A slim form factor from Motorola with a healthier battery life!!
Motorola Edge smartphones are the most popular segment in the mid-range and premium mid-range segments. This year, we have the Edge 70 series, where there are three offerings in the form of the Edge 70, Edge 70 Fusion, and the Edge 70 Pro, with the Edge 70 Pro being the premium offering of the three. With the Motorola Edge 70 Pro, there is a steep increase in price due to the rising prices of components like RAM and storage.
The Motorola Edge 70 Pro packs a handful of specifications, including a 144Hz AMOLED display, a powerful MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Extreme chipset, and a 50MP camera setup. And much more. However, the most striking aspect of the smartphone has to be its slimmer profile, where the brand has packed a lot without sacrificing the design. With many competitors in the premium mid-range segment, can the Motorola Edge 70 Pro take the top spot?
Let's find out in the full review.
Motorola Edge 70 Pro Design:
The Motorola Edge 70 Pro sports a similar look to all Motorola smartphones, with the square-shaped camera module at the back that houses the triple cameras along with an LED flashlight. The back of the smartphone has a silicon polymer textured back, which provides solid grip when held in the hands. Even the back colour matches that of the camera module. The camera module is slightly raised and is not so protruding, which means it would not wobble when kept on a flat surface.
The smartphone is available in five different colours which are Pantone calibrated - Tea, Titan, Lily White, Zinfandel, and Chicory Coffee. The Zinfandel is just like Burgundy colour and looks attractive and has a satin luxe finish on the back. The rest of the colours also look attractive, with the Lily White getting a smooth marble-like finish, Tea colour getting a satin-luxe finish, and the Titan colour variant getting a fabric finish on the back, all of which look premium.
Irrespective of whichever colour you choose, the back of the smartphone colour matches the frame running all around. As usual, just like Motorola smartphones, there is an M logo embossed in the middle of the back panel with a slight recess in the texture where you can place your thumb while taking images from the camera. Coming to the sides, Motorola has struck the slim factor here with a 7.2mm profile thickness, but it is made of polycarbonate, which is a slight letdown when compared to an aluminium finish.
In terms of ingress protection, the smartphone is protected by MIL-STD-810H, which means it can handle transport and temperature shocks. There is also an IP68/IP69 rating, which makes it dust and water resistant, so it can survive under fresh water upto 1.5meters for 30 minutes and can also handle high-pressure water jets. In terms of weight distribution, the smartphone weighs around 190 grams, making it very light and easier to hold in the hands.
Coming to the sides, there is a power button along with volume buttons on the right side, whereas the left side gets a dedicated AI Key, which comes in handy in daily usage and will be discussed in the software section later. The bottom of the smartphone houses a USB Type-C port, a loudspeaker grille, a dual SIM card slot, and a primary microphone. On the top, there is a tiny hole for the speaker, which, along with the bottom loudspeaker grille, doubles up as a stereo speaker.
There is no earpiece grille on the top as such. On the front, there is a quad curved display which is curved on all four sides, but the curvature has been reduced compared to previous Motorola Edge smartphones in the past, making it easy to handle. Around the sides, the bezels are slimmer, and there is a single punch-hole located at the top at the middle, which houses the selfie camera. Overall, the build and design look and feel premium, along with a good level of safety standards.
Motorola Edge 70 Pro Display:
The Motorola Edge 70 Pro houses a larger 6.78-inches 1.5K (1272x2772 pixels) Extreme AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 19.5:9. The display is a 10-bit panel, and since it is an AMOLED panel, you get deeper blues and blacks along with great viewing angles. The display is an LTPS panel and has a 144Hz refresh rate, so the refresh rate will vary based on the content on the display. In terms of display protection, there is Corning Gorilla Glass 7i on the front.
Talking about the refresh rate, the display usually refreshes at 120Hz for almost all scenarios. There are three different settings to choose from: Smart and Balanced, Hyper Smooth and Efficiency First. Both Smart and Balanced and Hyper Smooth work similarly, except that Hyper Smooth continues to maintain a 120Hz refresh rate for almost all applications, thus prioritising fluidity and responsiveness, whereas the Hyper Smooth maintains a 90Hz refresh rate frequently, thus striking a balance of battery life and fluidity.
