Motorola hasn’t launched a flagship in 4 years now, ever since Moto Z basically. They’re finally back with a hardcore specced device, the Motorola Edge+, which debuted this Spring and reached us this week. It’s priced at 1199 euros and it’s got the same facade as the Moto Edge we unboxed and reviewed recently. So, let’s see the first impressions for the Plus model.
Available in 3 hues, Smokey Sangria, Thunder Gray or Baltic Gray (the one we hav), this device has an interesting glass panel at the back. It’s somewhere between Frosted and and the window of a steamy room, or maybe a glossy hood of a car covered with mist. Inside the black, elegant box we find the metal key used to access the slots, the manual, flexible, transparent silicone case and also an 18W charger. There’s also a pair of headphones, with extra plugs, a remote and a pretty elegant look.
There’s also an USB-C to USB-a cable by the way. The handset is made of 3D glass (upfront), an aluminum frame and a glass back. Keep in mind that while Moto Edge looks similar, it only has plastic at the back. Moto Edge+’s glass back also aids to charge wirelessly and charge other devices. There’s no IP68 or IP67 protection here, just a minor water repellant protection. The smartphone measures 9.6 mm in thickness and weighs 203 grams. The quad camera protrudes quite a bit and makes the device wobble on a flat surface.
The device may sound bulky, but it’s quite comfortable to wield, being so narrow. It’s also very long, so one hand usage can’t be the best, especially reaching the top of the screen. Specs-wise, we get an OLED 6.7 incher with a 2340 x 1080 pixel resolution and a 90 Hz refresh rate. There’s also HDR10+ support, while the Moto Edge only have HDR10. Inside we find a Snapdragon 865 CPU, 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of UFS 3.0 storage, but no microSD.
The battery goes from 4500 mAh on the Moto Edge to 5000 mAh on the Plus unit. Then we also get stereo speakers, an audio jack and 3 mics on board: one at the bottom and two on the back. The fingerprint scanner is integrated within the screen and it’s quite fast and accurate, as shown in the unboxing video. Camera-wise, there’s a 25 MP selfie shooter in a punch hole and the following setup at the back:
- 108 megapixel, Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX, OIS (the same as the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro one), Quad Pixel Tech combines 4 pixels in 1, outputs 27 MP shots
- 8 MP, telephoto, 3x optical zoom, OIS
- 16 megapixel, ultrawide, autofocus (used for Macro too)
- ToF 3D camera
There’s also a dual tone LED flash, 6K video capture, full res 108 MP shots and more. Connectivity-wise, we get WiFi 6, 5G, USB-C 3.1, GPS and NFC. It runs on Android 10 with some Motorola customization. You get navigation gestures based on swipes, extra customizations of icons, accents, colors and more. You can also customize the effect of the fingerprint scanner. Moto also offers a side menu on the curved side, much like the Edge menu of the Galaxy S devices.
Also on the curved side of the screen you can use virtual buttons during gaming sessions. We also have new system sounds, with a more sci fi sound than before. I love the 3D wallpaper with the waves, which totally highlights the very curved 3D screen pane. It’s spectacular to see in action. We’ll be back with a full review soon and you can get the phone here. It’s definitely an Oppo Find X2 Pro rival and Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro rival.
