Motorola Edge 40 review

This year, there was some rearrangement of the Motorola Edge 40 portfolio, with the Pro punching a little bit higher than the model from previous year and aiming for Ultra-ness. Though it’s not all enhancements, the vanilla Edge 40 follows it on this rising trend, likely making it more difficult for a 30 Fusion successor to gain a place in the ranks in the Autumn.

The preferred chipset is actually more of a sidestep with a twist. Both Snapdragon 778G+ and the Dimensity 8020 are strong midrange solutions, but the new Mediatek CPU might be superior in terms of graphics processing.

The main camera hasn’t changed, or at least that’s the first impression given that it still boasts OIS and a 50MP 1/1.55″ sensor. The brighter lens on this one, with an f/1.4 aperture as opposed to the prior model’s f/1.8 aperture, is what’s new. This ordinary Edge 40 is more professional than the Pro, which features an f/1.8 lens, in that regard. So, that qualifies as an improvement.

Contrary to popular belief, the ultrawide camera in the Edge 30 Fusion has a 13 MP sensor instead of the 50 MP ones found on the Edge 30 and Edge 40 Pro. Although technically a year-over-year decline, the ultrawide isn’t too bad because it still has autofocus, which other manufacturers don’t include on high-end versions.

The Edge 40 is IP68-rated for dust and water resistance, a big step up over the splash resistance of the predecessor, albeit it will be difficult to observe an important generational difference outside of the spec sheet or… unexpected situations. A little bit more battery life and quicker charging are both pleasant additions, and all of this is done while still keeping the phone’s size and weight within the parameters of what may be considered “easily pocketable.”

Specifications

• Body: 158.4×72.0x7.6mm, 167g; Glass front, aluminum frame, plastic back or eco leather back; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 min).
• Display: 6.55″ P-OLED, 144Hz, HDR10+, 1200 nits (peak), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 402ppi.
• Chipset: Mediatek Dimensity 8020 (6 nm): Octa-core (4×2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G77 MC9.
• Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• OS/Software: Android 13.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.4, 1/1.55″, 1.0µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 13 MP, f/2.2, 120˚, 1.12µm, AF.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.4, (wide), 0.7µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: [email protected], [email protected]/60/120fps, [email protected], HDR10, gyro-EIS; Front camera: [email protected], [email protected]/120fps.
• Battery: 4400mAh; 68W wired, 15W wireless.
• Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 6e; BT 5.2; NFC.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); stereo speakers.

Unboxing of Motorola Edge 40

The Edge 40 comes in the same durable two-piece recycled cardboard box as all recent Moto Edges, with the exception of the 40 Pro, which comes in a black wrapper but is otherwise equally as recycled. On this one, too, there is no packaging made of plastic.

The Edge 40 comes in the same durable two-piece recycled cardboard box as all recent Moto Edges, with the exception of the 40 Pro, which comes in a black wrapper but is otherwise equally as recycled. On this one, too, there is no packaging made of plastic.

Design

The Edge 40 comes in the same durable two-piece recycled cardboard box as all recent Moto Edges, with the exception of the 40 Pro, which comes in a black wrapper but is otherwise equally as recycled. On this one, too, there is no packaging made of plastic.

Motorola informed us that the glass covering the OLED display is somewhat curved towards the sides and was produced by the Japanese company NEG, not Gorilla Glass. The top and bottom bezels are also nicely small, and the curve makes it possible to have a barely noticeable black border on the sides. The little selfie camera cutout is added, giving the facade a very elegant appearance.

The fingerprint sensor is located near the bottom of the display. When faced with such a low placement, we usually moan, so expect that to happen here as well. You’ll adjust to it, for sure, but a centimetre higher would have been preferable. The inferior reader location on the Edge 40, however, poses less of a threat to its safety than it would on a bulkier and more top-heavy device, so perhaps we should classify this as a “half-complaint.”

This is probably a good moment to discuss what we believe to be the Edge 40’s key selling point: that it isn’t as big or as hefty as most other phones in its class. It is more over 30g lighter than a Galaxy A54 and more than 20g lighter than either a Pixel 7a or a Nothing Phone at 171g for one of the faux leather hues and 167g for the smooth plastic ones (1). Only the Xperia 10 V is lighter, weighing in at 159g, while the Xiaomi 13 Lite will balance the Edge 40 on the opposite end of the scale.

