The Motorola Edge, as well as the higher-end Edge Plus, herald Motorola’s return to the high-end smartphone industry after a long period without what many consider a flagship handset. The luxury Motorola Razr was available, but at $1500 and with mid-range features, it wasn’t for the average user.
For such a competitive industry, has Motorola done enough even to entice users in with a showy curved display & high-end appearance without the exorbitant price tag? You’ve spent a lot of time with Motorola Edge, and this is what you have to say about it.
What you will see here?
Design
The Motorola Edge appears to be highly elegant from afar, with a striking curved display and a style that is indistinguishable from a luxury phone. Pick up the device, though, and tap the back. That’s certainly a plastic frame, which Motorola used to cut costs compared to the more expensive Edge Plus. Although the Solar Black seems to smear rather quickly, it’s not a trade-off that bothers you.
The Motorola Edge is nearly identical in dimensions to the Edge Plus, measuring 6.4 x 2.8 x 0.37 inches. This isn’t surprising given that both phones feature the same 6.7-inch Endless Edge OLED display. According to my experience, the curved display is more for the show, however, Motorola has included a few shortcuts. You can call settings (a downside sweep) or apps (an upward swipe) by sliding your finger across the display, and you can access shortcuts by swiping leftward from the action bar. You would still not think to use the functionality if you didn’t know it existed. The curved screen’s main visible benefit is whether it makes the Motorola Edge harder to grasp and more prone to unintended taps.
Unlike today’s phones, which have large, blocky camera sets on the back. Motorola layers its back lenses in a thoughtful and unobtrusive manner. The Motorola logo here on the back of the Edge is only decorative; if you want to use the phone’s fingerprint sensor, it’s located beneath the display. This, combined with a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera, allows Motorola to show the Edge’s screen with minimal bezels. This is excellent given the Motorola Edge’s marquee display feature.
Display
The Motorola Edge’s headline feature is its 90Hz refresh rate, which it shares with the more costly Edge Plus. While other phones have quicker refresh rates. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra & OnePlus 8 Pro both have 120Hz refresh rates. It’s not a feature you’ll find in phones under $700. The basic OnePlus 8, as well as the OnePlus Nord (which isn’t accessible in the US), have a 90Hz refresh rate.
The Motorola Edge’s higher refresh rate is a wonderful improvement. When you shift between the 60Hz & 90Hz choices, you’ll notice that scrolling through online sites is a joy. You could even trust the Edge to take a decision for you if you enable a feature that allows this to automatically modify the display’s refresh rate based on. Whether you’ll benefit from a 90Hz refresh rate or if it’s better to save the phone’s battery life.
The Motorola Edge & Edge Plus displays have more in common than the same max refresh rate. From what you can see, they’re nearly identical, which is a good thing. Because watching videos on the Edge’s display is a lot of fun. The Edge, like its more expensive sister, can handle a wide range of hues. Whether it’s the sparkling waves of the Nile in the Death on the Nile YouTube trailer or the mysterious shadows that hide Daniel Craig’s enemy in the upcoming Bond film. The Motorola Edge’s 21:9 aspect ratio adds to the cinematic experience while also making the phone easier to use with one hand.
Delta-E scores
How similar seems to be the Motorola Edge’s screen to the Motorola Edge Plus’s? The Edge and the Edge Plus were both able to capture about the same amount of the sRGB color spectrum: 194.1 percent for the Edge and 189.9 percent for the Edge Plus. With Delta-E scores of 0.32 and 0.31, were both equally consistent in how they portrayed those colors.
The Galaxy A71 5G catches more brilliant colors than the Motorola Edge in its price range, rendering 200.3 percent of the sRGB color grade, however, it’s Delta-E rating of 0.33 implies it’s somewhat less accurate than Edge. The LG Velvet offers a more muted color palette by default (140.6 percent of the sRGB spectrum), and with a Delta-E rating of 0.30, it does so more correctly.
Cameras
The cameras provided here on Motorola Edge are one of the areas where Motorola has trimmed back from Motorola Edge Plus. The Motorola Edge has a 64-megapixel main camera instead of the 108-megapixel sensor seen on the Plus and the Galaxy S20 Ultra. A 16MP ultra wider viewing camera, an 8MP telephoto zoom lens with such a 2x optical zoom, or a time-of-flight sensor round out the optics.
The issue isn’t that the Motorola Edge has less powerful optics than Edge Plus; you have to accept certain compromises in exchange for the $300 savings. Rather, the issue is that the Edge produces the same lackluster photographs as the Edge Plus. Especially in comparison to what the top camera phones can produce.
Indoors
When snapping a picture of waffles and sausage indoors, it Motorola Edge performed significantly better. The Edge offers a balanced shot even with light flowing in from a nearby window, allowing you to pick out little details such as the seeds here on strawberries or the char here on sausage links. The colors on the Pixel 4 XL’s image are warmer, and the cutlery remains in focus, however, the Motorola Edge’s output is quite acceptable.
The Motorola Edge would do a decent job catching a sunset at the nearby harbor as the light fades. You will really appreciate the way Motorola’s phone captures the purple and pink hues of the distant sky.
Night Vision
Moto Edge’s Night Vision, on the other hand, struggles to focus on the cuddly animals bathed in unforgiving blue LED lighting. The borders of each plush animal appeared blurry, and the background features were hardly visible. Google Pixel 4 XL’s efforts aren’t much better, but at least the color is constant and the silhouettes of each individual animal can be seen. The background plants are also not as blurry as they are in Motorola Edge’s shot.
