Motorola Edge 70 review: Flipping the script

Greatest Costs At present: Motorola Edge 70

2025 has been the yr of the ultra-slim cellphone. Whereas Samsung, Honor and Oppo have been battling it out to make the world’s thinnest foldable, a brand new class of normal gadgets has additionally emerged. 

Samsung was first to the celebration in Might, but its Galaxy S25 Edge got here with main digicam and battery life trade-offs, regardless of retaining a premium price ticket. 

September’s iPhone Air was somewhat extra inexpensive, however suffered from the identical {hardware} compromises, making it really feel like a silly purchase when in comparison with the common iPhone 17. 

May or not it’s third time fortunate within the type of the Motorola Edge 70? Regardless of its identify, the cellphone is dramatically completely different to its predecessor, but retains a distinctive design, and crucially, a decent-sized battery. 

My first day or so of use did little to dampen my enthusiasm, however what about practically two weeks? Listed here are my in-depth ideas on the Motorola Edge 70. 

Design & Construct

• 5.99mm, 159g
• Distinctive textured silicone again
• IP68/69 and MIL-STD-810H licensed

I like the Edge 70’s design. It manages to be impressively skinny and lightweight, with out sacrificing Motorola’s signature aesthetic and nice construct high quality. 

At 5.99mm, it’s considerably thicker than each the iPhone Air (5.6mm) and Galaxy S25 Edge (5.8mm). Having examined each of these gadgets, it’s one thing I seen immediately, although it’s nonetheless a distinct species to most telephones, which usually exceed 8mm. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

After all, the rear digicam bump protrudes considerably additional, however Motorola has made the transition seamless. Slightly than a separate module, it’s extra built-in with the again of the cellphone than Apple or Samsung’s designs. 

Nevertheless, what impresses me probably the most is its weight – or lack thereof. The Edge 70 clocks in at simply 159g, making it one of many lightest telephones in the marketplace. It’s a refreshing change when coming from telephones in extra of 200g, and one that you simply’ll immediately discover.

The distinctive textured design is one other promoting level. As an alternative of the glass that’s most widespread on flagships, Motorola has opted for silicone, including a end that it claims is impressed by nylon. I don’t learn about that, but it surely does really feel very nice to make use of. 

And crucially, it provides a lot of grip to what would in any other case be a slippery cellphone, negating the necessity for a case. Motorola provides one within the field, but it surely makes the Edge 70 look ten occasions uglier. Except you really need its Qi2 magnets (there aren’t any constructed into the cellphone), I’d extremely advocate going case-free. 

I’d go so far as to say that the Edge 70 is among the best-looking telephones you should buy proper now, and the Pantone-inspired color selections play a giant position in that.  

I significantly just like the earthy inexperienced tones of my ‘Bronze Inexperienced’ mannequin, however you possibly can go for a lighter inexperienced ‘Lily Pad’ or darker ‘Gadget Gray’. Ridiculous naming apart, it’s a enjoyable choice, with every choice having a corresponding accent color that extends across the digicam lenses and the devoted AI button.

Other than that, there’s nothing a lot to report across the aluminium body. The facility and quantity controls are of their ordinary place on the appropriate facet when in portrait orientation, whereas the USB-C port (it’s nearly thick sufficient for one) is joined by the speaker grille and SIM tray on the underside. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Nevertheless, these components all play a task within the Edge 70’s very good sturdiness credentials. The robust construct is sufficient for it to obtain military-grade MIL-STD-810H compliance, verifying its skill to resist harsh environmental circumstances. A gentle UK autumn isn’t precisely what I’d name ‘harsh’, but it surely survived just a few bumps and drops with none indicators of harm. 

The cellphone additionally boasts each IP68 and IP69 scores, which means it may possibly deal with each submersion in as much as 1.5m of freshwater and publicity to high-pressure and -temperature water jets. That’s on high of full mud safety, making for a very spectacular mixture. 

Display screen & Audio system

• 6.7-inch, 1220 x 2712 pOLED
• 120Hz, however not LTPO
• Stereo audio system

I’m a giant fan of the Edge 70’s show. It’s one thing most mid-range and flagship telephones get proper today, however undoubtedly nonetheless a key energy of Motorola’s cellphone. 

