Motorola Edge 50 Neo review

Design and handling

The Motorola Edge 50 Neo's design isn't a big departure from its predecessor, but there are a few key differences and upgrades worth covering.

Let's begin with the upgrades. The newer Edge 50 Neo is now considerably smaller - shorter and narrower but it retains roughly the same weight and thickness. That's mainly due to the decreased display size.

The Edge 50 Neo now features a flat screen and maybe thinner bezels too. It's hard to tell with that curvature on the 40 Neo.

The edge 50 Neo is also MIL-STD-810H-compliant, which means it should survive extreme temperatures, temperature shocks, exposure to rain, humidity, sand and dust, physical shocks and occasional vibrations.

Additionally, it has an IP68 ingress certification for water and dust ingress resistance.

Another change compared to last year's Neo is the camera island. It's now part of the whole back, which is made of faux leather. We are definitely fond of the vegan leather back - it's nice to touch and grippy. Combined with the device's small footprint, it's a pleasure to hold and use with one hand.

The available colors are, as usual, Pantone-approved - Poinciana (the one we have), Latter, Grisaille and Nautical Blue.

Since it's a small device, the buttons are easily reachable without stretching your thumb or adjusting your grip. The fingerprint reader is too close to the bottom edge, but it's manageable, given the Edge 50 Neo's size.

Motorola Edge 50 Neo

You will find a single SIM slot at the bottom, but for the lack of a second physical SIM slot, the Edge 50 Neo offers eSIM support.

All in all, we like the design, and we can't find any glaring faults. It's a well-built smartphone that would appeal to users looking for something more portable, while the fresh new colors and the soft but grippy back texture will likely draw some attention too.