For its type of phone, the Motorola Edge 50 Neo does not disappoint. WANT Editor Sebastiën Hoek has been testing it daily for several weeks and here’s what he thinks of it.
Every family has a relative who is different from the others. It could be your second cousin who has a quirky hobby like hobby horse riding, or that one uncle you’d swear is from the milkman. The Motorola Edge 50 Neo is the uncle in this story.
The Motorola Edge 50 Neo is, how could it be otherwise, part of the Edge family. Remarkably, it is the only one that does not have an “Edge,” as the display is completely flat. Now this doesn’t matter, because it’s the inside that counts. And for a $499 midrange smartphone, Motorola has done its best to make it feel like a flagship.
Motorola Edge 50 Neo: What does it look like?
I personally always find buying a smartphone to be quite an experience. You’ve done your homework beforehand. You went to a store to get a feel for the show model and after some deliberation you choose the smartphone you are going to spend a lot of time with. Then once you get home you open the box and that too is often quite an experience.
With mid-range phones, that experience is often a bit less, because all the money has gone into the smartphone and not the experience around it. Motorola always handles that smartly. The moment you open the box of a Motorola smartphone, a very nice smell comes to you. So too with the Motorola Edge 50 Neo. The box itself is pretty straightforward, but the perfume still makes you feel like you are walking in a flower garden.
(Image: Sebastiën Hoek/WANT)
Once taken out of the packaging, the Motorola Edge 50 Neo feels like a premium phone. The back is made of vegan leather, which not only feels soft in your hands, but also looks stylish. I myself tested the color Poinciana. A kind of red-orange color composed by Pantone.
The color is carried all around. Even the cameras are surrounded by the vegan leather in this color. You have to love the color, but in a pile of phones, I’m sure your Poinciana colored phone will stand out.
Who is this phone for?
While testing this smartphone, my mother asked if this could be a phone for her. The screen on her current phone is broken and she wants to buy a new one. My mother does not do shocking things with her phones. She apps, calls and takes the occasional picture. She also doesn’t want to spend more than 500 euros on a smartphone and preferably wants Android on her phone.
I recommended the Motorola Edge 50 Neo as an option. It’s a great phone for what she does and she can use it for a while because Motorola guarantees five OS updates and five years of security updates. If you’re in the market for a midrange smartphone, the Motorola Edge 50 Neo is definitely a device to consider. Don’t expect the best cameras, the fastest chip or mountains of features. Those are often destined for a flagship like the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra.
(Image: Sebastiën Hoek/WANT)
Motorola Edge 50 Neo: under the hood
How a phone looks and what the experience is like when you take it out of box is important, of course, but the most important thing is how the phone functions in everyday use.
The chip in the Motorola Edge Neo is the MediaTek Dimensity 7300. This is not the fastest chip, but if you use the phone normally, you won’t notice much of this. Switching between apps goes smoothly and apps respond quickly. In the Netherlands, only the 512 GB variant with 12 GB of working memory is available.
Motorola Edge 50 Neo’s battery has a capacity of 4310 mAh. You can charge the battery with a 68 watt charger. This will charge the battery from 0 to 50 percent in 12 minutes. The smartphone comes out of the box with Android 14 and Motorola guarantees five years of OS updates and five years of security updates.
What I did find disappointing is the fingerprint scanner. Sometimes it may not work because you have greasy fingers or it’s raining. But I have rarely had a fingerprint scanner fail to respond to your fingerprint so often. Maybe it can be solved software-wise, but it should be looked into.
(Image: Sebastiën Hoek/WANT)
Display and Camera
One hardware thing that I am quite impressed with is the display. The display is a 6.4-inch Super HD 1.5 K pOLED screen with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hertz. For a midrange smartphone, I think this display is one of the better ones in its class. It adds to the feeling that this phone wants to look like a flagship.
The screen also works fine in high sunlight environments. The past few weeks have been nice summer weather and I haven’t had a moment where I couldn’t see what was on the screen. This has everything to do with the number of nits Motorola Edge 50 Neo can produce. Namely, there are 2,800 of them.
The cameras on the Motorola Edge 50 Neo do not disappoint either. It is one of the features that makes you almost forget you have mid-range cameras in your hands. The main camera is a 50 megapixel, the wide-angle lens is 13 megapixels and the telephoto lens is 10 megapixels. The selfie camera has 32 megapixels. The overall impression of the photo quality is fine, but it is not top quality. This is not surprising considering the price of 499 euros.
If this were a flagship I would say this is a mediocre camera and there are better options on the market. But being a mid-range phone I think you really get value for money. You get a lot of camera options to go around. Of course the camera falls short at certain times, especially in night mode, but during the day you can take great pictures with it.
(Image: Sebastiën Hoek/WANT)
Moto AI and Gaming
Moto AI mainly targets those who love taking pictures and videos. Moto AI allows you to shoot very nice pictures, but it also shows that the camera may be a little more limited than you thought.
This is mainly in the authenticity of the colors. In the photos where the AI is applied, there is little to notice. But if the colors are not corrected, then everything looks a bit pale and dull. And in my eyes, that then immediately shows the limitation of the camera. Is that a bad thing? For the average user, I don’t think so.
Another part of Moto AI is the stabilizer that is used to correct your movements while filming. It’s somewhere clever that the software can do this, but don’t expect the same results you’d get if you actually plugged the Motorola Edge 50 Neo into a stabilizer. But geeky it is.
If you want to game on the Motorola Edge 50 Neo you’ll really have to make do with games that don’t consume too much of your working memory. If you play the occasional game on your phone then you don’t have to worry. Should you want something a bit heavier then I would recommend perhaps considering a gaming smartphone.
(Image: Sebastiën Hoek/WANT)
Final Verdict:
The Motorola Edge 50 Neo is a midrange phone with aspirations of being a flagship. It may be the odd man out within the Edge family, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting.
If you’re looking for an affordable smartphone that looks stylish and provides you with every convenience, the Motorola Edge 50 Neo is definitely a good choice to consider. And it smells nice, too.
About the display and camera, I am generally positive. Of course you can get better, but for a price of 499 euros Motorola really gives a decent camera and a great display. Less positive I am about the fingerprint scanner, they can improve it from me. That your finger doesn’t pick up once in a while is normal, but it shouldn’t become a daily ritual.
Should this not be an obstacle for you, the Motorola Edge 50 Neo is definitely worth considering. The smartphone is available now. My mother has not yet decided which phone to go for, but is leaning toward the Motorola Edge 50 Neo. My “approval” she has.
Edge 50 Neo
Motorola
7
Score
Plus points
A mid-range device that looks a lot like a flagship Camera Display Design
Minuses
Fingerprint scanner sometimes falters Not the strongest chip
The Motorola Edge 50 Neo is a fine smartphone for those who are not looking for too many bells and whistles. For a price of 499 euros, I think Motorola gives you value for your money. What they have crammed into this phone is almost an accomplishment in itself. While it really does fall short against most flagships, it is an above-average mid-range phone. The design, screen and cameras are pluses in my eyes. The only thing that really annoyed me was the fingerprint scanner. For the price, I think it is a very good phone.
