On September 8th, Motorola unveiled three new Android smartphones: the Edge 30 Ultra, Edge 30 Fusion, and Edge 30 Neo. The latter is the first child of a newly announced partnership between Motorola and Pantone, the color experts of the world. Having the pleasure to receive the Motorola Edge 30 Neo in testing as soon as it was launched, I’ve used it daily since. Now, I’d like to share with you my experience with this smartphone, its strengths and weaknesses. If you’re curious to know more about the “fashionable” Motorola Edge 30 Neo, read this review:
The package of the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
Besides the smartphone, the box also includes a 68W fast charger together with a detachable USB-C to C cable, a transparent silicon cover, a SIM ejection tool, and all the usual documents (user manual, warranty, safety information).
Unboxing the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
The unboxing offered by the Motorola Edge 30 Neo smartphone is a pleasant experience. I appreciate the fact that the packaging is recyclable, as it shows care for the environment. I also like the fact that Motorola bundles a (very) fast charger with the Edge 30 Neo.
Pantone color options available for the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
The P-OLED screen looks bright and colorful, its bezels are thin and symmetric, and the only other thing you get on the front is the selfie camera inside a tiny hole at the top center.
The front of the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
The loudspeaker is found on the bottom edge, together with the USB-C port, the SIM card(s) tray, and a microphone.
The bottom edge of the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
On the top edge, you only find a Dolby Atmos inscription and the second microphone. But, between the phone’s frame and screen, there’s also a relatively long and extremely thin cutout where the ear speaker resides.
The top edge of the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
The back of the smartphone is made of plastic materials painted in the color you chose for it. I must say that the Very Peri version I had looked great. Also, the plastic back is matte and somewhat “grainy.” That’s nice because it doesn’t slip from your hand easily, but also because it helps keep fingerprints and smudges away. On the other hand, the plastic seems quite prone to gathering scratches.
The back of the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
The main camera system is slightly protruding and is divided into two parts: one holding the main 64 MP camera, and one the ultrawide/macro camera and the LED flash. The whole area is surrounded by a white LED band that you can set to light up when you have an incoming call or message, when an alarm is triggered, and also when you’re charging the smartphone. It’s quite a nice feature that I found useful each time I had my phone face down on the sofa. 🙂
The LED band surrounding the main camera system
The left edge of the smartphone is void, while the right one is home to the usual Power button and Volume rocker. They’re all found towards the top side of the phone.
The buttons on the right side of the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
The Motorola Edge 30 Neo is a beautiful device, especially in the Very Peri Pantone Color of the Year 2022. This is a compact and lightweight phone that fits in any pocket and is easy to use with only one hand. In short, I believe it’s going to attract a lot of young people.
Motorola Edge 30 Neo comes with Android 12
About 113 GB of storage space is actually usable, the rest being occupied by the operating system and bundled apps. Unfortunately, the Edge 30 Neo doesn’t have a memory card slot, so the built-in storage space is all you get - make sure you choose well when you buy it. On the bright side of things, the Motorola Edge 30 Neo supports 5G networks and is also dual SIM (accepting two nano-SIM cards).
The SIM card tray of the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
The display on the Motorola Edge 30 Neo smartphone is a treat. We get a fairly compact 6.28 inches pOLED screen (plastic-OLED) capable of showing over 1 Billion colors at a resolution of 1080 by 2400 pixels and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. The display has a high pixel density of about 419 ppi (pixel per inch) and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
Motorola Edge 30 Neo uses a POLED screen
The smartphone benefits from a dual-camera camera system on the back and a selfie camera on the front. Here’s what you get:
The main camera system on the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
Motorola Edge 30 Neo has a non-removable 4020 mAh battery. That’s slightly less than what I’ve seen on other Motorola smartphones, but it probably helps in keeping the phone light and thin. The good news is that the Motorola Edge 30 Neo supports fast wireless charging at 68 Watts (the packaging includes the right charger for it). The company says that the smartphone can get “power for the day” (about 12 hours of normal use) in just 10 minutes. Additionally, it also has support for (standard) wireless charging at 5 Watts.
In terms of connectivity, the Motorola Edge 30 Neo supports dual-band (2.4 and 5GHz) Wi-Fi 5 (not Wi-Fi 6), Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, and NFC. There’s also an under-display optical fingerprint sensor, as well as all the other basics: accelerometer, proximity, compass.
If you’re curious about the complete list of features and technical specifications, check this webpage: Motorola Edge 30 Neo.
