Motorola Edge 40: Budget-Friendly Elegance - A Stylish and Premium Review

The arrival of the Motorola Edge 40 in the Indian smartphone market, priced at Rs 29,999, adds another dimension to the already competitive landscape. Despite facing strong contenders like Xiaomi and Realme, the Motorola Edge 40 manages to carve its niche through various distinguishing features. Of particular note is its utilization of the MediaTek Dimensity 8020 chipset, which brings novel capabilities to the table. Additionally, its IP68 rating and support for wireless charging set it apart within the sub-Rs 30,000 segment. This review aims to evaluate the performance of the Edge 40 comprehensively, determining whether it presents a compelling alternative to offerings from Realme, Xiaomi, and POCO.

The allure of the Motorola Edge 40 lies in its sophisticated design and standout features, notably its IP68 rating and wireless charging functionality. Despite encountering minor drawbacks like occasional heating and suboptimal battery longevity, it remains a formidable player in the mid-range smartphone segment.

Moto Edge 40 Specs and Price

Moto Edge 40
Brand	Moto Edge 40
Display	6.55 Inches
Display Type	P-OLED, 144Hz, HDR10+, 1200 nits (peak)
Build	Glass front, aluminum frame, plastic back or eco leather back
OS	Android 13, planned upgrade to Android 14
Processor	Mediatek Dimensity 8020 (6 nm)
Memory & RAM	256GB 8GB RAM
Camera	Dual, 50 MP+13 MP
Battery	4400mAh
Price	8GB/256GB: ₹26,999

Display and Design

The Motorola Edge 40 continues the legacy of its predecessors with a sleek profile and slim design, staying true to the trend set by earlier Edge models. What sets it apart is the addition of a vegan leather back, elevating the device's premium aesthetic. This design choice enhances the overall luxurious feel of the phone, surpassing expectations for its price range. Additionally, the device boasts an IP68 rating, guaranteeing protection against water and dust, further enhancing its durability and reliability.

Motorola claims that it is their slimmest phone in this category, measuring just 7.6mm in thickness. The Nebula Green variant I'm using enhances the device's visual appeal even more. At the rear, there's a vertically aligned dual-camera setup along with a dual LED flash. The device features a dual speaker system powered by Dolby Atmos and a USB Type-C port at the bottom. With its lightweight design, premium finish, and durability certifications, the design of the Motorola Edge 40 truly stands out.

The device boasts a gently curved 6.5-inch 144Hz pOLED panel with FHD+ resolution, presenting content in a cinematic 20:9 aspect ratio. Its expansive display, coupled with an 8-bit screen capable of showcasing 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, ensures an exceptional viewing experience. Supporting HDR10, the phone seamlessly integrates with OTT platforms like Netflix. Putting it to the test with episodes of "Our Universe" on Netflix, the Edge 40 impressively reproduced details and visuals. With a peak brightness of 1,200 nits, the screen delivers sufficient luminance for comfortable outdoor usage. The minimal bezels surrounding the curved screen, along with the discreet punch-hole housing the selfie camera at the top, enhance the overall aesthetic appeal. In summary, the Edge 40's fluid and vivid display is poised to captivate a broad audience.

Performance and Software

The Motorola Edge 40 runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 8020 SoC, which, although slightly slower than its predecessor, the 8100, still delivers impressive benchmark performance. Notably, it achieves outstanding scores on platforms like Antutu, recording a score of 681,703, and Geekbench 6's multi-core test, where it reaches 3,677. However, due to the device's compact design, heat dissipation constraints may lead to throttling. While everyday smartphone usage remains unaffected, prolonged gaming sessions, especially in demanding titles like BGMI at Extreme 60fps settings, may result in increased power consumption and occasional slowdowns. The phone is available in a single configuration: 8GB LPDDR4X RAM paired with 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.

