Motorola Edge (2022) review: Here’s what this $500 phone gets you

Latest Motorola Edge is a solid budget phone, which offers premium features at a lower cost. However, even though it builds on the company’s previous Edge, the 2022 version features a surprisingly gorgeous 6.6-inch OLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, as well as a 5,000mAh battery.

Motorola recently announced a $599.99 price tag for the new Edge, but it will be available for a more reasonable $499.99 for a limited time after its launch. And you can get that deal on every carrier and retailer including T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, and the Motorola website.

We used the Motorola Edge 2022 for a week straight to see how it compares to other mid-range phones, like the excellent Google offering. Pixel 6a. Here’s what you need to know before you buy one at a lower price.

An outstanding display for less

At the lower price point, the spacious 6.6-inch screen is a real hit. It offers vivid colors, sharp Full HD+ resolution, and excellent brightness in direct sunlight. And since it’s an OLED screen, you’ll get those inky black levels commonly found on flagship phones like Samsung Galaxy S22.

What sets it apart from other mid-range phones with OLED panels is the super-fast 144Hz refresh rate (the Pixel 6a has a measured frequency of 60Hz), which also surpasses the 90Hz of the previous Motorola Edge and even including Edge Plus. This makes everything faster and smoother, from opening apps to scrolling through your email to entering text messages.

While the display’s fast refresh rate makes it feel smoother, it’s the processor that does the heavy lifting. And Motorola Edge’s Dimensity 1050 is a far superior chipset.

You won’t find many MediaTek chips in smartphones sold in the US, but they’re often as good (if not better) than Qualcomm’s more popular Snapdragon line. The Dimensity 1050 is a solid mid-range chip that, when combined with the included 8GB of RAM, should provide proficient performance for most of your daily workflow.

As with any mid-range chipset, lighter tasks like scrolling through Twitter or Instagram and sending emails are a breeze. Only when you switch to heavier endeavors, such as advanced photo editing in Adobe Lightroom or playing graphically heavier games like Asphalt 9, can you get slower performance or dropped frames. .

Clean Android software

Motorola Edge comes with Android 12 from the start (with a promised upgrade to Android 13) and Motorola combines it with My UX for some extra features, like gesture controls and Display The company’s signature Peak, will light up when you reach for your phone. It also comes with Lenovo’s enhanced security features through ThinkShield for mobile, a special advantage Motorola enjoys when Lenovo is its parent company.

However, even with these Motorola-centric extras, the experience is still more akin to stock Android. Some prefer this to what companies like Samsung and OnePlus offer, which are heavy skins with lots of customization. It’s true, Edge isn’t exempt from bloatware – we were sent T-Mobile samples and there are plenty of bright red apps that we’ll never bother opening.

Great battery life and wireless charging

The Motorola Edge comes with a 5,000mAh battery, and when combined with the performance of the Dimensity 1050 processor and lightweight software, it can last at least a full day on a single charge. When in a pinch, we were even able to chime in for two days before plugging it back in.

To be clear, our general usage is not basic messaging, social networking and browsing. We tested the performance by running heavy games, taking lots of pictures and videos, using the 24/7 144Hz refresh rate, and making lots of phone calls.

When backing up is needed, Motorola offers 30W TurboPower fast wired charging, though you have to provide your own power brick because there’s no charger in the box. Plus, you even get 15W wireless charging, a nice extra feature you won’t find on most mid-range phones.

The main 50MP f/1.8 lens is usable in good lighting, with clear colors, contrast and details. However, it doesn’t scale well in low light, and I found the image to look unnatural. If you’re looking for a really great camera at a mid-range price, you’ll be better served with Google’s Pixel 6afor only $449.

Meanwhile, the 13MP f/1.5 ultra-wide lens is decent, but it can’t keep up with the main sensor in terms of color balance and detail, especially with macro shots taken with the ultra-wide sensor.

And, as we’ve seen with most mid-to-lower priced phones, the Edge also comes with a 2MP depth sensor, which manufacturers tend to include to increase hardware appeal. These types of sensors are designed to collect additional depth information, mainly to help with portrait mode photography, but rarely useful. We took a few portrait shots and didn’t find a noticeable difference when this depth sensor was covered or not.

Video quality is also very poor, with noticeable artifacts around any objects it thinks need to be sharpened, like trees and buildings. This is most noticeable when shooting at the highest quality of 4K 30fps.

I appreciate the video stabilization, which keeps videos smooth and stutter-free. However, you can only use it with the phone set to a lower resolution of Full HD at 30fps.

We have seen smartphone costs around $500 with great build quality, but the Motorola Edge 2022 isn’t one of them.

Although it looks like a regular Android phone, the body is plastic and weighs less than 6 ounces. And although I like the light weight, it feels cheap in my hand. This also seems to contradict its high-end, high-end display.

Fingerprint reader and lackluster speaker

If you will include an in-display fingerprint reader, it will read your fingerprint better. Like, every time. So it’s disappointing that while setting up the sensor is easy, using the in-display fingerprint reader is equally difficult.

Once it worked, the sensor registered our fingerprint with great accuracy and quickly allowing us to access our phone. However, most of the time it took a few tries before the sensor could see my thumb. I find myself regularly wiping the screen, adjusting the angle, and constantly wiping my fingers, which is counterproductive to this kind of time-saving feature.

Meanwhile, I found the Dolby Atmos-enabled stereo speakers to be lackluster. I played some of my favorite songs like Logic’s “Vinyl Days” and Tyler Hubbard’s “5 Foot 9” and were treated to bass reduction and muffled speakers at higher volumes.

Power tip: Use headphones if you are listening for a long time.

Display	6.6 inches, Full HD OLED	6.1 inch, 1080 x 2400 OLED	4.7 inches, 1344 x 750 Retina HD
Refresh rate	144Hz	60Hz	60Hz
Processor	Density MediaTek 1050	Google Tensor	Apple A15 Bionic
Memory	6GB / 8GB	6GB	4GB
Warehouse	128GB / 256GB	128GB	64GB / 128GB / 256GB
Camera	50-megapixel main camera, 13-megapixel ultra-wide (rear); 32 megapixels (front)	12.2-megapixel wide, 12-megapixel ultra-wide (rear); 8 megapixels (front)	12-megapixel wide camera (rear); 7 megapixels (front)
Battery life (rated)	Up to 2 days	Up to 72 hours (with Ultra Battery Saver)	Up to 50 hours
Water proof	IP52	IP67	IP67
Color	Mineral Gray	Sage, Chalk, Charcoal	Product Red, Starlight, Midnight
Price	$499	$399	$429

Compared to other mid-range phones, you won’t find a better screen for the price and Motorola Edge has great battery life to boot.

While we found solid performance and software, the cheap design doesn’t help Edge stand out from other Android competitors. And the relatively priced Pixel 6a offers much better cameras at a lower cost.

But if you’re looking for a premium display with a quick refresh rate for watching videos, viewing social media, or viewing your photos, the Motorola is a solid choice. And for under $500 (for a limited time), this could be well worth it.