On the next page of this review, you can read more about the user experience offered by the Motorola Edge 30 Neo, its camera quality, performance in benchmarks, and bundled software.
The display on the Motorola Edge 30 Neo is excellent
But, although the audio is excellent when speaking over the phone, the loudspeakers are not what I’d call impressive. They do their job, outputting sound, but it doesn’t sound great. Maximum volume gets loud, but the lows are not well represented, and the highs are too high for my taste. 🙂
I played a few games on the Motorola Edge 30 Neo: The Elder Scrolls: Blades, Asphalt 9, and Diablo Immortal. The Motorola Edge 30 Neo's performance was OK, considering that this is a mid-range Android using a Snapdragon 695 chipset. I didn’t notice any lags or stuttering, although, in The Elder Scrolls: Blades, the framerate seemed a bit on the lower side. On the same note, in Diablo: Immortal, I could only select 30fps (60fps was not available), and the phone became warm faster when using maxed graphics settings.
Gaming on the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
Browsing the web and navigating the smartphone were satisfying experiences. The Motorola Edge 30 Neo is snappy when it comes to that, and all the usual apps I rely upon (Microsoft Edge, Office, banking apps, social networking apps) are quick to open. The fingerprint sensor is reasonably fast and accurate. There were only a couple of times when the phone asked me to keep pressing my finger longer on the screen to read my fingerprint.
Battery life is good, but it could have been better - I only say that because Motorola devices usually have huge batteries. The ~4000 mAh on the Edge 30 Neo managed to keep the smartphone going for about a day and a half in my case. If you’re gaming a lot, you might only get a day, while you could get two days' worth of autonomy if you’re a light user. On the other hand, the Edge 30 Neo compensates greatly with its fast charging. Using the 68W bundled charger, it fills its battery in just 37 minutes!
Motorola Edge 30 Neo supports 68W fast charging (100% battery in 37 minutes)
The Motorola Edge 30 Neo is an excellent mid-range Android smartphone. It feels great in daily use, snappy and fast. I especially like its display and fast charging speed. Even gaming is a pleasant activity if you’re OK with not choosing to run games on ultra graphics settings.
Camera modes available on the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
When the lighting conditions are good, like during the day, outdoors, the main camera takes good photos. There’s plenty of detail, and colors look natural, even for portraits. However, there is a bit of overexposure, and some bright areas are too bright, like on small parts of the sky.
Outdoor photo sample shot with the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
The ultrawide/macro camera is decent. Macro photos get a nice bokeh effect, and you can shoot from a distance as close as a few centimeters from the subject. Ultrawide photos have a bit more contrast, and their colors are colder than what you get from the main camera. This color difference between the two cameras (wide vs. ultrawide) can probably be resolved in a future software update.
Wide camera vs. ultrawide camera photo
Night photography is not a strong point of the Motorola Edge 30 Neo. There’s an acceptable level of noise, and the contrast is OK, but the photos I took lack detail.
Night photo sample taken with the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
Selfies taken with the front camera are good. Skin tones and texture are correct, and details are accurately captured. Oh, and the beautification feature doesn’t change you too much.
Selfie sample shot with the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
Videos have good color reproduction, although they do suffer from overexposure in bright areas too. As mentioned earlier, the Edge 30 Neo is limited to 1080p and 60 fps for videos. Here’s a relatively static video I took using it:
And here’s a sample of a more dynamic video I shot using image stabilization at the expense of framerate (turning on OIS limits the fps to 30):
Unfortunately, the cameras on the Motorola Edge 30 Neo are far from the best I’ve seen. I know that this is a mid-range smartphone, and compromises had to be made, but it feels like there are a bit too many. If you get this smartphone, I recommend you stick to daylight photos, portraits, and selfies. 🙂
User interface and apps on the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
Besides all the regular apps from Google and the standard ones in Android 12, Motorola Edge 30 Neo also bundles the following apps:
Using the Ready For feature with a Windows 11 PC
I love the fact that the Motorola Edge 30 Neo uses an Android 12 operating system that’s as clean as you can get. Also, the few apps bundled with it are useful, especially the Ready For feature that allows you to easily and quickly connect your phone to a wireless screen (TV or PC) and interact with it.
Motorola Edge 30 Neo benchmark results in Geekbench 5
Next, I checked how fast the Motorola Edge 30 Neo is when running games. For that, I ran 3DMark’s Wild Life and Sling Shot tests. In Wild Life, the Motorola Edge 30 Neo scored 1194 points, while in Sling Shot, it reached 4089 points. Again, these are decent but unimpressive results. This is a smartphone that’s OK for running games at mid or low graphics quality, as switching to high/ultra visual details will likely lead to stuttering.
