Motorola Edge 50 Pro review

Competition

As we've mentioned repeatedly throughout the review, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro is positioned differently in different markets. Its €700 price in Europe, at least at launch, pits it against a few established (or aging?) flagships, while those we'd label as midrangers are selling at lower rates. In India, on the other hand, the Moto is priced a lot more competitively, while proper high-end handsets, even last year's ones, maintain higher prices.

Let's say that you have €700 to spend on the Edge 50 Pro in Europe. A Galaxy S23 goes for as much in 256GB spec, and it will get you a proper high-end chipset (if last year's) in a truly compact package. The Galaxy will have the upper hand in video recording, though camera performance outside of that should be roughly comparable, all the way to the excellent selfies. Similarly, the Galaxy's DeX is a good match for the Moto's Ready For and Moto Connect functionality, and the two phones have similar battery life. The Moto will charge meaningfully faster though.

The Pixel 8 is another flagship-grade device for Edge 50 Pro money. Much like the Galaxy, what it has as an advantage over the Moto is a high-end chipset and better video quality, and if you like the Edge 50 Pro for its Pixel-like software, how about some actual Pixel software? The Moto has a telephoto camera, so it gets extra points if you're into zooming in, and once again its charging speed is a significant advantage over the Pixel's pace.

OnePlus has traditions in not-quite-flagships and the 12R is just that. It's the third potential rival that has more computing power than the Moto, but it's also the first to be able to compete in charging speed, not to mention that it has an advantage in longevity as well. The Edge 50 Pro is the superior cameraphone - has a telephoto, ultrawide is better, selfies are better, neither is particularly great at video. On top of that, the Edge has tighter seals (IP68 vs. IP64) and we like the Moto software better.

Samsung Galaxy S23 • Google Pixel 8 • OnePlus 12R

The OnePlus, while a bit more expensive than the Moto in India, is still a viable option, albeit with all the pros and cons already mentioned.

You could also entertain the thought of a Galaxy A55, though it too is slightly pricier than the Edge 50 Pro - for the time being at least. The Samsung wins for battery life, but naturally loses for charging speed. It's more of a tie in the performance department than any of the previous bouts, with the Moto actually having a distinct GPU advantage. Add its superior camera system into the mix and the Edge has a pronounced multimedia edge.

The vivo V30 is also priced in the Moto's ballpark. A key selling point for the V30 is battery life - it's got a significant advantage across the board in our testing, and it's also not too bad at charging even though it can't reach Edge 50 Pro speeds. While the Moto is generally better at taking pictures and it has a telephoto camera (none on the vivo), the V30 does have a nicer ultrawide, which could tip the scales for the right buyer. The vivo isn't overly water resistant though (IP54).

The Realme 12 Pro+ is one of the models with some strong cameraphone aspirations in the midrange. With the main camera mostly matched between the two, the Realme could entice you with superior zoom capabilities (high-res 3x periscope), though it doesn't quite match the Moto on the ultrawide end, and the Edge wins for selfies.

Samsung Galaxy A55 • vivo V30 • Realme 12 Pro+

Verdict

The Pro isn't the top model in the Motorola Edge lineup this time around, but it nicely slots somewhere below flagship territory. Even with the remarkably-specced Ultra, the Edge 50 Pro still manages to offer a very capable camera setup for stills - a champion at light gathering of a main camera is joined by a solid telephoto in a segment where dedicated zoom cameras are rare and an ultrawide that's got autofocus and puts it to good use. And then it tops it all off with some excellent selfies for good measure.

It doesn't quite tickle our fancy for video recording though, so it's worth keeping in mind that it's not quite the all-round cameraphone it could have been. Also somewhat annoying is the choice of chipset, which may be adequate for most things, but still doesn't look good next to similarly priced competitors in some markets. The 125W/68W charger situation could even be spun as a good thing, if the lesser unit does indeed help drive price down for the lower-specced phone versions, though we're keeping it as a con, because of all the extra explaining we've had to do.

There's a lot to like about the Edge 50 Pro and, yes, part of that is the 125W super fast charging, which is hard to rival, though we don't imagine life to be too difficult with the 68W option either. The display is better than most in most metrics and it's also Pantone-validated - a first in the industry and a feat that's bound to attract crowds of buyers (or so thinks the marketing team). The back cover's color also comes from that company's catalog and it sure is nice, but we'd be equally happy with a generically named hue as long as it's that grippy and maintains the water-tightness - something that is still not universally found, even for Edge 50 Pro money.

Motorola says it's big on experiences and transcending the specs wars, which is convenient when the chipset isn't winning any. But the newly renamed Hello UI is a sizable chunk of the experience with an Edge 50 Pro and it's a nice blend of the visual simplicity of 'stock' Android and the personality and functionality that Motorola has built and continued to develop on top of it.

All things considered, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro may just be worth a recommendation - with a medium-sized asterisk about regional pricing and market context.

Pros

• Light and compact body, grippy back, interesting color options; IP68 dust and water resistant.
• Excellent display - bright, sharp, 144Hz.
• Class-leading charging speed (with the 125W adapter), has wireless charging too.
• Really nice software package - looks 'stock', has a ton of useful added features.
• Generally great photo quality from all cameras in all conditions.
• Top-class selfies.

Cons

• Underpowered chipset for the price.
• Video quality not quite up to scratch.
• Bundled charger depends on memory version.