Motorola Edge 5G UW review: A phone worth noticing
Our Verdict
The Motorola Border 5G UW challenges phones like the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G with an improved photographic camera and fast charge times. The telephone generally delivers, though at that place some quirks like a hit on battery life from its fast-refreshing display.
For
- 108MP primary camera takes skilful photos
- Expert operation over other phones at this price
- Fast thirty-watt charging
- Screen refresh rate maxes out 144Hz
Against
- 144Hz refresh charge per unit hampers battery life
- Cameras sometimes struggle with color accuracy
- Lone speaker is hands muffled when gaming
Tom's Guide Verdict
The Motorola Edge 5G UW challenges phones like the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G with an improved camera and fast charge times. The phone generally delivers, though at that place some quirks like a hit on bombardment life from its fast-refreshing display.
Pros
- +
108MP principal photographic camera takes skillful photos
- +
Skilful performance over other phones at this price
- +
Fast 30-watt charging
- +
Screen refresh rate maxes out 144Hz
Cons
- -
144Hz refresh rate hampers battery life
- -
Cameras sometimes struggle with color accurateness
- -
Lone speaker is easily muffled when gaming
Motorola Edge 5G UW Specs
Starting toll: $549
Screen size: 6.8-inch FHD+ resolution
Maximum refresh rate: 144Hz
CPU: Snapdragon 778G
RAM: 6GB | 8GB (unlocked)
Storage: 128GB | 256GB (unlocked)
Rear cameras: 108MP master (f/ane.9); 8MP ultrawide (f/2.2); 2MP depth sensor
Front camera: 32MP (f/2.25)
Battery size: 5,000 mAh
Battery life (Hrs:Mins): 11:38 (60Hz); 9:23 (144Hz)
Size: 6.7 ten three x 0.35 inches
Weight: seven.1 ounces
The Motorola Edge 5G UW faces the aforementioned dilemma as last yr's Motorola Border — how to stand up out from a sea of similarly priced phones. Motorola takes on this job by making some fundamental improvements to the latest Motorola Edge — the main photographic camera packs more resolution, the screen refreshes at a faster rate, and the phone charges faster than before — while keeping the price competitive.
Those kind of improvements generally assistance a telephone break through a crowded field of options, and our Motorola Edge 5G UW review finds a device that's much improved over last year's model. You'll withal have to overlook some item quirks with the latest Motorola Edge, but otherwise, this is a solid rival to other top midrange models and a decent alternative to higher-priced flagships.
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Motorola Border 5G UW review: Toll and availability
Nosotros're reviewing the Motorola 5G UW, a $549 phone with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage that'due south available through Verizon and works with that carrier'southward loftier-speed Ultra Wideband 5G network. Yous can buy the phone in 30 monthly installments of $xviii.33. Verizon is as well offering the Motorola Border 5G every bit a gratis device (via monthly credits on your bill) when y'all sign up for a select unlimited program.
If you're not enamored with the idea of Verizon as your carrier, there's an unlocked version of Motorola Edge (2021) with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM available at a regular price of $699. This version lacks the Ultra Wideband connectivity, but information technology volition work with other 5G networks; otherwise, there's no divergence betwixt these two Motorola Border (2021) models.
To put the Motorola's phone price in context, Apple's iPhone thirteen mini costs $699 while Samsung's Galaxy S20 Iron has fallen to $599. The midrange Milky way A52 5G costs $499, so the Motorola Edge 5G UW falls squarely between a lower-cease flagship and an upper-midrange model.
Motorola Edge 5G UW review: Blueprint
With its Nebula Blue dorsum console shimmering in the light, the Motorola Edge 5G UW looks deceptively fancy, especially when the low-cal catches the back of the telephone and reflects on the vi.vii x iii x 0.35-inch device. Simply one time you lot choice upward the Border, y'all know why it costs less than the premium phones it tries to emulate — that's a plastic dorsum meant to evoke fancier phones. The Motorola Edge tin can pick up fingerprints through regular use, though I've used phones in this cost range that have done a worse job at hiding smudges.
The Motorola Border houses its fingerprint sensor on the side power push button, which is responsive plenty when it comes to unlocking the phone. If I have any objections, it'southward that the ability button is built a piffling too subtly into the right side of the telephone, so that it can take some time sliding your finger upwards and down the side to find it. The power push button is also pretty close to the book toggle, and then you could current of air upward adjusting volume when all you lot want to do is unlock your phone.
This is a fairly big phone so that information technology can suit the Motorola Edge'south 6.8-inch brandish. Unlike the border-to-edge screens in vogue these days, at that place'southward a noticeable bezel at the bottom of the Border's LCD panel, presumably to house the telephone'southward speaker. With a punch-hole cut-out at the centre of the display, don't expect a lot of encumbered screen real estate, despite the Motorola Edge'south size.