Two of the handset’s four currently available hues have imitation leather on their backs, as we discussed earlier. These colours include our review unit’s Eclipse Black, a light Nebula Green, and Viva Magenta, the Pantone Colour of the Year for 2023. Lunar Blue is the only variation with a smooth back.

We have rather conflicting opinions regarding the imitation leather, especially the black version (and perhaps only the black version). Ours had a propensity to accumulate a lot of dust and grime, making cleaning it more difficult than simply wiping it down with a cloth. However, a damp cloth did work, so there’s that.

The image below may represent the worst case situation, yet it did indeed happen. While the black colorway only offers a lot of contrast, the lighter colours would be less keen to promote dirt.

However, there is a bright side. The surface is extremely grippy and feels good and soft to the touch. The Viva Magenta does look very enticing, however alas it’s not available in all areas, and we’d say the imitation leather variations would be the way to go as opposed to the Lunar Blue.

The upper left corner has a slightly raised camera island, with two additional camera modules protruding from it in two stages. Yes, the phone will tremble.

On top of that, the grippiness of the back finish is causing it to behave in an odd way. If you simply try to slide it on a table, the back will tend to revolve around the bottom left corner since it touches the surface in two places: the bottom left corner (which is gripping) and the edge of the bottom camera (which has no grip at all).

Other than the soft back and general lightness, there are other pleasing tactile sensations to be enjoyed when holding the Edge 40. The quality feel is enhanced by the aluminium frame and the comforting click of the power and volume keys on the right.

The IP68 rating of the Edge 40 contributes to its upscale appeal as well. Since Motorola’s last dust- and water-resistant phone, the 40 and 40 Pro this year have both been able to withstand 1.5 metres of water for up to 30 minutes. To better transition from ingress protection to SIM card compatibility, we only wish they had chosen a gasket of a different colour for the SIM card tray. which we still did.

Therefore, the Edge 40 only supports a single physical nano SIM card, at least in the review model. The option to use two SIM cards is still available; however, the second line must be an eSIM. However, it does seem that there is a version of the phone that can actually accept two nano SIM cards.

Overall, we like the Edge 40’s design and construction. We enjoy the comfortable feel and secure grasp of the back’s material, thus we are ready to overlook a few stains. The handset’s portability is also greatly admired.

Display

The Motorola Edge 40’s 144Hz panel follows the trend of Motorola screens having greater refresh rates than the majority, something we have grown accustomed to. Although it’s lower than the 165Hz we observed on the Edge 40 Pro, it’s still greater than the 120Hz of the competitors. The display of the Edge 40 is also somewhat smaller than the Pro’s, measuring 6.55 inches diagonally compared to 6.67 inches, although having the same resolution and aspect ratio (1,080×2,400px, 20:9).

The Edge 40 delivers excellent brightness performance. It achieves almost the same result as the Edge 40 Pro, pushing up to 1000nits in bright ambient lighting when the Adaptive brightness feature is turned on in the settings. The same 516 nits were detected when the brightness was manually adjusted as well. When exposed to sunlight, competitors in the upper midrange are practically as bright as the Moto, however the Nothing Phone (1) is significantly darker.

Color Accuracy

The Motorola Edge 40 manages colour reproduction in a comparatively straightforward manner. You get two presets (the default Saturated and Natural) in addition to a seven-position temperature slider for a little further flexibility.

Although only averagely accurate for DCI-P3 targets, saturated mode offers a large colour range and generally very bright colours. The worst offender is the white point, and greys are also off to blue. The colour shift from blue to green and overall accuracy remain unchanged when you move the temperature slider in the direction of warm, while further movement in the warm direction makes things progressively worse.

When sRGB content is displayed in natural mode, however, there is only the slightest hint of green in the test swatches for white and grey.

HDR Streaming

The display of the Edge 40 Pro is certified for Dolby Vision, however the base model we have here just supports HDR10+. They specifically state that the Edge 40 should be suitable for Netflix HDR viewing, however we were unable to experience this on our unit, and it’s possible that the streaming giant will eventually add the device to its whitelist. The Widevine L1 certification did permit the playback of FullHD content.

