Motorola Edge 50 Evaluation: A mid-range contender with just a few too many compromises

Motorola Edge 50 Intro

Motorola’s telephone lineup is as soon as once more greater than complicated. But it surely in all probability would not have been so if the Edge 50 did not exist among the many Edge 50 Neo, Edge 50 Professional, and Edge 50 Extremely. However, right here we’re, the Edge 50 is the corporate’s second most inexpensive handset from the Edge household this 12 months.

The Motorola Edge 50 comes with greater brightness, a way more succesful processor, and a brand new 3x telephoto digicam in comparison with its predecessor. It additionally has a bigger show and an extended software program replace window.

That is a number of upgrades that positively make the Edge 50 a a lot better telephone than the earlier era. That stated, as you’ll quickly discover out, the Edge 50 won’t supply essentially the most for its worth in comparison with the alternate options, even these from Motorola itself.

Talking of worth, you may get the Motorola Edge 50 in Europe for €599 from Motorola’s web site or any shops or carriers that promote Motorola telephones.

Desk of Contents:

Motorola Edge 50 Specs

An important mixture of {hardware} for the value

Let’s begin with an summary of the Motorola Edge 50 specs:

Motorola Edge 50 Design and Show

Skinny physique with a non-slippery again panel

 

The Motorola Edge 50 could be very simple to deal with with one hand because of its thinner sides, the place the show curves. The eco leather-based again panel additionally helps, as it’s not slippery just like the glass backs of different telephones. One other fairly good profit to this materials is that it doesn’t appeal to fingerprints.

As for the colour choices, we fairly just like the Jungle Inexperienced model that we obtained to check out, however the Peach Fuzz and Koala Grey look equally good. The one space the place some enchancment is required so far as seems to be go is the digicam module on the again, which feels a bit asymmetrical with the best way the cameras and the flash are layed out.

The buttons on the precise facet of the telephone stand out from the body rather a lot, making them fairly simple to search out. That stated, they felt mushy, particularly the ability button, so generally I could not inform if I’ve pressed them or not.

As for the unboxing expertise, we’re used to getting a number of goodies with Motorola telephones, however issues are a unique with the Edge 50. When you do get a well-made colour matching case and a USB-C cable, you don’t get a charger contained in the field. There’s additionally no pre-installed display protector. You’ll be able to nonetheless anticipate a pleasant scent when opening the field although, as Motorola has executed for the previous few years.

The Edge 50’s OLED show produces a crispy and vibrant picture, and it’s a pleasure to make use of because of its excessive 120Hz refresh price. Nevertheless, its curved form won’t be for everybody, because it creates reflections and shadows the place the glass bends. I discovered that to be extra distracting than regular with the Edge 50, however you sort of get used to it after a while.

For outside use, the show is vibrant sufficient to learn textual content. It additionally comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 5, which is stronger than the Gorilla Glass 3 on the Pixel 8a, though its curved form would possibly make it extra liable to cracks.

The show high quality of the Edge 50 sits someplace between that of the Galaxy A55 and the Pixel 8a. It proved to be noticeably extra colour correct than the Pixel and considerably brighter than the Galaxy throughout our show lab checks.

The fingerprint scanner is fast and correct. There wasn’t a second the place it didn’t acknowledge my finger or delayed recognition sufficient to harass me. There’s additionally a face unlock that may unlock the Edge 50 much more shortly, however in case you are nervous about privateness it’s best to use the fingerprint scanner.

Motorola Edge 50 Digital camera

Picture high quality is sweet so long as you do not file video

– Clarify Digital camera Rating in a few sentences, what are the highlights and hyperlink to filter web page with different Digital camera Telephone Scores.

Motorola Edge 50 digicam specs:

  • 50 MP, f/1.8 aperture, 1/1.56″ sensor dimension, 1.0µm pixel dimension, multi-directional PDAF, OIS
  • 13 MP, f/2.2, 13mm lens equal, 120˚ subject of view, 1.12µm, PDAF
  • 10 MP, f2.0, 73mm, 1.0µm, PDAF, 3x optical zoom, OIS

The Edge 50 does one thing that’s not often seen at this worth level. In addition to the principle (vast) and the ultra-wide cameras that the majority telephones of its caliber have, it additionally comes with a 3x telephoto snapper. Lens selection is changing into an increasing number of necessary these days as we more and more use our telephone cameras. I’ve discovered myself typically utilizing my telephoto digicam greater than the ultra-wide one, which is the precise reverse from how I used my telephone just a few years in the past, so it is good to see e mid-range machine from Motorola have each.

For essentially the most half, the photographs that come out of the Edge 50 digicam system are fairly good. There are some gentle leaks from time to time when capturing with the principle digicam, however the colours are wealthy and the HDR efficiency is sweet, with sufficient particulars displaying in darker and brighter areas even when the state of affairs is hard by way of lighting.

As you in all probability anticipate, the ultra-wide and telephoto cameras do not supply the identical ranges of element as the principle one. The ultra-wide digicam specifically feels barely too delicate, however it’s nonetheless usable when you’ve got good circumstances.

Video High quality

Video Thumbnail

Earlier than we are saying anything, when you resolve to purchase the Motorola Edge 50, simply ensure that to NOT file video with the Adaptive Stabilization mode turned on. One thing could be very mistaken with the video stabilizations whereas utilizing that mode. Issues get a lot better when you change to Horizon Lock, which is the one different possibility for stabilizing the video, however it’s not very best because it crops in on the picture and required extra gentle with a view to produce good high quality outcomes.