On the back of the telephone, the three rear lenses on the Motorola Edge jut out, with multiple layers on the camera array itself. The cease issue is that the Motorola Edge 5G UW doesn't lay flat on its dorsum — the pronounced camera array means it will e'er wobble.
Motorola Edge 5G UW review: Brandish
Equally noted above, the Motorola Edge features an LCD panel — an odd choice given the number of similarly priced phones that feature an OLED screen. Still, that doens't stop the Motorola Edge from picking upwards the vibrant colors of the Encanto trailer when I streamed it on YouTube or from handling the multicolored battle between Ultron and the Guardians of the Multiverse when I streamed the season finale of What If…? on Disney Plus.
Our test numbers deport this out. The LCD panel of the Motorola Edge captured 123% of the sRGB color spectrum in saturated mode and 104.2% of that same spectrum in natural style. That compares to 119.three% on the Google Pixel 5a. The screen on the Galaxy A52 5G is more colorful — in vibrant way, it shows off 201.35% — but the colors are slightly more authentic on the Motorola console. The Edge has a Delta-Due east rating of 0.21 to the Galaxy A52's 0.22 effect. (Numbers closer to nothing are more accurate.)
You're non getting a very brilliant panel with the Motorola Edge 5G UW, which nosotros measured at 507 nits with adaptive brightness turned on. That's slightly brighter than the Pixel 5a (501 nits), but well behind the Milky way A52 (708 nits) and iPhone 13 mini (788 nits).
The true highlight of the Motorola Edge 5G UW is the phone'south adaptive refresh charge per unit, an increasingly common feature among phones in this price range. Only while a lot of phones peak out at 120Hz, the Motorola Edge is capable of reaching 144Hz — a refresh charge per unit more common among the best gaming phones. You could argue that this is overkill — to the naked heart, screens ringlet equally smoothly at 120Hz as they do at 144Hz. Nevertheless, this is a welcome add-on that adds to the Motorola Edge's value.
Motorola Edge 5G UW review: Cameras
Motorola makes a big change with the main lens on its new phone. While last year's Motorola Edge featured a 64MP sensor, the Motorola Edge 5G UW offers a 108MP wide angle camera — the kind of spec y'all unremarkably encounter on a much more than expensive phone like the Milky way S21 Ultra. The Edge's other rear cameras are comparatively ordinary — an 8MP ultrawide angle lens with a 119-degree field of view and a defended 2MP depth sensor.
Past default, the main camera captures 12MP photos, but you tin can tap into settings to switch to Ultra Res manner for photos at total resolution. Y'all can see the difference in these images of Halloween decorations — one shot with the Edge'southward default settings and the other in Ultra Res mode; the colors of the Ultra Res photo are richer, particularly around the flower petals. While this also gives the photo a darker cast, the shot nevertheless looks more vibrant, with greater depth. You lot wouldn't want to shoot at full resolution all the time — the pictures take upwardly quite a lot of space — but it can really bring out the colors of a scene.
I shot another photos using the iPhone xiii every bit a comparison. Perhaps that'southward not the fairest of fights — Apple'south $799 device is one of the best photographic camera phones around. Only the side-by-side shots practice give yous a sense of how far the Edge'due south photo capabilities have come since the disappointment of final yr — and the work that still needs to be done.
Sticking with those decorations for a moment, the Motorola Edge's shot in its default mode compares well to the iPhone 13's endeavor. That said, the iPhone thirteen'southward paradigm-processing smarts bring out more of the colors and handle that drinking glass jar in the background with greater ataraxy. There'southward besides much of a glare off the jar in the Motorola Edge's photo, and it detracts from the overall shot.
Moving within to a not terribly well lit plate of Chinese takeout, the Motorola Edge bathes its photo in absurd tones. The shot is OK, merely it lacks the warmth and definition of the iPhone 13'south photo, where the orange chicken glistens, and you can make out char marks on the strips of onion. The iPhone's colors are accurate, too — an issue that came upwardly once again and again when testing the Motorola Edge 5G UW'southward cameras.
The coolness continues at night, where the Motorola Edge'due south Night Vision mode captures the apples on a table lit but past an overhead light. But the apples expect a lilliputian fuzzy around the edges, which can happen when there's not a lot of low-cal to get around. Here, we come across the advantage of Apple tree increasing the size of the iPhone 13's sensor to permit in more than lite. The iPhone photo is non only sharp, merely also colorful, as you tin can make out the different shades of colour for each apple — a detail lacking in the Motorola Border picture.
