Motorola has been offering phones with a stylus for a while, but they’ve mostly been relegated to the budget segment and without any notable tricks. Now it looks like the company is finally ready to make a high-end phone with stylus support that offers some great features, just like Samsung’s Galaxy Note series devices.
Motorola Smart Stylus
An XDA-Developers report quoting a reliable source claims that the upcoming Motorola Edge 30 Ultra will feature stylus input support. But the stylus in question isn’t your average passive pen. Instead, it will borrow some of its capabilities from the Bluetooth-coupled Samsung S Pen that comes with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. The report calls it Motorola Smart Stylus and claims that it will support air gestures and also facilitate wireless charging. When paired with an external display, it can be used as a wireless pointing device. Additionally, Motorola’s stylus button will also serve as a media playback control hub.
Motorola’s ‘next-gen’ stylus is said to resemble the stylus that Samsung offered with the Galaxy S21 Ultra, based on its appearance. But it looks like Motorola is also going down the same crazy path that Samsung did last year. Instead of shipping a stylus with the phone or putting it in a slot, Samsung sold it separately because the Galaxy S21 Ultra didn’t have an S Pen slot. The Motorola Edge 30 Ultra is said to do the same, and the Motorola will sell a smart folio case with a dedicated pocket to house the stylus.
To put it simply, Samsung’s stylus strategy hasn’t been particularly well received, especially among folks salted by the rumored death of the Galaxy Note line. Although Motorola repeats the error of the Galaxy S21 Ultra, it would offer some extras to compensate. The report mentions that when Motorola’s smart folio case is applied to its next flagship, the stylus will also get some additional features.
As soon as the stylus is taken out of the case, the software automatically detects its movement. And when the stylus has been out of the case for a while, but no activity is detected, users will get a warning about it, apparently as a measure to save precious battery juice. Users can also set it to launch an app every time they pull out the pen. And when resting inside the case pocket, the stylus is powered by the phone for wireless charging.
Adding more to the “Folio Case”, the leaked schematics show an open strip extending vertically down the middle to expose a section of the display. This area will allow users to quickly check the time, battery status, notifications and also manage incoming call alerts. The principle is similar to the folio cases that Samsung has been selling for some time.
Rumored specs
As for the phone itself, alleged renders have already appeared online (via 91Mobiles/ OnLeaks), giving us a glimpse of its rather boring design. But the internal hardware is a whole different story. The leaked specs predict a 144Hz OLED display and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 taking care of things inside with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage.
The triple-lens array on the back includes a 50-megapixel main snapper, along with another 50-megapixel camera for ultra-wide-angle photography and a 2-megapixel camera that’s probably there for depth sensing or macro shots. The front camera also means business, as leaks predict a 60-megapixel sensor sitting behind. A 5,000mAh battery is said to provide the juice, but there’s no word on its fast charging or wireless charging capabilities.
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