Motorola Edge 50 Ultra Review: Sleek Flagship Phone

Brick by stylishly curved brick, Motorola has rebuilt its popularity for making prime quality and fascinating flagship telephones.

2023’s Motorola Edge 40 Professional may not have been one of many best possible telephones in its class, but it surely nonetheless made an impression with its interesting design, speedy show, and robust efficiency.

This 12 months brings the Motorola Edge 50 Extremely, which faces raised expectations due to a extra formidable title (Extremely > Professional, proper?) and a £50 worth bump within the UK. Motorola hopes to justify this escalation with a sharper show, a extra superior digicam, and an excellent sleeker design.

With this kind of spec and price ticket, it’s taking up some formidable opposition. Maybe probably the most direct rival is the OnePlus 12, however you could possibly additionally throw the iPhone 15 Plus into the combination. That’s some stiff opposition.

Design & Construct

• Vegan leather-based or picket end
• Gorilla Glass Victus
• IP68 rated

In a considerably staid smartphone area, Motorola at the very least appears to be prepared to strive one thing completely different. Whereas its curvaceous design language is nothing significantly new, the supply of an precise picket end possibility (referred to as Nordic Wooden) is one thing you don’t see every single day.

Sadly this wasn’t the mannequin I acquired to check, so I can’t touch upon the way it seems to be or feels. The mannequin I did obtain has its personal stealthy attraction, with a Forest Gray vegan leather-based end that lends texture and grip. The brighter Peach Fuzz possibility additionally comes on this identical materials.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Mixed with a sandblasted aluminium body and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on the entrance, it additionally signifies that the Edge 50 Extremely is a deceptively powerful cellphone. An unintended drop from about 1.5 metres onto a picket ground didn’t a lot as depart a dint on the gadget.

This robustness comes despite the truth that the Extremely nonetheless packs a dual-curved show, which is inherently extra uncovered and weak. IP68 certification means it’s as water-proof as they arrive, too.

At 8.6mm, the Extremely isn’t as skinny because the Edge 50 Professional, and it’s additionally heavier at 197g. Even so, it stays the precise aspect of cumbersome, and I discovered it completely nice to wield everyday.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Show

• Sharp ‘1.5K’ 144Hz pOLED
• 6.7-inch
• Clear stereo audio system

The Motorola Edge 50 Extremely’s show packs broadly comparable specs to the Edge 50 Professional, in that it’s a 6.7in LTPS pOLED with a refresh charge that goes as much as 144Hz.

It’s the latter that makes it stand out from its rivals on paper, which are likely to high out at 120Hz, but it surely really falls slightly in need of the Edge 40 Professional‘s 165Hz show. Not that it actually issues – 120Hz is a lot, and any uptick past that’s difficult to choose up on.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Just like the Edge 50 Professional, you get an enhanced 2712 x 1220 or 1.5K decision, which is slightly sharper than your typical FHD+ panels with out scaling the heights of the OnePlus 12‘s QHD+. For me, the show is the candy spot for me between decision, color accuracy and refresh charge, however others will understandably really feel that the sharper the higher.

The important thing distinction between the Professional and Extremely fashions is considered one of brightness, with the Edge 50 Extremely attending to 2500 nits (vs 2000 nits) in peak circumstances. That may be so, however turning auto-brightness off yielded a measurement of simply 332 nits, which is means dimmer than the Professional mannequin, and most different flagship telephones for that matter. With auto-brightness lively, nevertheless, I noticed a high brightness of round 1250 nits when positioned underneath vivid lights.

HDR10+ is supported, and that is additionally described because the world’s first smartphone with a ‘Pantone Validated’ show. This manifests itself in strong color accuracy, with an sRGB gamut protection of 97.5% and a mean Delta E of 1.29 when converted to the Pure color mode. Considerably awkwardly, that is really inferior to the outcomes I obtained with the Edge 50 Professional, and it falls in need of the easiest in the marketplace. It’s nonetheless sturdy on this regard, nevertheless.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

I’m happy to notice that I didn’t expertise the identical false press points with the Extremely’s curved show as I did with the Professional, doubtless due to that barely thicker body. It meant that my holding hand didn’t contact the edges of the display screen a lot whereas working the cellphone one-handed.