I went down to the shoreline to try out the Motorola Edge'southward ultrawide bending photographic camera, and here I think Motorola's phone is on more equal footing with the iPhone 13. It'south the Motorola image that actually has the more pleasing color this fourth dimension around, at to the lowest degree in terms of accuracy.
The iPhone expends a lot of free energy pumping up the blue in the sky, and that'south to the detriment of the other objects in the frame. I certainly call back that Declension Guard ship far in the distance stands out a little more in the Motorola Edge photo.
Speaking of that Declension Guard ship, I zoomed in on it to run into how the digital zoom looks on both phones. (Neither the Motorola Edge nor the iPhone 13 offers a dedicated telephoto lens.) Motorola's phone produced the crisper shot, with the edges of the ship sharply in focus. Things are a little fuzzier on the iPhone thirteen at a 3x zoom.
For a phone with a dedicated depth sensor, the Motorola Edge'southward portrait shot of my daughter disappoints. The image itself is OK, though my daughter'due south skin looks a petty pale and washed-out in the photo. It'south the half-hearted blur that mystifies here, with the bush behind my daughter and the tree she's leaning confronting only haphazardly blurred. The result looks more than random than artistic. Contrast that with the iPhone thirteen, where the blur is consistent throughout, and the warmer skin tones are better rendered.
On the other hand, the 32MP selfie cam on the Motorola Edge 5G UW produces some fine self-portraits, at to the lowest degree when compared to the iPhone 13's output. My peel looks very natural in the Motorola shot, and there'south not a lot of prove that the photograph-processing software tried vainly to pretty me upward. The iPhone, on the other hand, emphasizes the ruddiness in my complexion. Information technology's a warmer portrait, but not necessarily a more accurate one.
In add-on to those lenses, the Motorola Edge 5G UW has a few other photographic tricks up its sleeve. There's a macro option right adjacent to the buttons for switching between the main and ultrawide lenses. Enable macro mode and you can get up to 2cm abroad from your subject affair — in this example a rose that looks very detailed in the Motorola Edge's photo.
On the video front, you can capture 4k video at 30fps with the rear lens and y'all can shoot irksome-motion video in Total Hard disk drive at 120 fps. But I think the more impressive characteristic is a dual-photographic camera manner that shoots from the rear and front cameras simultaneously. The feature'south sure to win the hearts of video bloggers, specially given how like shooting fish in a barrel it is to toggle between the two shots.
Motorola Edge 5G UW review: Functioning
The Snapdragon 778G system-on-bit within the new Motorola Edge isn't the most powerful ane by Qualcomm, only information technology does offer more than muscle than some of the other chips in Qualcomm'southward 7 Series. To that cease, on Geekbench 5, the Motorola Edge turned in a single-core effect of 764 and a multicore upshot of 2,716. That's ahead of the respective results of 637 and one,866 turned in past the Galaxy A52 5G and its Snapdragon 750G chipset. Really, the Motorola Edge 5G UW's numbers are more in line with the Galaxy S20 Fe, which produced a 2,928 multicore score on Geekbench with older Snapdragon 865 silicon.
In terms of graphics test results, the Motorola Edge once over again outperformed phones with less powerful Snapdragon Series 7 chipsets like the Milky way A52 and Pixel 5a (which uses a Snapdragon 765G). In 3DMark's Wild Life Unlimited, the Motorola Edge 5G UW managed to produce a result of xiv.8 frames per 2d, topping the respective 10 fps and six.half-dozen fps results for the Pixel 5a and Milky way A52.
That translates to some solid if non spectacular operation on the Motorola Border 5G UW, as I used the telephone in everyday tasks. Apps launch promptly enough, and I had no trouble switching betwixt open applications. Graphically intensive games like Asphalt 9 and PUBG Mobile performed well on the Motorola 5G UW, though I noticed a couple of stutters when tracking the movements of my teammates on the latter game.
My biggest objection to gaming on the new Motorola Edge, though, has nothing to do with functioning, but more to do with sound. The phone features a single speaker on the bottom, and when yous're holding the telephone in landscape mode, chances are skillful your hand volition cover that speaker. That leads to muffled audio, and on a game like PUBG Mobile, where you have to heed for your enemy'south approach, that can mean an untimely demise.
As noted, the version of the Motorola Edge I tested works with Verizon'southward Ultrawide Ring 5G network. That's only available in portions of 87 cities as of this writing, though Motorola'southward slower nationwide 5G has a broader reach. Alas, that does non include my house, indicating that the much ballyhooed benefits of 5G remain elusive for some users at this point.
Motorola Edge 5G UW review: Bombardment life and charging
Fast-refreshing displays tin can put a serious hitting on battery life, and we run across that with the Motorola Border 5G UW'southward 144Hz refresh charge per unit on its 5,000 mAh battery. When that mode is enabled, the telephone produces very pedestrian times on our bombardment test, in which we have a telephone continuously surf the web over cellular until it runs out of power.
