Beauty in every detail with Motorola Edge 50 Pro

The Motorola Edge 50 Pro is the world’s first smartphone with a Pantone™ Validated camera and display. Confidently capture and view the world as you see it with Pantone Validated colour and skin tones.

There is perhaps one universal truth about smart phones – nearly everyone who uses one, will have a preferred operating system and brand. I am, and always have been an Android user. So when I was offered the opportunity to test the new Motorola Edge 50 Pro, I jumped at the chance. But is the Edge 50 Pro on par with the competition, and as a middle-ground entry, how does it stand up against my competition flagship smartphone?

 

First impressions of the Motorola Edge 50 Pro

As I’ve mentioned in several reviews, I am a fan of clean (plain) aesthetics when it comes to the packaging of tech products. The simple light brown box contains very little besides the words ‘Edge 50 Pro’ and the Motorola logo on the front, and technical information on the rear of the box. Surprisingly there’s not even an image of the product like most smartphone packaging.

It’s unique, and eye-catching in its simplicity. Motorola has also followed an environmental route by going with entirely plastic-free packaging.

Opening the box was a surprising, but not-unwelcome addition: unlike the flagships of the major competitors, Motorola still ships a USB-C wall plug adapter for the charging cable. While I have plenty of wireless charging pads, it’s always nice to be able to travel and be able to throw it into the suitcase without having to carry a hefty wireless charging pad.

In pride of place is the phone itself. It’s a fairly standard smartphone design, sleek, elegant and functional. It is extremely lightweight, at only 186 grams, and very slim. However, I’m not entirely sold on the fake leather back. It felt cheap compared to the metal and glass options provided by the competition. My review unit was a lavender, but you can also get it in black, or a ‘moonlight pearl’ finish.

The buttons (power and volume control) are all located on the right upper section of the phone, and are well positioned for when holding the phone in one hand without having to adjust your grip.

The Edge 50 Pro has IP68 certification, which is the highest water and dust rating available in a common smartphone, ensuring that you won’t have any issues with a dusty environment, or the occasional shallow dip. But while you won’t have to reach for bags of rice, I still wouldn’t recommend taking your phone for a swim with you.
The Edge 50 Pro runs a version of the latest Android 14 software, and the number of unwanted apps and software when first booting it up are kept to an absolute minimum (that said, Facebook, TikTok and Bingo Blitz are all preinstalled, so there is some bloatware). The icons are well-spaced and are functional, clearly defining what each is for at a quick glance.

Motorola have also added some features to their software, such as being able to ‘karate chop’ the phone to turn on the flashlight. It’s also easy to connect the Edge 50 Pro to your Windows PC or Laptop to wirelessly share files or double up as a webcam. It also has ‘Family Space’, which is a handy option for parents with young kids, enabling you to lock down part of your phone before passing it off to your kids.

Motorola promises three OS updates and four years’ worth of quarterly security patches. This is a disappointing number, even for a midrange smartphone. For example, the Samsung Galaxy A55 came with four years of updates and five years of security patches, while Google’s Pixel 8a has seven years of OS and security updates. It’s something that Motorola really should look at improving.

 

Battery Life and Charging

The Motorola Edge 50 Pro has a whopping 4,500mAh battery, which, while slightly smaller than Samsung’s flagship, is still plenty of juice to see you through a day of regular usage.
I found that with moderate use – checking emails (with push notifications), watching YouTube, and checking Facebook – it lasted more than a full day, and could (at a stretch) last two days without needing a charge.

With light usage it easily lasted beyond two days without issue.
At the end of the day, while your mileage may vary depending on your usage (games and videos will make your battery discharge faster) you should have more than enough for a full day’s usage, without the frantic search for a mid-day charging point.
However, one notable strength of the Edge 50 Pro is the charging capability, supporting 50W wireless charging, and 125W ‘TurboPower™’ cable charging – which gives you a full charge in as little as 18 minutes – which, while it does make the phone warm, is just insane, and is definitely helpful for those people who are always on the go.

