Motorola, today is announcing its new flagship family, the Motorola Edge. In making the Motorola Edge official, it also marks the return to the premium flagship market for the company. Motorola hasn’t released a true flagship in a couple of years. Having concentrated on mid-range devices more recently.
With the Motorola Edge family now official, the company is releasing its first devices with curved displays. These displays are 21:9 aspect ratio, providing a cinematic look, with support for HDR10+, and a 90Hz refresh rate. Not quite the same refresh rate as the Galaxy S20 and OnePlus 8 series, but it’s still high-refresh rate.
Motorola is promising DSLR-like photos from the Edge
Motorola has long had trouble with its cameras. Many reviewers and customers have long-complained about how bad Motorola’s cameras are on its smartphones. But with the Edge, the company is claiming that you’ll get DSLR-like photos out of these two phones.
Part of this is due to the hardware. Motorola is using a 108-megapixel main sensor on the Edge+ (it’ll be a 64-megapixel sensor on the Edge). The sensor is also nearly three-times larger than most 12-megapixel sensors used in other smartphones. That larger sensor means that it can let in more light. And it also means that you’ll get a narrower depth of field. For a natural Bokeh look to your photos.
Motorola is also including a 16-megapixel ultra-wide sensor that can be used for macro shots too. It has a 117-degree field-of-view. Rounding out the triple-camera setup, is a 8-megapixel telephoto sensor with 2x (3x on the Edge+) optical zoom. Motorola is also able provide DSLR-like photo quality from the Time of Flight sensor that is included. This makes it easier to detect distance and provide better Bokeh, without using software.
As far as video goes, the Edge can capture 4K at 30fps, and 1080p at 30fps or 60fps. Unfortunately, there is no 4K at 60fps, similar to the Pixel 4 series.
Powered by Qualcomm’s latest 5G-capable chipsets
The main difference between the Motorola Edge and Edge+ are the chipsets inside each one. But both are 5G capable.
The Motorola Edge sports the Snapdragon 765 with 5G, while the Edge+ has the Snapdragon 865 which of course has 5G support.
There are a few other differences between the two devices, in RAM, storage and battery capacity. The Motorola Edge sports 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage with a micro SD card slot. And a 4500mAh capacity battery. While the Edge+ ups this to 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and a 5,000mAh capacity battery.
Both of these smartphones use a 6.7-inch FHD+ OLED curved display at 90Hz – only the Edge+ is certified for HDR10+ though.
Both devices do also run on Android 10 with Motorola’s fairly minimal skin on-board.
Pricing & Availability
Motorola hasn’t released much information about pricing and availability. But we do know that the Motorola Edge+ is going to be available from Verizon for $999 or $41.66 per month. And it’ll go on sale on May 14.
So expect similar pricing for the unlocked Edge+ and similar release dates. As for the Edge, we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see when that will be available and for how much.
