The Motorola Edge 40 has entered the competitive market of smartphones in India, which has recently witnessed several new launches. While many phones in this range focus on performance, the Motorola Edge 40 sets itself apart with its sleek design and flagship-level specifications.
The Motorola Edge 40 offers an 8GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration. It comes in three attractive colors: Nebula Green, Eclipse Black, and Lunar Blue. The Nebula Green variant features a vegan leather rear panel, while the other two options have a PMMA acrylic back.
The design of the Motorola Edge 40 is subjective, but it provides a premium in-hand feel, thanks to its faux-leather rear panel. The Nebula Green color, in particular, stands out. The phone is lightweight, thin (7.58mm thick), and features a metal frame. It also boasts an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance, a feature not commonly found in this price range.
The front of the Motorola Edge 40 showcases a 6.6-inch curved-edge pOLED display with minimal bezels at the top and bottom, delivering an immersive viewing experience. However, the extreme curvature of the display’s sides and the slim form factor occasionally result in accidental touches and a ghost-touch-like effect during gaming. The reviewer suggests a less pronounced curvature like the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G. The full-HD+ resolution display offers good viewing angles but default colors are saturated, though this can be adjusted in the display settings. The display also features an in-display fingerprint sensor positioned conveniently for ease of use.
Notably, the Motorola Edge 40 is the only smartphone in India that offers a 144Hz refresh rate display. However, some apps do not take full advantage of this feature, and the display mostly operates between 60Hz and 120Hz.
In terms of specifications, the Motorola Edge 40 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8020 SoC, an enhanced version of the Dimensity 1100 SoC. It comes with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The phone is equipped with a 4,400mAh battery that supports 68W TurboPower fast charging, an impressive feature. Surprisingly, the Motorola Edge 40 also supports 15W wireless charging, a rarity in this price range.
The phone runs on the latest Android 13-based MyUX skin, providing a clean software experience with added features. It offers customization options for icons, wallpapers, fonts, and sounds. Various gestures can trigger specific tasks, enhancing the user experience. Additionally, the Moto Secure app incorporates Lenovo’s ThinkShield security and privacy features, allowing users to monitor permissions and access indicators for the camera, microphone, and location.
Motorola promises to provide two major Android updates and three years of security support for the Edge 40.
Regarding performance, the Dimensity 8020 SoC delivers smooth performance for routine tasks and gaming, with the device offering a smooth experience in most cases. Gaming performance is notable, with the phone handling games like BGMI and Call of Duty: Mobile smoothly. Despite the slim design, the phone manages heat dissipation well, maintaining sustained performance during extended gaming sessions.
In benchmark tests, the Motorola Edge 40 scored 7,64,083 points in AnTuTu (v10), placing it behind the Poco F5, the current segment leader. In Geekbench 6, the phone achieved 1,103 and 3,588 points in the single-core and multi-core tests, respectively.
Battery life is decent, lasting a full day with medium usage and no gaming. However, playing games for an hour may require charging the device by the end of the day. The phone offers around 7 hours and 30 minutes of screen-on time on average, and in the HD video loop test, it lasted for 15 hours and 31 minutes. The 68W fast charging consistently charges the Edge 40 from zero to 75% in 30 minutes, and it also supports 15W wireless charging.
The Motorola Edge 40 features a dual-camera setup with a 50-megapixel primary camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide sensor that can also shoot macro images. For selfies, it has a 32-megapixel front camera. The primary camera captures good details, but there is some oversharpening, and colors tend to be saturated. The dynamic range processing can be hit or miss. In low light, the camera performs well, maintaining details, colors, and balanced exposure.
The ultra-wide camera is decent for the price, although there is distortion around the edges, which is typical for ultra-wide lenses. The ultra-wide sensor also supports autofocus, allowing high-resolution macro shots. However, the macro images could be more color accurate.
The phone offers portrait mode at 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm focal lengths. While subject segmentation is accurate, the background blur looks unnatural, and skin tones appear soft when capturing human subjects.
The front camera struggles with accurate skin tones, often displaying a slight red hue. Portrait mode produces creamy background blur but may also blur parts of the face.
Regarding video recording, the Motorola Edge 40 can shoot up to 4K at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps. The overall color reproduction and dynamic range of the cameras are commendable. The rear camera features OIS, and there is a Horizon lock feature for stable video recording.
In conclusion, the Motorola Edge 40 offers capable hardware, a premium design, and impressive features such as an IP68 rating, a 144Hz pOLED curved-edge display, and wireless charging. The software experience is clean and feature-rich. However, the camera performance could be improved. If you prioritize overall performance and are willing to compromise on the cameras, the Motorola Edge 40 is worth considering. However, if camera performance is a priority, alternatives such as the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G and the Samsung Galaxy A34 5G offer slightly better camera capabilities. For sheer processing power, the Poco F5 is a strong contender.
