The Moto Edge 50 Neo Review

In a highly competitive smartphone market one brand as seen it all and continues to innovate and stay competitive is Motorola. Now it’s been a little while since we last reviewed a Motorola, The Moto G22 left us feeling it was a nice device but cheap in design and did not perform as well as hoped. So, I was very interested to see what we had in our hands when the Moto Edge 50 Neo landed.

The Moto Edge 50 Neo is part of the Edge Series, and this device did not disappoint it comes in four colour options:

The key features of this phone include 8GB RAM, 256GB of Storage, Android™ 14, MediaTek Dimensity 7300, 4310mAh battery, 6.4″ OLED Display and front and rear cameras that pack some serious heat. They do this all for £329.99 so this puts this phone in the mid-range going up against the likes of Honor, Xiaomi and even Samsung.

The Moto Edge 50 Neo as mentioned comes in a choice of 4 very eye-catching colours in this review we have been sent the Pantone Grisaille which is basically a light shade of blue. The 4 colours that are available instantly provide this device with a little personality.

The phone itself has a plastic frame paired with a vegan leather (Pleather) rear which provides a soft, luxurious texture that adds to the overall grip of the device. The Moto Edge 50 Neo is engineered to meet military standards for durability. Plus, an IP68 rating means it’s water resistant but also handles dust, dirt and sand. Pair this with the Corning Gorilla Glass to keep this phone safe from everyday accidents.

Moving on to the display at 6.4 inches it should allow you to use the phone one-handed which is great as it prevents hand strain something devices like the iPhone 16 Pro Max are guilty of doing. Considering the weight at only 171g you will barely notice it was even in your hand but it won’t feel cheap that’s for sure!

Overall the handset looks good and feels well built even with the addition of Gorilla Glass and IP68 rating just be careful as dropping a phone like this, especially with that plastic frame won’t end well.

One of the most important factors when buying a phone is screen quality and the Moto Edge 50 Neo comes with a 6.4 inch, 1080p+ display. It also comes with FHD+ (1256×2760) resolution, HDR capability and a refresh rate of 120Hz and at its base it’s OLED.

What this means to the consumer everything will appear sharp, and the refresh rate keeps the phone feeling nippy while the HDR capabilities mean supported content looks great. Jumping back to the OLED technology the colours will pop and the 3000nit peak brightness does well at combatting direct sunlight.

Using your phone at night it can sufficiently dim so bedtime reading won’t be a problem paired with the fact you can use this phone with one hand you should be able to use this for any given task. If I had to find fault, I would say some consumers might find the size of the display a little on the small side if you watch a lot of Amazon Prime on your phone but it’s hardly a deal breaker.

In addition to the display, another important element is how this phone performs but first, you need to understand what makes it tick. When it comes to mid-range devices sometimes this is an area that is not overly considered as important. Not when it comes to the Moto Edge 50 Neo!

Motorola has gone with a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 which is backed up with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. I found using this phone as my day-to-day device with a combination of emails, catching up with I’m a Celebrity on the ITVX and even playing the odd game this phone could handle anything. It’s worth noting this is not a gaming phone so playing something like PUBG for long periods can cause overheating.

When we ran some benchmark testing the Moto Edge 50 Neo delivered a single-core score of 1052 and a multi-core score of 3031 in Geekbench 6 which compared to the Snapdragon 870 which was a beast a few years ago and ideal for gamers.

The Moto Edge 50 Neo runs on Android 14 and Motorola also adds its feel to give Android a slightly different style. They have had their version of Android since 2013 so most people should be used to it by now. If anything, it enhances your experience. For example, the always-on display reacts to your presence and allows you to interact with notifications. Also, a double wrist twist will even open the camera.

The Moto Edge 50 Neo offers the user a 4310 mAh battery which should equate to 34 hours. In testing we found it was still running even after a full day of testing from checking emails, using Google Maps, some internet browsing on the train and even a photoshoot this phone gave us just under 30% which was impressive. I still found that come the evening when I was hitting my bed it was time to charge but I guess with lighter usage during the day you could in theory stretch it to two days before charging was required.

When you do need to charge the handset, you can charge at 68W using a compatible power delivery fast charger (Motorola TurboPower) or up to 15W using a Qi wireless charging pad such as the Groov-e Triton we recently reviewed. If you give the device a 15-minute charge using a TurboPower charge Plug I gained about 40% which was impressive. Need to fully charge your device expect it to be 0% to 100% in about 45 minutes.