When the display was ready to 144Hz, the Motorola Border 5G UW lasted 9 hours and 23 minutes, which is a little more than than one-half-an-hr shorter than the average smartphone. Ready the refresh rate to 60Hz, though and times meliorate dramatically. At 60Hz, the Motorola Edge tin can hold out for 11 hours and 38 minutes — practiced plenty for a spot on our list of best phone battery life. Nosotros'd recommend setting the phone's display to automatically adjust its refresh rate, which will permit yous enjoy smoother scrolling without the hit on bombardment life that comes when you lock in the phone at 144Hz.
| Bombardment size | Battery life (Hrs:Mins) | |
|---|---|---|
| Motorola Edge 5G UW | 5,000 mAh | 11:38 (60Hz); nine:23 (144Hz) |
| Samsung Milky way A52 | four,500 mAh | 12:19 (60Hz); 10:19 (120Hz) |
| Google Pixel 5a | 4,680 mAh | 9:45 |
| iPhone thirteen mini | Unknown | 8:54 |
| Samsung Galaxy S20 Iron | four,500 mAh | 9:03 |
At least the Motorola Edge lasts longer than the iPhone 13 mini (8:54) even with that bombardment-draining 144Hz style enabled. The Edge'south battery test result is just a shade backside the Google Pixel 5a's time of 9 hours and 45 minutes. Amid comparable phones, the Galaxy A52 outperforms the Motorola Border, though it too sees its time drop when you enable the brandish'due south faster refresh charge per unit.
Motorola has equipped this twelvemonth'due south version of the Edge with 30W TurboPower charging, which promises speedy recharging. Using the charger that came with the Motorola Edge, we got a drained phone support to 56% charge after xxx minutes. The Pixel 5a gets upwardly to 43% while the Galaxy A52 reaches 31% in that same fourth dimension.
Motorola Edge 5G UW review: Software and special features
The Motorola Edge 5G UW launches with Android 11 installed. With Android 12 launching this month and coming to Motorola's phones at a later date, that takes intendance of one of the 2 promised software upgrades; you can also wait two years of bi-monthly service upgrades. That seems skimpy, specially at a time when Samsung and Google are offer longer support for their Android devices.
I practice happen to like Motorola'southward My UX interface, which leaves the Android operating organisation largely untouched, save for a couple of useful add-ons. These include back up of gesture controls such as being able to twist your wrist to launch the camera and taking a screenshot by touching and holding the brandish with three fingers. My UX is packed with useful shortcuts like those, but if you don't discover them to your liking, yous can always disable them in the Moto app.
The Motorola Edge as well supports Ready For, Motorola'due south feature for using your smartphone as a portable PC. As with other Set For phones, the Motorola Edge 5G UW can connect to a monitor with either a USB-C to USB-C or USB-C to HDMI cable. From at that place, you lot'll get a Windows x-style interface, letting you use your Android apps on a bigger display. My colleague Richard Priday tested Set up For earlier this year on a unlike Motorola phone and plant information technology to be a work in progress, but it's a nice characteristic to have for productivity mavens.
Finally, this Verizon-tied version of the Motorola Edge includes Verizon Adaptive Sound, which you lot tin find in the Sound department of the phone'due south settings app. Verizon Adaptive Audio is meant to brand the phone's lone speaker sound more expansive. It makes a departure — audio sounds a lot deeper and richer when yous've got Verizon Adaptive Sound enabled, even if it'south nothing that can compete with stereo speakers.
Motorola Edge 5G UW review: Verdict
If you've overlooked Motorola's higher-end phones in the past, the Motorola Edge 5G UW does a very proficient chore at trying to regain your attention. Improvements to the chief photographic camera impress, and even if this can't topple a premium camera phone like the iPhone 13, it's a vast improvement over the previous Motorola Edge. I'k also impressed by how chop-chop the phone recharges.
The 144Hz refresh rate is probably a stride too far, given the affect it has on what would have been solid bombardment life — especially when a 120Hz refresh rate would have been more than enough at this price betoken. I also recollect the solitary speaker detracts from what would otherwise be an enjoyable gaming feel on an affordable phone.
It'south the affordability that ultimately wins the 24-hour interval for the Motorola Edge 5G UW. At less than $600 for the Verizon-tied version — and only a little bit more than for the unlocked Motorola Edge (2021) — this phone offers enough premium features to put it at the forefront of midrange options. If yous're looking for high-end features without a correspondingly high cost tag, brand sure that the Motorola Edge 5G UW is on your shortlist.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/motorola-edge-5g-uw
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