Motorola Edge Plus Review: Refined Style and Specs, but Still Lost in the Crowd

The Motorola Edge Plus is the newest premium smartphone aimed on the US, and an all-around improve on final yr’s Edge Plus. With its massive battery and aggressive value, Android followers have one other top-tier contender to contemplate when telephone purchasing. 

Motorola has refined its premium telephones beneath Lenovo over time, including some options and taking others away in an effort to search out the suitable mixture that may attraction to top-tier telephone patrons. The most recent Edge Plus is one of the best mixture to this point. However it’s additionally not precisely the identical telephone bought around the globe, since Motorola releases barely totally different variations in numerous areas. As an illustration, the Edge Plus obtainable within the US is just about an identical to the Edge 40 Professional in Europe and elsewhere, however has a bigger battery and extra modest recharging pace.

In earlier years, it has been powerful to advocate the Edge Plus collection over equally priced (and even cheaper) Samsung rivals. However with its $800 price ticket, which is $200 cheaper than its predecessor, the brand new Edge Plus is a good different to the $800 Samsung Galaxy S23, and lands proper between the $600 Google Pixel 7 and $900 Pixel 7 Professional. 

That does not imply that the Edge Plus is the best possible worth. It is pricier than the $700 OnePlus 11, although its base mannequin packs extra onboard storage. And like different higher-end Android handsets, the Edge Plus faces stiff competitors from the $500 Pixel 7A, which has most of its pricier Pixel sibling’s options.

The Motorola Edge Plus appears and feels premium with a pointy show that includes waterfall-style curved edges. That display screen, together with practically top-of-the-line specs, like an enormous battery and really quick charging speeds, makes the Edge Plus an appropriate possibility for anybody who does not want the Galaxy S23’s zoom photograph capabilities or the Pixel 7’s AI-powered photograph enhancing. However apart from its large battery life, there is not a lot else that distinguishes the Edge Plus from different premium telephones.

Good battery life, nice recharge speeds

The brand new Motorola Edge Plus has a 5,100-mAh battery, which is 300 mAh greater than its predecessor. In follow, the telephone simply survived media-heavy on a regular basis actions. Once I put the Edge Plus via CNET’s intensive-use media check — which incorporates streaming motion pictures, taking part in video games, scrolling social media, and becoming a member of video requires a complete of 45 minutes — the battery dropped 8%.

That is corresponding to the battery drain on the Galaxy S23 and Pixel 7A in the identical check, and just a little worse than the Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Extremely. Primarily based on my early testing, the Edge Plus merely lasts longer than many different telephones, particularly when watching movies and taking part in video games. The battery made it via a full day of use after which some, although it probably will not be capable to final two full days with no recharge.

The Edge Plus’s quick charging outperforms a few of its friends. It could not have the ridiculously quick 125-watt charging of the European Edge 40 Professional, however the 68-watt charger included within the field is greater than sufficient. When my check unit was down to three% battery, a 30-minute recharge juiced it again as much as 80%. Evaluate that to the 25-watt max charging on the usual Galaxy S23 or 45-watt charging on the S23 Plus and Extremely, and the Edge Plus has, effectively, the sting.

The Edge Plus’ charging does not beat some telephones with high-wattage chargers, just like the OnePlus 11 with a 100-watt charger that juiced up a telephone from zero to totally charged in 26 minutes. Along with 68-watt wired charging, the Edge Plus has 15-watt wi-fi charging and might cost different units at 5 watts.

The perfect-looking Motorola telephone but (come at me, Razr followers)

Motorola’s premium telephones have been on a journey because the model launched the Edge Plus debuted in 2020. The unique had a horny machine, and its show edges curved all the way down to abruptly meet the telephone’s rear metallic plate with such a extreme edge that I nonetheless keep in mind it biting into my hand as I gripped its sides. The following Edge Plus in 2022 did away with the waterfall-style edges in favor of an ordinary flat display screen, which was much less painful but in addition much less trendy.

The most recent Edge Plus is a return to kind with fastidiously curved show edges that easily meet the polished metallic body. The again is a matte metallic with a slight texture, like fine-grain sandpaper, that offers it a refined look and contrasts towards the shiny Motorola emblem. The smoky glass-covered sq. digital camera block is a severe improve over the considerably cheap-looking digital camera oval on final yr’s mannequin. Total, it is a telephone that may look skilled being held as much as your ear, if we ever raised our telephones like that anymore.

The Edge Plus’s 6.7-inch, 2,400×1,080-pixel OLED show has sharp and clear visuals and helps HDR10 Plus. It has a 165Hz refresh price, which is technically sooner than the final Edge Plus’s 144Hz refresh price display screen. Whereas I might barely inform the distinction between the telephone’s most 165Hz refresh price and the 120Hz step-down setting, the upper refresh price did look barely smoother when scrolling via the working system animations or looking the net. It additionally has an under-display fingerprint sensor for safety, in addition to facial recognition to unlock your telephone together with your mug.

