The Motorola Edge 50 Pro is back with a bang, offering a sleek design that could easily compete for the title of best-looking phone of the year. This mid-range smartphone doesn’t just flaunt its aesthetics; it also boasts some world-first features, including a Pantone-validated true color display and a Pantone-validated camera system. But are these features truly groundbreaking, or just marketing hype? After spending several weeks with the Edge 50 Pro, we delve deep into its design, performance, camera capabilities, and battery life to see if there’s more to this phone than just superficial charm.
Motorola Edge 50 Pro Price in India
First things first, let’s talk about the price. The Motorola Edge 50 Pro is available in two variants in India: the 8GB + 256GB variant priced at Rs. 31,999 and the 12GB + 256GB storage option (the one we tested) priced at Rs. 35,999. You might find the phone at a lower price with certain offers, but these are its standard prices without any discounts.
The phone comes in three captivating color options: Black Beauty and Luxe Lavender both sporting a soft vegan leather-finish rear panel, and the exclusive MoonLight Pearl with a handcrafted acetate finish from Mazzucchelli in Italy. We tested the Luxe Lavender variant and were immediately impressed by its luxurious feel and stunning color. All these color choices were curated in collaboration with Pantone.
The unboxing experience of the Motorola Edge 50 Pro is a treat in itself. Motorola has made a conscious effort to use zero plastic in the packaging, opting instead for soy ink printing. Furthermore, they even spray perfume on each box, giving it a pleasant, long-lasting fragrance.
Inside the box, you’ll find a protective case, documentation, a SIM ejector tool, a USB Type-C to Type-C cable, and a 125W Turbo charger. The 8GB RAM variant, however, comes with a 68W charger.
Motorola Edge 50 Pro Review: Design
The Edge 50 Pro’s design instantly leaves a lasting impression. Right from the moment you unbox it, its stunning aesthetics and luxurious feel are undeniable. The combination of a rear leather-finish panel, curved front and back, rounded corners, and an aluminum frame makes this phone exceptionally comfortable to hold. However, the rear leather panel does not sit flush with the frame, resulting in a slight edge that you can feel when gripping the phone. This small design flaw is our only reservation, making us rate the design a 9 out of 10.
The leather finish also proves to be fingerprint-resistant, making for an easy-to-clean device. The squarish camera module protrudes slightly but blends in seamlessly with the rear panel due to its sloping design. While it might cause the phone to wobble when placed on its back, it adds a touch of sophisticated elegance.
Weighing in at 186 grams and 8.19mm thick, the Edge 50 Pro’s weight distribution is excellent. The curved front and back panels create an illusion of a thinner, more compact phone than it actually is. Users with larger hands will find this phone exceptionally easy to use one-handed.
The front boasts a curved display with symmetrical bezels. The side bezels are incredibly thin and practically invisible due to the curve, while the top and bottom bezels are also slim and uniform. The volume and power buttons are located on the left edge and offer a satisfyingly clicky feel. You’ll also find a microphone on the left edge and another at the top. The bottom houses the USB Type-C port, SIM tray, microphone, and loudspeaker. The phone does feature a dual speaker setup, but it’s a hybrid type, with the ear speaker acting as the secondary speaker.
Motorola has equipped the Edge 50 Pro with an IP68 rating, ensuring that the phone is resistant to water and dust. The rubber seal in the SIM ejector tray is of great quality, allowing you to take the phone for a dip in the pool without worry (but don’t film a full Reel underwater!).
Motorola Edge 50 Pro Review: Specifications and Software
The Motorola Edge 50 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor, paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.2 internal storage. While the storage speed is a bit slower, it’s not a major drawback for most users. The phone boasts dual SIM dual 5G support, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, and a USB Type-C port. For location services, the phone supports GPS, AGPS, LTEPP, SUPL, GLONASS, Galileo, and Navic satellites.
The Edge 50 Pro features an in-display fingerprint scanner, which is both fast and reliable. We experienced no issues with it during our testing. Motorola has incorporated a 4,500mAh battery, smaller than the average in this price segment. However, the 125W fast charging support and 50W wireless charging more than compensate for this.
In terms of software, Motorola has introduced a notable change. The Edge 50 Pro runs on Android 14-based Hello UI, a departure from the traditional My UX. This new interface is significantly lighter, offering minimal bloatware and a mostly stock interface with subtle Motorola design elements. It incorporates various additional features such as Moto Unplugged, Ready For, gestures, Smart connect, customization options for fonts, colors, and icons, and Family Space. The AI theming feature called Style Sync utilizes AI to generate custom wallpapers from your camera photos or gallery images. While it functions adequately, it’s not as advanced as similar features on more expensive smartphones.
Motorola promises three years of Android OS updates and four years of security patches.
Motorola Edge 50 Pro Review: Performance
The Motorola Edge 50 Pro excels in daily tasks, gaming, and other demanding activities. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 is a more recent chipset and packs enough power to handle diverse tasks smoothly in most scenarios. Benchmarks confirmed its impressive performance, with an AnTuTu score of 8,18,387 points, slightly higher than the OnePlus Nord CE 4 that also utilizes the same chipset.