So is the camera on this phone going to be “trick” or “treat” well firstly this handset is packing a nice little triple-lens camera with a 50MP main camera, 10MP Telephoto and a 13MP ultra-wide angle and last but not least a 32MP selfie camera, along with a very impressive 4K 30 fps video capability so be prepared to get a big bang from this camera.

The camera is nestled into a leather effect casing on the rear of the phone and the weight of the camera is as light can be, the camera itself holds the typical functions that you now see on all phones running Android software so it’s pretty much standard. Motorola have kept with this and has not tried to redesign the wheel, which is reassuring, so if you are switching from one device to another everything works the same and not have to spend time learning new layouts and functions etc.

In terms of camera functions packed into this handset, You get the following:

You also have a more section in the features such as night vision, Panorama, Ultra Res, Photo Booth, Time Lapse and more. Swiping through the functions was effortless and had no lag at all so a smooth transition all round, I also noticed in the settings menu for the camera you can add a watermark to your photos so if you’re like me and you want your photos protected and no one else taking your photos and passing them off as someone else’s work then this is a must have and good to see this has been added.

I found using this camera effortless and easy to use with excellent results along with phenomenal outcomes that I think are up there with my new Google 9 Pro XL.  I can see this handset seriously disrupting the market of the mid-range market and really giving the likes of TCL & Honor a run for their money and why not?

We have taken some sample photos using this phone below and I am sure you will agree, that this phone is going to be a real crowd-pleaser. As always, the below photos are unedited and natural to everyday photos we will take.

Pro Mode – Pro is a great feature, as it allows you the versatility of a DSLR camera on your phone where you can fettle with the images to get different looks and different light shades etc by changing things like ISO and white balance to get different feel to your photos, I tried this in low light and with no fettling at all the picture came out crisp and clear with no faults at all!

Portrait Mode – Now those who have read my reviews before will know that I love portraits. I love the subtle background blur and the way the main subject is so defined, in the past I have used cameras that work and ones that don’t work, have Motorola got this on point, absolutely they have! Murphy, my model, was even impressed with the outcome!

Photo Mode – We recently attended a fireworks display, so I decided to give the phone a spin at the display. Now bear in mind it’s dark and fireworks are hard to focus on due to speed and the various patterns and colours. The Moto Edge 50 Neo performed outstanding and here is proof.

Now before we move onto the next segment of photos, I took two identical photos, one on the Moto Edge 50 Neo and one on my Google Pixel 9 XL Pro, the Motorola in my opinion outshone my Pixel phone. The colour and the clarity are just amazing and just run rings around my Pixel.

Super Hi-Res– This feature ramps up the colours in the photo. In my opinion, I really don’t think Motorola even needs it on this device as it performs pretty well without it but we have still provided an example.

Zoom- The Moto Edge 50 Neo comes with 10x zoom and in testing it worked very well without any camera shake. Providing a pretty clear image.

Selfie – Now the Moto Edge 50 Neo packs a punch in this department. You have a 32MP selfie camera. You are able to get a fantastic shot with good clarity, a great background just a shame about the man in the picture. Having a 32mp selfie camera will no doubt impress on social media.

Macro- This feature is a favourite of mine I like to get up close and get plenty of detail and the Moto Edge 50 Neo smashes over devices out of the park with this quality. One word will explain this and its AMAZING!

Overall, I would buy this phone on the camera quality alone. The colours are rich and the photos that came out are fantastic. Using the camera on this phone is easy to use and there is nothing bad I can say about the camera setup on the Edge 50 Neo. This gets a full 5 stars from the camera department!

In the mid-range department, it’s rare you can say a device can do it all. Now the Moto Edge 50 Neo comes very close. You have a practical design, good performance, solid battery life, excellent camera setup and a decent display all coming together to create what we have in our hands.

Room for Improvement?  I would have liked a bigger display and found the charging speed could have been a little quicker, but these are very small issues on what is an excellent device.

If you’re looking for that mid-range device that fits in your hand nicely allowing you to use it single-handed and allows you to take an outstanding photo I would even say on par with the Google Pixel 9 XL Pro in the camera department. Then the Moto Edge 50 Neo should be high up your list. We found it to be one of the most balanced handsets on the market making this an excellent option for this Christmas.

 

Product Rating    

Design: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0

Display: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Performance: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Battery Life: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Camera: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Value For Money: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

 

Overall ranking: 4.8 out of 5.0 stars4.8 – 4.8 stars

The Moto Edge 50 Neo is available via the Motorola Store for £329.99

 

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