Efficiency First, as the name suggests, maintains a constant refresh rate of 60Hz, thus maximising battery life. For example, while you are watching a movie, the display refreshes at 90Hz, and it drops down to 60Hz while you are viewing any static content or the display is idle, i.e. not in use. Only when it comes to playing heavy games like Call of Duty Mobile, BGMI, etc., does the display achieve a refresh rate of 144Hz, and that too works in selected games only.
Combined with the 144Hz refresh rate, you get a 360Hz touch sampling rate for faster touch responses. In terms of display brightness, the display of the Motorola Edge 70 Pro can reach around 5200 nits, which is a very good figure, and under High Brightness Mode, the display brightness hovers around 1800- 2000 nits, which is good, and you get good visibility under direct sunlight also. In terms of display colour settings, there are three different modes to choose from: Natural, Radiant, and Vivid.
If you choose the Natural mode, the colours have a natural look with accurate and realistic colours, which covers the sRGB colour space, whereas if you choose Radiant or Vivid mode, the colours look punchier and saturated with deeper blues and blacks, thus covering the DCI-P3 gamut. There is a dedicated temperature slider where you can set the display to a warmer or a cooler tone. The display of the smartphone has an optical in-display fingerprint scanner, which works accurately and is faster.
The display of the smartphone has support for HDR on YouTube, which means you can stream HDR content on YouTube, and there is support for Widevine L1, so you can stream HDR content on OTT platforms like Netflix, Prime, etc. But there is no support for Dolby Vision as of now, which could be fixed with a future software update.
Motorola Edge 70 Pro Performance:
The Motorola Edge 70 Pro sports a powerful MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Extreme chipset, which is a powerful chipset and is made to power some of the premium mid-range smartphones. The MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Extreme chipset is a good upgrade over last year's MediaTek Dimensity 8350 chipset present on last year's Motorola Edge 60 Pro, as you almost 60 per cent better CPU performance and 40 per cent better GPU performance.
The MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Extreme chipset is based on an octa-core setup which includes 1x3.4GHz Cortex-A725 core with 3x3.2GHz Cortex-A725 cores and another set of 4x2.2GHz Cortex-A725 cores, all of which have been coupled with a powerful Mali-G720 MC8 GPU. This chipset is based on an efficient 4nm process. In terms of daily tasks like scrolling through webpages, streaming social media, and other multitasking tasks, the smartphone handles everything without breaking a sweat.
In games like Call of Duty Mobile, BGMI, etc. the smartphone handled the gameplay easily at the highest graphics settings without much of frame drops or stutters as such during a longer time of gameplay. In BGMI, the smartphone easily ran at Smooth graphics along with Extreme/Ultra Extreme frame rates, with very minor frame drops, and the gameplay was almost consistent at 100-110fps for most of the time.
On very rare occasions, we touched 120fps completely. In Genshin Impact, the smartphone easily ran at Highest/Ultra settings with an average frame rate of 58.8 to 59.1fps during gameplay. During prolonged gameplay, there were a few frame drops noticed, along with the back of the smartphone getting warmer. In terms of thermals, after longer hours of gameplay, i.e. 3-4 hours, the back becomes warmer, especially around the camera module.
Motorola claims that they have equipped a 4600mm2 vapour cooling chamber which helps in dissipating heat faster. In CPU throttling tests, the smartphone could easily achieve a sustained performance of around 85-90 per cent with almost no throttling noticed. In terms of benchmarks, the scores came out really good in both AnTuTu v6 and Geekbench 6.0.
In terms of network connectivity, you get support for good carrier aggregation, and there are almost all bands of 5G present, ensuring smooth connectivity. The Motorola Edge 70 Pro is available in three different variants: 8GB RAM with 256GB storage, 12GB RAM with 256GB storage, and 12GB RAM with 512GB storage, with RAM speeds of LPDDR5X and storage speeds of UFS 4.1.
Motorola Edge 70 Pro Software:
The Motorola Edge 70 Pro runs on the latest HelloUI, which is based on Android 16 out of the box. HelloUI look almost like Stock Android, which means the look and feel of the user interface is very simple but brings along a handful of features and customisations. There are a host of AI features which come in handy during daily usage. There are a lot of customisations present where you can change icon shape, size, colour and also fonts.