On the whole phrases, the Motorola Edge 50 Extremely display screen is sweet, but it surely falls in need of the OnePlus 12 display screen in measurement, brightness, sharpness, and color accuracy.

In terms of audio, Motorola has provided a pair of Dolby Atmos-tuned stereo audio system that may produce pleasingly clear and nuanced stereo sound.

Specs & Efficiency

• Snapdragon 8s Gen 3
• 15GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 1TB storage

Motorola has made an attention-grabbing selection with the Edge 50 Extremely’s processor. Whereas it has moved to the newest era of Qualcomm’s chip household, it has opted for the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 relatively than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

This chip provides a broadly comparable stage of efficiency, but it surely’s undoubtedly a step down, with a barely decrease clock pace for its quick core and an inferior configuration for the remainder of its cores.

Much more notable is the truth that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3’s GPU is a slight step down from final 12 months’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, not to mention the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Which means that the Motorola Edge 50 Extremely is technically inferior to the Motorola Edge 40 Professional in terms of graphical efficiency.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Positive sufficient, the Edge 50 Extremely pulls up in need of the Edge 40 Professional in our GPU benchmark assessments – although it needs to be famous that the Extremely is working a sharper and thus extra resource-intensive show. Certainly, it broadly ties with the OnePlus 12 in a number of of our GPU benchmarks, which is a rival cellphone that has its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 offset by an excellent sharper QHD+ display screen.

Comparisons apart, the precise sensible expertise of utilizing the Motorola Edge 50 Extremely is superb. I didn’t decide up on any trace of lag or stutter while multitasking, the digicam app boots up rapidly, and 3D video games run fluidly on maxed out settings. I did discover that cellphone heated up relatively rapidly when enjoying such superior video games, nevertheless.

The cellphone’s efficiency is aided by a vastly beneficiant 16GB of speedy LPDDR5X RAM, which is a reasonably notable inclusion even in an £850 cellphone. Speaking of unusually capacious reminiscence, Motorola has laid on 1TB of inner storage as customary.,

Cameras

• Predominant 50Mp f/1.6 sensor
• 50Mp ultra-wide
• 64Mp 3x telephoto
• 50Mp selfie cam

Motorola seems to have place numerous assets into enhancing its digicam system – the triple rear cameras on the Edge 50 Extremely genuinely impressed me. The primary sensor is a big 1/1.3″ OmniVision OV50H, which is similar sensor that wowed us within the Honor Magic 6 Professional.

Right here, aided by speedy multi-directional PDAF and OIS, it’s able to capturing wealthy pictures with ample readability and depth. Its f/1.6 aperture may not be as giant because the Honor’s f/1.4, but it surely nonetheless lets loads of gentle in and creates a pleasant pure depth of area impact on close-up topics.

Like the remainder of the Edge 50 household, there are two most important taking pictures modes straight out of the gate. The default mode is Pure, which shoots in a daily trend, whereas Auto-enhance (AE) applies Google-like picture processing.

The latter leads to bolder, brighter pictures, and there’s little discernible lag by means of a commerce off both. It will possibly come in useful once you’re taking pictures in significantly difficult eventualities, comparable to in low-lit indoors environments with vivid daylight within the background, wherein case AE will increase the lighting of your topic on the expense of a barely overexposed background.

Nonetheless, AE pictures undoubtedly tackle a barely synthetic look in comparison with the default Pure mode, with notably boosted colors. It’s largely a matter of choice, although I did recognize the increase it gave to the marginally extra restricted ultra-wide and selfie cameras. AE is lively within the left-hand selfie under.