The smartphone features an optical in-display fingerprint sensor for authentication, which generally registers fingerprints swiftly. However, in practical usage for unlocking the phone, it may encounter minor glitches. Conversely, facial unlocking proves to be faster, albeit potentially compromising security compared to the fingerprint sensor. The device's speakers deliver impressive audio quality, further enhanced by Dolby Atmos compatibility, which enriches sound clarity and depth. Regarding network coverage, the Edge 40 supports most popular SA and NSA 5G bands. In my personal experience with Jio in the Noida circle, network performance was satisfactory.

In terms of software, the Edge 40 runs on Motorola's custom MyUX skin layered over Android 13. Renowned for its sleek and minimalist design, devoid of unnecessary pre-installed apps, MyUX ensures extended support for future Android updates. Its lightweight nature enables seamless operation of diverse custom ROMs, empowering users to tailor the UI to their liking. Moreover, Motorola maintains its tradition of offering gesture-based controls on the Edge 40, including actions like double-tapping the back, twisting the phone twice, or giving it a firm shake to access various functionalities.

The Edge 40 impressively packs a 4,400mAh battery within its slender frame, a notable improvement over its predecessor, the Edge 30. Although slightly smaller than the standard 5,000mAh batteries found in some Realme and Xiaomi devices, it still offers commendable performance. Users can expect approximately 5 hours of screen-on time with regular usage, extending to nearly six hours with conservative use. Moreover, the inclusion of 68W fast charging technology enables swift replenishment in under an hour. Additionally, the phone supports convenient 15W wireless charging, enhancing the overall charging experience.

Camera

The Edge 40 boasts impressive photographic capabilities, featuring a 50MP OmniVision OV50A sensor alongside a 13MP ultra-wide lens. On the front, it houses a 32MP selfie camera equipped with an Omnivision lens. In practical terms, the Edge 40 delivers images of exceptional quality, characterized by rich details and a broad dynamic range, aligning with expectations within its price segment. The default resolution of 12.5MP, coupled with pixel binning technology, enhances clarity by merging four pixels into one, while users also have the option for a full-resolution 50MP capture. Noteworthy is the sensor's swift focusing and shutter speeds, enabling quick capture of moving subjects. Exposure levels are well-metered, with the viewfinder allowing manual adjustments to cater to individual preferences. While color saturation may appear slightly elevated, resulting in vibrant hues, the overall tone remains neutral and balanced, ensuring natural-looking scenery representation. For instance, vivid blue skies harmonize with accurately rendered colors in the surrounding vegetation.

The 13MP ultra-wide camera has a huge 120-degree field of view, capturing far more of the scene than the primary shooter. Notably, there is little distortion at the corners and the focus is well dispersed throughout the screen. Furthermore, the sensor supports close-up macro pictures, using its greater resolution for better details than the typically used standalone 2MP lenses. When it comes to portrait photography, computational approaches are used to distinguish the subject from the backdrop. However, in most cases, the results fall short of stellar separation.

In terms of low-light performance, the camera is capable of capturing good shots, albeit getting the right outcome may take a few attempts. The usual point-and-shoot experience might be hit or miss depending on the ambient illumination. However, if you're comfortable adjusting the exposure and keeping focus, the quality of your photos will increase dramatically. The specific Night Mode is available for usage, which efficiently reduces noise in a scene without overprocessing details. While the phone's low-light performance is adequate, some extra software modifications might improve it to a great level. Finally, the selfie shooter can take 32MP photos with slight face oversharpening while keeping a decent dynamic range behind the subject.

Conclusion

The Motorola Edge 40 is one of the most gorgeous phones in its class, and its outside design alone makes it worth considering. With the exception of the Realme 11 Pro series, few phones can equal the Edge 40's physical beauty. Furthermore, the gadget does not disappoint in terms of display quality, software experience, or longevity. It's difficult to find a gadget under Rs 30,000 that has an IP68 rating, wireless charging features, and one of the nicest user interfaces. However, no phone is without flaws, and fixing the Edge 40's occasional heating concerns while marginally enhancing battery life would improve the entire experience. Nonetheless, if these small flaws can be forgiven, the Motorola Edge 40 appears as an appealing option in the competitive mid-range smartphone market.