There are in-built themes along with custom accent colours that match the wallpaper. The Always-On display gets different styles to choose from and is well integrated with the lock screen. The lock screen can now accommodate more widgets, making it handy during the usage. The Moto app houses a handful of gestures, and Moto Secure, which is a built-in security feature, has Secure Folder, using which you can hide and lock sensitive applications, photos, and files through different ways of authentication.
You can perform a three-finger selection on the display to take a screenshot, and it lets you select a piece of text or image and drag in a different application. Personalise lets you customise the icon's shape, size, colour and choose fonts for it. To ensure cross-device connectivity, there is Smart Connect, which lets you link the smartphone to a PC, laptop, or any external display through a wired or wireless approach. It brings features like phone-to-PC integration, wireless display casting, and clipboard syncing.
Motorola has also added AI-powered voice commands to Smart Connect, making the experience much easier. When it comes to AI features, you can invoke them once you press the AI Key, which is present on the left side of the smartphone or by doing a double-tap gesture on the back. Moto AI supports a wide range of features, which include "Remember This", which lets you take a screenshot, add a voice memo for context and have it indexed for easy searching.
"Pay Attention" lets you record and transcribe conversations or meetings with summaries. Image Studio provides multiple functionalities like text-to-image generation, which transforms written prompts and ideas into artwork; you can sketch rough drawings into polished and detailed graphics, create custom digital stickers from text prompts for messaging and social sharing and also you can generate personalised digital avatars using on-device processing.
Playlist Studio lets you generate a custom music playlist using text or voice prompts based on different moods, vibe and current screen content. The Moto AI is well implemented with Copilot Vision, which uses the smartphone's camera to analyse the physical surroundings, objects, texts in real time and answers questions accordingly. HelloUI also lets you choose between multiple AI assistants like Google Gemini and Explore with Perplexity.
There are a bunch of Motorola-specific gestures like a karate chop to turn on/off flashlight on/off, twist the wrist to turn on the camera, and back tap lets you switch between applications and control music in the playlist. Flipping the smartphone for Do Not Disturb lets you automatically mute incoming calls, messages and alarms. You can enable Sidebar, where you can store your favourite applications and use them. Double-pressing the power key lets you open Google Gemini or the camera application.
In terms of bloatware, there are a few third-party applications present in the user interface, like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. You can uninstall them easily, but there is a third-party application named Indus App Store, which does throw in a lot of notifications and recommendations which cannot be uninstalled but can be disabled. In terms of software updates, the Motorola Edge 70 Pro will receive another three years of Android OS updates and five years of security patches, which is good but still not the best.
Motorola Edge 70 Pro Cameras:
The Motorola Edge 70 Pro houses a triple camera setup which includes a 50MP f/1.7 Sony LYTIA-700 sensor for the primary camera, a 50MP f/2.0Samsung ISOCELL JN5 for the ultrawide camera and a 3-in-1 light sensor which helps the primary camera to achieve low-light images and videos. On the front, there is a 50MP f/1.9 Samsung ISOCELL JN5 sensor for the selfie camera. There is no more the telephoto camera, which was present on last year's Motorola Edge 60 Pro seems to be slightly disappointing.
The images from the primary camera during the day come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range, with almost less noise in the background. The colours look punchier, with deeper blues and blacks, with no oversharpening as such in the background. The white balance is handled well, but the contrast is on the higher side. The human skin tones come out a bit warmer, though. Using the 50MP dedicated mode, the images come out with sharper details, but the noise is slightly on the higher side.
During the night, the images from the primary camera come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range. The exposure is well balanced, and the darker areas. The details in shadows come out sharper, with a slight tendency to oversharpen the background. The colours look natural, though a bit washed out at times, but still it is very hard to find the flaws. That said, with the dedicated Night Mode, the images come out with much sharper details with almost no noise in the background.
The 2x zoomed images from the primary camera come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range with less noise in the background. The colours look natural, and almost similar results are achieved at night, but the details look a tad softer, with some oversharpening in the background. The 50MP ultrawide camera does a great job in terms of details that look sharper, with a wider dynamic range and have less noise in the background.
The ultrawide images taken during the night come out with sharper details and have good dynamic range, but the noise is slightly on the higher side. The colours look natural, but there is a lot of oversharpening present in the background. The details in shadows look decent, and white balance is maintained well. There is no dedicated telephoto camera, which is a miss here, as it was present with last year's Motorola Edge 60 Pro.
