In Our Opinion
The Edge 20 is easy to criticise because it turns the series upside down. There’s no curved screen available. Or maybe the competition is more creative. You won’t find an Android experience as pure and unaltered at this price.
In Favour:
- Attractive and slim design
- The screen pops more than other competitors and refreshes quickly (to 144Hz).
- Setup of rounded cameras
- Battery lasts for one day, despite its capacity
- Software that is reliable and well-established
Against:
- Too high for volume buttons and fingerprint scanner
- Camera protrusion and desk wobble as a result
- Strong competition
- Cameras are not the best in general – low-light is a problem
Motorola’s original Edge series was launched in mid-2020. It featured a striking design, with a prominent feature being a curved edge display. The product was defined by the keyword “edge”.
Fast forward a little more than a year, and the Moto Edge returns for round two in 2021 – in Edge 20 Lite and standard Edge 20 forms, and maximum Edge 20 Pro forms – but, wait a minute, where is the curved edge display?
The Moto Edge 20’s flat screen is true. Is it losing its edge, literally and figuratively? Or does the combination of a sensible price and a high-quality specification make it a mid-range phone with plenty of appeal?
Design & Display
- OLED Display 6.7 inches, 1080×2400 resolution, 144Hz refresh rate HDR10+
- Frosted Grey (pictured), Frosted White and Frosted Emerald
- Side-mounted fingerprint scanner (in the power button
- Dimensions: 163x76x7mm / Weight 163g
In the past year, there has been an increase in pressure to squeeze more batteries into devices, which has led to them growing in size. It’s not just the diagonal that matters – the 6.7-inch display is the current standard. But it’s also the thickness.
Motorola appears to have defied the trend, as the Edge 20 is a nice, slim design. It was a refreshing feeling to hold a phone that wasn’t bulky or heavy when we first moved into the Edge 20.
We don’t like two things: the camera at the rear of the device protrudes slightly, which can cause ‘desk wobble,’ and the volume buttons and fingerprint login are so high up that only the most stubborn people will be able to adjust them with one hand.
We think that the Edge 20’s design is excellent considering its low price. It doesn’t feel exactly like an Edge product, after all, the Edge 20 has no curved edges to the screen. It is well-built and has a sturdy frame. This makes it a subtle but attractive, product.
The screen of the Edge 20 is also high quality. You can often read specs sheets and find that everything is the same. However, when you use the device – we have been using it for over a week now – you can see the differences that can be made.
Motorola has done it in a simply magical way. It’s just that this screen has clarity and pop that is unmatched by other phones we have tested. The Xiaomi 11T Pro with OLED panel, ZTE Axon 305G with under-display scanner, and even the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 with reflective POLED panels – the Motorola is superior to all of them.
This is not just because of the panel’s visual clarity. The Edge 20 also has a 144Hz refresh rate. This is supposedly a better refresh rate than the 120Hz standard that flagship phones have. It’s unusual to find such high refresh rates in mid-range phones. However, your eyes won’t be able to distinguish between 120Hz or 144Hz. (Even in Android’s developer mode, the phone shows its live frame rate, so we have never seen the Auto AI select anything above 120Hz).
It is important to have faster refresh rates. 60 refreshes per second was the old standard. By more than doubling this figure, you can add potential smoothness to animations. It’s easy to see in simple actions like scrolling text on white backgrounds. However, if you have an older 60Hz phone, it will feel as if someone has put you in 1940s animation mode. Motorola deserves credit for including 144Hz as a useful feature.
Performance & Battery
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 778 platform, 6/8GB RAM
- Battery: 4000mAh capacity, 30W Turbo Charge
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, 5G
- Software: Android 11
A panel with 144Hz resolution immediately raises questions about battery life. This is because more work is required. Although the Edge 20’s battery isn’t very large, it isn’t too thick. Many flagships have cells 25% larger than the Edge 20. However, with some smart management and the right hardware choices, the Edge 20 will last a long time.
The Edge 20 is not capable of sustaining you for more than one day. We’ve made it to bed with only 25% remaining on the Edge 20 after 16 hours of continuous use. This includes an hour of Strava with GPS, an hour of Zwift Companion Sync, 90 minutes of gaming and all the usual social and browsing pressures. It is good enough not to cause anxiety.
