Motorola Edge 30 Ultra review: 200 megapixels of potential

Here I am with the complete review of Motorola Edge 30 Ultra , the return of the winged house on the high end of the market, a return in style, with the ingredients that have always belonged to Motorola smartphones: concreteness, simple software, quality hardware.

This Edge 30 Ultra is placed in the competitive range of the near-top , managing to play several interesting cards: the 125 Watt recharge, a 200 MP camera, top of the range processor in the face of the only real compromise represented by the lack of resistance certification with water and powder. Let’s find out in more detail.

[i2pc pros_icon=”icon icon-plus-thick” cons_icon=”icon icon-minus-thick” show_title=”true” title=”Pros & Cons” show_button=”false” pros_title=”Pros” cons_title=”Cons” heading_pros_icon=”icon icon-plus-thick” heading_cons_icon=”icon icon-minus-thick” ][i2pros] Very good ultra fluid screen
Controlled design
True stereo speakers
125W charging + 50W wireless + 10W reverse[/i2pros][i2cons]200MP without any optimization
Finishes to be slightly improved[/i2cons][/i2pc]

DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING QUALITY

Motorola Edge 30 Ultra is a nice beast of 161.8 x 73.5 x 8.4 mm with curved edges that recreate an overall look very similar to that of the Pixel 6 Pro on the front. In the package you will find a nice TPU cover that will help ergonomics since the edges are extremely thin and angular , refined but impractical.

The back is made of Gorilla Glass 5, as is the display protection, the frame is made of aluminum and the build quality is impeccable , despite the absence of IP certification. It must be said, however, that on all the holes there are gaskets that testify at least a partial resistance to water, the idea that I got is that essentially only the certification is missing, as often happened in the past for OnePlus smartphones.

Related: Motorola also messes with names

MOTOROLA EDGE 30 ULTRA TECHNICAL SHEET

Model Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
OS version Android 12
Manufacturer interface Android Stock
screen size 6.7 inches
Definition 2400 x 1080 pixels
Pixel density 387 dpi
Technology OLED
SoCs Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
Graphics chip (GPU) Adreno 730
Memory (RAM) 12 GB
Internal memory (flash) 256 GB
Camera (back) Sensor 1: 200 MP
Sensor 2: 50 MP
Sensor 3: 12 MP
Camera (front) 60 MP
Video recording 4K
Wireless Wi-Fi 6 (ax)
Bluetooth 5.2
5G Yes
NFC Yes
Fingerprint sensor Yes
Ports (inputs/outputs) USB Type-C
Battery 4610mAh
Dimensions 75.6 x 163.6 x 8.5mm
Weight 194 grams
Colors Black White
Price 882 €

DESIGN

Having had the entire range in our hands, we can easily establish from the first grip that the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra is the device that has received the most attention. Not to say that the little brothers have drawn the short straw, but simply because it immediately places itself in the premium category… as soon as it touches your skin.

This goes through its rounded frame, whose screen glass joins the edges in a rounded shape. Its size, its format, its small, well-balanced weight which suggests that an engineer, somewhere, really racked his brains about the details. Or even this photo island on the back, which moves away from the Edge 30 Pro or classic with a design in three parts organized like a kind of staircase, and which takes up very little space in the upper left corner of the device unlike the current trend.

Source: Anthony Wonner – Frandroid

There is a detail in this design that particularly strikes me, without knowing if it was thought out during the design or is simply a happy accident. The brushed glass back is polished in only one place: the Motorola logo. This brushed glass is terribly slippery, and yet, in use, I found myself never having a problem with the grip thanks to this logo.

This famous smooth glass logo, which is placed precisely where my index finger rests naturally, and which always manages to grip my skin. In doing so, the slipperiness of the Edge 30 Ultra is counterbalanced by this simple touch. Happy accident or engineering genius? In the end: it works.

However, the edges of the frame do not have a particularly pleasant feeling, as if they and the screen were not perfectly aligned. A detail, certainly, but in this category… The detail counts.

Source: Anthony Wonner – Frandroid

CAMERAS

The photographic sector of Motorola Edge 30 Ultra is all a program. In this paragraph I will not go into too much detail since we analyzed it more closely in a special a few days ago. The workhorse is the 200 MP Samsung HP1 main sensor , with stabilized optics and dual dual pixel autofocus. Alongside it we find a 50 MP ultrawide with Samsung JN1 with AF and a 12 MP non-stabilized 2X optical telephoto lens ; finally, on the front, there is a 60 MP F / 2.2 camera.

