Motorola once again enters the flagship category with the Moto Edge 30 Pro. It ticks off all the boxes for a flagship device packing a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, plenty of storage and RAM, and a fast OLED screen among many others. It has everything on paper but can it make a name for itself in the overly aggressive flagship sector?
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 |
| Screen | 6.7-inch OLED, 2400 x 1080, 144Hz, HDR10+, Gorilla Glass 3 |
| RAM | 8GB, 12GB |
| OS | Android 12 |
| Rear Camera | 50MP f/1.8 Main, 50MP f/2.4 Ultrawide, 2MP f/2.4 Depth |
| Front Camera | 60MP f/2.2 |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB UFS 3.1 |
| Network | Dual-SIM, 5G |
| Connectivity | WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, USB Type-C |
| Battery | 4,800mAh, 68W Fast Charging, 15W Fast Wireless Charging, 5W Reverse Wireless Charging |
| Others | Side-Mounted Fingerprint Scanner, Dual Stereo Speakers, IP52 Water and Dust Resistance |
| Dimensions | 163.1 x 76 x 8.8mm |
| Weight | 196g |
| Colors | Cosmos Blue, Stardust White |
The Moto Edge 30 Pro comes complete with accessories – a rare phenomenon nowadays. Encased in the blue Motorola box is the smartphone itself, a USB-C to USB-C cable, a 68W power adapter, a pair of earphones with extra silicone tips, a manual, a SIM ejector pin, and a silicone case.
Surprisingly, the device sports a plastic frame which distracts from its premium market a bit. It does have a color-changing coating that shows a kind of sheen whenever light hits it. It largely switches from blue and shades of green. The rear does not have any kind of protective coating so it’s prone to dust, scratches, and fingerprints.
All its buttons are clustered at the right-hand side and is positioned nearer to at the top instead of the middle. The volume rocker is a bit out of reach especially when you handle smartphones nearer to the bottom half. The power button doubles as a fingerprint scanner for added security.
Its USB-C port, SIM tray, and loudspeaker are all located at the bottom. It’s a cleaner look for the device since the SIM tray isn’t located at the side. It’s also worth noting that it does not have a MicroSD card slot but has space for two SIM cards.
The Edge 30 Pro sports a 6.7-inch 2400 x 1080 OLED screen with Gorilla Glass 3 and 144Hz refresh rate. Screen-to-Body ratio is slightly low at 88.5% due to the chunky chassis. As expected from an OLED panel, blacks are incredibly deep and contrast is amazing.
Colors on the smartphone’s display are excellent – they are balanced and vivid. Color Coverage is good as well with the panel having 100% sRGB and 97.30% DCI-P3. Contrast Ratio is up there with the greats thanks to its OLED panel. Brightness is also impressive breaching the 500 cd/m2 mark. This allows the screen to be used without any problems under sunlight or intense backlight sources.
The smartphone also has dual stereo speakers for better audio. Audio comes from its bottom-firing speaker and just at the top of the display. Performance is passable. The speakers can get loud and bass is definitely present but it can overpower the highs and some of the nuances in tracks at higher volumes.
The smartphone comes with stock Android 12. There are minimal pre-installed apps aside from the usual Google apps. The only app installed that’s from the brand is the Moto app, which acts as a user guide for the smartphone.
Android 12 is pretty much a vanilla experience. It comes with all the standards like multi-window support, the new widget overhaul, and bigger icons on the command center. It does add Privacy Dashboard that allows users to better manage app permissions on the device.
Its rear houses three cameras – a 50MP f/1.8 main lens with omni-directional PDAF and OIS, a 50MP f/2.2 ultrawide, and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor. Meanwhile, at the front is a single 60MP f/2.2 selfie camera.
Motorola bundles most of the standard options on the camera app like Photo, Video, Pro Mode, Filters, Scan, Dual Capture, and Slow Motion among many others. Video recording supports up to 8K30fps for the main camera while the ultrawide lens caps out at 1080p30fps.
The Moto Edge 30 Pro’s 50MP f/1.8 main camera takes fantastic stills. Details are well-rendered with very little noise in daylight shots. There is some apparent sharpening and color boosting, however, but they are not too aggressive. There is some softness in the edges and digital zoom performance isn’t the best.
The ultrawide camera might have the same pixel count as the main camera but performance is far from the same. Colors are slightly duller and aren’t as punchy as before. Details, however, are still pretty good and there’s minimal distortion at the edges.
The smartphone packs in a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 from Qualcomm. It is a flagship-class chipset and can deliver top-notch performance to apps available. The chip is complemented by 8GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Everything runs smooth as expected regardless of the number of apps concurrently open.
Benchmarks are pretty much a non-issue for the Moto Edge 30 Pro. It scores nearly 1 million points in AnTuTu and brushing up to the 15,000 mark in PCMark Work 3.0 benchmark. It maxes out Sling Shot Extreme and scores 2,322 in Wild Life Extreme.
The smartphone has all it takes to run games at a faster rate like a flagship chipset and a 144Hz OLED screen. Mainstream games, however, has yet to implement official support for smoother framerates on the device. This is unfortunate since most games will run at maximum settings at a steady 60fps.
The Moto Edge 30 Pro runs on a 4,800mAh battery. It should last for more than a day with average use but it can be extended if refresh rates are turned down to 60Hz. Running PCMark Work 3.0 battery loop test yielded a total use of 12 hours and 20 minutes with Dynamic refresh rates.
It supports 68W Fast Charging, which should fill up the tank within 1 hour and 20 minutes. The device also supports 15W Wireless Charging as well as 5W reverse wireless charging for other accessories.
The Moto Edge 30 Pro offers a solid smartphone experience without the premium price tag we expect from a flagship device. It packs in powerful hardware, a good set of cameras, decent battery life, a gorgeous screen, and a complete set of accessories.
The smartphone does have some faults like the unprotected rear, a superfluous 2MP f/2.4 depth camera, and a fairly generic design. Some might also dislike the stock Android experience though this might be an advantage to some.
Overall, the Moto Edge 30 Pro is a competent smartphone in its own right. Everything melds together to provide a complete package while still keeping prices low compared to some of its contemporaries.
The Moto Edge 30 Pro is now available in the Philippines for PhP 34,995. It can be had through Motorola’s official Shopee and Lazada online stores as well as authorized retailers nationwide.
