Motorola Edge 50 Neo Review: Compact But Very Capable

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Expert’s Rating

Pros

• Great design
• Solid performance
• Decent cameras
• Long software support

Cons

• Some software glitches
• No screen protector

Our Verdict

Motorola has done a fine job with this mid-ranger that will tick most boxes for most people. However, the OnePlus Nord 4 is only slightly more expensive at full price and a better choice overall.

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Motorola has been very busy in 2024, releasing phones at a wide range of different price points.

Sitting in the middle are its mid-range phone offerings, which include Edge 50 Neo. At £399 in the UK at launch, it’s moving into the company of some serious big hitters like the OnePlus Nord 4 and Google Pixel 8a.

Can Motorola still have an ‘Edge’ in the face of such competition? I switched to the Edge 50 Neo to find out.

Design & Build

• Colourful, compact frame
• Plastic build
• IP68 water and dust protection rating

Motorola has decided to be bold with its design choices on the Edge 50 Neo, which I think is a fantastic approach.

Gone are the boring muted tones of other manufacturers, and instead there’s a collaboration with colour specialists Pantone which delivers some fun and cool-looking liveries. The rear panel is a soft, textured vegan leather that affords more grip than on pretty much any other modern phone, with the metal frame also matched with a shinier version of the tones. 

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You can choose between Latte (sand), Grisaille (grey/blue), Nautical Blue or the Poinciana (orangey red) finish that I have here. They’re all pretty cool and offer enough range for you to find one that is as loud or refined as you prefer your smartphone to be. Motorola also includes a hard plastic rear cover in the same colour so you can add some protection without losing the look.

The Edge 50 Neo is also a reasonably compact device. The 154.1 x 71.2 x 8.1mm dimensions show that it’s narrow and comfortable to use in one hand (for the most part), while the 171g weight makes it one of the lightest models I’ve used for a while.

By comparison, the OnePlus Nord 4 measures 162.6 x 75 x 7.9 mm and weighs in at 199.5g, while the Google Pixel 8a is 152.1 x 72.7 x 8.9mm and tips the scales at 188g.

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The Edge 50 Neo also bests its rivals in terms of water resistance, coming with an IP68 rating which certifies that it can be fully immersed in up to 1.5mm of fresh water for up to 30 minutes without any damage. 

You also get stereo speakers (albeit utilising the front-facing phone speaker as one), a USB-C charging port, dual SIM tray (Nano + eSIM) and the standard power and volume controls. 

It’s a good-looking phone that feels more fun than many of its rivals, while also offering decent levels of usability and protection at this price point. 

Screen & Speakers

• 6.4-inch pOLED Super HD display
• Gorilla Glass 3
• Dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos   

One of the reasons for the compact nature of the Edge 50 Neo is the 6.4-inch pOLED display. In a world where huge screens are becoming the norm, it’s good to have a more manageable surface to work with. 

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The screen is well balanced in terms of colours, with an HDR max brightness of 3000 nits specified by Motorola. In normal use though, I measured the maximum brightness at just under 1200 nits, which is more than enough to make it readable outside on sunny days.

There’s also a variable refresh rate that goes up to 120Hz for smooth scrolling, plus the Super HD (1220p) resolution keeps things sharp. The LTPO technology in the panel (allowing it to drop as low as 1Hz automatically) helps make it energy efficient, which is good news for battery life if you’re a heavy user. 

The spec sheet has Corning Gorilla Glass as the protection for the AMOLED panel, which isn’t bad at this price. Sadly, I managed to pick up a surface scratch on the display within a few days of light use (I’m quite gentle on phones), which was disappointing. As such, I’d recommend using a screen protector if you buy the Edge Neo 50, as you don’t get one pre-installed or in the box. 

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Audio is also solid, with the main speaker on the bottom edge combining with the phone speaker at the top of the display to kick out a decent level of volume that doesn’t distort unless you push it right to the highest volume. Yes, bass is lacking, but that’s normal for most phones. 

