Motorola has been enjoying a boom recently, with the company launching quite a few devices here in Australia and their market share growing. Having reviewed a few of their phones and tried most of them out, including the Edge series, which I believe is one of the best devices in the marketplace to date.
So when the company announced the launch of its latest Edge series of devices, such as the Motorola Edge 50 Neo, I wanted to see what the Edge 50 Neo had to offer and whether it could survive our review bench testing.
What’s in the box
Motorola has been championing plain packaging for its devices, emphasising its commitment to sustainability.
Inside the plain packaging, you get the handset itself, a 1 metre USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable, a TurboPower 68W charger brick, a polymer plastic Protective Case, alongside the usual Guides, instructions and warranty paperwork booklets and a SIM eject tool.
The Design
Getting the device out of the box, I noticed that Motorola had given us the Pantone Color of the Year, which is the Poinciana colour, which is a deep yet slightly more vibrant reddish colour, and I do actually like it despite my favourite colour being blue.
The front of the Motorola Edge 50 Neo has a 6.4-inch pOLED AMOLED display (2670 x 1220 @ 460ppi), which is very bright. I do note there are bezels that surround the display around the sides, top and bottom, which is approximately 1 millimetre around the sides, but the top and bottom being about 2-3 millimetre bezels.
The front display also houses the front-facing 32MP camera lens which is housed in a punch hole located at the centre top of the display and is hardly noticeable after a while. The front display also houses the under display fingerprint sensor which is located in the middle bottom of the display and it is very responsive and snappy which makes it easy to use.
The sides are made of polished polymer plastic, with the right-hand side having the standby/power on/off button and the volume rocker located just above the standby button. Below the standby button is one of the microphones, which is a little perplexing as it can be easily covered by your finger while you are talking on the phone.
The top side houses the other microphone, which is located towards the right, with the left side housing nothing.
The bottom side of the Edge 50 Neo houses the SIM tray, which is located on the left-hand side, with the USB-C charging port located in the middle and the speaker grill located to the right of the charging port.
The rear of the Edge 50 Neo is made out of vegan leather. With the camera housing located on the left hand side in a slightly curved raised housing that contains the triple rear camera set up made up of a 50MP Sony – LYTIATM 700C main sensor lens, a 13MP Ultrawide angle lens and a 10MP Telephoto lens. There is also a single LED flashlight located next the main sensor lens in the housing itself.
Under the hood, the Edge 50 Neo is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipset, 12GB RAM and 256GB of onboard storage, which sadly cannot be expanded via MicroSD card, so you will need to make sure you have enough cloud storage. I will go further into this in the review further down.
Lights, Camera, Action!
In terms of cameras, the motorola edge 50 neo comes with a triple rear camera set up made up of a 50MP Sony – LYTIATM 700C main sensor lens, a 13MP Ultrawide angle lens and a 10MP Telephoto lens.
The feature modes in the camera app include a photo, slow motion, video, portrait, pro, scan, spot colour, night vision, panorama, ultra-res, dual capture, Photo Booth, tilt shift, timelapse, spot colour (video) and dual capture (video).
Furthermore, the camera system and software has moto ai processing embedded into the software ensuring your pictures, especially to aid in capturing scenes at night, pop, along with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) and advanced all-pixel focus technology, users of the device will capture a crisp image every time.
There is also the inclusion of a x3 time zoom which for a mid range budget device is something you don’t always get and this inclusion does mean you can get even closer to your picture subject from a fair distance without losing pixels or being fuzzy.
I did find on some occasions the camera having issues either opening or when it did open being a little slow and on a couple of occasions crashing and having to be reopened or the shutter sometimes taking its time to capture the image. This could come down to a software issue and I am hoping Motorola could address this with a software security patch update or a firmware update.
Photos taken with the rear camera set up in daylight are true to life colours with no loss of colours, detail or any noise, however during the night I did note that the shutter speed did reduce down and some extra processing taking it time before you can get another shot.