While YouTube claimed to offer HDR broadcasts, they didn’t quite have the anticipated brightness bump. We did receive HDR streams from Prime Video, which was also promised in the phone’s specifications.

Refresh Rate

Motorola phones often have a very simple software implementation in addition to the higher-than-most refresh rate, and the Edge 40 is no exception. There are three distinct modes: 60Hz, 120Hz, and 144Hz. In each case, the refresh rate will be maintained regardless of what is displayed (with a few minor exceptions) or whether you are using the phone or not.

There is some auto switching introduced by the Auto mode. As long as you are touching the UI, it will continue to run at 120Hz; otherwise, it will drop to 60Hz. Additionally, it will frequently use 90Hz but not 144Hz.

When you scroll, browsers keep their refresh rate at 90 hertz (rather than 120 hertz), but otherwise they drop to 60 hertz. While a 90-60Hz choice is enabled for the UI outside of fullscreen playback, video playback apps will default to 60Hz when displaying fullscreen videos.

When the ‘follow system’ setting is selected, games in Auto appear to be limited to 60Hz. It’s just that the Auto isn’t conducive to gaming. You may choose a higher global setting from the display settings menu before gaming, or you can select a higher refresh rate for each individual game.

Motorola Edge 40 Battery Life

One of the Edge 40’s main selling features is its relative compactness and light weight, which Motorola has attained in part by squeezing in a fairly diminutive 4,400mAh battery. It depends on how you choose to look at it, but in our testing, that didn’t seem to be a major problem.

For a phone with a non-flagship chipset like the Edge 40, the standby performance was just passably good. On the other hand, things appeared to be going well during the active tests.

Not bad for a voice call to last almost 30 hours. Given that it is done at a steady 144Hz, the 14:23h of Wi-Fi web browsing is almost lengthy enough to be referred to as impressive.

Another excellent result is the over 20 hours of video playback (at 60 Hz), especially when you take into account the battery capacity.

The Motorola Edge 40 received an overall Endurance score of 98h.

Charging Speed

A excellent USB Power Delivery adaptor rated at 68W is included with the Edge 40. Motorola claims a 0-100% time of 39 minutes, but in our testing, we timed 40 minutes, making that claim rather true. You can charge a fully discharged battery to 92% after 30 minutes on the charger. Our power metre reached its maximum at 54W, which, while falling short of the adapter’s stated maximum, is still rather respectable.

Naturally, the Edge 40 Pro charges more quickly because to its 125W rating. But the Pixels in particular are noticeably slower (one even more so than the other), making the non-Pro appear extremely excellent in comparison to possible rivals.

The Edge 40 has a maximum power rating of 15W and supports wireless charging. The WPC website doesn’t currently appear to have a certification entry for the phone.

The Overcharge protection setting in the Battery menu is a very recent addition to newer Moto devices. When it notices that the phone hasn’t been unplugged for three days in a row, it will stop charging and keep the battery charged at a much healthy 80%. Power sharing is also not available, and there is no “Charge boost” option like there is on the Pro.

Speaker test

The Edge 40 uses a standard hybrid stereo speaker system with the earpiece serving as an additional channel. When the phone is held vertically, it is allocated the left channel, and depending on the angle, channels will change in landscape mode. Motorola even mentions this otherwise very sensible behaviour in the Dolby Atmos ‘learn more’ section. No (lower) frequencies from the earpiece are outsourced to the’main’ speaker at the bottom; rather, each speaker receives its own channel.

You won’t experience voice call spillage because, unlike the Pro, the Edge 40’s top speaker solely directs sound forward.

In our test, the phone received a ‘Very Good’ loudness rating, which puts it on level with or louder than prospective rivals but below the ‘Excellent’ Edge 40 Pro. Despite this, we think the non-Pro sounds better than its reputedly louder stablemate. The Edge 40’s audio output is far more evenly balanced and free of any evident faults. Only the Galaxy A54 may have a slight advantage over the Moto, particularly in the low end of the spectrum, while both the Pixel 7 and the Nothing Phone (1) sound more muffled and “cheaper.”