Sadly, issues do not get any higher once we check out the remainder of the digicam’s efficiency in video mode. The HDR efficiency could be very poor, as might be seen from the telephone’s incapacity to show each for the the shadowy and vibrant areas. What’s extra, colours appear washed out and the extent of element shouldn’t be actually something to write down residence about.

Motorola Edge 50 Efficiency & Benchmarks

Respectable efficiency

Motorola has gone for the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 AE. The “AE” stands for Accelerated Version, and it’s barely extra succesful than the unique model of this chip. It has a better most clock pace of two.5 GHz vs 2.4 GHz on the common 7 Gen 1.

The chip and storage that the Edge 50 makes use of would possibly sound outdated on paper, however in our expertise the telephone carried out very properly. Every part was easy and fast. Even opening the digicam or utilizing any sort of video and picture enhancing software program was lots quick, so we’ve no gripes so far as efficiency goes. 

Gaming was additionally fairly good, with excessive sufficient body charges to play on-line aggressive video games, albeit not on the highest settings. The telephone does get heat, however it did not get scorching sufficient to make the expertise uncomfortable.

Efficiency Benchmarks:

As you possibly can see, the competitors comes with a lot better chip efficiency in comparison with the Edge 50. However regardless of our benchmark outcomes, we did not really feel any want for extra energy when utilizing the telephone. Except you might be planning on taking part in graphically intensive video games or engaged on massive tasks in a productiveness app, this mid-ranger from Motorola must be adequate.

You get 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, which is greater than sufficient for a tool of this caliber. The storage is UFS 2.2 although, which isn’t as energy environment friendly and quick because the  UFS 3.1 storage you see on telephones just like the Galaxy S24 and Pixel 9.

Motorola Edge 50 Software program

The Edge 50 comes with the older Android 14 software program. Fortunately, the telephone ought to stand up to five years of main Android updates, so although it does not have the most recent model it ought to go so far as Android 19.

Like all different Motorola telephones, the Edge 50 runs on Motorola’s Hi there UI Android pores and skin, which comes with a number of further options that assist enhance the person expertise. There are the fan favourite fast gestures to toggle the digicam and flashlight.

However there are new ones as properly, like Sensible Join which helps you to management different units related to the identical community. One other characteristic known as Share Hub lets you switch recordsdata from the telephone to a PC simply by dragging and dropping them.

I’ve all the time been a fan of the software program expertise on Motorola telephones, and I’m glad to see that it has remained easy and simple whilst new options get added over time. My solely gripe on this entrance was the software program assist window, however the Edge 50 has a reasonably prolonged one, in order that’s taken care of too now.

Motorola Edge 50 Battery

Does not final too lengthy however recharges shortly
Regardless of its skinny physique of the Edge 50, Motorola has managed to pack a 5,000 mAh battery inside, which is the usual these days. Compared, the Pixel 8a has a 4,492 mAh battery and the Galaxy A55 comes with a 5,000 mAh one as properly.

Even with this battery capability, nevertheless, the Edge 50 had a tricky time lasting us a full day of use. Gaming noticeably takes the heaviest toll on the battery life, as we later confirmed in our 3D gaming battery life check.

PhoneArena Battery Take a look at Outcomes:

Motorola has added 68W quick charging to the Edge 50, therefore the “fast juicing up” we talked about earlier. Sadly, Motorola has determined to not embody a charger within the field.

PhoneArena Charging Take a look at Outcomes:

Whereas the Edge 50 won’t be the very best in its class with regards to battery life, it expenses rather more shortly than the competitors, which sort of balances issues out, as you possibly can shortly recharge the battery when it will get low. You additionally get 15W of wi-fi charging.

Motorola Edge 50 Audio High quality and Haptics

The Edge 50 comes with stereo audio system, each of which get very loud. However whereas the amount is spectacular, the standard of the audio shouldn’t be. Voices sound tinny and the mid and low ranges are missing definition. I even discovered it powerful to take heed to something for a chronic period of time.

You’d in all probability be higher off carrying headphones whereas watching YouTube or a film, and it’s best to positively use a pair when listening to music. There is no headphone jack although, so you’d both have to make use of USB-C wired ones or Bluetooth headphones.

In contrast to the audio high quality, the vibration motor inside is definitely fairly respectable. Haptics really feel tight and responsive, so that you in all probability will not really feel an instantaneous urge to show them off.

Must you purchase it?

The Motorola Edge 50 does not have the very best digicam system for the value, nor does it have the very best efficiency. It is audio system produce fairly lackluster audio and its battery life shouldn’t be essentially the most dependable. So, for essentially the most half, we predict the alternate options just like the Pixel 8a and the Galaxy A55 are higher in these regards.

Even amongst its different telephone fashions from this 12 months, Motorola has a lot better choices. For instance, the Edge 50 Neo comes with very comparable specs, however it doesn’t have the bizarre digicam stabilization difficulty and prices €100 much less. Or you could possibly go the opposite rout and pay €100 extra for the Edge 50 Professional, which has a a lot sooner chipset and a greater fundamental digicam.

So, to place it shortly, it’s arduous to advocate the Edge 50 when you have in mind the opposite choices in the marketplace, even from Motorola’s personal portfolio. That isn’t to say that we did not like components concerning the telephone, its fundamental digicam produces nice photographs and its efficiency is greater than adequate, however on the finish of the day it’s best to get the very best bang on your buck, and the Edge 50 shouldn’t be it.

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