There’s good and unhealthy information in terms of evening pictures. Taking pictures aspect by aspect with the iPhone 15 Professional and the Pixel 8, it broadly held its personal with the Pixel and wasn’t disgraced by the iPhone. Actually, in a single specific shot, it was the one one of many three to correctly seize the ‘Texaco’ signal on a storage.

One factor that lets the Motorola’s low gentle prowess down, nevertheless, is its tendency to seize a distracting quantity of sunshine flare from brighter parts. I used to be typically in a position to reframe barely to compensate, however that’s not one thing you’re at all times going to be prepared or in a position to do.

The opposite cameras don’t let the aspect down right here, with the 64Mp 3x specifically capturing first rate zoomed pictures. Even at 6x, I used to be left impressed with the extent of element and dynamic vary, and the color tone was broadly according to the primary sensor.

A 50Mp ultra-wide completes the rear set-up, and it’s the weakest of the three, however nonetheless manages to take care of a constant color tone.

Motorola seems to be utilizing the identical sensor for the selfie digicam, which produces sturdy, detailed pictures in a large or barely zoomed in capability – the latter by cropping. Autofocus is a welcome provision right here, locking onto the topic and serving to them/you to pop towards the background.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Battery Life & Charging

• 4500mAh battery slightly small
• Tremendous-fast 125W charger included
• 50W wi-fi charging

The Motorola Edge 50 Extremely has a considerably undersized 4500mAh battery working the present. That’s the identical measurement because the Edge 50 Professional, however slightly smaller than its predecessor.

With a PCMark Work 3.0 battery check rating of 10 hours 5 minutes, the Motorola Edge 50 Extremely lasted round half an hour longer than the Edge 50 Professional, however falls about 50 minutes in need of final 12 months’s Edge 40 Professional. By way of modern flagships, it’s positively in the direction of the underside of the pack, albeit nonetheless forward of the Pixel 8 Professional by round half-hour.

On the whole phrases, I discovered that I used to be in a position to get by a 16 hour day of reasonable utilization, with the show ramped as much as both a hard and fast 144Hz or 120Hz, and be left with round 40 to 45%. On a few extra intensive days with a few hour of Slay the Spire being performed, that might drop to 30 to 35%.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

That’s a strong outcome relatively than a spectacular one, as one of the best full-sized flagships are typically good for 50% or extra on the finish of a daily day.

Whereas battery life is nothing to jot down residence about right here, Motorola’s charging provision most definitely is. It bundles in a 125W charger which – with quick charging switched on within the Settings menu – acquired me from empty to 91% in simply quarter-hour. A full cost took me simply 18 minutes.

You additionally get help for 50W wi-fi charging, offered you might have the suitable accent, in addition to 10W reverse wi-fi charging – although given the cellphone’s unspectacular stamina, I wouldn’t suggest doing far more than a fast high up of some earphones.

Software program

• Clear Android 14 UI
• Intelligent Motorola enhancements
• 3 OS updates, 4 years safety updates

Motorola doesn’t mess with Android 14 an excessive amount of, which is why it’s the most effective variations within the enterprise. The menus, icons, and notification screens are all very a lot as Google meant them to be.

The place Motorola goes off script, it does so with sound judgement. Most of its enhancements are neatly rounded up within the Moto app, which provides basic ideas and entry to customized wallpapers.

Motorola’s Gestures system will also be discovered right here, which helps you to do issues like opening the digicam app with a double twist of the handset, or the torch with a double chop movement.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

You may as well handle the Edge 50 Professional’s Edge lights system, which sees these curved display screen edges put to make use of with notifications in case you’re a screen-down form of individual. Media settings will also be discovered right here.

I’m undecided why Motorola hasn’t featured an At all times-on show possibility right here, but it surely might need one thing to do with that smaller battery mixed with the elevated refresh charge. As somebody who makes use of both a Pixel 8 or an iPhone 15 Professional – each of which have even smaller batteries than the Motorola Edge 50 Extremely – in between evaluations, it’s a function that was sorely missed.

