Motorola Edge 50 Neo Practical impressions: nice mid-range

In 2024, finding a phone that’s truly unique is harder than ever before.

That’s especially true for mid-range handsets, all of which aim to pack in as many features as possible without pushing prices into flagship territory.

It makes a lot of sense, but also means that sometimes they can be a bit… boring. If you want to make a statement with your mid-range phone choice, you might be disappointed.

However, Motorola came to the rescue.

The new Edge 50 Neo (from £399.99/€499), one of five Edge 50 phones launching in 2024, has a design that’s sure to turn heads.

When I first took it out of the box, the bright red (officially ‘Pantone Poinciana’) color scheme stopped me in my tracks. After five years of writing about technology, it’s very rare for a phone to do that.

The red finish runs all the way around the sides of the phone, giving it a truly unique look. This certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste, but personally I’m a fan. I admire Motorola for offering this kind of thing in a world where most phone makers play it safe with colors.

Judging from official photos, the gray (‘Pantone Grisaille’) and gold (‘Pantone Latte’) are slightly more muted, although the blue (‘Pantone Nautical Blue’) seems just as striking.

More than a dash of paint

It’s not just the colors Motorola has chosen, though; it’s the materials. The vegan leather back makes the phone feel instantly premium, adding the grip you simply don’t get with phones with a plastic or glass back. And of course you don’t have to worry about fingerprints.

In addition to Corning’s sturdy Gorilla Glass 3 on the front, the phone feels impressively well built and durable. It gets top-level IP68 water and dust resistance and meets the military-grade MIL-STD-810H standard for durability.

Despite all this, it weighs just 171 grams, making it one of the lightest phones I’ve tried in years. It really makes a difference in my pocket, which is usually weighed down by a heavy slab of glass and metal.

The premium experience extends to the 6.4-inch pOLED display, which offers a respectable 1.5K resolution and an LTPO refresh rate of up to 120 Hz.

It gets impressively bright too, with Motorola advertising a peak brightness of 2000 nits. In my short time with the device I couldn’t tell the difference from flagships.

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Under the hood you will find the MediaTek Dimensity 7300, which is a clear step down from the most powerful chipset that MediaTek makes. However, alongside 12GB of RAM, performance is smooth and reliable, although I haven’t tested demanding workloads like gaming yet.

Software is another key strength, with Motorola’s thoughtful additions to Android 14. Motorola also offers five years of both OS and security updates, making it the cheapest phone to do so.

Spicy or toothless?

Moto AI also makes an appearance, but its main use is improving photos, which brings me to one of my biggest concerns for the Edge 50 Neo.

On paper, the phone’s triple rear lenses, consisting of a 50Mp Sony Lytia main, 13Mp ultrawide and 10Mp 3x telephoto, sound promising.

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

But as you probably know by now, that doesn’t mean the results will be great. A dimly lit arena was a bit of a mixed bag: the arena was generally good at retaining detail, but sometimes struggled with shadows.

The real test will take place in well-lit scenarios and outdoors, where people take most of their photos. Until then, the jury is out.

The other concern is battery life, with the Edge 50 Neo only having a 4310mAh cell. Motorola claims all-day battery life, but that capacity is smaller than many rivals, including the OnePlus Nord 4 (5500mAh) and Samsung Galaxy A55 (5000mAh).

To take advantage of fast charging, you’ll also need to buy the 68W charger separately, although that’s not uncommon these days and is faster than many flagship phones, including the Pixel 9.

Any major weaknesses in the cameras and battery life could be a deal breaker for many people. Without further testing I can’t recommend the Edge 50 Neo yet, but there’s no doubt it stands out from the crowd and I’ll have a full review for you soon.

The Edge 50 Neo has been launched alongside the regular Edge 50 (€599), Moto G35 (€199) and G55 (€249). Full UK pricing and availability have yet to be revealed.

To see what the new Motorola devices will face, check out our reviews of the best budget phones and the best mid-range phones.