Android flagships like the Galaxy S22 Ultra and Pixel 6 Pro are great, but not everyone has over $1,000 to spend on a new phone. That’s where the new $499 Motorola Edge comes in. The latest version of Motorola’s mid-tier handset may not have the same bells and whistles as its fancier counterparts, but it promises a pretty compelling set of features for the price – including a few things you don’t always find on more expensive devices.
The Motorola Edge 2022 is set to launch sometime in the coming weeks, and we’ll need to spend some hands-on time on release to see how this aggressively priced phone compares to the competition. Here’s what you need to know.
Motorola Edge price and preorders
The new Motorola Edge will first be launched on T-Mobile in the coming weeks, according to Motorola. The phone will hit most major carriers shortly after, as well as Best Buy’s website, Amazon and Motorola, for a special launch price of $499. We’re not sure how long the launch window will last, but the phone will eventually drop to $599 after that. to jump.
The rounded edges of the new Motorola Edge and nearly bezel-less display look slick from a distance, but once you pick one up, it feels very much like a $500 phone. The plastic exterior of the handset felt pretty cheap. compared to the aluminum cases on the iPhone 13 and Galaxy S22 that I usually use, and the silver back of the Edge took up fingerprints quite quickly. A plastic-like design isn’t a deal breaker at this price – and it makes the Edge significantly lighter than many flagships – but it’s something you’ll notice if you’re coming out of a more expensive phone.
But while the Edge’s overall build is what I’d expect from a cheap phone, the handset’s display was a pleasant surprise. This device’s seamless 6.6-inch OLED display doesn’t quite have the same rich level of color I’ve come to expect from Apple and Samsung, but it provided a lot of detail and clarity when I started the trailer for “Star Wars: Andor.” More importantly, it has a whopping 144Hz refresh rate, meaning scrolling through documents and bouncing between apps feels more than twice as smooth as on most phones at this price point.
This feature made swiping through the CNN Underscored website feel incredibly responsive and made Asphalt 9’s fast-paced racing action look remarkably smooth. Considering that competing budget phones like the Google Pixel 6a — and even more expensive phones like the iPhone 13 — are still stuck at a slower 60Hz, the Edge’s ultra-smooth display gives it a big advantage over other affordable handsets.
I don’t expect the Edge’s MediaTek Dimensity 1050 processor to smoke the latest iPhones, Pixels, and Galaxy devices in our benchmark tests, but Motorola’s latest phone performed perfectly fast enough in my limited testing time. Mobile games ran smoothly, switching between apps was quick, and I was even able to watch a YouTube video in picture-in-picture while browsing the web with no noticeable lag. We’ll have to see how the Edge fares under our typical day-to-day workload, but if you’re just texting friends, checking email, and visiting websites, you should be fine.
A decent camera experience and promising features
The new Motorola Edge has a three-camera system that has many of the nice technical specs you might find on a more expensive phone, including a 50-megapixel main lens and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens for nice panoramic shots. The phone is designed to take good photos in low light, which turned out to be the case most of the time when I snapped a few shots of a dim, neon-lit arcade space Motorola had set up for its event. The Edge’s optical image stabilization also made for some pretty smooth video from someone playing Skee-Ball in that area.
The standard selfies I took with the 32-megapixel camera on the front of the phone weren’t the best, although I got much better results when I switched to portrait mode, blurring the background for more dramatic and clear photos. I don’t expect the Edge to withstand a Galaxy or Pixel – especially with all the software smarts of the latter – but I’m looking forward to seeing how its cameras hold up in practice.
The Motorola Edge has some useful extra features, such as the ability to cast everything you do to a bigger screen (like a TV) and connecting the phone to a Windows PC to use your mobile apps on a computer. I watched a Motorola rep beam a mobile racing game to a TV while I played with a connected Bluetooth controller, and while you wouldn’t confuse it with a console game, the experience looked pretty smooth. The same goes for the Ready for PC functionality, which is very similar to the connectivity Samsung offers between its phones and PCs. If you are the type of person who regularly shares files between your smartphone and your laptop, this can come in handy.
Nice features aside, Motorola promises a fairly clean Android 12 experience and guarantees you get three years of software updates and four years of security updates. The phone has stereo Dolby Atmos speakers, and while it’s too early to speak of their overall quality, I was quite impressed to at least hear them in the middle of a loud demonstration room filled with chatter. .
The company claims that the phone’s 5,000mAh battery will last you up to two full days of use, with fast charging support designed to give you hours of battery life from just a few minutes of charging. We were impressed with the endurance of the Motorola Edge 2020 when we reviewed it a few years ago, so hopefully the long battery life will last this year.
The new Motorola Edge is going to be a good $500 phone. The problem is, there are already a lot of them. The Google Pixel 6a — our current top pick for budget smartphones — offers a more attractive design, a great camera experience, and the same fast processor as its more expensive siblings, all for an even cheaper $449. And if you’re willing to go for Apple: The latest iPhone SE has many of the same qualities (but in a much smaller design) for just $429. If you’re on an extra tight budget and don’t need the latest specs, the Motorola Edge 2021 is now too buy for just $349.
The 2022 Edge’s secret weapon against its biggest rivals is its 144Hz display, which should provide a much smoother experience for scrolling, streaming and gaming. But when it comes to performance, cameras, and everyday usability, the Edge has a bit of an uphill battle ahead if it wants to keep up with the competition. We’ll have a full review of the latest Motorolas in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
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