Below is some examples of the photos taken with the rear camera set up:
The selfie camera which is located in a punch hole on the front top middle of this display is a 32MP lens and photos taken with the front facing camera lens are crisp, with skin tone colours being accurate and to real world conditions. Though again, night time and low light camera shots being a little bit grainy and with a fair amount of noise.
Below is some samples of the front facing camera pics:
Performance and Software
Under the hood, the Motorola Edge 50 Neo is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipset, 12GB RAM and 256GB of onboard storage, which sadly cannot be expanded via MicroSD card, so you will need to make sure you have enough cloud storage.
This combination enabled me to go between apps without any issues such as Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, having Apple Music playing in the background to watching YouTube, Netflix and more during my commutes to and from the office without skipping a beat.
Even playing games such as Pokémon Go, Monopoly Go and Asphalt Legends Unite was able to flawlessly use it without any issues with the graphics or loading the games especially on the go.
The motorola edge 50 neo runs Android 14 right out of the box and Motorola have stated that the device will get 5 OS Updates + 5 years’ worth of Bimonthly security updates which is very much welcomed meaning there is at least 5 years’ worth of both major OS and security updates.
In terms of upgrading to Android 15, Motorola haven’t provided a timeline for this to be rolled out but more than likely it could happen before year’s end if not early next year.
Furthermore, Motorola did use their own MyUX over the top of Android which is light and there are some preloaded apps which sadly doesn’t look like you can remove but they are somewhat useful.
These apps include:
- Smart Control: allows you to connect to other smart devices like a smart display connect to a webcam, computer to be able to use the device and still be productive when on the go.
- Moto Unplugged: Allows you to enter a special mode, allowing each user to tailor a break time to meet their individual needs and have a digital detox away from using your device 24/7.
- Games: Has a selection of Moto preloaded games that you might enjoy
Family Space: allows you to create a space on your phone where family can play safely, without disrupting your settings and privacy - Moto Secure: is the go to app for all the vital security and privacy features on your phone. It enables you to manage network security, control app permissions, and even create a secret folder for your most sensitive data.
- Moto App: allows you to personalise your device from wallpapers, gestures, moto secure tips, the display and more.
The motorola edge 50 neo comes with dual SIM capabilities (x1 Nano SIM + eSIM), Bluetooth version 5.3, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, 2.4 GHz | 5 GHz | 6GHz, Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi hotspot.
Battery Life
The Motorola Edge 50 Neo comes with a 4310mAh non removable battery which supports both 68W TurboPower along with 15W wireless charging.
The downside with fast charging is it can and generally does degrade the battery the more you use said fast charging. Granted there is an Optimised Charging feature which learns your charging habits and it will charge the device to 80% quickly then just before it knows you would disconnect your phone, would charge the remaining 20% before taking the charging cord out of the device.
There is also an overcharging feature which if you keep the device plugged in for 4 days, it will charge the device to 80% and once it’s taken off it will charge it to 100%. Still confused how this will work exactly as I doubt anyone would keep their device on charge for 4 days straight.
In terms of the battery life during the review period, I found that I could have up to 30-60% depending how much I used the device during the day when taking it off charge between 7:30am to 8am and returning home at about 6:30pm to 7pm Monday to Friday.
The most extreme I did have was when I had to use the Motorola Edge 50 Neo as a hotspot when my workplaces Wi-Fi had issues and tethering my work computer I had to put the device on charge at about 3pm as I had 15% battery life left.
All in all, I have to say I am somewhat impressed with the battery life of the Motorola Edge 50 Neo.
Should you consider buying one?
Honestly, I am quite impressed with the Moto Edge 50 Neo. There is a lot to like despite a couple of small things such as the camera app which is a bit slow at times and the shitter speed but I am sure these can be ironed out possibly with an app or major firmware update.
Given there is quite a lot of competition in the mid range market at the moment, I do feel the Motorola Edge 50 Neo is very much worthy of consideration especially given that Motorola have guaranteed 5 years of both security and major OS updates.
The motorola edge 50 neo comes with a vegan leather backing which will be available in either the following colours curated by Pantone: Poinciana, Lattè, and Grisaille and will be available through either JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, OfficeWorks, Mobileciti, Amazon, and Motorola.com.au for $699.