Sadly, the Edge 50 Extremely hasn’t been exempted from the bloatware that has began to encroach on the collection. The Opera browser is pre-installed and prominently positioned, regardless of the presence of Chrome. TikTok, Fb, LinkedIn, and Reserving.com are 4 extra unwelcome third-party app inclusions.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Did I ask for the Bingo Blitz, Block Blast, and Woodoku video games to be preinstalled? I can’t say I’d even heard of them earlier than booting up a Motorola Edge 50 cellphone, however right here they’re nonetheless.

Motorola has improved its software program help promise from the Edge 40 vary, providing the assure of three main OS upgrades and 4 years of safety patches. That falls nicely in need of Samsung and Google’s seven-year flagship promise, but it surely’s about par for the course in 2024.

Value & Availability

The Motorola Edge 50 Extremely prices £849.99 once you purchase it direct from the Motorola web site. The corporate is providing a free set of Moto Buds+ (price £129.99) on the time of writing.

Amazon isn’t providing up any free earphones with the Extremely, however it’s presently promoting the cellphone at a barely discounted £829.

The Edge 50 Extremely isn’t out there on contract within the UK, so that you’ll have to purchase it outright and pair with a SIM-only deal. Use the widget under to seek out an possibility that fits you:

That RRP positions the Motorola Edge 50 Extremely instantly towards some fairly sizzling opposition, together with the OnePlus 12 (£849) and the iPhone 15 Plus (£899).

These are the 2 apparent full-sized flagship rivals occupying the same space of the market. In any other case you’re compact flagships just like the Samsung Galaxy S24 (from £859) and the Xiaomi 14 (£849).

Maybe extra problematic than any of these is the Google Pixel 8 Professional. Whereas it has a £999 RRP, it has been in the marketplace slightly longer than among the different telephones on this round-up, so can routinely be had for a whole lot much less.

The Motorola Edge 50 Extremely doesn’t look like heading for the US, the place the Motorola Edge 2024 appears to be nearer to the mid-range Motorola Edge 50 Professional. It’s a disgrace, as it might have been a welcome various to the same old Samsung, Apple, and Google crowd.

Must you purchase the Motorola Edge 50 Extremely?

The Motorola Edge 50 is one other achieved flagship cellphone from the resurgent model, although it’s not an enormous improve over the Motorola Edge 40 Professional earlier than it, regardless of costing £50 extra.

Its design is glossy but strong, whereas its 1.5K 144Hz pOLED show is interesting, if not best-in-class. The selection to go together with a contemporary however barely lower than high tier processor is an attention-grabbing one, providing a silky expertise however barely inferior graphical efficiency.

The selection of a smaller battery looks as if a much bigger mistake right here, and you may get higher stamina from rival handsets. With that mentioned, Motorola’s provision of a speedy 125W charger and 50W wi-fi charging is without doubt one of the greatest round.

That is additionally one of the best digicam system that Motorola has ever put collectively, with a triple set-up that may take nice pictures in all lighting circumstances – albeit with some troublesome gentle flare in Night time mode. In the meantime, Motorola’s software program continues to be the most effective within the enterprise.

Specs

• Android 14
• 6.7in, 1.5K, pOLED, 144Hz, flat show
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3
• 16GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 1TB storage
• 50Mp, f/1.6 most important digicam
• 50Mp ultra-wide macro digicam
• 64Mp telephoto digicam
• As much as 4K @ 60fps rear video
• 50Mp front-facing digicam
• Dolby Atmos stereo audio system
• Twin-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 4500mAh battery
• 125W charging
• 50W wi-fi charging
• 161.09x 72.38 x 8.59 mm
• 197g
• Launch colors: Forest Gray, Nordic Wooden, Peach Fuzz