The photos at 200 MP are truly remarkable for the level of detail, with an image cleanliness that I would not have expected given the amount of data involved and the tiny pixel dimensions. You can shoot essentially during the day and with a lot of light, but in some situations they will leave you speechless.

Slide 1 | Slide 2 | Slide 3 |

Clearly the images do not necessarily have to be processed at 200 MP, also because they weigh between 50 and 70 MB each, they would be unmanageable after a while. Pixel binning then intervenes, associating 16 pixels to groups of 4×4 , for a virtual pixel of 2.56 micrometers.

The results are convincing , the software works well despite the many data to be processed and even in low light, even with shots in extreme situations, it manages to extricate itself without problems.

Related: Motorola Maui is coming later this year

Curved edge screen

The times you instead consume content in the phone itself, the screen generally performs well. The resolution is sufficient and the color reproduction is good. You can adjust it yourself in the settings between two modes, Saturated or Natural colors as well as choose the color temperature, which should satisfy most wishes. The fact that the screen has curved edges means that the color reproduction suffers there, while the bend itself can be seen as something that affects the overall impression of the phone and its shapes positively, purely aesthetically. Motorola takes advantage of the curved screen by letting the edge light up when you get an app notification. I try this and realize it doesn’t work. If I put the phone upside down on the table, the light is too dim for anyone to notice. It requires almost a completely dark room for it to work in practice.

The curved screen as well as the rounded edges also on the back means that the phone has fairly sharp edges, something which, however, becomes less noticeable if you use the included rubber shell, or for that matter any other shell. When I drive without a shell, I clearly notice that the feeling of quality is good, nothing has been spared here. The back is in matte glass and the only thing I can really complain about is that the phone doesn’t have full moisture protection, but you have to make do with splash resistance. So no intentional or unintentional baths.

The main selling point of the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra is the battery capacity and fast charging that provide real value, but in most other areas it’s a disappointment that Motorola hasn’t thought through its choices.

Software

On Motorola Edge 30 we find Android 12 with security patches updated to September 1, 2022 , the Motorola update policy provides for 3 years of Android updates and 4 of security patches for this model

You know that my personal preference goes towards stock-inspired UXs, despite recognizing the greater completeness of customized interfaces such as OneUI or ColorOS, I believe that simple and well-finished software, just like on this Motorola Edge, is the best solution.

All additions are packed within the Moto app. It is a setting that I personally find very effective in being able to keep the menus simple without giving up a nice set of settings and customizations.

In particular, the set of gestures is abundant, there are many possibilities for graphic customization and there is the historic Moto Display functionality, a sort of advanced and interactive ambient display, which has recently been graphically updated to be also satisfying to the eye as well as very comfortable. .

Among the various functions of Edge 30 Ultra there is also Ready For , the suite of tools in the desktop environment that is obtained by connecting the smartphone to a PC or monitor, with cable or wireless. It is an excellent Swiss army knife that contains many functions, including the ability to use the smartphone as a webcam and the ability to transfer large files in seconds.

Three figures even on fast charging

From aspects other than photography, the Edge 30 Ultra offers more. A high number, in addition to the megapixel number, that one can react to in the specifications is that of the charger. Motorola ships with a charger, which is far from obvious these days, and that charger allows you to quickly charge the phone with a full 125 W. This means, for example, when I try now that the phone goes from 37 percent to 65 percent in five minutes. If you need to top up, you don’t have to wait long, but just like so often with fast chargers, the charger is large and heavy. It is considerably heavier than the phone itself, so it may not be something you like to carry around.

Source: Anthony Wonner – Frandroid

Furthermore, Motorola impresses with the performance. It is served by the currently fastest system chip, which is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, and the phone’s screen also has a refresh rate of up to 144 hertz, so speed must be there. However, the experience of it is not as extreme as the numbers suggest, because launching apps and browsing, for example, web pages or in the menus does not feel as lightning fast as it could. There, for example, Oneplus is clearly ahead of Motorola in its software optimization.

