new high-end with few negatives

Motorola is known for bringing budget-friendly devices to the market, a lot for little to say the least. With the Edge 30 Pro, the oldest telecom manufacturer has launched a high-end device that, at just over €700, is also reasonably friendly to your wallet.

Motorola Edge 30 Pro review

The Motorola Edge 30 Pro is the successor to the Edge 20 Pro. Although the Motorola Edge 20 Pro was a lot cheaper at release, on paper the differences in specifications are not even that big. You can read in our review whether the difference in specifications justify the price difference.

Sales package

The sales package of the Edge 30 Pro is fairly basic, in addition to the device, a 68 Watt fast charger with USB-C cable is included. The manual and the sim needle are also included in the rectangular box.

Design and interface

When you take the Edge 30 Pro out of the packaging, you immediately notice that it is a Motorola device in terms of the appearance of the device. On the front we see the 6.7-inch OLED screen with the selfie camera at the top in the middle. The device has the power button and the volume keys on the right. The fingerprint scanner is integrated into the power button. The fingerprint scanner works very fast, a light touch is enough to unlock the phone.

The top and left sides Motorola has left blank. This means that the rest of the parts are placed at the bottom of the device, the sim tray, the USB-C connection and the speaker are placed here. Motorola has also placed a speaker at the top of the screen.

Interface

The Edge 30 Pro comes with Android 12. In Motorola’s version, which is very similar to Google’s stock Android version, a number of themes have been added for you to choose from. This works slightly differently than the standard version where themes are selected based on the wallpaper. You also have the option to create your own theme.

For the rest, Motorola has made few additions to Android. Of course, the Moto app is included, but we think this is only positive. With this app you can set a number of useful gestures, among other things.

Communication: calling, chatting and networking

Because the Edge 30 Pro is a high-end phone, you can also expect that the device is equipped with all the bells and whistles. And fortunately that is the case. Calling, texting are all fine. You use the apps from Google for these functions. to type messages you also use Google’s keyboard, Gboard. As far as connection options are concerned, the Edge 30 Pro is also good. The device has 5G, WiFi 6, GPS, Bluetooth and NFC.

Multimedia: music and film

The Edge 30 Pro is also great for watching movies and listening to music. The screen is pleasant to look at and is easy to read outside in bright sunlight. The screen is also dimmed sufficiently in the dark, so that you are not dazzled.

As we mentioned earlier, the smartphone has stereo speakers. We always find this a plus. Especially if the sound that comes from the speakers is also excellent. The volume can be nice and loud, without the quality of the sound suffering.

Camera: photo and video

We think the camera is an important part of today’s smartphones. The camera app has been overhauled and now looks a bit more mature and professional, without it becoming a cluttered affair.

On the back of the device we find the three lenses. In addition to the main 50-megapixel lens, Motorola has opted to provide the Edge 30 Pro with a 50-megapixel wide-angle lens and a 2-megapixel depth lens. We regret that there is no telephoto lens on the device, as was the case with its predecessor.

Then of course we have to talk about the quality of the photos. Photos that you take with the main lens are fine, there is little to complain about. Pictures that you take with the wide-angle lens are unfortunately a bit less. These look stretched and somewhat warmer in color than they actually were. Macro photos, on the other hand, are of excellent quality with beautiful, bright colors. In less lit conditions, the quality does deteriorate slightly, but is still more than adequate.

You have the option to zoom in up to 10 times, but the photos will be very bad, because there is no telephoto lens and this is digital zoom. It is recommended to zoom in a maximum of three times for reasonable quality photos.

You can view the photos we took with the device in the digital photo album.

Selfie and video camera

The selfie camera shoots photos of no less than 60 megapixels. Motorola has placed the camera at the top center of the screen. We think the quality of the photos is excellent. Colors appear bright.

The video camera also takes excellent images. What is nice is that you can switch lenses while filming. Of course you can also zoom in while filming. This can be done up to 10 times, just like taking pictures. Again, the quality of the images deteriorates when zooming in.

Other options

The Motorola Edge 30 Pro has some features that we haven’t discussed yet. We’ll discuss some of these features in this chapter of our review.

Fingerprint scanner and double tap

In addition to the function to switch the device on or off, the power button has been given two extra functions. The first we’ll cover is the fingerprint scanner. On the one hand, we regret that Motorola has chosen not to place the fingerprint scanner under the screen. On the other hand, a physical scanner is still faster than a scanner placed under the screen. You will notice that immediately if you are used to a fingerprint scanner under the screen. A light touch unlocks the device immediately.

Then the second extra function that the power button has been given. By quickly tapping the power button twice when the device is unlocked, you open a menu with a number of apps. This menu is located at the height of the power button and can be set up to your own taste. This gives you the option to open your favorite apps from any screen without having to go to the home screen first.

Performance: battery, speed and memory

The Edge Pro 30 is equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, Qualcomm’s fastest high-end processor at the moment. And you notice that. This processor is lightning fast and, together with the 12GB of RAM, tasks are handled smoothly.

Battery

The battery is an upgrade over the Edge 20 Pro. This has a 4500 mAh, while the Edge 30 Pro has a 4800 mAh battery. In the box you will find a 68 Watt charger, which charges the battery very quickly. Within 15 minutes you are at 50% and within 35 minutes the battery is fully charged.

All nice and nice, at least as important is how long the battery lasts on one charge. This of course depends on a number of things, such as use with a WiFi connection or a 5G connection. Also an important factor is the refresh rate of the screen. If you have this at 144Hz, the battery will run out a lot faster. With intensive use you will have a screen-on time of about 4 hours. With less intensive use, you will get between 6 and 7 hours of screen-on time. All in all, we are quite satisfied with the performance of the battery.

Update Policy

Motorola’s update policy is a drawback. The Edge 30 Pro will receive regular updates for three years, this will be bimonthly. The next OS update will be Android 13. Motorola informs us that there will be at least two Android updates for the device, which means that Android 14 for the Motorola Edge 30 Pro is also in the pipeline.

Rating

The Motorola Edge 30 Pro is a worthy successor to the Edge 20 Pro. In every area, the device is slightly better than its predecessor. A fast processor, a lot of working and storage memory of 12GB and 256Gb respectively, a battery that scores well enough and a beautiful screen. Add to that the camera, which also scores a big enough and you have the ingredients for a great smartphone. And that too for a reasonable price. The update policy also seems to be better for the Edge 30 Pro, we hope that Motorola will provide the phone with a security update at least every two months for a period of 3 years. The manufacturer also promises an update to Android 13 and 14. This is really the minimum for a device of more than 700 euros.

In short, the Motorola Edge 30 Pro is definitely worth considering when you’re looking for a new phone.

The Motorola Edge 30 Pro is for sale at Coolblue, MediaMarkt, Bol.com, Belsimpel and Mobiel.