 

The Screen

The Motorola Edge 50 Pro has one of the best screens I’ve ever seen on a smartphone. Possessing a borderless 6.7” pOLED display, and a Super HD (2,712 x 1220p) resolution with a fluid 144Hz refresh rate, everything from movies to games looks amazing.

The Edge 50 Pro also has a Pantone™ Validated camera and display. Every Pantone Validated device has met Pantone’s evaluation and grading criteria by authentically simulating the full range of real-world Pantone Colours. This assures that what you capture with the camera, or see on the display, truly represents the vast authentic spectrum of human skin tones. And it also means things look GOOD.
Everything looked fluid and smooth, from animations to scrolling, along with video games and videos. And, as expected, you can reduce eye strain with flicker protections and blue-light emissions.

As a notable feature, you can also set your edge lights to alert you to incoming calls, notifications, and alarms. This means that the edge of the screen lights up according to your preferences and settings, giving a discrete notification, even if the phone is face down on a desk during a meeting.
The in-display fingerprint sensor was mostly responsive, but sometimes needed a couple of presses to unlock – usually as a result of my finger being damp.

 

The Camera

The Motorola Edge 50 Pro boasts a triple-lens camera. The main 50 megapixel camera is supported by a 10 megapixel telephoto lens capable of 3X optical zoom, and a 13 megapixel ultrawide with a macro mode for close-ups.

Motorola supports this with AI that automatically adjusts to your movements while filming, and stays stable, even when you’re on the move. Due to this, it also has excellent Auto Focus Tracking, able to identify what you were most likely filming, and keeping that in focus, even as it moves around.

It also has a number of nifty settings, such as Long Exposure, allowing you to capture light trails, motion blurs, and other cool effects with a single setting. Another amusing feature is the ‘Sync your style’ function, that allows you to snap a photo of your outfit – or any interesting pattern – and have the Motorola Edge 50 Pro use generative AI to produce four one-of-a-kind images. You can then select your favourite and apply it directly to your wallpaper.

You can capture lovely shots in good lighting conditions, and the main camera has a large enough sensor to perform pretty well in low light too. I actually preferred some of the photos taken on the Edge 50 Pro to those taken on my Samsung S22 Ultra – which is an impressive achievement in my opinion.

Rounding things out is a front facing 50 megapixel camera that achieves decent selfies.

The only negative about the cameras is the post-shot processing times. These can sometimes take a second or two, preventing you from capturing several shots in quick succession.

 

The Performance

The Motorola Edge 50 Pro is powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, paired with a generous 12GB of Ram and 512GB of storage. In every-day use, this was snappy and responsive. However, I did notice when playing a really demanding game could see a drop in frames.

The Edge 50 Pro comes with 512GB of storage (my S22 Ultra has 128GB) which means additional storage for videos, photos and files.

While it may be a disappointment for some, there is no capacity for expanding this memory with an SD card. But I certainly didn’t have any trouble with it during my testing.

 

The Sound

The Edge 50 Pro has adequate stereo speakers, enhanced by Dolby Atmos support. They sound nice and loud while watching a video on Netflix. However, in noisy environments, it can struggle to overcome the background noise. So you may want to invest in a good pair of wireless (or wired) airbuds that suit your taste.

 

Verdict

Motorola might not be as big a name in flagship smartphones as it once was, but the Edge 50 Pro shows that it still has plenty to offer consumers.

The Edge 50 Pro has plenty of features to offer users, but is in a field of competitors that offer more processing power for less money. That being said, this is a decent phone for its price, and a little bit more money for such a great screen could be worth it for some.

But ultimately, whether the Motorola Edge 50 Plus would be a good purchase for you at AUD $999, really depends on what you’re using now.

I’d like to thank Motorola for the loan of the Edge 50 Pro.