Lounge
Motorola Edge 50 Pro review: The new mid-range all-rounder to beat
Summary
The Motorola Edge 50 Pro is a well-rounded package – solid display, good software and respectable camera setup – with a rather appealing price tagSave for the rare flagship foldable, Motorola’s flown rather under the radar for the past several years, surfacing only to launch solid and dependable budget Moto G series phones.
Was Motorola losing some of its edge? Perhaps. But it’s been the Edge series that has been the classic case of ‘head down and focus’ on a return to form for the past couple of years. With its Edge 30 and Edge 40 series in 2022 and 2023, the brand has clawed back into contention with mature offerings that balance design and features in each price segment.
The latest -- Motorola Edge 50 Pro ( ₹31,999/ ₹35,999 for 8/12GB) -- is a case in point. It ticks off many hardware checkboxes with several segment firsts. There’s also a defined emphasis on colors, materials and finish, and a finishing touch of artificial intelligence (AI).
Design
Now, while other smartphone brands tie up with Zeiss and Leica for their optics, Motorola leans towards the design/lifestyle end, continuing its collaboration with the color matching experts at Pantone – yes, them of the ‘color of the year’ fame. Though, this year, the collaboration isn’t just about picking the Pantone Luxe Lavender color for the vegan leather rear panel. It goes one further with Pantone validation for the display and the camera, both industry firsts (more on this later).
The vegan leather back adds grip and a textural premium appeal to the device. It also makes the Edge 50 Pro a joy to handle, aided no doubt by the curved edges front and back which meet the color-matched aluminum frame to make the phone feel substantially slimmer than its 8.19mm thickness/186g would suggest.
The rear panel slopes gently onto the camera bump -- an approach I much prefer over the massive, visibly distinct camera islands on phones lately. You’ll likely not forget the sensorial unboxing experience - Motorola adds a fragrance to the box/device which lingers for a while. Longer lasting is the phone’s IP68-rating for dust/water resistance and Gorilla Glass 5 for screen protection.
Display
There’s that sense of holding a phone that punches well above its weight with the Edge 50 Pro, a feeling that continues when you see the 6.7-inch display that Motorola has employed - a crisp, higher-than-usual 1.5K resolution, HDR10+ support and 2000 nits of peak brightness, with a fluid 144Hz refresh rate – all of which deliver an experience that’s clearly next segment. It’s not the LTPO variety of OLED panel, so it’s not quite as granular in its switching between the 60-, 120- and 144-Hz refresh rates.
Also read: Smart ring or fitness watch: Finding the right fit
You can leave it at 120Hz for the most part, though gamers will certainly see value in the 360Hz touch sampling rate for maximum responsiveness. In a world first, Motorola has had the Edge 50 Pro display validated by Pantone for color accuracy, and viewing the screen in Natural mode supports the claim, even if the oversaturated colors of the Vivid color mode will be what most folks will end up using. There’s also a pair of Dolby Atmos-tuned stereo speakers, which massively aid the movie watching experience, or reels -- if that’s your thing.
Processor and performance
It's in Motorola’s choice of Qualcomm’s latest mid-range chip, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, that the phone reveals its mid-range positioning. It’s a capable processor that handles the higher refresh rates and the extra pixels of the Edge 50 Pro’s display capably, with no lags or dropped frames while using the phone. The 12GB of memory helps, but one found the inclusion of slower UFS 2.2 storage (256GB) an odd choice, particularly when you consider the rest of the spec sheet.
Performance is expectedly mid-range but never found lacking, and the only time you notice any throttling was when you pushed past an hour on graphically demanding games like Battlegrounds Mobile or Genshin Impact.
Using the phone on the daily, the Hello UI atop Android 14 is delightfully bloatware-free and rather close to vanilla Android with some handy Motorola features thrown in. There’s AI-generated wallpapers and wallpapers that match your outfit to personalize your device, and Motorola’s evergreen gestures to quickly switch on the flashlight or launch the camera.
Personally, I really liked the ‘Ready For’ and ‘Moto Connect’ apps to connect the phone to a PC/tablet or standalone wired/wireless displays – it’s truly refreshing to see useful functionality being added in, instead of bundling in sometimes dubious third-party apps just for the extra buck.
Cameras
Smartphones in this price segment typically ship with a decent dual-camera setup, and then there’s the Edge 50 Pro exception that proves the rule. Motorola didn’t scrimp in the camera department, kitting the Edge 50 Pro with a 50MP main camera with a wide f/1.4 aperture along with a 10MP 3x telephoto and an autofocusing 13MP ultrawide. The zoom and the ultrawide are a welcome and rare addition in non-flagship phones.
Motorola claims the camera system is Pantone-color validated as well, and there’s some moto AI thrown in as well, with boosts to dynamic range and details, along with some AI-enhanced video stabilization.
Images shot from the main camera offer good details, somewhat vivid colors and good HDR performance, and images from the telephoto really benefited from the added reach. Although the details level paled when compared to the primary camera. The ultrawide camera works well, again with lower detail levels, allowing up-close-and-personal macros as well. Selfies are best-in-class, with the 50MP shooter with autofocus – details are excellent, with good dynamic range and natural skin tones.
Battery
Battery life is somewhat of a mixed bag, with the 4500mAh battery lasting only about a day of moderate use and not much more, but this is with the phone set at 144Hz and 1.5K resolution, both of which are battery hogs.
You could choose to dial the settings down (which helps) or pick up the bundled adapter (only on the 12GB memory variant) and fast charge the battery at a ridiculously speedy 125W rate. That’s zero to full in about 20 minutes, plus there’s 50W wireless charging so you can drop the phone on the charger when you’re at your desk and give it a quick boost.
Verdict
It's an easy verdict – the Motorola Edge 50 Pro is a solidly capable phone that goes a step further and impresses with its rather competitive pricing. Sure, phones like the Reno 11 Pro or the slightly pricier OnePlus 12R may offer better performance, while the Vivo V30 or the Samsung A55 have better battery life, but there are few that come together in a well-rounded package as the Edge 50 Pro – wireless and fast charging, great hand-feel, solid display, good software, and a respectable camera setup. It’s the new all-rounder to beat in its segment.
Tushar Kanwar, a tech columnist and commentator, posts @2shar.