Software

When it comes to software, the Motorola Edge 40 stays on course. You receive an almost AOSP-looking version of Android (version 13 in this example), with a few additional proprietary features. The Edge 40 will sadly only receive two OS upgrades during the length of its software maintenance, despite the fact that security updates will be provided until January 2028 (a little less than 5 years).

Regardless of what the future holds for Edge 40 support, we continue to think that the sleek design is a feature that sells all Moto products, and the additional functionality serves to increase the attractiveness to even more people.

The Quick Settings and notification shade are two features that clearly distinguish AOSP (or Pixel) versions of Android, and subsequently Motorola’s, from almost every manufacturer’s overlay. It also means a full-screen notification shade and huge, sparkling buttons—four on the first pull, up to eight on the second.

Another area where some manufacturers prefer to veer off course is with widgets, while Motorola continues to use the Android interface that was first launched with OS version 12. For widgets of various sizes, the widget picker provides responsive previews. The Material You theming engine is integrated into the API to facilitate dynamic colouring, which enables widgets to adjust to the background.

Although it’s hidden behind a slightly modified Moto-specific theming UI, the Material You auto-theming feature is still present. Accent colours depending on your background are still available, and they will be applied to Google apps and the settings menu.

Motorola has, as is customary, provided a few helpful extras. All of them have been included to the Moto settings app, which organises them into categories. This year, the Moto app has a brand-new, modern appearance.

The OS-native auto-theming on Moto phones falls under the first category, customisation. In addition to Google’s own wallpapers, there is a large selection of Moto wallpapers available. You can also use AI to design your own wallpaper using images from your gallery.

The gestures follow. You’ve probably already noticed Moto’s karate chop motion for turning on and off the torch, as well as his twisting motion for opening the camera app. Both continue to function while the device is locked.

With face unlock, the lift-to-unlock gesture works well because the device unlocks as soon as you pick it up and glance at the screen. There is also a swipe-to-split feature that launches split-screen multitasking. Double-tapping the phone’s back will perform a custom action as well.

Peek Display and Attentive Display are features that pertain to displays. The former performs admirably as a second-best substitute for the Always-on display feature, which is actually absent but is compensated for by some additional functionality.

When you pick up the phone or the device detects motion nearby, the screen illuminates. When you receive a notification of any kind, you may tap on it to view the message and even respond to it from the lock screen.

As long as a face is staring at the screen, Attentive Display turns off the screen timeout.

In addition, Edge Lights are provided as a notification LED substitute. However, Motorola wants us to lay the phone flat on its face, which we find awkward.

The Play section follows. The Gametime utility can be found here, and it provides the standard features of utilities like call and notification blocking and screen recording. In addition, a Dolby Atmos sound enhancement tool and optional shortcuts employing the volume keys are available for media playback even while the screen is locked.

Google has been extensively focusing on the privacy and security features of Android in more recent versions. The Privacy dashboard, for example, provides a consolidated view of the permissions that are being utilised by which apps and when.

Additionally, there are camera and microphone indications in the upper right corner of the screen providing a clear indication that you are being viewed or heard, as well as easy toggles to completely restrict access to those. You can choose whether an app uses your precise coordinates or an approximation of your location.

It should be rather clear what a secure folder is. You can store your private programmes and files there. A few intriguing options for network security are included, such as the capability to prevent specific programmes from connecting to the network while you are connected to an unsafe Wi-Fi hotspot.

You may lock your network and security settings for as long as your screen is locked, which is another intriguing security option. Additionally, you can encrypt the pin input interface to increase security. Through a second Moto Secure app shortcut, you can also access all of these security and privacy options.

Motorola’s ‘Ready For’ platform, debuted in 2021 and present on high-end Motos like this one, offers a wide range of use cases that place the phone in the centre of a big-screen experience. The platform is now more frequently designed with capitalised terms, though not always consistently. You can get a Windows desktop-like environment, play a game on your phone and see it on the external screen, or even have a video conversation on a bigger display by connecting a TV or monitor.

The connection can be made using a cable, either the ‘Ready For’ cable (or another USB-C MHL Alt option), or a USB-C-to-C cable with a suitable monitor. An alternative is to wirelessly link up to a display that supports Miracast.

The phone’s screen can be used as a touchpad and/or keyboard if you don’t have a mouse or keyboard nearby.