Otherwise, software is a way for manufacturers to distinguish themselves and to offer something that benefits from the performance and hardware the phone in question offers. Motorola’s interface does not add much extreme, but on the contrary is close to pure Android. Nothing wrong with that, but on the contrary, Motorola is good at keeping the experience stripped down and at the same time building on and refining what Google basically delivers. Many times Motorola’s additions are well thought out. The apps that come with it are above all a decent arsenal of Google apps, more than we usually see, so there’s Google Wallet, Google Podcasts and Google News as well. Motorola has the Moto app where many of the special features are gathered and explained, a special game mode and its own Ready For. It is a way to connect the phone to a television, screen or Windows PC to take advantage of the phone and view and interact with its contents on a larger screen. It can be about productivity with a connected mouse and keyboard, about games, video calls or just watching movies.

MOTOROLA EDGE 30 ULTRAPERFORMANCE

To be able to be Motorola’s “best of the best”, the Edge 30 Ultra necessarily had to integrate the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, undoubtedly the best chip on the market for Android smartphones. This is indeed the case, and it is here coupled with 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256 GB of storage space in UFS 3.1. The basics of a premium smartphone at the end of the year.

Model Motorola Edge 30 Ultra Asus Zenfone 9 OnePlus 10T Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4
AnTuTu 9 1016249 1085542 754073 795057
AnTuTu CPU 224236 255974 126624 188228
AnTuTu GPU 435381 468392 416631 330284
AnTuTu MEM 171686 181036 100661 125553
AnTuTu UX 184946 180140 110157 150992
PC Mark 3.0 15348 16292 10443 13121
3DMark Wild Life Extreme 2790 2776 2696 2341
3DMark Wild Life Extreme average framerate 16.70 FPS 16.6 FPS 16 FPS 14 FPS
GFXBench Aztec Vulkan/Metal high (onscreen / offscreen) 46 / 30FPS 67 / 51 FPS 60 / 47 FPS 57 / 34 FPS
GFXBench Car Chase (onscreen/offscreen) 50 / 59 FPS 89 / 103 FPS 60 / 97 FPS 38 / 44 FPS
GFXBench Manhattan 3.0 (onscreen/offscreen) 115 / 168 FPS 119 / 258 FPS 60 / 218 FPS 81 / 92 FPS
Sequential Read/Write 1742 / 1318 MB/s 1955 / 1453 MB/s 1637 / 1108 MB/s 1491 / 979 MB/s
Random read/write 88700 / 115000 IOPS 94123 / 125455 IOPS 23462 / 67117 IOPS 49848 / 51605 IOPS

Obviously, the lesser classic task is a walk in the park for the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 integrated into this Edge 30 Ultra. It is however interesting to see that the 3D performances are slightly worse on the synthetic tests of GFXBench, for a very simple reason: to limit the heating of the device, the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra only delivers its best performances when they are are unlocked in game mode. A mode surely activated by default and discreetly on the popular 3DMark, but not on the less common GFXBench.

Questions and answers

How is the sound?
There is nothing wrong with the volume, but it doesn’t sound very good, on the contrary. Depending on whether it is music, dialogue in a film or something else, the sound image becomes unbalanced.

Is there wireless charging?
Yes, you can charge the phone wirelessly with up to 50W and you can share power wirelessly to other devices directly from the back of the Edge 30 Ultra.

How durable is it?
Less durable than most other phones because the glass is Gorilla Glass 5, several generations older and worse than the latest version Victus Plus.

Final test score

Good
7/10

Let’s be clear: the photo performance of the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra, yet the very heart of its existence and its marketing, is disappointing. The manufacturer has not yet mastered its brand new sensor, and it shows. The photo experience is as frustrating as possible, and we hope that the manufacturer will be able to smooth things over in updating.

The reason is simple: the rest is very good, even excellent. Autonomy is good, and the charging experience provided by the manufacturer makes it fly. The screen is excellent as well, as is the performance. The design may not be perfect, but remains in the shackles of a premium smartphone. And Motorola’s strength in software lightness lives on.

The Motorola Edge 30 Ultra deserved to be treated better in the photo than it is right now. In the end, here is a premium smartphone that does not demerit in the least, but which perhaps comes out of the oven of its developers a little too soon.

Conclusion

Motorola Edge 30 Ultra is offered at 999 euros in the list , but already discounted by 100 euros since day one, thus reaching a price of 899 euros. In recent days, however, we have notified you some interesting offers that have brought it just over 800 euros .

All things considered, the quality / price ratio of this product is excellent , much cheaper than the many premium smartphones worth over 1,000 euros, with respect to which it has absolutely no awe. After all, there is no IP certification, but on all other fronts we are in the presence of a top-of-the-range mister.

 

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