Motorola is getting back into the flagship market with their new Moto Edge+ with 5G, and the latest flagship Snapdragon chip. You also get a lower version with a upper midrange chip, Snapdragon 765G, which is the only other midrange snapdragon to support 5G. The top end variant has a Verizon exclusive 5G which supports mmWave bands. It also features the same 108MP camera which is used on the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, and 2 day battery life with the beefy 5000mAh battery.
Moto’s flagship
Moto last released a flagship almost 3 years ago. It was the Z2 Force which was released in July 2017. Moto is now returning to the flagship market with their latest Moto Edge and Edge+ handsets. Moto seemed to have almost copied the Galaxy S20 Ultra, Samsung’s premium flagship phone, but made a couple of changes here and there. Motorola, now owned by Lenovo, has been making budget mid tier devices these past few years, and finally decided to make the jump to flagship territory. Motorola released only one variant for the flagship handset, and that is 12GB RAM and speedy 256GB UFS 3.0 storage.
Moto Edge+ Specs:
Display:
Instead of choosing the flat display which is seen on the S20 Ultra, and plus, they decided to go for the curved wrap-around waterfall display. Moto called it the “Endless Edge” display. It comes with an average refresh rate of just 90Hz, compared to 120Hz on the S20+ and S20 Ultra. You get a large 6.67 inches screen with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. Unfortunately, it’s at FHD, or 1920×1080 pixels while the S20+ and Ultra gets QHD 1440 x 3200 pixels. Thanks to the bend, Motorola has decided to light up the sides when charging and also add notifications. The 90Hz display will have more fluid animations when switching between apps, swiping across the display, and you enjoy a smoother gaming experience, but not the best.
If you’re a gamer, then you’re in luck. The Edge+’s 3D display comes with another bonus. You can use the edge side of its display as virtual buttons, thus adding an extra level of control and customizability to mobile shooters like COD, PUBG or Fortnite.
The waterfall display trend seems to be a common occurrence on most Chinese smartphones like Huawei Mate 30 Pro, and Oppo Find X2 Pro. Fortunately, if you aren’t a fan of the edge screen, you have the option to disable it.
Camera:
When coming to the Camera, the Edge+ takes Samsung’s 108MP shooter. It uses pixel binning, by combining four 27MP shots. Moto claims that this sensor provides DSLR like photos and videos like most smartphone manufacturers say, but don’t actually deliver. It remains to be seen if the hype is real! An 8MP camera supplements the main cam, and is used for telephoto shots with 3x optical zoom. A 16MP camera is also available for ultra-wide shots, and even supports macro shots via a setting. For video, you get OIS and EIS for a smooth lag free video playback. Instead of having the ability to shoot 8K videos like the S20 lineup, the camera gets to shoot only 6k videos, which isn’t much as there are barely any 8K monitors to play the videos on at the moment, and the ones that are there, are ridiculously expensive.
Processor, RAM and Storage:
As we all know, the Edge+ is packed with the latest and the greatest processor on the market, the Snapdragon 865. 12GB RAM and a high speed UFS 3.0 256GB storage completes the package. Sadly, there’s just 1 variant, with 256GB storage for the Edge+.
Other features:
The battery is a whopping 5000mAh, and you get long hours on the phone without having to recharge it often. Moto has tried to improve charging by adding an 18W TurboPower wired charging, and a 15W Qi wireless charging. You can also charge another phone by using the reverse wireless charging of a meagre 5W.
The Edge+ comes with Wi-Fi 6, which is termed as Wi-Fi ax standard, and combines both 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals to get double the bandwidth. There’s also other tech like OFDMA(Orthogonal frequency-division multiple access) used in Wi-Fi 6 which improves your internet speed, and shares the load evenly across multiple devices.
5G is added by default for both variants, and there is a Verizon exclusive which supports mmWave bands of B260(39GHz) and B261(28GHz). The rest of the US operators, and the rest of the world gets the Sub 6GHz 5G variants.
While Moto Edge+ has great features, let’s not ignore the smaller, lower end variant, the Moto Edge.
Here are a few differences between both.
- Edge+ uses an HDR10+ display, while the Edge skips out on the plus, with just HDR10
- Edge+ has a 108 MP triple camera system with telephoto, ultrawide and macro vision. Edge has a 64MP triple camera system.
- Edge+ is 5Gmmwave and sub-6GHz capable. Edge is 5G sub-6GHz capable.
- Edge+ has a Snapdragon 865 processor with 12GB Micron DDR memory and 256GB of storage. Edge has the Snapdragon 765 with 4GB and 128GB.
- Edge+ has a single SIM, but Edge has a hybrid dual SIM and ability for a microSD card.
- Edge+ has a 5,000mAh battery with 18W TurboPower and 15W wireless charging. Edge has a 4,500mAh battery with TurboPower charging.
Chris Francica, global product marketing manager at Motorola Mobility, said the flagship devices land following Moto’s debut of the Razr reboot. Francica said Motorola’s Net Promoter Scores have been improving and the company has built out its camera team in recent years to prep a return to premium devices.
“Razr thrust Motorola back into the spotlight and Moto needed a flagship to get to the next level,” said Francica. Moto’s core pitch with the 6.7-inch Edge Plus is that it’ll deliver the fastest 5G speeds on Verizon’s network, feature a display with a 90Hz refresh rate, a 5,000mAh battery, and a top-notch camera system. Like other Moto phones, the Edge Plus will feature a pure Android experience and include the ability to customize the user interface.
Motorola’s Edge Plus will be available on Verizon starting May 14 for $41.66 a month for 24 months, or $999. New lines with unlimited plans can save up to $550 with a trade in device.The lower end Edge will be available later this summer.
The Edge+ arrives in 2 colours, Smoky Sangria, and Thunder Grey.
Are you planning to buy one of the latest Motorola Edge phones line-up? Do let us know in the comments below.