Motorola Edge 30 Neo benchmark results in 3DMark
Next, I switched to PCMark for Android, a benchmarking app designed to test both performance and battery life in real-world situations. The Motorola Edge 30 Neo scored 10043 points in the Work 3.0 performance test and managed to run the Work 3.0 battery life for 11 hours and 23 minutes. The performance score is good, and the battery results are slightly above average.
Motorola Edge 30 Neo benchmark results in PCMark
Last but not least, I also checked how fast the Motorola Edge 30 Neo is at getting and sending data via Wi-Fi. On my 1 Gbps internet connection, using Ookla’s Speedtest, the Edge 30 Neo managed up to 251 Mbps for download and 331 Mbps for upload. Excellent speeds considering that the smartphone supports Wi-Fi 5 but not WiFi 6. Unfortunately, I don’t have 5G coverage in my area, so I couldn’t test that too.
Motorola Edge 30 Neo benchmark results in Speedtest
The Motorola Edge 30 Neo offers good performance in benchmarks, showing that it’s a capable mid-ranger. Its chipset is fast and powerful enough to run apps and undemanding games flawlessly. However, for games with higher requirements, you’ll need to decrease the graphics quality. Also, while the battery life is good enough for most people, other Motorola devices fare better in this regard.
Motorola Edge 30 Neo: Who is it good for?
This smartphone is an excellent choice if you:- Want a compact Android smartphone that’s easy to use with one hand
- Desire a smartphone with a beautiful screen and body
- Are looking for a smartphone with excellent fast charging
Pros and cons
Here’s what I like about the Motorola Edge 30 Neo:
- The P-OLED screen is bright, offers excellent color reproduction, and has a refresh rate of 120 Hz
- It’s compact and lightweight, fits in any pocket, and is easy to use with one hand
- It supports Motorola’s 68W TurboPower charging, filling its battery in less than 37 minutes
- The fast charger is included in the standard packaging
- Clean user interface based on Android 12 with no bloatware
- IP52 protection against dust and dripping water
- The camera experience is underwhelming (slow processing, no telephoto camera, poor night photography)
Verdict
The Motorola Edge 30 Neo is a fashionable Android smartphone at a price that many can afford. Marking the first result of the newly-announced partnership between Motorola and Pantone, all the color options available for the Edge 30 Neo look great, especially my favorite one: Very Peri, Pantone’s color of the year 2022. I believe that this smartphone is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a compact smartphone that fits in any pocket and is easy to use with just one hand. I also recommend it for its beautiful display, super fast charging (Samsung should take note), and clean user interface. However, if what you want is a smartphone for gaming or taking good quality photographs and shooting videos in 4K, then you might want to check the market for alternatives.Unboxing the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
The Motorola Edge 30 Neo smartphone comes in a minimalist box that’s recyclable and plastic-free. I really appreciate that the company is determined to reduce its environmental footprint. The Motorola logo and the name of the Android phone are printed in soy ink on the top of the box, and a small sticker in a corner indicates the color version you get. On the bottom and sides of the box, you find additional details, including another sticker with the hardware specs. And when you open the box, the first thing you see is the Motorola Edge 30 Neo:Design and build quality
The Motorola Edge 30 Neo is a compact smartphone by today’s standards: measuring 152.9 mm (6.02 inches) in length, 71.2 mm (2.80 inches) in width, and 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) in thickness, this smartphone fits in any pocket. It’s also light, weighing only 155 grams (5.47 oz), which makes it easy to use with one hand for most people. Starting with this smartphone, Motorola began collaborating with Pantone in terms of design and colors. The Edge 30 Neo I received was a Very Peri variant, the Pantone Color of the Year 2022. There are three other versions available to choose from too, all using Pantone colors: Black Onyx, Ice Palace, and Aqua Foam. I imagine that the colors and the design of this phone will be attractive to young audiences looking for fashionable devices.Hardware specifications
The Motorola Edge 30 Neo is based on the mid-range Qualcomm SM6375 Snapdragon 695 5G mobile platform. The SoC (System on a Chip) is built on a 6 nm manufacturing process and includes a capable octa-core processor (two 2.20 GHz Kryo 660 Gold cores and six 1.70 GHz Kryo 660 Silver cores) paired with an Adreno 619 graphics chip. The phone also gets enough memory for even the most demanding daily tasks: 6 or 8 GB of RAM, depending on the model you choose, and either 128 or 256 GB of internal flash storage. The one I’m testing in this review has 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.- A main 64 MP (wide) camera with an aperture of f/1.8, large 0.7 µm pixels, phase-detection autofocus (PDAF), and OIS (Optical Image Stabilization).
