Motorola Edge review
Our Verdict
The Motorola Border is an affordable 5G phone that lasts long on a charge. Even so, there are more powerful devices for the same price that take better pictures also, making the Motorola Edge a solid selection rather than a standout.
For
- Great battery life
- Colorful brandish
- 90Hz refresh charge per unit
- Affordable 5G device
Confronting
- Subpar cameras
- Other midrange phones outperform it
Tom's Guide Verdict
The Motorola Edge is an affordable 5G telephone that lasts long on a charge. However, there are more than powerful devices for the same cost that have better pictures besides, making the Motorola Border a solid option rather than a standout.
Pros
- +
Great battery life
- +
Colorful brandish
- +
90Hz refresh rate
- +
Affordable 5G device
Cons
- -
Subpar cameras
- -
Other midrange phones outperform information technology
It would be understandable if y'all idea of the Motorola Edge as a slightly-stripped down version of the Motorola Edge Plus, the phone maker'southward return to the world of flagship devices. Gone is the more powerful processor and camera, and Motorola has shrunk the battery. In exchange, you get a phone that'due south $300 cheaper and no longer tied to Verizon's cellular network.
Motorola Border specs
Toll: $699
Screen size: 6.7-inch OLED (2340 x 1080)
CPU: Snapdragon 765
RAM: 6GB
Storage: 256GB
Rear cameras: 64MP main (f/1.8); 16MP ultrawide (f/2.2); 8MP telephoto (f/2.4)
Forepart camera: 25MP (f/ii.0)
Battery size: 4,500 mAh
Battery life (Hrs:Mins): 12:12
Size: 6.4 x 2.8 10 0.37 inches
Weight: half-dozen.63 ounces
While some trade-offs are definitely on display here for the lower price and the freedom of having an unlocked phone, our Motorola Border review found a device that'due south more than than only a light version of its more than feature-packed sibling. In 1 key surface area of our testing, the Edge actually bested the Border Plus, though sadly i of the major flaws from the more expensive flagship device remain on brandish here.
Motorola Edge review: Pricing and availability
The Motorola Border costs $699 and is bachelor unlocked through Motorola, Amazon, All-time Buy, and B&H Photograph. You can use the Motorola Edge with whatsoever wireless carrier.
At $699, that places the Motorola Border squarely in the category of midrange 5G-capable handset that aren't as pricey every bit today's best 5G phones (similar, say, the Motorola Edge Plus). The Motorola Edge shares a price with the Samsung Milky way A71 5G, and it'southward $100 more than the LG Velvet.
Motorola Edge review: Design
From distant, the Motorola Edge looks very stylish, with a distinctive curved brandish and a await that's indistinguishable from a premium phone. Option the device up, though, and requite the back a tap. That's conspicuously a plastic frame, which Motorola has turned to as a way to reduce the cost from the more premium Edge Plus. Information technology's not a trade-off that really bothers me, though my Solar Black review unit of measurement seemed to smudge adequately easily.
At 6.iv 10 2.8 10 0.37 inches, the Motorola Edge is essentially the same size as the Border Plus — hardly a surprise since both phones sport the same 6.7-inch Endless Edge OLED panel. The curved screen is largely corrective, based on my experience, though Motorola has baked in a few shortcuts. You tin can slide your finger alongside the screen to either summon settings (a downwide swipe) or apps (an upwardly one), and swiping leftward from the action bar tin can bring up certain shortcuts. If you didn't know the feature was there, though, you wouldn't remember to use information technology. Really, the just noticeable characteristic brought by that curved screen is that it makes the Motorola Edge more than difficult to hold, and more prone to unintentional taps.
Unlike phones that feature large, blocky camera arrays on the back these days, Motorola stacks its rear lenses in a sensible and subtle way. The Motorola logo on the back of the Edge is simply there for show — if you want to access the phone'south fingerprint reader, information technology lives underneath the phone's display. That, plus a dial-hole cutout for the selfie cam, allows Motorola to nowadays the Edge's screen without much in the style of bezels — and that'south welcome, because the marquee display feature that the Motorola Edge offers.
