — (Paradigm credit: Tom'south Guide)

Otherwise, with the Milky way Z Fold 3 on, just hover the South Pen over the phone's interior brandish to bring upwardly an S Pen icon. Tap that to see a menu of things you tin can exercise with the stylus. These include creating a notation, viewing all of your notes, a screenshot markup tool called Screen Write, and Live Messages which lets you lot take a moving picture or video and and so depict on information technology.

Particularly useful tools include Smart Select, where the pen tin perform more precise photo editing, and Interpret for translating text. AR Putter lets y'all draw something in augmented reality that will remain fixed in the real world on your Z Fold three'due south brandish — it feels more like a political party flim-flam to me, just artistically-inclined food owners will get a kicking out of it.

Exist enlightened that you can only use the Southward Pen on the Galaxy Z Fold 3'due south main display. The exterior embrace screen doesn't work with the stylus.

Moto G Stylus 5G and its stylus: What yous can practise

Though information technology costs a fraction of what y'all'd pay for a Galaxy Z Fold, the Moto Chiliad Stylus 5G offers remarkably similar features. There's the ability to jot down off-screen memos — merely pull the stylus out of the born slot in the Motorola phone to get to piece of work. If you have the stylus out when the Moto G Stylus 5G is agile, a popular-up menu gives you access to a number of unlike stylus-based features, chiefly quick access to Moto Notes and Google Continue Notes.

Moto G Stylus 5G review — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Just there's more than available than simply note-taking apps. You can besides access a screenshot capture tool and tap a screen tape shortcut — the latter is useful for troubleshooting. You can also launch Cinemagraph mode, where you lot can select portions of a photo to animate; the Moto'south stylus is particularly helpful at making more precise selections. There's a coloring book app if you want to blow off a little steam.

Moto 5 Stylus 5G with stylus and menu — (Epitome credit: Tom'southward Guide)

Dig into Settings from the Moto G Stylus' pen panel to accommodate what appears when you tap the on-screen pen icon. Mostly at this point, you can add apps to launch with a tap of the stylus.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold iii vs. Moto K Stylus 5G: Comparing styluses

The S Pen is noticeably longer and thicker than the stylus that comes with the Moto 1000 Stylus 5G. The Southward Pen is a shade over 5 inches long, while Motorolas stylus is merely under 5 inches. The Moto G Stylus is very thin, while the S Pen is about as thick every bit a pencil or pen. That makes Samsung'south stylus a little easier to concord, peculiarly for prolonged drawing sessions.

comparing stylus sizes and styles between the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 vs. Moto G stylus 5g — The stylus from the Moto G Stylus (left) and the S Pen Fold Edition (right) (Prototype credit: Tom'due south Guide)

During my time with the Galaxy Z Fold, I've been using the S Pen Fold Edition, which — like the pen from the Moto G Stylus 5G — lacks Bluetooth connectivity. That means these styluses are substantially drawing and writing tools. They can't be used as remote controls like the S Pen Pro, which can connect to the Galaxy Z Fold three via Bluetooth. At $99, though, the S Pen Pro is more expensive than the $49 Due south Pen Fold Edition.

And that gets to the heart of a major difference between the two styluses. Samsung treats the S Pen equally an optional accessory to the Galaxy Z Fold 3. Yous have to purchase it separately, and since there's no holster for the stylus on the phone itself, you'll also need a instance to keep the South Pen attached to your phone. The Moto G Stylus 5G ships with a stylus — it's right there in the name — and there's a built-in slot in the bottom correct corner of the phone.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold iii vs. Moto K Stylus 5G: Other features

In that location's more than to phones than just their stylus capabilities, and it's hither that the Galaxy Z Fold 3 tin actually flex its muscles over the Moto G Stylus. Start with the obvious fact that the Galaxy Z Fold 3 offers a bigger display than the Moto G Stylus' half dozen.8-inch console. Once opened up, the Fold gives you a 7.6-inch workspace. And we oasis't even mentioned the half dozen.2-inch comprehend display on the outside of the phone, which lets you quickly access apps without having to open up upward the telephone. Both the displays on the the Galaxy Z Fold 3 have dynamic refresh rates, while the Moto G Stylus 5G is fixed on 60Hz.