‘Ready For’ can be used on a Windows-based computer as well; a window will open on your desktop. This is useful if you want to multitask across devices on a single screen or run an Android app from your computer.

When making video calls, you can use the phone’s camera to record yourself and an external display to observe the other participants. This is another application for “Ready for” on a Windows PC.

Performance

The Mediatek Dimensity 8020 chipset is found inside the Edge 40. The Poco X3 GT, the only device we’ve evaluated using the SoC, appears on paper like a rebadged Dimensity 1100, which never really caught on. The D8020, which uses a 6nm manufacturing process, has a Mali-G77 MC9 GPU and an octa-core CPU with a “classic” 2×4 layout (4×2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55).

We are aware of two memory options for the Edge 40, each with 8GB of RAM: 128GB and 256GB (as reviewed).

The Edge 40 performed admirably in GeekBench, scoring noticeably higher than that Poco X3 GT we mentioned, indicating that the D8020 and D1100 CPUs differ in ways other than core count and clock speed.

Due to the larger prime cores, the Pixel 7 and 7a outperform the Moto under single-core load, but the Edge 40 triumphs in multi-core tests. Naturally, compared to SD 8 Gen 2 devices, the Edge 40 is inferior to its Pro stablemate. Contrarily, SD695 phones are unable to compete with the Moto’s performance, especially in multi-threaded workloads where even the SD778 finds it difficult to keep up.

The Edge 40 continues to outperform the Poco X3 GT in Antutu, but the Pixels manage to keep a lead over the Moto. Here, 7-series Snapdragons likewise struggle to match the D8020’s speed.

The Pixels continue to outperform the Edge 40 in graphical tests, and SD 8 Gen 2 devices are in a class of their own (though they are obviously more expensive). The Moto does occasionally edge out the Poco X3 GT, which is similarly equipped, and it is also noticeably more powerful than the rest of the midrange competitors.

On the Edge 40, sustained performance is also not too shabby. In our one-hour CPU throttling test, we observed a very mild and steady rampdown, but in the 3D Mark stress tests, we observed practically rock-solid stability.

Camera

The Edge 40 boasts a straightforward dual camera configuration on the rear that consists of a 50MP wide primary unit and a 13MP ultrawide unit. There is no telephoto lens or any bullshit about “depth” or “macro.” There is a 32MP selfie camera on the front. That kind of wraps up the Edge 30 Fusion’s camera setup, though it’s not exactly the same.

The 40 Pro and 30 Pro both have OmniVision OV50A sensors, which are likewise used by the primary camera. As far as midrange cameras go, it features a 1/1.55″ optical format, making it very large. The individual pixel size is 1.0 m, and because it’s a 4-cell design (OV’s term for what Sony calls Quad Bayer and Samsung – Tetrapixel), you actually get 12.5 MP images with 4-to-1 binned pixels that are 2.0 m in size; this information is imprinted next to the cameras on the back of the phone.

The sensor features 2×2 on-chip lenses and all-pixel phase detection autofocus; you can read more about this technology from Sony here.

The main camera on the Edge 40 differs from that of its siblings in that it has a lens with a substantially brighter f/1.4 aperture. All the others have f/1.8 apertures. Better low-light performance and a smaller depth of field for more subject separation should result from doing so. OIS is still present.

The ultrawide camera does originate from the 30 Fusion, so in that regard, it isn’t quite as good as the one used on the 40 Pro or even the plain 30 from last year, but as you’ll see, it’s also not too bad either. It is built around a 13MP, 1/3″ optical format, SK Hynix HI1336 sensor with each pixels of 1.12 mm. Because the f/2.2 aperture lens has autofocus, it can also be used as a close-up camera.

The Edge 40’s front-facing 32MP sensor is different from the Edge 30 Fusion’s 32MP sensor in that it is the OmniVision OV32B rather than the Samsung S5KGD2. This one features 0.7 m pixels and a 4-cell design, just as the primary camera on the back, however it is smaller (1/3″ vs. 1/2.8″). The lack of autofocus in this camera is another distinction from the Fusion’s selfie camera. Bummer.

The Edge 40’s camera app was created in-house, in contrast to the software’s generally stock-looking design.

The essential features remain the same: the camera modes are arranged in a carousel layout that can be customised, with the less often used shooting modes being found under the “More” tab at the right end of the carousel.

