Motorola Edge 50 Ultra review

Design, build quality, handling

The Motorola Edge 50 Ultra is a phone you can easily fall in love with the first time you see it. It is a rare sight because of its unique design - be it wooden or vegan leather, incredibly flat camera housing, and the superb grip it offers despite its curves across the entire body.

The Edge 50 Ultra is IP68-rated for dust and water resistance. The front looks a lot like most recent phones these days - the screen glass is a curved sheet of Gorilla Glass Victus, while the screen is surrounded by super thin bezels and has a small perforation for the front camera.

The frame is aluminum (and so is the chassis), it has a subtle curvature, and it is all matte. The frame is thin across the long sides but is quite thick at the top and at the bottom of the Edge 50 Ultra.

Finally, you must choose between the wooden and vegan leather options. The first one is called Nordic Wood, and its back consists of several bonded layers of real wood fibers. The maker has used a special coating that retains the wood-like texture but protects it from water and skin oil so it won't change color or lose its looks. The grip is quite nice, and the phone feels sturdy.

What we like in the Nordic Wood option is the seamless transition from the clean back to the camera housing - there are no interruptions here, and the effect is great.

The vegan leather model is available in Forest Grey (ours) and Peach Fuzz colors. This is a more traditional look, especially the dark version. We say dark because it's a very complex color, which may look black, gray or very dark green depending on the light. The craftsmanship of the eco-leather is excellent to the point that it really tricks your mind into thinking it is the real deal. Furthermore, the grip here is superb.

The leather model does not offer one-piece rear panel, though. While the camera island is still not jutting out that much, it is covered in glass, which ends subtly next to the leather separated only by a thin (probably) plastic border.

As we said, the front is all screen with minimal bezels. It's worth noting that the sub73mm width makes and the rounded edges make this phone feel incredibly compact for its 6.7-inch display diagonal.

The 6.7-inch P-OLED is not curved, but its protective glass is. Just above the display is one super thin outlet - it is for the earpiece, which also doubles as a stereo speaker. There is another large outlet at the top of the phone for speaker purposes, probably to deliver more balanced sound when playing music or watching videos.

The other speaker is at the bottom, naturally.

The Edge 50 Ultra has an under-display fingerprint sensor, which is as fast and reliable as these come nowadays.

The back is lovely no matter which option you choose. The camera island is not flush with the back, but it is a minor difference, and it is handled very well by Motorola, especially on the wooden model.

The housing has the ultrawide and the primary cameras placed around the top, and they are surrounded by thin metal rings. Below is the visible part of the periscope lens of the telephoto camera. You can also spot the places for the laser emitter and receiver, one of the mics, the dual-LED flash and what seems to be a color sensor next to it.

The Motorola Edge 50 Ultra measures 161.1 x 72.4 x 8.6 mm and weighs 197 grams, which is lighter than most phones of the same caliber. This could be a result of the different rear panels and the smaller battery capacity.

The Edge 50 Ultra is an incredibly well-built phone with excellent grip. It feels superb in your hand, its 20:9 aspect ratio allows for a great cinematic and browsing experience, while the secure grip will be appreciated by the photographers on the go. We have no complaints about its design, on the contrary - we found it unique and sturdy, easily lovable.

The sides of the Edge 50 Ultra