A 6.7-inch display, it provides a pretty typical 1220 x 2712 decision (446 pixels per inch), which ensures that readability and element stay glorious. It’s a pOLED panel, permitting for a thinner and extra sturdy design whereas retaining all the advantages of normal OLED, together with these wealthy, vibrant colors and deep blacks. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Motorola claims that the Edge 70 can hit a peak brightness of 4500 nits, which surpasses each the iPhone Air (3000 nits) and Galaxy S25 Edge (2600 nits). Whereas the most determine I recorded at dwelling of 493 nits isn’t significantly spectacular, out of doors visibility (together with shiny daylight) is great, which is a very powerful factor. 

Nevertheless, there are two small compromises in comparison with the easiest shows within the enterprise. Firstly, there’s no LTPO tech, which means the auto-adjusting refresh price is proscribed to a variety of 60-120Hz. You continue to get the advantages of the silky-smooth scrolling and transitions, simply with out the choice to drop right down to 1Hz when not required and preserve battery life. 

The under-display fingerprint scanner can also be optical slightly than ultrasonic, though I can’t say I seen. It was quick and dependable all through my testing, and safe sufficient for use to log into delicate apps and authenticate funds. 

Audio high quality is a nice shock. The Edge 70 makes use of the widespread mixture of a single downward-firing speaker and earpiece for a stereo setup, however it produces impressively punchy sound. 

Equally adept at music, podcasts or social media movies, it provides sturdy readability and a pleasant depth to the sound, making it splendid for informal listening. It additionally will get far louder than most telephones, although the tinny sound and distortion at excessive volumes imply it’s not price going that far. 

Specs & Efficiency

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset
• 12GB RAM
• 256- or 512GB of non-expandable storage

Earlier than testing the Edge 70, efficiency was the world I used to be most involved about. Whereas the iPhone Air and Galaxy S25 have compromises in lots of areas, efficiency isn’t one in every of them. How would the Edge 70’s decidedly mid-range Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 maintain up? 

Very properly, because it seems. I’m not going to fake that the cellphone’s efficiency blew me away, but it surely was quick sufficient to deal with all on a regular basis duties with relative ease. The 12GB of on-board RAM definitely helped. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Throughout my time with the cellphone, my typical utilization concerned loads of net searching, social media and YouTube movies, plus messaging apps, pictures and navigation. 99% of the time, it was a {smooth} and dependable expertise, even when multitasking or rapidly switching between apps. 

Nevertheless, there have been occasional hesitations and stutters now and again. They didn’t have an effect on the usability of the Edge 70 in any vital approach, but it surely means I’d guard towards utilizing the cellphone for demanding workloads corresponding to complicated apps or critical gaming. 

I doubt you’re shopping for a super-thin handset for that anyway, although. The underside line is that efficiency on the Edge 70 shouldn’t be a priority, even when it isn’t completely high tier. 

The one mannequin obtainable within the UK provides a beneficiant 512GB of storage. That’s excellent news, as a result of there’s no choice to broaden through a Micro-SD card.

There are additionally no twin bodily SIM card slots, so if you’d like two numbers on the Edge 70, you’ll need to go for an eSIM. And whereas Wi-Fi 6e and Bluetooth 5.4 aren’t fairly on the innovative of connectivity, they’re lots good sufficient for years to come back. 

Motorola Edge 70 benchmarks

Cameras

• 50Mp, f/1.8 predominant rear lens
• 50Mp, f/2.0 ultrawide with 120-degree area of view
• 50Mp, f/2.0 selfie

Similar to the opposite ultra-slim telephones, the Edge 70 has made clear compromises in terms of the cameras. 

The obvious one is the shortage of a telephoto lens, which means there’s no risk of optical zoom pictures. The digital equal is predictably underwhelming, with a pointy decline intimately and dynamic vary when you transcend 2x, which is just a cropped model of the 1x picture. It speaks volumes that Motorola limits digital zoom to 20x, at which level the picture has develop into a blurry mess. 