Motorola Edge Wide Camera
Pulling back, using iPhone 11 Pro Max’s wide-angle allows you to have more of the black bear cage than you could with the Motorola Edge’s super wide camera’s 117-degree vision. The same focus issue that plagued the Motorola Edge in previous images is visible here, but to be fair. Even iPhone tries to maintain the bears in the distance in focus.
The Motorola Edge’s time-of-flight sensor aids in the creation of good-looking portrait shots. . You believe it is a better shot overall, with a more stylistic blur. That Motorola Edge also makes fantastic use of the shadow cast by light flowing in from the left to draw attention to details on the person’s right side of the face.
Selfie
This self-portrait taken with Motorola Edge’s 25MP selfie camera isn’t awful either, however, the background blur obscures the left part of my beard. Though you enjoy the way the Pixel 4 XL scaled back the hue, although if Google’s phone got a touch overzealous with smoothing out the skin, the ruddiness of the complexion in the Edge’s photo is probably more accurate. Despite the fact that the Edge’s back cameras struggled to capture strong colors. The phone’s face camera accurately captured the green of the baseball cap.
Performance
The Motorola Edge, but unlike Edge Plus, uses the strong Snapdragon 865 chipset. It uses the Snapdragon 765 and has less processing capability. It’s a cost-cutting measure that allows the phone to still give 5G connectivity. A Snapdragon 765 system-on-chip has a 5G modem. It’s a processor that’s found on a number of phones that would like to offer 5G without charging a lot of money.
The good news is that switching here to Snapdragon 765 rather than the 865 isn’t a huge deal. Yes, there is a significant difference in raw performance. The Motorola Edge’s multicore score of 1,867 here on Geekbench 5 general performance is well behind Edge Plus’s 3,350. However, in the kind of day-to-day work that so many people use their phones for, you won’t notice. The Motorola Edge runs all except the most processor-intensive applications admirably.
Graphics on higher-capable
On the Motorola Edge, even the most demanding apps work smoothly. There aren’t any lags and game-altering stutters while playing PUBG Mobile on the phone. The graphics on higher-capable phones are a touch sharper, but the gameplay was more than adequate. This only gripe is that it was difficult for them to flip the avatar. We attribute this to the phone’s curved edges, which you believe to increase the possibility of unintended touches.
On comparing the Motorola Edge to other Snapdragon 765-powered phones, you’ll notice that they perform similarly.
Charging and battery
The Motorola Edge Plus has a large 5,000 mAh battery, which lasted 10 hours and 55 minutes in the battery test. Almost good enough to make the list of the longest-lasting phones. The Edge’s battery is smaller at 4,500 mAh. But it lasts significantly longer on a charge, lasting 12 hours & 12 minutes on the same test, which involves continuous web browsing via cellular.
Why did the smaller battery produce such a wonderful result? The Snapdragon 765’s power efficiency, we believe, contributed significantly to Motorola Edge’s long battery life. It’s also important to note that those results were obtained with the screen’s refresh rate set to 60Hz. Although switching to 90Hz used a little more power, the Motorola Edge even now lasted 11 hours and 35 minutes.
Just don’t expect the same level of performance when charging the phone. The Motorola Edge, like its more expensive sister, claims to enable quick charging and comes with an 18W charger. However, after 30 min of charging a depleted phone, its Edge’s battery only had recovered to 36%. During that time, the Galaxy A71 5G was able to charge to 60% using its 25W charger.
Special features and software
If you’ve used a Motorola phone. You’ll be aware of the Motorola UX interface that runs on top of Android 10 on the Motorola Edge, which is a good thing. Motorola is gentle with Android, adding only the most necessary features, such as Moto Actions, which make things like turning here on the phone’s flashlight (two chopping gestures) or capturing screenshots a breeze (touch the screen with 3 fingers).
You can probably alter typefaces and icon shapes, and backgrounds. As well as the animation that shows the fingerprint scanner if you don’t like something about the UI.
That’s nice because Edge’s default wallpaper isn’t one of the favorites. It has a rolling wave that moves across the screen before coming to a halt. This makes the Edge’s typically smooth display feel jittery. It happens every time you go between screens, end apps, or unlock your phone. It’s a bit distracting, but it can be changed.
Android 11 via software update
The Motorola Edge comes preloaded with Android 10. But Motorola has guaranteed that you’ll be able to upgrade to Android 11 via a software update. What happens after that is anyone’s guess. With the more costly Motorola Edge Plus, Motorola has only committed to one major Android upgrade. Despite the fact that two updates are standard. In addition to upgrades through the Google Play store, Motorola promises security patches every other month. Unless Motorola alters its tune, the Edge is unlikely to receive further updates beyond Android 11.
Is the Motorola EDGE worth getting?
Motorola,
The Motorola Edge is priced at $699, putting it squarely in the category of midrange 5G-capable handsets that aren’t as expensive as today’s finest 5G phones (like, say, the Motorola Edge Plus). The Edge is $100 more expensive than the LG Velvet and shares pricing with the Samsung Galaxy A71 5G.
Conclusion
The Motorola Edge offers excellent value for money, preserving a few of the better features of an Edge Plus, like the vibrant display, 90Hz refresh rate, and 5G connectivity. However, it can do things the Edge Plus can’t. Such as staying longer on a charge and allowing you to take your phone to whatever carrier you want.
Unfortunately, it’s also doomed by the Motorola Edge Plus’s main flaw: a camera that underperforms. That’s why it can’t set itself out from similarly priced competitors. This Edge does have a lot going for it. However, the LG Velvet is $100 less, has a 5G connection, and takes photographs that are equivalent, if not better, than the Motorola Edge. The Pixel 5 and the entry-level iPhone 12 are also on the way, creating serious competition for the Motorola Edge.