Motorola Border review: Display
That marquee characteristic would be the Motorola Edge's 90Hz refresh rate, a speed it shares with the more expensive Edge Plus. While other phones offer fifty-fifty faster refresh rates — the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and OnePlus 8 Pro both refresh at 120Hz rates — information technology'south non oft a feature you see in phones that cost less than $700. The standard OnePlus 8 also has a 90Hz refresh rate, as does the OnePlus Nord (though that latter phone isn't bachelor in the US).
The faster refresh charge per unit is a welcome improver to the Motorola Edge. Scrolling through web pages is a pleasure, as yous'll run into when toggle dorsum and forth betwixt the 60Hz and 90Hz options. You lot can even trust the Edge to brand the determination for you, by enabling a setting that allows it to automatically adjust the display'southward refresh speed based on whether you'll benefit from the 90Hz refresh rate or whether it makes more than sense to not tax the phone's battery.
The displays of the Motorola Edge and Edge Plus share more than only the same maximum refresh rate. They're basically identical from what I can tell, which is certainly a good thing since watching videos is so enjoyable on the Edge's screen. Like its pricier sibling, the Edge handles all sorts of colors very well, whether it's the shimmering waters of the Nile in the YouTube trailer for Death on the Nile or the mysterious shadows masking Daniel Craig's nemesis in the upcoming Bond flick. The experience is all the more than cinematic thanks to the 21:9 aspect ratio on the Motorola Edge, which also happens to make the phone easier to operate with one hand.
How closely matched is the Motorola Edge'south display to that of the Edge Plus? Both were able to capture roughly the same percentage of the sRGB color spectrum — 194.one% for the Edge, 189.ix% for the Edge Plus. Both were every bit consistent with how they rendered those colors, with Delta-Due east ratings of 0.32 and 0.31, respectively.
When it comes to phones in the Motorola Edge'south price range, the Milky way A71 5G captures more vibrant colors, rendering 200.3% of the sRGB color rating, but its Delta-E rating of 0.33 means it'southward slightly less accurate than the Border. The LG Velvet has a more muted colour palette by default — 140.half-dozen% of the sRGB spectrum — but does information technology more than accurately with a Delta-East rating of 0.xxx.
The Motorola Edge turns out to separate the difference, registering a peak brightness of 558 nits equally measured by our light meter. The LG Velvet was brighter, at 567 nits, with both phones outshining the Galaxy A71 5G (481 nits). I never really ran into an result reading the Motorola Edge's screen outside, though.
Motorola Edge cameras
One of the areas Motorola has scaled back from the Motorola Edge Plus tin can be establish with the cameras included on the Motorola Edge. Instead of the Plus' 108-megapixel sensor — the same one found on the Galaxy S20 Ultra — the Motorola Edge features a 64MP main camera. Other optics include a 16MP ultra wide angle camera, an 8MP telephoto lens with a 2x optical zoom and a fourth dimension-of-flying sensor.
The problem isn't that the Motorola Border features less powerful eyes than the Edge Plus — yous've got to expect some sacrifices for that $300 price cutting. Rather, the trouble is that the Border delivers the same underwhelming images nosotros got when we tested the Border Plus, especially compared against what the all-time photographic camera phones are capable of.
Take this sculpture of a penguin I shot during a socially-distanced trip to the Oakland Zoo. On a bright, sunny day, the Motorola Edge was a bit overwhelmed by the sunlight and yous get a streak of glare shooting downwardly from the meridian of the picture. The colors experience a fleck muted, too. That'due south not a problem the Pixel iv Forty suffers from, as the tree backside the penguin is a vivid green, the penguin'south eyes aren't lost in shadow, and at that place's no trace of glare from the sun. The Pixel even manages to capture some of the textures of the sculpture, so that you can see it's crafted out of recycled plastic.
