Moto Edge 50 Neo review: Striking looks, superb cameras make it a winner

First impressions: A fresh, peppy design

Let’s look it. No 1 wants to beryllium stuck with a smartphone that is simply a small much than a glorified paperweight. But the Moto Edge 50 Neo handset has been designed truthful good that I wouldn’t truly mind.

My reappraisal portion came successful Pantone Nautical Blue but you tin besides get it successful Pantone Poinciana, Lattè, and Grisaille. The quirky names that brands invent for telephone colourways person ever amused me, truthful I admit Motorola going the other mile and stamping the sanction connected the backmost of the telephone – conscionable successful lawsuit you forget.

I was captivated by the playful, animated colour of the Edge 50 Neo to the grade that I ever near it rear side-facing up connected the table. Its ultra-slim design, constrictive borders, and vegan leather decorativeness provides a unafraid grip and comfortably plants the instrumentality successful your hand, with nary fearfulness of it slipping.

The vibrant colourway of the Moto Edge 50 Neo gives disconnected a Nintendo aesthetic. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express)

Motorola claims that the smartphone has been engineered to conscionable subject standards, with an IP68 rating, which means that it tin withstand dust, dirt, and sand. The telephone came with a matching backmost screen that is hard, lightweight, and durable but is not precisely immune to scratches. It besides gives the instrumentality a spot of a wobble erstwhile kept level and is not casual to instrumentality off. The bottommost of the telephone contains a tray for the nano SIM card, with the powerfulness fastener and measurement buttons connected the near side.

The Moto Edge 50 Neo has a vegan leather finish. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express)

The container besides includes a compact 68W partition charger and 6.5 amp USB-C cablegram which tin turbocharge an bare vessel to 100 per cent successful a substance of 15 minutes.

What truly counts: Vibrant display, seamless UI

Encased successful Corning Gorilla Glass, the 6.4-inch show supports up to 120Hz refresh rates and 1220p solution with 2,800 nits of highest brightness. It is simply a FHD+, P-OLED display, wherever the P simply indicates that the OLED sheet sits connected apical of a integrative substrate. With immoderate Android phone, my archetypal thought is: however intuitive is the touch? I’m blessed to study reasonably snappy feedback from the touchscreen of the Moto Edge 50 Neo.

I liked watching YouTube videos of my favourite podcast connected specified a punchy display. But what truly sold it for maine were the dual stereo speakers which you tin customise for antithetic listening experiences utilizing the Dolby Atmos astute app. This crisp, clear, and large audio capableness besides made for a much enriching gameplay (which I speech astir further down).

The Moto Edge 50 Neo has a punchy show and is casual to hold. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express)

Being an iPhone user, I’m excited astatine immoderate accidental to personalise my UI. Besides picking colours, themes, icon shape, and timepiece face, there’s besides a amusive enactment that lets you take the animation benignant that appears erstwhile your digit is being scanned to unlock the device. You tin besides make AI-generated wallpapers utilizing Magic Canvas but mounting up a moto.ai relationship to entree the diagnostic felt similar much hassle than it was worth.

Furthermore, the Edge 50 Neo borrows the Always connected Display diagnostic from the Razr series. Previously, Motorola phones came lone with Peek Display which was rather frustrating arsenic you had to determination the telephone oregon pat the surface to spot anything.

Impressive camera, dedicated gaming mode

The Edge 50 Neo has 4 cameras successful full – 50 MP + 13 MP + 10 MP triple superior cameras and 32 MP beforehand camera with LED flash. It offers 3x optical zoom and uses AI to process 30x zoom-in photos, though I recovered myself utilizing the 120 grade FOV ultrawide space astir of the time.

I carried the Edge 50 Neo with maine erstwhile I visited Hyderabad for enactment recently. These are immoderate of the pictures I took:

Terminal 1 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express) The ceiling astatine Terminal 1 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express) Ripples successful the h2o installation astatine Terminal 1 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express) A rainy evening successful Hyderabad. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express) A vertical panorama of a edifice without XDR lighting. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express) Ultra-wide space of a godforsaken plate. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express) Swimming excavation successful nighttime mode. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express) 30x zoomed-in photograph of a wall-mounted instrumentality processed utilizing AI. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express) Airport runway connected a gloomy morning. (Image: Karan Mahadik/The Indian Express)

With its Edge 50 sibling, users complained astir a flimsy shutter lag portion utilizing the 50-MP main camera to seizure moving objects. However, Motorola seems to person addressed this contented with the Edge 50 Neo.

Speaking of lag, the Edge 50 Neo packs a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor (8GB RAM/256 GB storage) that provides smooth, uninterrupted gameplay. I clocked a full of 10 hours playing Garena Free Fire connected the smartphone and did not look immoderate issues. It was reasonably unchangeable and did not vigor up. The tiny Moto Gaming Time widget that appears astatine the broadside comes successful useful erstwhile you privation to power betwixt show modes and show FPS rates.

While the show and responsiveness surely isn’t the champion retired there, it is simply a beauteous accelerated instrumentality for this price. The Edge 50 Neo has a 4310 mAh battery, and it tin spell much than a time oregon 2 without charging.

Final thoughts: Is the Moto Edge 50 Neo worthy it?

It’s not casual making a smartphone that stands retired successful the Android nine these days. No 1 astir apt knows that amended than Motorola which faces stiff contention from brands similar Nothing successful the mid-range marketplace adjacent arsenic bigger players similar Google and Samsung proceed to predominate the high-end segment.

The Moto Edge 50 Neo is simply a applicable smartphone. It ticks each the close boxes, but is it the Android flagship you’ve been looking for? Probably not. However, it is simply a bully lower-cost alternate to the Edge 50 and Edge 50 Pro. If you’re idiosyncratic who likes hanging onto their smartphone careless of the latest upgrades, the Edge 50 Neo would beryllium a bully prime due to the fact that chances are that this telephone volition ne'er deterioration an aged look.