On the different finish of the dimensions, ultrawide pictures profit from a devoted 50Mp sensor, which permits a 120-degree area of view. Outcomes are far more consistent with the primary lens, so that you can safely change between the lenses with out worrying an excessive amount of. 

Total, the 50Mp predominant digicam is a very first rate mid-range lens, even when it can’t compete with one of the best digicam telephones round.  

In good lighting, the colourful color scheme and correct publicity come to the fore, producing a picture which is pleasant to the attention, if somewhat unrealistic. Dynamic vary is typically good, making it equally adept at avenue pictures and landscapes. Minimal shutter lag permits you to rapidly snap a well-exposed picture that’s in focus more often than not, which can’t be mentioned for all telephones. 

It’s additionally very adept at portrait pictures, delivering a sexy background blur and customarily correct edge detection. Most telephones use the telephoto lens for portraits, so the outcomes with out it listed below are spectacular. 

The Edge 70 struggles much more in low-light circumstances, although, particularly the place there are components of sunshine and darkish in the identical picture. Particular person leaves on timber develop into a homogenous blob, whereas the brightening of shadows can typically look synthetic. 

Nevertheless, the front-facing 50Mp digicam has a trick to fight this. Everytime you go to take a selfie in low-light circumstances, a hoop round your face robotically lights up as for those who had an exterior mild supply. The ensuing photographs are much better than the standard nighttime selfies, so I can see different corporations copying Motorola’s method. 

Through the day, it’s a bit extra hit-and-miss, with backgrounds typically ending up over- or underexposed. You may get actually good selfies, but it surely requires extra persistence. 

The Edge 70 provides video at as much as 4K 60fps, although the default 1080p at 30fps is the candy spot between high quality and cupboard space for most individuals. Optical picture stabilisation (OIS) on the primary lens ensures footage stays regular, although it lacks the color accuracy and element of pictures. In order for you a terrific ultra-slim cellphone for video, the iPhone Air is your greatest guess. 

Battery Life & Charging

• 4800mAh silicon-carbon battery
• 68W wired charging
• 15W Qi wi-fi charging (Qi2 requires case)

Motorola has defied expectations by equipping the Edge 70 with a really aggressive 4800mAh battery. 

How? By choosing a silicon-carbon (Si/C) cell, which provides a larger power density, permitting for a similar capability inside a smaller complete space. 

We’ve seen telephones with a similar-sized battery disappoint in terms of battery life, so that’s no assure of excellent stamina, however Motorola has undoubtedly delivered. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Slightly than wrestle to make it via a complete day, the Edge 70 constantly made it to the tip of my day with cost to spare. Whereas working from dwelling, I may lengthen that to 2 full days, equating to round seven hours of screen-on time. Not dangerous in any respect. 

Nevertheless, our ordinary PCMark battery take a look at, which simulates real-world duties at round 200 nits of brightness, doesn’t mirror that. The Edge 70’s rating of 11 hours and a pair of minutes is worse than the Galaxy S25 Edge (12 hours and 18 minutes), however that doesn’t tally with my expertise in any respect. 

In the end, battery life is undoubtedly a energy of the Edge 70, which is greater than could be mentioned for the iPhone Air or Galaxy S25 Edge. 

Charging speeds are additionally very aggressive, with help for 68W wired speeds. As ordinary, no charger is included within the field, and the 67W charger I often take a look at telephones with wouldn’t energy it up for some motive. With a 65W laptop computer one, the cellphone went from 0-39% in half-hour, with a full cost taking simply over an hour and a half, however I do know the Edge 70 can do a lot better than that. 

There’s additionally 15W Qi wi-fi charging, whereas attaching the included case permits compatibility with MagSafe and Pixelsnap magnetic equipment. 

Software program & AI

• Motorola My UX software program
• Based mostly on Android 16
• 4 years of OS upgrades, 6 years of safety updates

The Edge 70 runs Motorola’s My UX software program over Android 16. 

Traditionally, the corporate’s method to Android has been a really mild contact, deviating solely barely from the expertise on Pixel telephones. Because of this, it’s been a key energy of Motorola’s telephones through the years. 