Pro mode works on all cameras, including the selfie camera (with the exception of manual focusing), and allows you complete control over parameters including white balance, ISO, focus, shutter speed, and exposure compensation. There is only a little live histogram offered; neither focus peaking nor zebras are present.

Swiping down in the viewfinder will reveal more options for each camera mode. If you miss the tiny bar indicating that, you can be left wondering where some parameters are, such as the frame rate in video mode and the self-timer settings in photo mode.

Even more settings are contained in the gear icon for the general settings menu, albeit there isn’t a clear division between them. For instance, the settings menu contains the full-res mode for selfies, yet the ‘Ultra-Res’ mode on the carousel provides access to full-res capture for the rear cameras. Although many of the app’s quirks are long-standing Moto practises, this doesn’t necessarily make them intuitive. If you frequently use the app, you may feel perfectly at home.

Daylight Photos

The Edge 40’s main camera produces good daytime photographs, however they do have certain drawbacks. The photos, which are 12.5MP by default, are noise-free and capture a lot of detail, while odd textures can appear fake (which is actually rather common).

Finding a sunny setting was difficult when we tested the phone over an unusually cloudy stretch of May, but the overcast conditions were an excellent test for the camera’s dynamic range, and we’d say it passed with flying colours. Speaking of hues, we appreciate the Edge 40’s portrayal of reality, with the exception of few moments where the excessively exuberant rendering of foliage irritates us.

It’s important to keep in mind that the incredibly wide aperture of the Edge 40’s main camera can make it challenging to photograph up-close objects with any kind of depth in them. On the other hand, it makes it simple to isolate specific subjects while blurring the background into a colourless blur.

When shooting in the Ultra-Res 50MP mode, we observed no benefit in resolved detail; instead, things are just bigger and blockier.

2x zoom

This makes it understandable why images shot at a 2x zoom don’t hold up well to pixel-level analysis. However, the Moto doesn’t force you to shoot at 2x in the first place. There isn’t a direct shortcut to that zoom level, and we only tried pinch zooming for fun. In conclusion, if you control your expectations, you might just be content with the occasional zoom shot.

Ultra-wide Camera

Although the ultrawide’s results won’t place highly in image quality competitions, they aren’t subpar either. Although the clouds did lead to darker exposures than we’d prefer, the phone was still able to capture a reasonable dynamic range in spite of the challenging circumstances. The majority of the colours are pleasing, yet occasionally (especially indoors) they lacked some pop. Additionally, the phone mural shot’s white balance was incorrect. The class has good detail.

Closeup photos

On the Edge 40, a button on the zoom selector in Photo mode allows access to the macro mode. It shifts to an upscaled, cropped view from the ultrawide camera whose field of view matches that of the primary camera. Overall, the pictures are really impressive – detail is good, colours are lovely and vivid, especially when compared to smartphone “macro” cameras.

Low-light photos quality

The Edge 40’s viewfinder already has the ‘Auto Night Vision’ toggle turned on, causing the phone to analyse images in night mode automatically. It performs it on both the primary camera (but not when zoomed in) and the ultrawide, and there is basically no difference between the Auto results and the ones specifically for Night mode.

Main Camera

You would obtain outstanding dynamic range while using the primary camera, with well-defined shadows and retained highlights. With street lighting, we had no problems with the white balance, and the colour saturation was excellent. Detail is excellent, noise is well-managed, and the watercoloring effect typical of Night settings is hardly noticeable.

The same scenes are represented as follows in the specific Night Vision mode.

The photographs that were taken in Photo mode with Auto Night Vision disabled are where the variations may be seen. In this instance, there is a minor improvement in the way detail is portrayed in well-lit areas—it is finer and more natural. However, it is not a significant shift. However, darker areas can become mushy. Overall, keeping the Moto in full Auto would make us happier.

2x Zoom photos

When you zoom in, however, the Auto does not activate the Night Vision processing, and the tonal extremes are rendered in a quite harsh manner.

Night Vision corrects that, but at the cost of a noticeably overprocessed appearance of minute details.

