Moto Edge 20 review: Does it have the edge?

(Pocket-lint) - When Motorola released its original Edge bid successful mid-2020, it was each astir a striking plan with, astir prominently of all, a curved borderline display. It was that cardinal connection - edge - that defined the product.

Flash guardant a small implicit a twelvemonth and the Moto Edge is backmost for circular 2 successful 2021 - successful Edge 20 Lite, modular Edge 20, and maximal Edge 20 Pro forms - but, bent connected a minute, where's the curved borderline show gone?

That's right: the Moto Edge 20 has a level screen. So has it truthful mislaid its borderline - figuratively and virtually - oregon does its substance of sensible terms constituent and specification meld unneurotic to present a mid-range handset with ample appeal?

Design & Display

• 6.7-inch OLED display, 1080 x 2400 resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, HDR10+
• Finishes: Frosted Grey (pictured), Frosted White, Frosted Emerald 
• Side-mounted fingerprint scanner (in powerfulness button)
• Dimensions: 163 x 76 x 7mm / Weight: 163g

Over the past twelvemonth oregon truthful there's been expanding unit to compression much and much artillery into devices which, successful turn, has resulted successful them getting bigger. Not conscionable connected the diagonal either - there's a 6.7-inch show here, which is daresay the modular these days - but successful presumption of thickness.

However, Motorola seems to person bucked that inclination as, thankfully, the Edge 20 is bully and trim by design. We person to say, aft archetypal moving into the Edge 20, it felt precise refreshing to beryllium holding a handset that wasn't overtly chunky oregon heavy. That it doesn't effort and execution our jeans' pouch each clip we enactment the instrumentality distant makes america happy.

We person lone 2 grumbles: that trio of camera to the rear protrudes a little, which tin drawback sometimes, and it besides causes 'desk wobble' erstwhile the instrumentality is sat level connected its back; and the measurement up/down buttons and fingerprint login are truthful acold up the phone's assemblage that lone those with mega-fingers are going to find it earthy to marque adjustments with a one-handed grip.

Given its middling terms point, though, we deliberation the Edge 20's plan is mostly connected point. No, it doesn't needfully consciousness similar what we'd expect an Edge merchandise to beryllium - aft all, there's nary curved borderline to the screen, right? - but successful presumption of being well-built, with a coagulated frame, it delivers an understated yet charismatic figure.

Furthermore the Edge 20's surface is genuine quality. Often you tin work spec sheets and everything sounds overmuch the same. But erstwhile you really usage a instrumentality - this has been our day-to-day telephone for implicit a week astatine the clip of penning - it hits location the points of quality that tin beryllium experienced.

Whichever mode Motorola has managed it - magic? - there's conscionable a definite clarity and popular to this surface that's bounds beyond different caller phones we've tested. The Xiaomi 11T Pro with its OLED panel, ZTE Axon 30 5G with its under-display scanner, adjacent the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 connected relationship of its reflective POLED sheet - the Motorola is amended than the lot.

We accidental that conscionable connected relationship of its ocular clarity, too, but the Edge 20's sheet has different instrumentality up its sleeve: a 144Hz refresh rate. Which is, well, supposedly 1 amended than the expanding 120Hz norm that you'll find successful flagship phones. To find specified a precocious refresh complaint successful a mid-range telephone is highly unusual, but, successful reality, your eyes aren't going to archer the quality betwixt 120Hz and 144Hz (even successful Android's developer mode, with the telephone showing its unrecorded frame-rate, we've ne'er seen its Auto AI prime thing implicit 120Hz anyway).

The bigger constituent is wherefore faster refresh rates are important. The aged modular was 60Hz, meaning 60 refreshes per second, truthful by much than doubling that fig you're adding imaginable smoothness to animations. You'll truly spot it successful elemental actions, specified arsenic scrolling achromatic substance connected achromatic backgrounds, which sounds mundane - but the infinitesimal you prime up an older 60Hz telephone it's similar someone's enactment you successful 1940s animation mode by compare. So 144Hz is decidedly a nice-to-have diagnostic and good done to Motorola for squeezing it successful here.

Performance & Battery

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 778 platform, 6/8GB RAM
• Battery: 4000mAh capacity, 30W Turbo Charge
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, 5G
• Software: Android 11

Of people having a 144Hz sheet instantly raises concerns with artillery life, due to the fact that it means truthful overmuch much enactment is perpetually required. We've already said that the Edge 20 isn't peculiarly heavy successful presumption of build, arsenic its artillery isn't immense - galore flagships person cells 25 per cent much capacious, for illustration - but, done immoderate clever absorption and the close prime to hardware, longevity isn't a problem.