While the performance is noteworthy, the standout feature is its display. Motorola has incorporated a 6.7-inch pOLED curved display on the Edge 50 Pro, featuring a 1.5K resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. The panel also boasts a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, HDR10+ support, 10-bit color, DCI-P3 color gamut, and is touted as the world’s first Pantone-validated true color display.
We found the colors to be slightly oversaturated in Vivid color mode, but you can switch to the Natural color option for more accurate and realistic hues. There’s also a Radiant mode that enhances vibrancy and brightness. Overall, the display is exceptional. It offers excellent viewing angles and remains easy to read even under direct sunlight, making it perfect for content consumption.
The stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support deliver impressive sound quality. While the bass is not particularly deep, we found the speakers to be loud and clear, with no crackling even at full volume. The microphone quality is also excellent.
The Motorola Edge 50 Pro proves to be a capable gaming phone. During our testing, we observed no frame rate drops, touch sensitivity issues, or lag while playing games. A 45-minute session of BGMI on Ultra HDR graphics and Ultra frame rate ran smoothly. The only issue we encountered was related to the curved display, which resulted in numerous ghost touches while gaming. Otherwise, the Edge 50 Pro performed exceptionally well in games and didn’t generate excessive heat.
Overall, we experienced minimal lag or stutter during everyday usage. The 144Hz display effectively masks any lag in the user interface. The only instance of lag we encountered was when viewing a photo in the camera app, which took roughly a couple of seconds to load. There were also a few isolated instances of lag when opening apps in the background, but not enough to be considered a major issue.
Now, let’s talk about battery performance. While the 4,500mAh battery is relatively small compared to other phones in this price range, we managed to get more than a full day’s battery life out of the Edge 50 Pro. However, in our HD video loop test, the phone only lasted for about 15 hours, which is not particularly impressive. With light to moderate usage, including making calls, messaging, YouTube browsing, and using the camera, it consistently lasted over a day. Under heavy usage, we achieved almost a full day’s battery life. What truly sets this phone apart is its lightning-fast charging capabilities. Utilizing the 125W charger, the phone charges from 0 to 100 percent in just 25 minutes and from 0 to 50 percent in approximately 10 minutes. However, using the 125W charger does cause the phone to heat up considerably.
Motorola Edge 50 Pro Review: Cameras
The Motorola Edge 50 Pro houses a triple rear camera system, comprising a 50-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.4 aperture and OIS support, a 13-megapixel ultrawide unit with a 120-degree field of view and a macro mode, and a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor with OIS and 3x optical zoom. There’s also a Time of Flight (ToF) sensor, an LED flash, and autofocus on the square rear camera module. For selfies, the phone features a 50-megapixel sensor with autofocus.
Motorola proudly claims that this is the world’s first and only phone with a Pantone color-validated camera system. The company assures that both photos and videos captured by the phone offer realistic and true colors with accurate skin tones. However, our experience was not entirely aligned with these claims. The camera interface is user-friendly and offers several modes.
The main 50-megapixel rear camera captures images with impressive detail and color, benefiting from good HDR. However, zooming in reveals that shadows lack detail. We also noticed a slight saturation in the images, even after disabling AI enhancements, selecting a natural image style, and using Natural color mode on the display. Perhaps the experts at Pantone have a different understanding of true color, or perhaps our perception is simply different. While the primary camera performs well even in low light, the resulting images retain a slight oversaturation.
The telephoto camera delivers good 3x zoomed shots in both daylight and low light conditions, although the details can appear slightly hazy. Colors, as usual, are slightly overblown. The ultrawide camera produces decent photos in daylight but struggles in low light conditions. Selfies are impressive, showcasing ample detail with natural skin tones in good lighting. Images from the phone generally exhibit increased brightness. The Macro mode also produces satisfactory shots.
The main camera can record video at 4K resolution at 30fps. The videos produced are good, even in 3x zoom, boasting a good dynamic range with minimal noise. Colors are slightly enhanced, but without reaching unrealistic levels. Video performance deteriorates in low light, but the footage remains usable if there is sufficient lighting. Stabilization is quite effective and is aided by AI, according to Motorola.
In summary, the camera system on the Motorola Edge 50 Pro is functional and delivers satisfactory results.
Motorola Edge 50 Pro Review: Verdict
The Motorola Edge 50 Pro is an excellent phone with competitive pricing. However, there are certain areas where other phones might offer a better experience. For instance, if you prioritize performance, the Oppo Reno 11 Pro might be a better choice. However, the Reno 11 Pro lacks an IP rating and wireless charging, while offering similar camera performance.
Another contender is the Vivo V30, which has a slight edge in camera performance and uses the same chipset. It also lacks wireless charging and a few other features.
The Motorola Edge 50 Pro stands out from its competition due to its extensive feature set. We genuinely believe that it is one of the best phones within its price range. While the cameras are not exceptional, they are still usable, and you get a combination of features that is hard to beat. The standout display, excellent design, wireless charging, IP68 rating, and much more make this phone a powerhouse. The Motorola Edge 50 Pro is on the cusp of greatness and is certainly among the top mid-range phones currently available in the market.
