The Motorola Edge Plus is an easy Android flagship with no gimmicky options or nostalgia to prop it up. The end result is an effective however dear telephone that may’t fairly compete with the present class chief.

The premium Android market within the US is dominated by Samsung, with an honorable point out to Google and its Pixel 6 Pro. That’s about it. LG left the celebration final 12 months, taking its high-end Wing with it. OnePlus has been a no-show in early 2022 (although the corporate has mentioned its 10 Pro might arrive earlier than the tip of the month), and different Chinese system makers are nonetheless steering away from the US market.

While there’s loads of room for extra gamers, the stakes are set excessive. Samsung has been strengthening its help coverage, dashing up its Android replace tempo, and due to robust relationships with carriers, providing some tempting incentives to these prepared to improve to a pricier limitless plan. Google has additionally produced its finest high-end telephone but, although it’s been hampered by software program issues lately.

This iteration of the Edge Plus drops its namesake “Edge” display screen, which the 2020 Edge Plus provided. That’s for the very best because it wasn’t very helpful anyway. The newest Edge Plus continues to supply the high-end specs you’d count on from a flagship Android telephone, together with a Snapdragon 8 gen 1 processor, which is Qualcomm’s newest and biggest chipset.

The $999 MSRP additionally makes a return, and in some ways, it behaves like a telephone worthy of that top price ticket. Performance is superb, tons of storage is included, there’s a high-quality display screen, and quick charging comes courtesy of a 30W charger that’s included within the field. Imagine that!

But within the US, at the very least, it must measure as much as the present best-in-class, and that’s the extremely succesful Galaxy S22 Plus. That’s no simple feat, and the Edge Plus isn’t fairly as much as it.

The Motorola Edge Plus contains 8GB or 12GB of RAM with its top-shelf Snapdragon processor. The model I examined has 12GB, which is loads for day-to-day duties and sufficient to run a graphics-intensive sport like Genshin Impact easily. It does get noticeably heat, even exterior of gaming, although I didn’t see any destructive impact on pace in consequence.

The telephone’s 6.7-inch OLED panel options modest bezels on all sides and, at 1080p decision, falls just a bit wanting the 1440p decision of the Pixel 6 Pro’s display screen. In use, although, it’s sharp sufficient, and I didn’t miss any of the additional pixels that it may need had. It provides a 144Hz refresh price, and despite the fact that I can’t actually spot the distinction between this and 120Hz, it does make for a really clean expertise. It’s a pleasant, brilliant display screen, and its tall 20:9 facet ratio means it could present you just a bit greater than the S22 Plus’ 19.5:9 show. The barely narrower type issue makes it simpler to carry one-handed, nevertheless it’s too massive to make use of comfortably with one hand.

The Edge Plus contains Gorilla Glass on each the back and front panel, with no “glasstic” in sight, however the rails are plastic moderately than aluminum. I’m not precisely positive, however perhaps that’s why this telephone feels much less “premium” than a Samsung or a Pixel. It’s additionally much less strong than the competitors; the S22 Plus and Pixel 6 Pro provide IP68 waterproofing, however the Edge Plus is merely “water-resistant.”

The again panel options a beautiful end that’s generally inexperienced and generally blue, relying on the angle you’re viewing it from. The solely correct option to describe this impact is that it appears to be like like the colour of a mermaid’s tail. I defy you to provide you with a greater description.

There’s additionally no in-screen fingerprint sensor; Motorola opted for one embedded within the energy change. The optical fingerprint scanner could also be a premium function proper now, nevertheless it’s one I didn’t really miss within the Edge Plus. The side-mounted scanner is way sooner than even a very good in-display sensor, and as a bonus, it doesn’t care if you happen to’re carrying a masks, like most facial unlock programs do.

I’m much less eager on a few of Motorola’s software program adjustments. Moto sometimes provides considered one of my favourite Android skins with a lighter contact than Samsung’s extra heavy-handed method. Peek notifications, which increase with a protracted press on the lock display screen to point out full notification textual content, are nonetheless an effective way to get the proper info at a look whereas minimizing interruptions.

But Motorola has carried out a bit of rearranging within the app drawer, including a “suggested links” part that takes up a variety of area and, at the very least to date in my expertise, hasn’t been terribly helpful. I additionally agreed to let an organization referred to as “Branch” use my knowledge to personalize my options based mostly on my conduct, and even after a couple of days, it doesn’t appear to be any higher at understanding what I need to do with my telephone.

The system additionally defaults to displaying you a keyboard once you open the app drawer so you may seek for the factor you need moderately than scrolling for it. Useful in idea, however I’d moderately simply discover the proper icon by myself, so I disabled this function, which is definitely carried out. It took little or no work to get the app drawer again to the association I preferred, however that’s not one thing I count on to need to do on a Motorola telephone.

Otherwise, there aren’t many surprises in Motorola’s tackle Android 12. There are plenty of personalization choices you could customise individually or apply by way of a handful of preset themes. The Edge Plus isn’t fairly as customizable because the Pixel 6, however you do have entry to loads of choices like completely different icon shapes and fonts — sufficient to make it simple to spend half-hour tinkering together with your selections. The Verizon model I examined comes with a variety of pre-downloaded apps and Verizon software program, a few of which could be uninstalled.