Specs & Performance

• MediaTek Dimensity 7300 octa-core processor
• 8GB RAM + 256GB Storage
• Good gaming performance

Obviously, at this price, you’re not going to see the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 under the hood, but the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 in the Edge 50 Neo does an impressive job of keeping things ticking over nicely.

Apps all launch quickly and mainly run without issue. The 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM seems to cope with the demands placed upon it, and 256GB of uMPC onboard storage is ample for large music collections or those who want to capture plenty of photos and videos on the Edge 50 Neo. 

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I did experience a few weird glitches though, and couldn’t identify the root cause. Occasionally, touch targets in apps would become unresponsive, and at one point the icon on the home page for one app did the same, meaning I couldn’t actually launch it at all. A reset cleared the problem, but it’s not one I’ve come across on other phones often.

I had similar frustrations in the camera app, where some focal lengths just didn’t register as being selected and in several instances I couldn’t get the touch focussing to work. I’ve seen in other Moto phone reviews on our site recently that the accidental touch sensitivity could interfere with operating the phone. I think that could also be the case here, as part of my hand could have been touching the screen. Hopefully, this can be fixed in a software update.  

Other than these weird occurrences, performance for everyday tasks was smooth and stable, and even firing up some graphically demanding games didn’t pose much of a problem for the Edge 50 Neo. 

Motorola Edge 50 Neo benchmarks

Here’s how it fared against some of its rivals in our standard range of benchmark tests:

Cameras

• Solid main camera
• Average ultra-wide
• Occasional glitches

The Edge 50 Neo has a triple camera array on the rear that can deliver some very nice shots when the conditions are right.

Unsurprisingly, the main 50Mp f/1.8 shooter is the one that easily produces the best images, although the 13Mp f/2.2 ultra-wide with its 120-degree viewing angle isn’t too bad.

As is usually the case with the secondary cameras, you lose a bit of colour-balance and images don’t have the same clarity, but in a pinch and if you really need that wider scope, the photos are definitely passable.

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There’s a 10Mp f/2.0 telephoto module too, which gives a 3x optical zoom. It’s not bad, but you’ll want plenty of light if you want good images. In less optimal conditions, the software has a tendency to aggressively sharpen pictures, making them seem unrealistic, especially when you crop in closer. 

Give the main lens some sun though and you get colourful, sharp images with plenty of detail. Low light is a bit hit-and-miss, with some noise creeping in (even on the Night Mode) and movement resulting in blurred shots. The camera can often take a little longer than you think to capture the image, so be sure to stay still until you see the final results. 

Patience does pay off though, and I found that I could capture some really nice images with the Edge 50 Neo if I just took my time and paid close attention to what was happening on the display.

As mentioned earlier, I did encounter some focussing issues where the on-screen tap-to-focus feature just stopped working or the camera refused to switch between focal lengths. Hopefully, this will be patched by Motorola very soon. 

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One thing to note is that the camera software doesn’t seem to auto-expose shots when you tap on lighter or darker areas of the frame. This led to lots of my initial low-light shots being overexposed. The trick is to tap focus, then slide down the brightness control that appears next to it. Not the smoothest interaction you’ll ever have with a camera, but you can get some good results. 

Video recording goes up to 4K/30 fps and all looks smooth and still in focus. For 60fps you can drop down to 1080p, plus there’s also the option for 240/120fps slow-motion if that’s your bag. 

The 32Mp f/2.4 front camera takes a good selfie and can also capture the same quality video as its rear counterpart. So if you want a tool for your budding YouTube channel, the Edge 50 Neo might fit the bill. 

Here are some sample images I captured with the Motorola Edge 50 Neo:

Battery Life & Charging

• 4,310mAh battery
• Supports Fast and Wireless charging
• Easily gets through the day

The battery in the Edge 50 Neo might not be the biggest in the world, at 4,310mAh, but it performed well during my time with the device.