The Samsung Milky way Z Fold three runs on a Snapdragon 888 system-on-chip compared to the Snapdragon 480 5G inside the Moto Grand Stylus 5G. If benchmarks were a fight, the referee would end this one very quickly — just to give you an idea of how big a no-competition this would be, the Galaxy Z Fold's multicore score of iii,418 on Geekbench five pastes the Moto G Stylus' 1,651 result. Suffice information technology to say, you'll get more performance oomph from the Galaxy Z Fold iii.

You lot're not really buying either phone for the cameras, though when information technology is fourth dimension to snap a photograph, the Galaxy Z Fold iii is better equipped to handle the job. It's got 3 rear cameras — the main shooter plus ultrawide and telephoto lenses — plus a front cameras on both displays; on the interior screen, you lot get Samsung'due south first nether-display camera. The Moto G Stylus provides a more conventional principal and ultrawide camera setup, with those two shooters augmented by a dedicated macro lens and depth sensor.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 vs. Moto G stylus 5g: Comparing the Galaxy Z Fold 3's birthday cake photo — The Galaxy Z Fold iii takes a shot of a birthday cake. (Image credit: Tom'due south Guide)

When lighting atmospheric condition are favorable, the Moto G Stylus 5G tin can match the photos taken by the Galaxy Z Fold iii, merely the moment things become darker or more challenging, Samsung's superior epitome processing software and optics come through. The two photos of a birthday cake taken at twilight are good examples of what each phone can do. The Galaxy Z Fold three shot higher up, does a good task with the color on the chocolate block, even if some of the candles are a little out of focus. The Moto Grand Stylus has the same focus consequence, and it's given the cake a reddish glow.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 vs. Moto G stylus 5g: comparing moto g stylus 5g birthday cake photo — Moto G Stylus 5G's shot of a birthday cake (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

In that location's one surface area where the Moto Thousand Stylus 5G outshines the Fold and it comes down to battery life. Perhaps because the Fold's 4,400 mAh has to power up two screens, it didn't actually impress on our battery exam involving continuous web surfing over cellular until the phone runs out of ability. The Milky way Z Fold 3 lasted just seven hours and 52 minutes — more 2 hours shorter than our average event. And that was with the Z Fold 3's screen fixed at a 60Hz refresh charge per unit. (With the dynamic refresh rate feature enabled, the Z Fold 3's result cruel past about an hour and twenty minutes.)

Owing to Motorola's strong rail record at producing long-lasting phones, the Moto Thousand Stylus 5G and its 5,000 mAh bombardment lasted 10 hours and 50 minutes on our bombardment exam. That just misses out on a spot on the all-time phone battery life list, merely it's yet an fantabulous event. Your Moto 1000 Stylus 5G will simply concluding longer than a Galaxy Z Fold 3.

Samsung Milky way Z Fold 3 vs. Moto G Stylus 5G: Outlook

Patently, the Galaxy Z Fold iii is a more complete phone, from its folding brandish to its powerful processor and ability to run up to three apps at once on the aforementioned fast-refreshing display. Every bit a midrange telephone, the Moto G Stylus 5G can't compete overall, nor does it really attempt to.

Restrict yourself to but the stylus features, though, and the Motorola G Stylus 5G matches up well to a Galaxy Z Fold iii equipped with an South Pen. Valuable features similar off-screen memos are available on the cheaper Motorola Thousand Stylus 5G, and it's easy to jot down notes or scribble out sketches — although your dealing with a much smaller screen. Ameliorate even so, the stylus is included with the Moto Grand Stylus 5G, and in that location'south a place to store information technology on the telephone itself. For the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the S Pen feels tacked on.

Not many people would recommend the Moto G Stylus 5G over the Galaxy Z Fold iii, especially to anyone looking for a premium phone experience. But if note-taking is all that matters to you, you don't have to pony up $1,799 for a 5G phone that comes with its ain stylus.

Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom'south Guide. He has strong opinions near Apple, the Oakland Athletics and erstwhile movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.