This in itself is a bit of a cliche, but it’s still true; it’s becoming increasingly difficult for smartphone manufacturers to produce devices that truly stand out and can easily communicate and emphasize to consumers that their specific products are more popular than ever. Competitive to a large extent.
Take Motorola’s Edge 50 Pro, for example. It costs around £600 and has just been launched. For the same money, you can pretty much buy a Pixel 8, Nothing Phone 2, OnePlus 12R, or a host of other things that compromise here and there but all offer a pretty solid overall experience for a lot less than the most expensive flagships.
Motorola has a habit of spending a little more, but is that the case this time? First off, it’s worth mentioning that while you can get two pretty nice vegan leather backs in the Black Beauty and Luxe Lavender, we received the slightly weird MoonLight Pearl, which is said to be handmade in Italy by Mazzucchelli . It looks a bit like marble but holds like plywood in the hand – avoid this one and buy another one.
Otherwise, Motorola didn’t take any big risks with the design this time around. Visually, it blends in well with the rest of the device’s back panel, with IP68 certification, 125W charging via the charger that comes with the phone, 50W wireless charging, WI-FI 6E, Bluetooth 5.4 and stereo speakers. In other words, it’s all here.
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Inside, we find the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, up to 12GB LPDDR4X RAM (yes, a slightly slower variant) and 256GB UFS 2.2 memory (yes, a pretty slow variant too). Then there’s the 4500mAh battery, which isn’t the biggest but still offers the same battery life as the last few Edge phones we’ve tested. These short two days were good for us.
From charging to SoC, from RAM to various peripheral components, Motorola gives us what we need and more, and it’s even impossible to complain about the lack of wireless charging or IP certification anymore. What’s more, the Edge 50 Pro’s 6.7-inch pOLED is truly gorgeous. It runs at 1.5K and 144Hz, with a screen peak of around 2000 nits, easily enabling HDR10+ support. Plus, we’re talking about 10-bit color, and the entire shebang is Pantone-verified.
Perhaps more concerning is the move away from the old subtle user interface to the new “Hello UI.” Of course, the software runs on Android 14, so there’s really no need to worry. In fact, Hello UI is almost better than before, and it’s almost exclusively available on stock Android without any bloatware. There are a few extra features here and there, such as Ready For, Moto Unplugged, and some custom fonts and icons. It’s still subtle, casual and easily customizable if you want.
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There are three cameras on the back, including a 50-megapixel f/1.4 aperture main lens with optical stabilization, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens with 120 degrees, and finally a 10-megapixel 3x optical telephoto lens. There is also a ToF sensor and an autofocus module. In addition, there are fixed mode choices at the expected resolution, ranging from Pro Mode, Night Mode and Dual Capture, to 4K super slow motion video. Motorola likes to focus on the fact that this is “the world’s first Pantone-verified camera system,” especially talking about the color chemistry that should be more realistic, but let’s be honest, that’s the essence of “pretty without being flashy.” There’s nothing wrong with Motorola’s camera system, it just makes it clear to us. If you give the lenses light, they deliver excellent HDR, solid depth, and don’t have any major issues. However, there’s none of the fire-and-forget reliability of the Pixel camera, nor any significant hardware differentiation like more optical zoom, a periscope lens, or anything else. It’s just that good, you can trust this camera system.
So, in many ways, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro is like many other Edge phones before it. It’s the interplay of all the great specs that makes for a great experience, not one feature in particular that stands out. Is this something I recommend over any of the other competitors mentioned? Well, maybe, but it’s a crowded market and maybe Motorola in particular needs an aesthetic overhaul for their phones. Ditch the MoonLight Pearl and give us something bolder.