I regularly had a surplus at the end of the day, meaning I could take it into the next day without worrying about it dying while I slept. In our standard PCMark 3.0 battery test, the device lasted for 11 hours and 18 minutes, which is very respectable.

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It’s not really a two-day phone though, so you’ll need to plug it in to get energy back into those cells. Thankfully, there are a few options.

You can use a standard charger that you have at home (you don’t get one in the box) or buy a 68W fast charger to get up to 12 hours of charge in only 11 minutes, according to Motorola. There’s also 15W wireless charging support if you prefer. 

Testing the Edge 50 Neo with a 68W Motorola TurboPower charger got it from 0 to 53% in 15 minutes, 90% in 30 minutes, and fully recharged in a remarkably quick 38 mins. Obviously, these speeds won’t be as impressive with a lower-power charger. 

Software & Apps

• Android 14 out of the box
• Updates to Android 19 promised
• Hardly any bloatware

Motorola usually deploys a pretty clean version of Android, not veering far from Google’s vanilla vision of how a smartphone should work.

You do get the Motorola suite of tools that can be fun to play with for a little, but I suspect most people will then just leave them alone and get back to using the phone the same way they used their last one. 

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In that respect, everything in the software will be familiar to most people, while the clean layout makes it a joy to use.

Motorola also promises five Android version updates over the life of the Edge 50 Neo, which would take it up to Android 19, with security updates due to continue until August 2029. 

Price & Availability

The Motorola Edge 50 Neo is priced at £399/€499, which is competitive in the mid-range space. Sadly for those in the US, there are no current plans to release this model in that territory. 

In the UK, it’s available outright from Motorola and Amazon, or on contract via the following providers:

For similar money, you could go for the Google Pixel 8a, which admittedly does have a list price of £499, but is regularly in promotions that bring the cost much closer to the Motorola Edge 50 Neo.

£429 will pick you up the 12GB/256GB variant of the OnePlus Nord 4 which is an excellent choice, albeit one that’s a bit chunkier than the Moto.

Of course, there’s also the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion for £349.99, which offers much of the same specs as the Neo, aside from a larger 6.7-inch display and fewer cameras onboard. 

For more options, see our full guide to the best mid-range phones.

Should you buy the Motorola Edge 50 Neo?

There’s plenty to like about the Edge 50 Neo. It’s blessed with a fun, cool design, generous storage, enough power for most people’s everyday use, and cameras that are easily good enough for holiday snaps and posting on social media. Then there’s the price, which is probably one of the best features, as it undercuts most of its closest rivals. 

The only real drawback I had was the frustrating software control glitches in the camera app and occasionally in other areas. If these are all fixed in software patches, which I’m sure they will be, then the Edge 50 Neo could give the Google and OnePlus models a real run for their money. In the meantime, those two devices have the slight edge for most people.

Specs

• 6.4-inch pOLED display, 2670 x 1220 pixels resolution (460ppi)   
• Corning Gorilla Glass 3   
• MediaTek Dimensity 7300 octa-core processor   
• 8GB RAM   
• 256GB internal storage
• Android 14 (supported up to Android 19)
• Triple rear-facing camera system:
• 50MP f/1.8 main camera   
• 13MP f/2.2, 120-degree FOV, ultra-wide camera   
• 10MP f/2.0 telephoto camera  (3x optical zoom)
• 32MP f/2.4 front-facing camera   
• 5G   
• Wi-Fi 6E   
• Bluetooth 5.3   
• GPS
• NFC   
• Dual SIM (Nano + eSIM)
• 4310mAh battery   
• 68W TurboPower charging   
• 15W wireless charging 
• USB-C charging port  
• Dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos   
• In-display fingerprint sensor   
• IP68 water resistance
• 154.1 x 71.2 x 8.1mm
• 171g