Motorola Edge+ (2023) Review: Moto Got Its Mojo Back
by
Myriam Joire
—
Thursday, May 25, 2023, 10:05 AM EDT
Moto Edge+ (2023): This Stylish And Powerful Flagship Offers Great Value
Moto
Edge+ (2023) - Starting at $799
The
Moto Edge+ (2023) is an excellent flagship Android phone that delivers
fantastic value and few compromises.
Fantastic value
Gorgeous display
Excellent speakers
Blazing performance
Solid battery life
Wireless charging
Delightful user experience
Sharp,
bright display with 120Hz refresh
×Fast
80W charging and included plug
×Excellent
performance with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
×Alert
slider is back
Middling telephoto (2x only, no OIS)
Our hopes were high when in 2020, Motorola returned to the Android
flagship space with the $999 Moto Edge+, an excellent aluminum and glass
smartphone with no-compromise specs. What followed in 2021 was a lot more
perplexing. The $549 ($699 unlocked) Moto Edge (2021) landed with an
all-plastic build, a completely flat LCD screen, and middling specs. And
in my review, I found this handset to be underwhelming.
Then, last year, the company delivered the much improved Moto Edge+
(2022), with a glass back, a perfectly flat 144Hz OLED display, a
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and wireless charging. While this was a decent
flagship, it simply wasn’t competitive. At $849 ($899 unlocked) it was
just too expensive. Plus, without a curved-edge OLED display for a second
year in a row, the Moto Edge naming left me confused.
Which brings us to today’s $799 Moto Edge+ (2023), a phone with a premium
metal and glass build, a curved-edge OLED screen, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2,
and proper flagship specs that’s now available unlocked from Motorola,
Amazon, and Best Buy. So, is Moto back in the flagship saddle? Does this
smartphone push all the right buttons? What’s still missing, if anything?
Let’s find out in our full review.
Moto Edge+ (2023) Hardware And Design
While this year’s Moto Edge+ has more in common with the original Moto
Edge+ from 2020 than with its immediate flat-screened predecessors –
including a metal and glass build and a curved-edge OLED display – the
design looks more familiar and feels more premium. That’s largely because
the curved edges of this new screen are significantly less pronounced than
before, and the glass back is matte instead of glossy.
Moto Edge+ (2023) Front
Not only does this new finish look fantastic and repel fingerprints, it
also feels amazing in hand and provides a decent grip. Between the velvety
smooth rear surface, 8.6mm thin body, and “quad-curved” display, the 2023
Moto Edge+ is a beautiful phone. We only have one niggle here, and that’s
with the lack of color options. You can have the Moto Edge+ in whatever
color you want, as long as it’s Interstellar Black.
The camera bump is more of a rounded rectangle this time around, but it’s
still home to a trio of shooters (50MP main, 50MP ultrawide / macro, and
12MP telephoto / portrait), a dual-LED flash, and a hidden fourth mic. A
Motorola logo in the back completes the package. In front, the bezels are
slim and even all around, there’s a punch hole in the top middle for the
60MP selfie camera, and an optical in-display fingerprint sensor.
Moto Edge+ (2023) Back
On the metal frame, you’ll find the volume rocker, the power / lock
key, and a third mic on the right side, but nothing on the left. The
speaker, USB Type-C port (USB 3.2), primary mic, and SIM tray are located
along the bottom, with another speaker and secondary mic on the top edge.
In addition, the new Moto Edge+ is the company’s first handset in years to
have an official IP68 rating, making it water and dust resistant.
802.11be
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3+LE, NFC, USB-C, LTE, 5G (sub-6GHz)
Colors
Interstellar
Black
Pricing
Find
the Moto Edge+ (2023) @ Amazon, Starting at $799
Moto Edge+ (2023) Display Quality
The 2023 Moto Edge+ boasts a 6.7-inch 165Hz FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels,
394ppi) OLED screen with curved edges that supports HDR10+ and Dolby
Vision. It's a gorgeous display, with punchy colors, deep blacks, wide
viewing angles, and minimal bezels. You can set the refresh rate to 60Hz,
120Hz, 165Hz, or auto (up to 120Hz). Plus, at 1300 nits (peak), it’s
bright enough to read in direct sunlight.
Moto Edge+ (2023) Display
Moto Edge+ (2023) Camera Performance And Image Quality
When it comes to imaging, the Moto Edge+ (2023) packs the company’s
best shooters yet. The camera specs are solid, and include a 50MP f/1.8
1.0-micron main shooter with omni-directional PDAF and OIS, a 50MP f/2.2
0.64-micron 114-degree combination ultrawide / macro with AF, and a 12MP
f/1.6 1.22-micron 2x telephoto / portrait lens with PDAF (no OIS). In
front, there’s a 60MP f/2.2 0.61-micron selfie camera.
Moto Edge+ (2023) Camera Pod
While image processing has never been Motorola’s forte, the Moto
Edge+ takes pictures that are generally on par with the flagship
competition. There’s still room for improvement, though – especially
when shooting in low light or zooming in – but overall, these shooters
deliver pleasing results. Beyond OIS and 4-to-1 pixel binning, it’s
clear that Moto is leveraging the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2’s mighty ISP here.
Besides the standard pro, portrait, and night photography modes, the
Moto Edge+ also includes the company’s usual shooting modes – like spot
color, dual capture, and more. While these are pretty cool, this phone
is missing a few critical features. The camera interface still lacks
zoom presets for anything beyond 2x, so quickly zooming in to 3x, 5x, or
10x is a chore, and the front shooter doesn’t support night mode.
As for video capture, the main camera records at 8k 30fps
(unstabilized) while all shooters support up to 4k 60fps (stabilized),
including the macro and 2x telephoto lenses. But this phone’s real party
trick is Horizon Lock (ultrawide, 1080p 30fps), which keeps the horizon
level even if you rotate the phone a full 360 degrees. It’s one of the
features Qualcomm demoed at the Snapdragon Summit, and it’s really
impressive..
Additional modes include portrait video (main, 1080p 30fps), HDR10+
(main, 4k/1080p 30fps), slow-motion (main, 1080p 960/240/120fps), and
time lapse (8k/4k/1080p 30fps). No matter what mode you’re in, the Moto
Edge+ records video with stereo audio, and supports audio zoom. It’s
also worth noting that portrait mode offers three zoom levels for stills
– 35, 50, and 85mm – which all use the dedicated 2x telephoto camera.
The resulting photos are generally quite lovely. Images are
reasonably sharp, with accurate colors and exposure. Low-light
performance is fine as long as you enable night mode – though this tends
to overexpose scenes. Zooming to 2x and beyond switches to the telephoto
lens, which doesn’t perform as well as the main shooter (and lacks OIS).
Any magnification beyond 4-5x results in a significant loss of detail.
Video performance isn’t as polished as what Samsung or Apple
deliver, but the results are perfectly serviceable. Horizon Lock is
definitely a stand-out feature, and support for 4K 60fps selfie videos
is a welcome addition. Ultimately, we believe that the 2023 Moto Edge+
cameras will satisfy most users, and bring Motorola back to the
flagship table.