Positives
- AMOLED 144MHz screen
- Thin and light
- decent performance
- reasonable price
- No bloatware
Negatives
- No MicroSD Storage Expansion
- Moderate battery life
- Cameras can do better in low light
Motorola’s Edge 30 costs £379.99 in the UK and is an affordable mid-range phone, although some trade-offs are made to achieve this price point.
As far as it sounds, the Moto Edge 30 punches with its own weight. It’s only available in one color, which Motorola calls Meteor Gray, although it’s actually somewhat bluish. The back is plastic and not glass, but it still tends to pick up finger marks.
The 6.5-inch screen is bezel-less, and the phone measures 159.38mm in height and 74.236mm in width. This results in a screen-to-body ratio of 87.6%, although we calculated it at 86.2%. Edge 30 weighs 155 grams and features an ultra-thin design of just 6.79mm.
This obviously means that the rear camera bump protrudes quite a bit, resulting in instability on the desktop when the screen is pressed. Motorola offers a clear plastic bumper, which, although it blocks the Meteor Gray coating, provides protection and stability. Dust and water ingress are prevented, to an extent, thanks to an IP52 rating (“dust-protected” and “dropped water” resistant).
The 6.5-inch Motorola Edge 30 has a 144MHz AMOLED display and three rear cameras – 50MP wide angle, 50MP ultra-wide angle, and 2MP depth. It is powered by Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 778G+5G chipset with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. There is no MicroSD card slot for storage expansion. Photos: Sandra Vogel/ZDNet
The screen is the most impressive feature of this phone. It’s a 6.5-inch AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution (2,400 x 1,080, 20:9, 405 pixels per inch), HDR10+ support, and a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz. This can be set to be always on, you can choose 60Hz at all times, or let the phone handle the refresh rate automatically. I found the screen clear and sharp in automatic mode. There is a fingerprint sensor in the screen.
Unfortunately the speakers are not quite up to the screen in terms of quality. They pump out a lot of sound, but the sound is rather sparse and lacks bass undertones. There is no 3.5mm headphone jack.
There are three cameras on the back: 50 MP wide angle f / 1.8 with OIS; 50 MP f / 2.2 ultra wide angle (118 °); And a 2-megapixel f/2.4 depth sensor. You can shoot 4K video at 30 fps, 1080p at up to 120 fps, and 720p at up to 960 fps. The front camera is a 32 MP f / 2.25 unit that can shoot 4K video at 30 frames per second.
The test photos I took were acceptable as daily shots, and the front camera, which is in the middle of the top of the screen, takes good enough selfies. My limited nighttime testing revealed some weaknesses, with exposed over-lights and brighter areas, and dark areas exposed.
Motorola Edge 30 is powered by Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 778G + 5G chipset with 8GB of RAM. This platform turned out Geekbench 5 CPU scores of 819 (single-core) and 2843 (multi-core). That’s quite respectable, given that high-end phones currently score around 1,000 and 3,500, respectively. The Edge will accommodate two Nano-SIMs, but there is no MicroSD card support to boost the 111GB of storage that remains when the operating system takes its share of the 128GB installed. Motorola offers a refreshingly light Android 12 installation without bloatware.
The Edge 30’s 4,020mAh battery kept the phone running for just 7 hours and 22 minutes under the PCMark Android Work 3.0 battery life test. The 33W TurboPower Charger is no match for the 150W chargers of flagship phones, but you’ll want to keep it on hand for recharges during the day if you’re running any demanding workloads.
Motorola’s Edge 30 is a mixed bag. It’s very thin and light, with a 144MHz AMOLED display, along with decent mid-range performance. They look smart enough, although the build quality reflects their reasonable prices. Other tradeoffs include no MicroSD storage expansion, moderate battery life, and cameras — especially in low-light conditions.
Motorola Edge 30 specifications
| The operating system | Android 12 |
| Slices | Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G + 5G |
| RAM | 8 GB |
| storage | 128 GB |
| micro memory card slot | number |
| Show | 6.5 inch AMOLED |
| the decision | FHD+ (2400 x 1080, 20:9, 405 ppi) |
| Colors | 1.07 billion (10-bit color) |
| refresh rate | 144 Hz |
| HDR | HDR10 + |
| color gradient | DCI-P3 |
| Dimensions | 159.38 mm x 74.24 mm x 6.79 mm (6.28 x 2.92 x 0.27 in) |
| Weight | 155 grams |
| Water and dust resistance | IP52 |
| Screen-to-body ratio (claimed) | 87.60% |
| Harbor | USB-C |
| SIM cards | 2x Nano SIM |
| Networks | 2G GSM, 3G UMTS/HSPA, 4G LTE, 5G (below 6 GHz) |
| WIFI | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax, 2.4GHz/5GHz/6GHz) |
| Bluetooth | 5.2 |
| NFC | yes |
| Site | GPS, AGPS, LTEPP, SUPL, GLONASS, Galileo |
| My voice | 2x speakers, 2x microphones |
| 3.5 mm headphone jack | number |
| rear cameras | 50 MP f/1.8 wide angle (OIS) 50 MP f/2.2 ultra wide angle (118°) 2 MP f/2.4 depth |
| front camera | 32 MP f/2.25 |
| battery capacity | 4200 mAh |
| Battery life (claimed) | 32.7 hours |
| Shipping | Turpower 33 |
| in the box | Edge 30 Headset, TurboPower 33W Charger, USB-C Cable, Manuals, SIM Tool, Protective Case |
| price | £379.99 |
Alternatives to consider
With the rising cost of living, many smartphone buyers are shifting their focus from expensive flagship phones to mid-range and budget phones. There is a growing range of options at lower price points – and here are three main contenders.
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