For portraits, the primary camera does a good job, with sharper details, wider dynamic range, and less background noise. Skin tones come out accurate, with no oversharpening in the background. The edge detection is good, along with proper background blur. You can achieve 2x-level portraits at 35mm, resulting in sharper details and wider dynamic range with almost no noise in the background.
In terms of selfies, the front camera of the smartphone does a great job in terms of detail, which looks sharper with a wider dynamic range, and noise is also less in the background. The skin tones look natural without any kind of oversharpening in the background. The portrait selfies come out with proper edge detection and good background blur, with no such oversharpening in the background. The skin tones look natural in the portrait selfies.
When it comes to videos, all three cameras, which include the primary, ultrawide and the front, can record 4K videos at 60fps. The videos from the primary camera come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range with almost less noise in the background. The colours look natural without any kind of oversharpening in the background. At night, the results are almost similar, but there is oversharpening in the background with slightly higher noise.
The 1080p videos at 60fps from the primary camera come out with wider dynamic range, and the details look much sharper with natural colours in the background. The 4K videos from the ultrawide camera come out with sharper details and have good dynamic range, with some amount of noise in the background. The videos from the front camera come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range with less noise in the background.
Motorola Edge 70 Pro Battery Life:
The Motorola Edge 70 Pro packs a larger 6500mAh battery, which is quite large in capacity, and it uses silicon-carbon technology, which offers higher energy density than traditional lithium-ion cells. The battery capacity is not the largest, as other smartphones like the OnePlus Nord 6 (Review) come with a larger 9000mAh battery. With the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Extreme chipset underneath, we do expect good battery life.
With normal usage that includes scrolling through webpages, streaming social media, etc., the smartphone easily lasted for one and a half days with some charge left. The standard screen-on time with normal usage came around 8-8.5 hours, which are very good figures. With heavy usage that includes playing heavy games like Call of Duty Mobile for 3-4 hours continuously, rendering videos, taking images and videos from the cameras, etc., the smartphone easily lasted for one day with charge left.
The standard screen-on time with heavy usage came around 4-5 hours, which is quite good considering the size of the battery. The smartphone is equipped with a 90W fast charger, which uses Motorola's TurboCharge technology, which means the smartphone easily achieves 0 to 100 per cent within 1 hour, making it quite fast. There is no support for wireless charging, which is a big disappointment since the Motorola Edge 60 Pro had it.
Motorola Edge 70 Pro Audio Quality:
The Motorola Edge 70 Pro sports a dual stereo speaker setup, with the top speaker and the bottom loudspeaker grille together providing stereo output with a good level of bass and treble. The sound does not feel muffled or distorted even at the highest volume settings, but the level of loudness is not the best. Dolby Atmos is available for enhanced sound output while watching movies, listening to songs, etc. There is also support for LHDC and LDAC, so you get a good experience while using earphones.
Verdict:
The Motorola Edge 70 Pro is a solid contender in the premium mid-range smartphone segment, offering a well-rounded package with most of the essential features users would expect in this category. It boasts a premium, sleek, and eye-catching design, complemented by a 144Hz AMOLED display and stereo speakers that make multimedia consumption an enjoyable experience.
The powerful chipset delivers capable day-to-day performance and a satisfying gaming experience, while the feature-rich software, with its handy gestures and useful AI-powered features, further enhances everyday usability. The camera system performs well in both photography and videography, while the battery life is dependable enough for daily use. The addition of fast charging is another welcome advantage.
However, Motorola has made a few compromises to keep the pricing competitive, and some of these decisions leave the Edge 70 Pro trailing behind its rivals. The removal of the dedicated telephoto camera and wireless charging support is particularly disappointing, especially considering that its predecessor, the Motorola Edge 60 Pro, offered both features. In terms of performance and gaming, the chipset is capable of handling demanding workloads, but thermal efficiency remains a concern.
The rear panel can become noticeably warm during extended gaming sessions. The ultrawide camera is another area that needs improvement, particularly when it comes to low-light photography and video recording. Furthermore, Motorola's software update policy falls short of what some competing smartphone brands offer, which could be a concern for users who prioritise long-term software support.
Overall, if you can live with these compromises, the Motorola Edge 70 Pro is an excellent option in the premium mid-range segment, particularly for users who prioritise design, display quality, battery life, and a smooth, feature-rich software experience. However, if gaming performance and camera versatility, there are better alternatives available in the market.