Motorola Edge (2023) Review: Better Feel, Decent Power

Motorola is no stranger to the smartphone world, but they are far from the first manufacturer most people think of when determining what device to purchase next. With the company's recent releases of the Razr Plus and Motorola Edge+, Motorola is slowly proving that they are back in the game and playing to win.

The Motorola Edge 2023 is the latest addition to its portfolio, targeting the crowded midrange segment of the market. With a retail price of $599, the Moto Edge 2023 directly competes with the Google Pixel 8, Google Pixel 7a, and the soon-to-be-released Samsung Galaxy S23 FE. These devices all bring flagship-level specs to the midrange price and have made it difficult for companies such as Motorola to keep up.

If Motorola hopes to hang with the top devices in this category, they are going to have to check a lot of boxes. They have to provide good to great quality in aesthetics, performance, camera, and battery life. Did Motorola do enough to be considered among the elite? To help answer that question, Motorola provided an Edge 2023 for this review to find out.

Motorola heard the complaints about the Edge 2022's styling. The slippery polycarbonate is gone and replaced with a premium-feeling vegan leather finish and a sandblasted aluminum frame. The Edge 2023 weighs only 168g and measures 158.52 x 71.99 x 7.64mm. This device is easy to hold and feels fantastic in hand. It is IP68-certified to protect against dust and water. It is available in only one color, eclipse black.

The front features thin bezels along the top and bottom of the display, while the sides are slightly curved. You can find the power and volume buttons on the right side of the device. The SIM card tray is located on the bottom of the Edge, next to the USB-C port.

Like most modern phones, the back of the device is relatively basic. There is a dual camera setup on the top left and a small Motorola logo in the center of the device. The vegan leather looks fantastic and is a nice break from the typical glass-covered backs you see from most manufacturers today.

The Edge comes with a 6.6-inch 2400 x 1080 pOLED display. It has an adjustable refresh rate of up to 144Hz and can hit a peak brightness of 1200 nits. The display is HDR10+ certified and has a 20:9 aspect ratio. Add all that up and it leaves you with a beautiful display. The refresh rate dynamically adjusts and provides crisp and fluid animations.

Content consumption is made even better thanks to the Edge having dual stereo speakers. The speakers are clear and offer plenty of volume, letting you hear in busy environments.

You also get Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and a USB 2.0 Type-C port. It would have been nice to see USB 3.0 here for faster transfer rates, but USB 2.0 remains functional enough for basic charging. The Edge 2023 has an in-display fingerprint sensor that is fast and accurate — at least as fast and accurate as one would want if they were depending on this scanner for everyday use and security.

Motorola went with a MediaTek Dimensity 7030 chipset to power this year's Edge along with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM. You get 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage, which is not nearly as fast as UFS 3.1 or 4.0. Loading screens take just a hair longer to load than devices with faster storage, but not so long that it becomes annoying. To be fair, you may not even notice the difference but when devices like the Pixel 7a are less expensive and ship with UFS 3.1 storage, the expectation is for Motorola to match it.

The MediaTek Dimensity 7030 is a new chipset this year and hasn't made its way into many devices. In daily use, the Dimensity 7030 has plenty of oomph and can easily handle your day-to-day tasks. This chipset is quite capable of playing the latest games. Games like "Asphalt 9," "Call of Duty Mobile," and "GRID Autosport" all ran very well. Not only did it run well, but it defaulted to high graphics settings, making the experience top-notch.

The Motorola Edge got a Geekbench 6 single-core score of 1057 and a multi-core score of 2530. This puts the single-core score of the Dimensity 7030 on par with the Exynos 1380 used in the Samsung Galaxy A54 but lags behind its multi-core score of 2740. As opposed to the Exynos, the Dimensity 7030 never got hot. Even after playing an hour of "Asphalt 9", the Edge was still nice and cool.

Motorola ships the Edge with a mostly stock version of Android 13. If you have ever used a Pixel device, you can expect a similar layout and feel. It would have been nice to see Android 14 at launch, but hopefully, Motorola can get it updated quickly. Motorola doesn't have the best track record when it comes to phone updates. If you trust them, you can expect three OS updates and four years of bi-monthly security patches. If the past is any indication of the future, Motorola may not quite live up to that promise.

Motorola unfortunately decided to put quite a few applications on this device that could easily be considered unnecessary. You are looking at upwards of 20 different applications that are either installed by default or downloaded upon opening certain folders, like the "entertainment" folder which starts downloading Netflix, Hulu, and similar apps at a tap. Luckily most of these apps can be easily uninstalled from the system.

The Edge 2023 comes with a 4400mAh battery that easily lasts an entire day. After close to seven hours of on-screen use, the battery still had 38% of its charge left. This included an hour and a half of gaming, an hour of YouTube, and frequent web browsing. The Edge is capable of 68W charging via a wire, 15W wirelessly, and up to 5W of power sharing. Using the Motorola 68W TurboPower charger, which is sold separately, you can expect a dead battery to charge in about 20 minutes. Needless to say, battery life on the Edge was great.

The Motorola Edge comes in a dual-lens configuration. The main primary lens is a 50MP f/1.4 quad-pixel lens with optical image stabilization. With adequate to good lighting, this is more than capable of getting some great stills. The second lens is a 13MP ultrawide f/2.2 lens. There is also a 32MP f/2.4 front facing camera.

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The Edge accurately nailed all of the details in the outdoor trail. From the fall foliage on the ground to the lush green still on the leaves. Color reproduction was also very good here.

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The picture of the stone hallway was much darker than this photo makes it look. The Edge is able to grab a decent amount of detail, even in dimly lit environments.

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The ultrawide was used to get the shot of the tower. The 120-degree field of view allows for great landscape photos. Motorola's camera software successfully accounts for any distortion that'd otherwise be visible on a photo captured with such a wide-angle lens (with a lesser device, that is).

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The photo of the orange mushrooms was taken as the sun was setting and allowed them to really pop. It was a beautiful sight and the Edge was more than up to capture it in all its glory.

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Portrait mode, as seen on the flower can be hit or miss. It allows for a nice Bokeh effect, but edge detection leaves a bit to be desired. It is most noticeable in the edges of the white flower petals.

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The photo of the garage door was taken long after the sun went down. The only lighting was a few lamps in the parking lot. The Edge was able to capture quite a bit of detail but has a tendency to blow out certain parts. The sky is much lighter in this photo than what was actually present while taking the shot. You can also see a halo effect around the lamp along the left edge.

The Motorola Edge is a well-rounded device, with an excellent display, great battery life, and an acceptable camera system. The device had no issues keeping up with everyday tasks like web browsing and a few games. The battery more than held its own and the back of the device remained cool to the touch. 

The only thing that lets it down is Motorola's track record with software updates — and the tough competition at the $600 price point. If you can find this device on sale, then it has the potential to be an absolute steal. Without the sale, something like the Pixel 7a is going to be a better buy for the money — and a better all-around device that takes better photos. If you want to spend the equivalent, the newly announced Pixel 8 is going to easily best the Motorola Edge. If you love Motorola, want a phone that feels great in your hand, and aren't worried about software updates, then the Motorola Edge 2023 is a fantastic device.

You can find the Motorola Edge (2023) for sale at Best Buy for approximately $499.99 (normally $599.99) or $41.67 per month for 12 months.