Specs sustain with the competitors

The Edge Plus packs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, the top-tier premium silicon from Qualcomm, 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and both 256GB or 512GB of storage, although it lacks the choice for expandable storage by way of microSD card. This can be a little bit of a step down from final yr’s mannequin, which got here in each 8GB and 12GB of RAM configurations, however I did not really feel the brand new Edge Plus was let down with out the extra reminiscence.

Total the Edge Plus performs effectively. I did not expertise any slowdown or delays transitioning between apps or doing mild duties. The telephone saved up with extra process-intensive duties like gaming and fidgeting with video, like switching between horizontal and vertical video orientations. 

For uncooked stats, the Edge Plus saved up with its rivals scoring related benchmark check outcomes to its premium handset friends. Check out our Geekbench 5 outcomes beneath.

The Edge Plus runs Android 13 with a principally inventory model of the working system and can get three years of Android updates and 4 years of twice-monthly safety updates, which is encouraging for folk who wish to hold their telephones for longer. Although with Android 14 anticipated to launch in October, Motorola’s telephone will not be on a par with different main Android telephones for that lengthy. Samsung nonetheless leads the pack with a assured 5 years of main Android updates and safety updates.

The Edge Plus additionally retains Motorola’s small suite of beloved gesture management shortcuts just like the chop-chop to activate the flashlight and the double-twist to open the digital camera app. 

Cameras are good, however not one of the best

The Edge Plus has a triple rear digital camera consisting of a 50-megapixel, f1.8 principal shooter, a 50-megapixel ultrawide and a 12-megapixel, 2x optical zoom digital camera that extends to 16x digital zoom. Given final yr’s Edge Plus lacked a telephoto lens, this alone makes the brand new mannequin superior to its predecessor.

Pictures taken with Motorola telephones have by no means reached parity with these shot and processed on premium Apple and Samsung telephones, and whereas that is nonetheless the case, Motorola is catching up. In side-by-side comparisons of the identical images taken on an iPhone 12 Professional and Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely, the Edge Plus’s images have barely extra saturated colours however lack element in shadows. 

This leads colours to streak into uniform hues somewhat than dappled with refined variations from angled mild, moisture or another issue. It is not too noticeable except you look carefully.

The Edge Plus’ 2x telephoto works effectively and compares favorably with an iPhone, although the premium Galaxy telephones nonetheless take far clearer images out to a distance. The ultrawide digital camera has a narrower discipline of view, capturing much less space than both Galaxy or iPhone. 

The Edge Plus’s cameras take succesful portrait images, and whereas the saturation is a bit a lot for regular images, it really pops properly towards the added depth. At evening, images seize a superb quantity of sunshine, preserving element of topics if shedding out on some shadow and texture. 

Pictures from the 60-megapixel, f2.2 front-facing shooter have a formidable quantity of element and coloration, although come out a bit extra vibrant than they need to. The telephone can document 4K video in 60fps with the principle and ultrawide cameras.

Do you have to purchase a Motorola Edge Plus?

Motorola made the suitable tweaks with the Edge Plus, with a snazzier design and slight upgrades in every single place else to make it higher than its predecessor. Whereas its cameras and software program nonetheless do not produce images that really prime these popping out of Samsung or Apple telephones, they get shut, producing good pictures in darkish and light-weight settings. 

However it’s the Edge Plus’s $800 value that makes it a real competitor to the Galaxy S23 and different premium telephones. As long as you do not want intensive zoom photograph capabilities or Google’s line of photograph software program tips. The brand new Edge Plus’s massive battery and quick charging ought to make it a consideration amongst top-end Android units.

How we check telephones

Each telephone examined by CNET’s evaluations staff was really utilized in the actual world. We check a telephone’s options, play video games and take images. We study the show to see if it is shiny, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and construct to see how it’s to carry and whether or not it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s efficiency to the extremes utilizing each standardized benchmark instruments like GeekBench and 3DMark, together with our personal anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution movies and taking part in graphically intense video games at excessive refresh charges.

All of the cameras are examined in quite a lot of situations from shiny daylight to darkish indoor scenes. We check out particular options like evening mode and portrait mode and evaluate our findings towards equally priced competing telephones. We additionally try the battery life through the use of it day by day in addition to operating a collection of battery drain checks.

We bear in mind further options like help for 5G, satellite tv for pc connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus help, quick charging speeds, foldable shows amongst others that may be helpful. And we steadiness all of this towards the worth to provide the verdict on whether or not that telephone, no matter value it’s, really represents good worth.