The Edge Plus has a 4,800mAh battery, and stamina is usually good. With most telephone settings at default, I can simply get by way of over a day of average use, nevertheless it’s not laborious to run down the battery a lot sooner than that. With brightness maxed out and 144Hz refresh price enabled always (it’s on auto by default) and on 5G moderately than Wi-Fi, I noticed the battery drain about 10 p.c in half-hour of Instagram and TikTok viewing.

All informed, it appears to have a bit of extra stamina than the Galaxy S22 Plus and can final a full day of average and a few heavy use. Streaming a variety of video or doing extra gaming will most likely require a recharge throughout the day, however there’s nice information on this entrance: Motorola features a wall charger within the field that helps the Edge Plus’ 30W high wired charging pace. It can take a very flat battery to full energy in about an hour — speedy certainly. You gained’t discover a charger included with both the Galaxy S22 Plus or Pixel 6 Pro, in order that’s nothing to sneeze at as of late. Wireless charging at as much as 15W can be supported.

Of course, the Edge Plus provides 5G, together with C-band help. That’s positively good to have if you happen to’re on AT&T or Verizon and fewer vital if you happen to’re on T-Mobile. The unlocked model doesn’t embrace mmWave, which is the very quick, extremely scarce model of 5G you would possibly encounter in a soccer stadium and principally nowhere else. The model bought by Verizon does embrace mmWave 5G as a result of Verizon has traditionally insisted that or not it’s included on all of the telephones it sells, although Apple apparently will get a go on that.

Unfortunately, one place the place Motorola hasn’t stored up with Samsung and Google is its software program replace coverage. It’s solely promising two OS updates and three years of safety updates for this high-end system — properly behind Google and Samsung’s five-year safety help coverage. The Edge Plus’ {hardware} is able to maintaining for longer than 5 years, in order that’s a disappointment and one thing to contemplate if you happen to’d like to hold onto your telephone so long as potential.

You’ll discover three cameras on the Edge Plus’ rear panel, however solely two of them are actually helpful: a 50-megapixel f/1.8 commonplace vast with optical picture stabilization and a 50-megapixel ultrawide. The third digital camera module homes a 2-megapixel depth sensor that ostensibly helps out with portrait mode. There’s a 60-megapixel f/2.2 digital camera on the entrance panel that produces extremely detailed 15-megapixel selfies — perhaps even too detailed. Video recording at as much as 8K / 30p is supported, together with 4K / 30p and 1080 at 30 or 60p. An HDR10 Plus setting is offered when recording in 4K / 30p, which does a pleasant job of pulling again blown highlights.

What’s lacking from the Edge Plus’ digital camera {hardware} configuration is a telephoto lens — the 2020 mannequin had one, nevertheless it wasn’t excellent. Both the S22 Plus and Pixel 6 Pro provide a telephoto digital camera. Otherwise, the Edge Plus’ cameras are simply nice with out significantly standing out in any method. As is the case with most high-res telephone cameras, each the usual and ultrawide use pixel-binning to supply 12-megapixel photographs. They each take good images in daylight, although the ultrawide leans towards a barely hotter white steadiness.

Grid View

Photos from the primary digital camera are a bit of oversharpened for my style, however general, I like the way it handles high-contrast scenes with out going overboard making an attempt to rescue highlights or brighten shadows. Photos in low indoor lighting look good, too — the telephone strikes a pleasant steadiness between sustaining particulars and noise discount. Dim mild images from the ultrawide look a bit of softer, as I’d count on, however are positively a lower above what you get from a lower-res ultrawide digital camera in a finances and even midrange telephone.

Samsung and Google have put a variety of work into the software program behind their portrait mode images, and Motorola can’t fairly compete. The Edge Plus’ topic isolation simply isn’t as refined — wanting shut, you may see the place it provides up on slicing out strands of hair and simply blurs nice particulars into the background. It’s not as savvy because the S22 Plus at figuring out beards and glasses rims, both. Night mode is the same story — Motorola’s Night Vision produces photographs that look artificially over brightened.

The midrange Moto Edge we examined lately had some autofocus issues, and Motorola has averted them within the Edge Plus by including extra autofocus pixels to the primary digital camera sensor. Focus is fast for stills and video recording, and I didn’t see any AF failures even when capturing in low mild.

This model of the Edge Plus proves that Motorola could make a very good mainstream, no-funny-business, high-end Android telephone. But “good” isn’t a ample promoting level once you’re up in opposition to Google, Samsung, and Apple, which all provide units across the similar value with stronger cameras, construct high quality, and help insurance policies.

Most folks gained’t pay the Edge Plus’ $999 asking value and can both purchase it at a reduction from Motorola or have it financed by way of their service. If you do discover it for a very good value and also you’re a fan of Motorola’s finances or midrange telephones, then the Edge Plus is a nice alternative. You get way more storage than the bottom mannequin Pixel 6 Pro or S22 Plus, an excellent display screen, and a telephone that’s satisfying to make use of and simply will get out of your method for essentially the most half.

We might not have many premium Android telephones to select from within the US, however the units we do have are actually good. It takes one thing particular to warrant a suggestion when the S22 Plus and Pixel 6 Pro are on the desk, and the Edge Plus doesn’t fairly have it.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge