G Stylus 2023 - went from $119 to $199, no longer attractive since 5G stylus is still $249
5G Power went from $179(?) to $299, lolwut? The 5G Stylus is a higher model and still $249
G Play 2023 is still $99 and a good deal but quite limited with 32GB flash and Mediatek CPU
G Play 2024 introduced at $149, a nice incremental upgrade to the 2023 model, has 64GB flash, but get this, they have dropped the SD slot.
The last bit is disturbing since no other 2024 models are yet announced. I wonder if they will drop the SD slot in all of them. Not good.
I got a 5G Stylus a couple months ago and still like it a lot. I had been thinking of getting one of the lower models for my brother since he doesn’t care about 5G. The 2023 non-5G Stylus looked great at $119 but lame at $199. The 2023 and 2024 G Plays are both still of interest.
…I’m concerned they may not recognize that the microSD slot is at least one of the nice selling points of their phones. With so many other phones tossing out microSD cards and headphone jacks, what beyond the price point remains to set them apart?
I guess there’s the gesture controls for quick camera or flashlight use, but the former is undercut by these being budget phones with mediocre to poor cameras. Also with the devices being larger it makes the gesture controls feel a little more unwieldy compared to when you were using them on smaller phones.
It’s a bummer, as I’ve otherwise appreciated their phones as cheaper, close to vanilla Android options.