Indoors, the Motorola Edge fares much better when I took a picture show of some waffles and sausage. Fifty-fifty with calorie-free streaming in from a nearby window, the Edge produces a balanced shot that lets you option out little details similar the seeds on the strawberries and the char on the sausage links. I think the colors on the Pixel 4 40'due south shot are warmer and the silverware remains in focus, but there's nothing really wrong with what the Motorola Edge produces.
As the calorie-free falls, the Motorola Edge does a decent job capturing a dusk at the local marina. I particularly like how Motorola's phone renders the pinkish and purple colors of the sky far off in the distance. Objects closer to the camera, like the pillar on the closest pier, seem a piffling out of focus, and I recall the LG Velvet did a better task making the shadowy boats look more singled-out. But I'm not displeased by what the Motorola Edge did hither.
I can't say the same for the Motorola Edge'south Dark Vision, which has a hard time focusing on the stuffed animals bathed in unforgiven blue LED lights. The edges of each stuffed animate being looked blurred and groundwork details don't actually stand out. The Pixel iv XL'southward try isn't great either, but at least the colour is consistent and yous tin make out the outlines of each individual creature. The plants in the groundwork as well aren't blurry the fashion they are in the Motorola Edge'southward shot.
Back at the zoo, I tried out the Motorola Edge'south telephoto lens on an American black deport. And while I appreciate the fact that the 2x zoom immune me to go close without getting mauled, I wish the finished shot would have been more in focus. That's non a trouble for the iPhone 11 Pro Max, which keeps the acquit abrupt and focused even though she's on the motility. The grass looks more than vibrant in the iPhone 11 Pro Max's shot as well.
Pulling back, the iPhone 11 Pro Max'due south wide angle lens lets me see more of the black bear enclosure than I got using the 117-degree view on the Motorola Edge'southward ultra wide shooter. The same problem with focus that's bedeviled the Motorola Border in other shots is on brandish here, though to be fair, even the iPhone struggles to keep the bears in the far groundwork in focus.
The time-of-flight sensor on the Motorola Edge helps produce some practiced-looking portrait photos. While its effort to capture my daughter turned out a little fleck darker than the LG Velvet'due south effort, I think it's a meliorate shot overall, with a more than stylistic blur. The Motorola Border also fabricated practiced utilise of the shadow acquired past the light streaming from the left to emphasize details on the correct side of my daughter's confront.
This self-portrait shot with the Motorola Border's 25MP selfie cam isn't bad either, though the left side of my bristles gets caught up in the groundwork blur. The ruddiness of my face up in the Border'due south shot is probably more accurate, though I prefer the way the Pixel iv Twoscore toned down the color, even if Google's phone got a little aggressive with smoothing out my face. Still, while the Edge'southward rear cameras sometimes struggled to depict bright colors, the phone'due south front camera definitely got the greenish of my baseball cap spot on.
Motorola Edge review: Performance
Unlike the Motorola Edge Plus, which features the powerful Snapdragon 865 chipset, the Motorola Edge turns to the Snapdragon 765, which has less processing oomph. It's a cost-cutting movement that allows the telephone to still provide 5G connectivity — there'southward a 5G modem included in the Snapdragon 765 arrangement-on-chip — so it'due south a processor found on a lot of phones that want to offer 5G without likewise featuring a high-toll tag.
The good news is, information technology's non too big a sacrifice turning to the Snapdragon 765 instead of the 865. Yes, there's a noticeable gap in raw functioning. The Motorola Edge's ane,867 multicore score on the Geekbench 5 general performance test is well behind the 3,350 result turned in by the Motorola Edge Plus. Simply in the kind of everyday tasks most people use their phones for, you're non really going to notice — the Motorola Edge handles all but the about processor-intensive apps with ataraxy.
Even demanding apps run just fine on the Motorola Border. I played PUBG Mobile on the telephone and didn't observe whatsoever lags or game-altering stutters. More than powerful phones render the graphics a little more sharply, merely gameplay itself was more than fine. My only complaint is that I had a hard time making my avatar turn — a hardship I'm going to blame on the phone'southward curved edges, which I think increases the chances of inadvertent touches.
