3 days ago
Motorola Edge (2025)
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The Motorola Edge for 2025 ($549.99) is a mostly incremental update over last year's model, with just a couple of notable improvements. The display is sharper and significantly brighter than before, and the phone's already good battery life is now even longer. But despite having a fresh processor, the Edge remains underpowered compared with the competition. Moreover, its upgraded cameras also remain underwhelming. Google's $499 Pixel 9a offers faster performance, sharper cameras, more AI, and a longer software support commitment, making it a much better buy and our Editors' Choice winner for midrange Android phones.
The 2025 Edge is almost identical in appearance to the 2024 model. The front glass of the display curves to meet the aluminum frame. It's an attractive design that hasn't been updated in a few years.
The phone measures 6.35 by 2.88 by 0.31 inches (HWD) and weighs 6.38 ounces. This is almost identical to last year's model (6.28 by 2.83 by 0.31 inches, 6.14 ounces), but it is taller, thinner, and lighter than the Pixel 9a (6.10 by 2.90 by 0.40 inches, 6.6 ounces). The $599.99 OnePlus 13R (6.37 by 2.98 by 0.32 inches, 7.27 ounces) is larger and heavier than the Edge.
The right side of the phone holds the volume up and down buttons, as well as the power button. A button on the left side of the device is exclusively to launch AI, though you can program it to do nothing at all (which seems a waste). This same button appears on the Motorola Razr Ultra. The SIM card slot, USB-C port, and speaker grille are all located on the bottom edge. There's a small, circular cutout at the top of the display for the selfie camera.
The phone only comes in Pantone Deep Forest green with a faux leather back. The texture is soft and grippy, but it easily catches dust and other debris. There is a raised camera bump with three round cameras and a flash.
The display has an embedded fingerprint sensor for biometric security, and it works well. You can also choose to unlock the device with the front camera, though that is less secure than the fingerprint reader and can't authenticate banking apps.
The Edge has an IP68/69 rating for dust and water protection. The IP69 rating, in particular, means it can handle high-pressure water jets. The display is covered with Gorilla Glass 7i (a budget version of Gorilla Glass Victus) for drop and scratch protection. The OnePlus 13R also uses Gorilla Glass 7i but has a slightly lower IP65 rating. Meanwhile, the Pixel 9a uses less protective Gorilla Glass 3 on its display, but it is fully waterproof with an IP68 rating.
The 6.7-inch pOLED display is one of the most improved aspects of the 2025 Motorola Edge. It has a resolution of 2,712 by 1,220 pixels and a pixel density of 446 pixels per inch (ppi). It has a variable refresh rate between 60Hz and 120Hz and 4,500 nits of peak brightness. The 2024 model has a 6.6-inch screen with 2,400 by 1,080 pixels at 402ppi, a 144Hz adaptive refresh rate, and up to 1,200 nits of brightness. The new phone is nearly four times brighter.
The 6.3-inch Pixel 9a has a lower resolution of 2,424 by 1,080 pixels, though it has the same variable refresh rate. Its display is not as bright as the Edge, with a peak brightness of only 2,700 nits. The 6.78-inch OnePlus 13R has a similar resolution (2,780 by 1,264 pixels) as the Edge, and can also reach 4,500 nits of brightness. Its variable refresh rate ranges from 1Hz to 120Hz.
I found the Edge's display to be a real highlight. It is sharp, bright, and easy to read, even in direct sunlight.
Motorola swaps out the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 of last year's model for a MediaTek Dimensity 7400 chip, but it did not update the memory or storage, which remain at 8GB and 256GB, respectively. You cannot add storage via memory card.
The phone is sluggish in everyday use. After a restart, the Edge takes a couple of extra seconds to load its apps, and it takes longer than I'd like to navigate around the device or switch from app to app.
To test CPU performance, I ran Geekbench 6 and the Edge reached a single-core score of 1,088 and a multi-core score of 3,006. This isn't much different from last year's model (1,018 and 2,934).
The Pixel 9a uses Google's Tensor G4 processor with 8GB of RAM and performed significantly better with scores of 1,704 and 4,425. The OnePlus 13R has a much faster processor and 12GB of RAM, so it's no surprise that it bested the Edge and the 13R (2,195 and 6,483).
I tested graphics performance with GFXBench, in which the phone ran Aztec Ruins at 17fps. The Pixel 9a ran the same test at 43fps, while the OnePlus 13R smashed them all by running at 71fps.
The Edge is not a top gaming phone. While I was able to play the graphically intensive Genshin Impact on the device, it didn't run particularly well. It slowed down during points of combat and played at a lower frame rate throughout. The phone didn't have any trouble with a simpler game like Alto's Odyssey.
The OnePlus 13R and Pixel 9a are better at gaming.
