Price: ₹22,999 | What it is: A budget-friendly smartphone with a built-in stylus
For those eyeing the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra but balking at its premium price tag, the Motorola Edge 60 Stylus presents an intriguing alternative. At just ₹22,999, this phone brings stylus functionality to a wider audience without cutting too many corners. As someone who’s used everything from iPads to eInk tablets for note-taking, I found the Edge 60 Stylus a surprising delight — especially for the price.
Just the Right Size for Everyday Note-Taking
Motorola’s design strikes a sweet balance between portability and usability. The 6.7-inch OLED display is vibrant and supports a 120Hz refresh rate — ideal for jotting quick notes or sketching on the go. While it won’t match flagship-grade panels, it’s perfectly usable even under Delhi’s harsh sunlight.
The phone itself is slim, lightweight, and wrapped in a vegan leather finish that offers both aesthetics and grip. It’s also IP68-rated, so it can survive the occasional splash or downpour — a big plus for journalists and commuters alike.
Motorola’s decision to include a 3.5mm headphone jack also deserves praise. It’s a rare feature in today’s smartphone market and perfect for those with wired audiophile headphones.
The Stylus Is Its Secret Weapon
The built-in stylus sets the Edge 60 apart. While it lacks advanced S Pen features like pressure sensitivity or air gestures, it nails the basics. It’s accurate, fluid, and ideal for jotting notes, sketching, or annotating on the fly.
Removing the stylus triggers a context-aware menu with options like:
- New note
- Screenshot markup
- Handwriting calculator
- Canvas for doodling
There’s also a “last location” alert system in case you misplace the stylus, which is a thoughtful addition. One fun feature I tried was “Sketch to Image” using Moto AI — it transformed my crude drawing into a surprisingly accurate digital illustration.
Decent Performance, Respectable Battery Life
Powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chip with 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage (expandable via microSD), the Edge 60 Stylus performs well for everyday tasks — email, web browsing, light multitasking, and social media. Don’t expect it to handle high-end gaming or intense video editing smoothly, but for most users, it’s more than enough.
The 5,000mAh battery comfortably lasts a full day, and 68W fast charging is a welcome bonus. Motorola promises two Android updates and three years of security patches, which is acceptable but could be improved to compete with brands like Samsung or Google.
Minimal Bloatware and Useful AI
Motorola’s approach to software is refreshingly clean. You get a near-stock Android 15 experience with minimal pre-installed apps. Moto AI features like “Circle to Search” and the aforementioned sketch-to-image tool are neat additions that occasionally enhance the experience.
Camera: Good Enough, but Not the Star
The 50MP main and 13MP ultra-wide cameras do a decent job in daylight, but don’t expect flagship-level photography. If the camera is your top priority, you might want to look elsewhere. But for casual shots, social media posts, and video calls, the camera system is more than sufficient.
Final Verdict: A Stylus Phone for the Rest of Us
The Motorola Edge 60 Stylus isn’t a flagship killer, nor does it try to be. Instead, it offers something much rarer: a thoughtfully designed, mid-range smartphone with a stylus that actually works well. It’s compact, practical, and ideal for students, creatives, professionals, or anyone who prefers taking notes by hand without shelling out ₹1 lakh-plus.
The pictures I clicked were perfectly acceptable during the day, and even night shots weren’t too bad. The contrast can be a little too strong at times, and it doesn’t handle high-contrast scenes all that well, but there’s decent detail. Motorola has made some progress in the camera department, though. I genuinely think Motorola doesn’t want to get into the camera wars and may not be interested in unnecessary comparisons with competitors. The 32-megapixel front-facing camera is surprisingly good, especially in low-light conditions.
A refreshing change
It’s very clear who Motorola is targeting with the Edge 60 Stylus, and that may be the brand’s biggest win. The phone is neither too large nor too small, and those who are new to using a stylus on a smartphone may genuinely appreciate what the Edge 60 Stylus has to offer. I think by bringing the stylus to a budget smartphone, Motorola truly surprised me — it shows there’s still room for innovation in the cutthroat smartphone market.
As I said before, the stylus isn’t a new concept on phones, but the way Motorola has introduced it to the budget segment feels refreshing. It’s great to see smartphone brands thinking beyond specs as a means of differentiation and exploring more interesting ways to spice up the budget and mid-range segments —categories that were once overlooked in favour of premium smartphones, especially in a market like India.
If you’ve been waiting for a capable stylus phone without the ultra-premium markup, this could be it.