Ultra-wide Camera

The Edge 40’s ultrawide camera produces identical results whether in Auto Night Vision or solo Night Vision mode. The night sky and other extremely dark locations are rendered in a navy blue because there is some excessive brightening of the shadows going on—or, rather, attempts at brightening the shadows—which the hardware doesn’t quite have the potential to pull off.

Apart from that, colours do keep a reasonable degree of saturation, and white balance is typically precise. Although it wasn’t outstanding throughout the day, the detail is acceptable at night when compared to middling ultrawides.

These are the same scenes that were captured with night vision.

Here are the same scenes with the Auto Night Vision turned off for completeness’ sake. At least there aren’t any of those navy shadows in these, despite being darker and noisier.

Portrait Mode

On the Edge 40, Motorola has applied the same Portrait mode strategy as it did on the 30 Ultra and the 40 Pro. Three focal lengths are available: Standard (50mm), Wide (35mm), and Full view (24mm). They are all taken from the primary camera, which is obvious. Because this phone lacks a telephoto lens, it lacks an 85mm mode similar to the ones found on the other two phones, which also lacked a 24mm mode.

Due to what must be an amalgamation of upscaling, sharpening, and HDR, detail in the 50mm mode is pretty terrible on a pixel level. The native 24mm mode is excellent when examined up close, while the 35mm mode is “good” or even “very good” in terms of detail.

The blur level varies for each mode and is expertly chosen to closely resemble what you could expect from a bright lens with that focal length. In general, subject detection was good, and even the typically problematic wooden wall panelling turned out to be no problem.

Selfie Camera

The Edge 40 takes 8MP selfies by default, but you can reach a setting in the camera app that allows you to photograph in native 32MP resolution, even if we can’t see why you’d want to.

The default pictures are really good. The wide dynamic range ensures high quality even in challenging lighting circumstances, and the detail is excellent and skin tones realistic.

Video Recording

The Edge 40’s primary camera, the ultrawide on the back, and the selfie camera can all shoot videos in up to 4K30 resolution. Only the primary back camera can record at 60 frames per second, and in that case, the resolution is up to 1080p; neither the selfie camera nor the ultrawide can.

Although you can toggle to h.265 by pressing a button, the default codec is h.264. When using h.264, 4K30 films receive a bit rate of 50Mbps, while stereo audio is recorded at 256kbps. On all cameras, stabilisation is accessible in every mode.

The Edge 40’s primary camera produces excellent 4K30 movies. With the exception of the excessively lush greens, colours are generally appealing, dynamic range is outstanding, and sharpness and clarity are fantastic.

Our Verdict

At first sight, the pricing of the Edge 40 can raise your eyebrows; €500-600 seems expensive for a mid-range, and side-by-side comparisons with competitors frequently result in the Moto losing the price war. However, it’s more complicated than that because the Edge 40 offers a feature set and performance that set it apart from the competition and may make the extra cost worthwhile.

One of the most powerful components on this side of a genuinely flagship SoC is the chipset, and the Edge 40 gets superb performance and stability out of it. When it comes to battery life, the Moto is likewise no slouch, and the class-leading charging speed doesn’t hurt either. The dual speakers are loud and comfortable to listen to, and the 144Hz display is smoother than most in the class and among the brightest.

The camera system isn’t too awful either, with the main unit’s bright aperture producing good results in low light and pleasingly out-of-focus backgrounds. The selfies are also quite excellent, and the ultrawide is alright. The UI combines a basic stock design with additional in-house functionality in a very appealing way, and it includes the PC-like Ready For feature (Samsung midrangers don’t support DeX).

All of this is contained in a challenging-to-find lightweight package that is more resistant to water and dust than the majority of its rivals. One of the few issues we have with the phone is how easily dirt and grime may gather on its soft back, which is wonderfully gripping but perhaps a little too much so for its own good.

The lack of a zoom camera is only partially problematic because the main camera is capable of taking 2x images and we wouldn’t have anticipated this category to require additional reach. We may be a little more annoyed by the imperfect video stabilisation because most others seem to have it very well dialled in. Additionally, if we classify that as a software issue, there is still the issue that a two-year OS update strategy seems insufficient.In conclusion, though, we believe the Motorola Edge 40 is superior to its rivals in many respects and should be added to your shortlist because it provides a very well-rounded smartphone experience.

Pro’s & Con’s