Motorola gives the Edge a larger battery this year—5,200mAh compared with 5,000mAh—and it pays off with a significant jump in battery life.
I streamed an HD video over Wi-Fi with the display brightness all the way up to test how long the battery lasts on a single charge. The Edge managed to push through 22 hours and 41 minutes. The 2024 Edge ran for 15 hours and 31 minutes in the same test. The Pixel 9a has a slightly smaller battery (5,100mAh) and lasted 13 hours and 15 minutes in our test. The OnePlus 13R has a massive 6,000mAh battery, which handily beats the Edge (25 hours and 18 minutes).
The phone supports fast wired charging at up to 68W and wireless charging at 15W. You'll have to provide your own charging adapter, as one doesn't come in the box. The Pixel 9a has a max wired charging speed of 23W and a wireless charging speed of 7.5W. The OnePlus 13R comes with a 55W SuperVOOC fast charging adapter, but it doesn't support wireless charging.
I charged the phone completely in 1 hour and 54 minutes using an 18W adapter.
The Edge supports sub-6GHz and frequencies, but does not support the faster mmWave 5G that is available on some networks. Neither the Pixel 9a nor the OnePlus 13R supports mmWave.
The Edge includes Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, dual-band GPS, and Wi-Fi 6E and can hold one physical SIM and an eSIM.
I tested the phone on the T-Mobile network in an area that lacks fast cell coverage. I got download speeds of 92Mbps and upload speeds of 4.38Mbps outside on a cloudy day. An iPhone 14 Pro grabbed download speeds of 91.8Mbps and upload speeds of 62.9Mbps from the same location.
When tested on a Wi-Fi 6 connection close to the router, the Edge got speeds of 341Mbps down and 16.9Mbps up. The iPhone 14 Pro posted similar results, with download speeds of 357Mbps and upload speeds of 22.5Mbps. Those numbers dropped significantly when at the edge of the Wi-Fi network. The phone hit download speeds of 55.4Mbps and upload speeds of 3.21Mbps, while the iPhone managed 141Mbps down and 22.1Mbps up from the same spot.
Call quality is good. My callers had no problem hearing me in multiple locations, including when I had them on speaker phone.
The phone is reasonably loud. The earpiece reaches 77.2dB and the speaker tops out at 95.1dB. This is more than loud enough to hear anyone, even when walking down a busy street.
The lows were clearly audible in our test track, The Knife's 'Silent Shout,' and even vibrated the back of the phone. The volume was loud enough to fill a small room, though you'll want to connect headphones in order to get the best audio experience.
The Edge sports a 50MP main camera with a Sony LYT700C sensor, an aperture of f/1.8, and an 84-degree field of view (FoV). It includes optical image stabilization to prevent blurry photos. There's a combined 50MP ultra-wide and macro camera with an aperture of f/2.0 and a 120-degree FoV. These are joined by a 10MP telephoto lens at f/2.0 with 3x optical zoom and a 33-degree FoV. Finally, the phone sports a 50MP f/1.9 selfie camera with an 89-degree FoV. The pictures are binned by a factor of four (12.5MP), though you can take photos in full resolution if you wish.
The photos are lacking. Zooming in reveals a poor level of detail, while the colors look unnaturally bright. There are four zoom modes, plus a macro mode. Here's a comparison:
The colors of the grass and trees are a particularly vibrant shade of green that borders on neon. The grass was not nearly so bright in real life.
The macro camera had a particularly difficult time focusing on these flowers. I could have taken a better shot using the main camera instead.
The front camera did a fine job of taking this selfie of my dog in low light.
Video capture tops out at a resolution of 4K and 30fps. The videos look almost identical to the photos, with visible noise in low light and artificially brightened colors.
There are a few Google AI photo editing tricks on board. Google Auto Enhance automatically edits your photos, Google Unblur helps focus blurry photos, and Magic Eraser gets rid of unwanted objects in your photos.
The Pixel 9a has better cameras and more AI editing tricks.
The Edge runs on a mostly clean version of Android 15. Motorola says the Edge will receive two OS upgrades and three years of security updates, which is less than the Pixel 9a, which is backed by seven years of OS updates and security patches. If you're looking for long-lasting software support, the Pixel 9a is hard to beat.
Motorola loads a folder stuffed with its apps onto the home screen, which includes the Moto app, Moto Secure (privacy), Family Space (parental controls), a Games app, Moto Unplugged (focus modes), Smart Connect (connecting other Motorola devices), and a Notes app. Thankfully, you can delete any app that you don't want.
Despite having a dedicated AI button, there aren't a ton of AI capabilities on the phone. The button launches Moto AI, which requires you to log into a Motorola account. It utilizes Perplexity AI to handle your queries. Google Gemini is also available, as is Circle to Search. There's Google Lens, too, but that's about it.