Don't expect the Edge 20 to get you done much than a day, due to the fact that it hardly can. But we've been making it to furniture aft 16 hours of usage with astir 25 per cent complaint remaining each day. That's included an hr of Strava utilizing GPS, an hr of Zwift Companion sync, 90 minutes of due gaming, and the accustomed societal and browsing pressures. It's perfectly bully capable to not springiness you anxiety.

That's down to the equilibrium of powerfulness and bundle we suspect. Under the hood there's Qualcomm's Snapdragon 778 platform, implicit with 8GB RAM. There's besides a Performance mounting to licence 'RAM boost' - which, we believe, involves utilising immoderate of the on-board retention to usage arsenic overflow RAM equivalent.

It's a perfectly susceptible processor that'll alteration you to browse astatine 5G speeds, load up assorted games, and multi-task without issue. It's not a flagship processor, truthful it comes with assorted insignificant blips from clip to clip - loading up South Park: Phone Destroyer, for example, brings a flimsy 'stutter' successful lowering of frame-rate astatine the opening of each player-versus-player match, but that past rectifies and unrecorded gameplay is perfectly smooth.

A large portion of the Motorola entreaty is besides the mode it treats its software. The American institution relies connected Google Android - present successful mentation 11, with aboriginal updates promised - but, dissimilar truthful galore different competitors, mostly leaves the bones of it untouched. Bar the Moto app, which opens quick-access to immoderate utile features - motion controls, always-on show settings, Gametime blocking features during gameplay - the look and consciousness and fluidity of the operating strategy is precise overmuch similar banal Android. It plays bully with Android Auto. It doesn't randomly crash. There aren't notification issues. It conscionable works - and works well.

Cameras

• Triple rear cameras:
  
  • Main (26mm): 108-megapixel, f/1.9 aperture, 0.7µm pixel size, signifier detection autofocus (PDAF)
  • Tele (78mm): 8MP, f/2.4, 1.0µm, PDAF, optical representation stabilisation (OIS)
  • Ultra-wide (13mm): 16MP, f/2.2, 1.0µm
• 32-megapixel front-facing selfie camera

Also not jumping connected the cameras overload bandwagon, Motorola deploys 3 genuinely utile ones connected the rear of the Edge 20: a highly resolute main camera (it's 108-megapixels); a acold little resolute 16MP ultra-wide; and an adjacent little resolute inactive 3x optical zoom. No mucking astir with unnecessary extent sensors, macro optics oregon mono lenses that are conscionable unnecessary. Keeping it simpler successful that respect is commendable, for sure, though the existent capabilities of the cameras varies reasonably dramatically.

The 108MP main uses a nine-in-one processing method to breakdown each 9 'pixel' grid into conscionable 1 corresponding pixel successful a resulting representation - this means much information tin beryllium captured and processed for amended clarity and colour. It rings existent successful daylight, too, with decent results and bully usage of precocious dynamic scope (HDR) to support exposures balanced successful each kinds of conditions. Low light, though? Not truthful much. The Edge 20 truly finds a spot of a partition successful this regard, losing colour and overmuch clarity, but inactive producing passable images successful Night Vision mode. Sometimes colour equilibrium is simply a spot skewed too.

The ultra-wide camera can't present the aforesaid clarity arsenic the main, and the edges of images are soft, arsenic is emblematic of specified a lens. Just debar utilizing this successful low-light conditions, arsenic portion the main sensor tin conscionable astir get distant with it, the ultra-wide's sensor can't grip things truthful well. But for radical shots, oregon erstwhile you request to conscionable acceptable a spot much successful the frame, it's inactive truly utile to have.

For a mid-range instrumentality to diagnostic a due optical zoom camera - this 1 is 3x - is alternatively rare, truthful that's yet different nice-to-have tick successful the container for the Edge 20. Don't expect miracles from its low-resolution sensor, but the quality to sprout further distant subjects arsenic if they're person successful the framework - the lens is simply a 78mm equivalent, truthful rather adjacent to a classical representation lens - is again truly adjuvant astatine definite times.

Moving betwixt this trio of lenses is ace casual too: deed the corresponding circular nub that's ever connected show - there's macro (flower symbol), .5x, 1x, 3x - and the camera jumps close to it. Or you tin pinch-to-zoom for those in-between focal lengths.

Overall the Moto Edge 20 does good to present cameras that are really utile and casual to use. No, they're not the precise champion connected the marketplace - the Xiaomi 11T Pro has a amended setup, for example, delivering amended results from a worse wide telephone - but volition much than get you by and, for a mid-range device, this is reasonably uncommon to find.

Writing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 12 October 2021.