It all comes down to software and power balance, we believe. The Snapdragon 778 platform from Qualcomm, with 8GB RAM, is under the hood. A Performance setting allows for a ‘RAM boost’. This, according to our understanding, means that some of the onboard storage can be used as an equivalent to overflow RAM.
This processor is extremely capable and will allow you to surf at 5G speeds, load multiple games, and multitask without any issues. Although it’s not a flagship processor, there are some minor issues. For example, South Park: Phone Destroyer may experience a slight stuttering at the beginning of every player-versus-player match. However, this is quickly fixed and the live gaming is flawless.
The way Motorola treats its software is a big part of Motorola’s appeal. American companies rely on Google Android, which is now in version 11, and future updates are promised. However, unlike many competitors, the core of Android remains largely unchanged. The Moto app allows quick access to some useful features, such as gesture controls, always-on display settings, Gametime blocking, and Gametime blocking. Other than that, the overall look and feel of the operating system is almost identical to stock Android. It works well with Android Auto. It doesn’t crash randomly. There are no notification issues. It works, and it works well.
Cameras
- Triple rear cameras:
- Main (26mm): 108-megapixel, f/1.9 aperture, 0.7um pixel size, phase detection autofocus (PDAF)
- Tele (78mm): 8MP, f/2.4, 1.0um, PDAF, optical image stabilisation (OIS)
- Ultra-wide (13mm), 16MP, F/2.2, 1.0um
- 32-megapixel front-facing selfie cam
Motorola also doesn’t jump on the camera overload bandwagon. It has three useful cameras on the Edge 20’s rear: a high-resolution main camera (108-megapixels), a less precise 16MP ultra-wide and a still less precise 3x optical zoom. There’s no need to waste time with unneeded depth sensors, macro optics, or mono lenses. It is a good idea to keep it simple in this regard, even though the actual capabilities vary quite wildly.
The 108MP main uses a nine in one processing method to break down each nine-pixel grid into one pixel in a resulting picture. This allows for more data to be captured and processed, which results in better clarity and colour. The same applies in daylight with good results and a nice use of High Dynamic Range (HDR), allowing exposures to be balanced in all conditions. But what about low light? It’s not so good. This is where the Edge 20 really hits a wall. It loses colour and clarity but produces acceptable images in Night Vision mode. Sometimes, the colour balance can be a little off.
Ultra-wide cameras can’t provide the same clarity as main cameras. The edges of images are also soft as it is common for such lenses. This lens is not recommended for low light conditions. The main sensor can handle it well, but the ultra-wide sensor cannot. It’s great for group shots or when you have to fit more into the frame.
A mid-range device should have an optical zoom camera that is at least 3x. This is a rare feature in a device of this price range. Although you won’t see miracles with the low-resolution sensor it has, the ability to capture distant subjects as though they were closer is really useful at times. The lens is a 78mm equivalent which is very close to a classic portrait lens.
Main camera
It’s easy to move between these lenses. Just hit the circular nub that is always displayed – macro (flower symbol).5x-1x,3x – and your camera will jump right to it. You can also pinch-to-zoom for in-between focal lengths.
The Moto Edge 20’s camera capabilities are excellent, and the interface is simple to use. They are not the best available on the market, but they will get the job done. The Xiaomi 11T Pro, for instance, has a better setup that delivers better results with a smaller phone.
Verdict
Motorola’s second-generation Edge series feels different from the original. We can’t complain about the lack of a curved edge screen, because we don’t need one. The Edge 20’s display is the most important selling point. It is clear, bright, and has a high refresh rate.
The Edge 20 is in many ways a refreshing mid-range option. It’s not a huge slab that puts aesthetics above battery capacity; it doesn’t have bloated software that causes problems with the basics, and it’s also not overloaded with pointless cameras. Motorola hasn’t tried to copy the gimmicks of other competitors.
It’s easy to criticize the Edge 20 for turning the series upside down. This device is a true winner, even though there’s more competition. It’s rare to find an Android experience as pure and unaltered at such a low price. There are Oppo, Xiaomi and OnePlus, but the Moto Edge 20 has plenty of merits we prefer it to the (upon reflection), more expensive original.
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