- A secondary (macro + ultrawide) 13 MP camera with an f/2.2 aperture and a 120 degrees field of view.
- A front (selfie, wide) 32 MP with an aperture of f/2.4 and 0.7 µm pixels.
The smartphone experience on the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
Regarding phone call quality and network reception, everything’s great. I found the Motorola Edge 30 Neo to deliver plenty of volume, and I could always clearly hear the people I was speaking with. I had no complaints from them either, which means that the microphones on the smartphone are excellent too. Talking about the good things, the screen is also quite amazing. The pOLED display on the Motorola Edge 30 Neo has vibrant colors and excellent luminosity. It’s even bright enough to use in sunlight, not to mention how nice it looks indoors, especially when watching videos or movies.The camera experience on the Motorola Edge 30 Neo
NOTE: For optimization purposes, the pictures in this review are resized. If you want to see the full-sized original photos and videos I shot with the Motorola Edge 30 Neo, open this gallery: I’m going to start by saying exactly what I feel about the cameras on the Motorola Edge 30 Neo: they’re a bit underwhelming. The cameras themselves are OK, but I believe that the Snapdragon 695 chipset inside the smartphone is too slow for them. Why? Well, first things first, shooting photos is slow - you can’t take one picture after another quickly; you have to wait for the previous one to be saved, and that takes a bit of time, especially when shooting in night mode. Secondly, videos can be recorded only in up to 1080p (no 4K here!), and they’re limited to either 30 or 60 frames per second. Furthermore, if you want to take advantage of the OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) system available for the main 64-megapixels camera, the framerate is restricted to 30 fps. Again, the cameras are capable, but the Snapdragon 695 processor is not powerful enough to get the most of what they can offer. Taking a peek at the Camera app, you get all the standard options and shooting modes: HDR, Portrait, Macro, Night vision, Panorama, Pro, etc. While most common shooting modes are quickly available by swiping the screen, you’ll have to go to the More section to access others.Android 12 and bundled apps
The software on the Edge 30 Neo is, just like on all other Motorola devices, as close to standard Android as it could get. Out of the factory, the smartphone comes with Android 12, and the only things you get besides the stock mobile operating system are a couple of custom themes, widgets, fonts, and icon shapes. Also, everything is based on Pantone colors, including the default theme, which comes in the Pantone color of your specific Edge 30 Neo smartphone. That’s quite a nice touch! Long-term support is also important: the manufacturer promises to offer two operating system updates (the phone will get Android 13 and Android 14) and three years of security updates (until September 2025).- Device Help - gives you advice on how to use your smartphone, as well as how to fix problems if you encounter any.
- Games - is a sort of hub for games; in it, you can find all your games, add new ones, and configure a couple of in-game settings such as notification and phone call blocking or turning off certain gestures.
- Interactive wallpapers - lets you download a series of dynamic wallpapers made by Motorola.
- Moto - a useful app for newcomers to Motorola smartphones that helps you configure and personalize key aspects of your device, while also giving you more than just a few tips and tricks.
- Motorola Notifications - a simple app designed for only one purpose: to help you subscribe or unsubscribe from Motorola notifications related to special offers, news and updates, phone repair and troubleshooting, etc.
- Ready For - a special feature of Motorola Android devices that allows you to connect your smartphone to a TV or computer using a wireless connection. Once configured, you can then do things like streaming apps and sharing files or even access your Edge 30 Neo directly from your computer.
Performance in benchmarks
Up until now, you’ve read about the design, specs, software, and my experience using the Motorola Edge 30 Neo. However, all that is either just data or personal opinion. What about something that shows you real-life performance? Well, that’s what benchmarks are for, so here’s the story they tell about the Edge 30 Neo: I began with running Geekbench, where the Motorola Edge 30 Neo got a Single-Core score of 665 points and a Multi-Core score of 1797 points. Admittedly, these numbers are not impressive, but they do fall exactly in the mid-range area of the Android smartphone market. For instance, the single-core performance is similar to that of a Samsung Galaxy A90 5G or a Google Pixel 4, while the multi-core performance is close to that of a OnePlus Nord CE 5G or Samsung Galaxy A53 5G.
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