Despite its lower price, the Motorola Edge appears to be a flagship. Because the differences are so minor, the Edge and Edge Plus cannot be distinguished with the naked eye. The front panel is steeply curved glass that meets an aluminium frame. The back glass is also curved, albeit more gently. The Motorola Edge has one of the thinnest aluminium frames available. The aluminium frame has a sharp profile that you can feel pressing against your palm. The volume and power buttons, both on the right edge, are razor-thin and feel cheap. Motorola kept the size of the rear-mounted camera module to a minimum, but it’s partially made of plastic and feels a little cheap to the touch. The phone is not waterproof. Many competing devices, even those in the mid-range, have an IP68 rating against dust and water. Instead, Motorola nano-coated the insides, making the Edge “splash proof.” Rain is fine, but the pool is not. There is no gradient to the finish, but it has an appealing sheen that is more blue than black. The screen’s size, resolution, refresh rate, and aspect ratio are all acceptable. The display is vibrant, colourful, and sharp. Motion appears smooth, thanks to the fast 90Hz refresh rate, as on-screen elements zoom up and down with no stutter. The display on the Edge wraps around to the phone’s sides. This makes some apps more difficult to use because you may need to tap something slightly off-center. The Edge didn’t perform as well as its more powerful sibling, owing to Qualcomm’s 2020 sub-flagship processor and 4GB of RAM. It performed mediocrely on tests like GeekBench 4 and 3DMark. However, the phone always felt fast. Nothing slowed the UI down during our time with it. The Motorola Edge provides all of the performance that most users require, but gamers may find it lacking. Motorola’s software has long led the pack. The company uses a mostly stock build of Android called My UX, with only the lightest enhancements to improve the experience of using the phone day in and day out. Motorola has committed to at least two major OS upgrades for the phone, as well as security patches for the next two years.