Stack the Motorola Border up against other phones powered by the Snapdragon 765, and you'll meet comparable performance. On Geekbench, the Motorola Edge out-pointed the Milky way A71 5G (ane,796), simply roughshod backside the LG Velvet and its 1,927 score. That'southward likely because LG'southward phone uses the Snapdragon 765G variant, which offers a trivial chip of a performance boost, particularly when it comes to graphics. Indeed, on the GFXBench Aztec Ruins Vulkan test for high-tier devices, the Motorola Edge's 447.5 frame result fell behind both the Velvet (548 frames) and Galaxy A71 (551 frames).
Motorola Edge review: Battery and charging
The Motorola Border Plus enjoys a huge 5,000 mAh battery, which translated to a fourth dimension of 10 hours and 55 minutes on our bombardment test, nearly skilful plenty to land on our all-time phone battery life list of the longest-lasting devices. The Motorola Edge may have a smaller battery at 4,500 mAh, but it still lasted much longer on a accuse, holding out for 12 hours and 12 minutes on that same test, which involves continuous web surfing over cellular. (Typically we use T-Mobile's network, but because of my current location in coronavirus lockdown, I had to use Verizon.)
Why such a good result even with the smaller battery? We think the ability efficiency of the Snapdragon 765 helped out a lot with the Motorola Edge'south longevity. It's also worth noting those results came when we had the screen set to a 60Hz refresh rate. Upgrading to 90Hz consumed a little more power, just the Motorola Edge still held out for 11 hours, 35 minutes.
Merely don't expect every bit impressive results when you charge the phone. Like its pricier sibling, the Motorola Edge claims to offer fast charging with an 18W charger included. But afterwards 30 minutes of charging a drained phone, the Edge'south battery had but climbed back to 36%. The Galaxy A71 5G used its 25W charger to get to 60% in that fourth dimension.
Motorola Edge review: Software and special features
If you lot've e'er used a Motorola phone before, you'll be familiar with the My UX interface the Motorola Edge features on top of Android ten — and that's a good thing. Motorola takes a light hand with Android, adding features that are largely useful, such equally the Moto Actions that simplify tasks similar turning on the telephone's flashlight (2 chopping motions) or taking screenshots (touch the screen with three fingers).
If there'southward something y'all don't like most the interface, you can probably modify it, including fonts and icon shapes, wallpapers, and even the blitheness that appears on the on-display fingerprint sensor.
That'due south good, because I'm not a fan of the wallpaper that comes with the Motorola Edge by default. Information technology features a rolling wave that rolls across the screen and then... stops. It makes the Edge's otherwise polished display feel herky-jerky and even worse, the effect occurs any time yous switch between screens, exit apps or unlock your phone. It's pretty distracting, merely fortunately changeable.
The Motorola Border ships with Android 10, and Motorola has promised you'll go the newly released Android 11 on this phone via a software update. And after that... who knows? Motorola's only committed to one major Android update with the more than expensive Motorola Edge Plus, when two updates are the common practice. (Motorola does hope security updates every other calendar month in add-on to updates through the Google Play store.) Y'all'd figure the Motorola Edge has lilliputian hope of seeing any updates across Android xi unless Motorola changes its melody.
Motorola Edge review: Verdict
The Motorola Border delivers a lot of value for the money, retaining some of the better features of the Motorola Edge Plus, such as its colorful brandish, 90Hz refresh rate and 5G compatibility. But it also does things the Edge Plus tin can't, like last a while on a charge and gratuitous you up to take your phone to the carrier of your choice.
Unfortunately, it'due south besides felled by the biggest flaw of the Motorola Border Plus — a camera that underperforms. And that's why it fails to distinguish itself from similarly priced competition. Aye, the Motorola Edge has a lot going for it, but the LG Velvet costs $100 less, features 5G connectivity and produces photos that are comparable and in many cases better. The Pixel v and entry-level iPhone 12 are waiting in the wings, likewise, posing formidable challenges for the Motorola Border.
- More: Motorola Edge Plus vs. Galaxy S20 Plus
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/motorola-edge-review
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