Nevertheless, what started as a gradual creep of bloatware has develop into a full-blown invasion. After organising the cellphone, I used to be staggered by the amount and selection of additional pre-installed apps that I had no say over. 

Motorola’s personal choice of apps is dangerous sufficient. I counted over a dozen, plus the Perplexity AI assistant that it makes use of for generative AI instruments. I’ve no sensible use for any of those. 

Then there are the apps that you’d slightly not have pre-installed however is likely to be occupied with utilizing. I’m speaking concerning the likes of Fb, TikTok, Pinterest and LinkedIn – I’d want to select myself whether or not they’re put in, however they’re not probably the most egregious. 

It’s a distinct story in terms of the avalanche of annoying video games, although. I significantly can’t consider anybody who would need Toon Blast, Tile Explorer, Solitaire and Vita Mahjong on their telephones. If you happen to do, merely obtain it your self – that’s the entire level of the Play Retailer! 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

By default, the ‘Google’ and ‘Moto’ folders within the app drawer are joined by a ‘Video games’ one, which homes the titles talked about, but additionally acts as a storefront for but extra bloatware. There’s even the choice to play ‘2048’ video games with out downloading something – thanks a lot in your generosity, Motorola. 

The app drawer is dwelling to but extra baffling choices. I benefit from the row of prompt apps on the high on most telephones, however right here, the fourth slot is used to promote but extra apps I’ve no use for.

Subsequent to it’s a ‘Newsfeed’, which appears to nearly completely floor articles from the tabloid press documenting the worst of humanity. Beautiful. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Then there’s the Dwell Lock Display screen, which tries to repair a characteristic which wasn’t damaged in any respect. Who desires to see the time and your notifications when you possibly can scroll between meaningless articles and overt adverts? It beggars perception. 

Fortunately, all the bloatware could be uninstalled and the annoying options turned off. However it shouldn’t need to be this manner, and it provides a lot of further time onto my ordinary one-hour setup course of. 

Motorola’s AI efforts aren’t in depth and embrace variations of options we’ve seen many occasions earlier than. Alongside the enjoyable however finally restricted generated photographs and playlists, there are three predominant instruments: ‘Take notes’ (report, transcribe and summarise audio), ‘Keep in mind this’ (save ‘recollections’ for recall later), and ‘Replace me’ (notification summaries). All three appear to work properly and could possibly be helpful, however to name them game-changing could be a large exaggeration. 

By default, Moto AI makes use of its integration with Perplexity for its AI digital assistant, then Copilot Dwell for real-time conversations. Each work fairly properly, however you can even entry Gemini and Gemini Dwell through a long-press of the house button, and that’s nonetheless my private desire. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

The overall software program expertise is pretty sturdy, with attention-grabbing widgets and themes, an intuitive fast settings panel and slick multitasking options. However it’s completely undermined by all of the bloatware and advertisements being shoved in your face.  

Software program was once one of many key strengths of Motorola’s telephones. On the Edge 70, it’s the system’s most high-profile weak point. 

By way of help, Motorola has dedicated to 4 years of OS updates and 6 years of safety patches. That’s pretty typical for a mid-range cellphone in 2025, although it’s price noting that the cheaper Pixel 9a and Galaxy S25 FE provide seven years of each. 

Worth & Availability

Within the UK, the Motorola Edge 70 is out there in just one configuration – 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage – costing £699. 

You should purchase one outright straight from the Motorola web site, or on contract through the likes of Vodafone, Voxi and iD Mobile. 

Nevertheless, Motorola has confirmed that the cellphone received’t be obtainable within the US. 

That UK worth places it proper on the high of what we’d take into account a mid-range cellphone, with the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE (from £649) and Xiaomi 15T Professional (from £649) its predominant competitors at this worth level. 

However it’s far more inexpensive than its ultra-slim rivals, with the iPhone Air beginning at £999 and Galaxy S25 Edge obtainable from £1,099. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Do you have to purchase the Motorola Edge 70?

In all probability not, although it’s the greatest instance of an ultra-slim cellphone to date. 

The Edge 70 combines that skinny and lightweight chassis with genuinely sturdy battery life, instantly elevating it above the iPhone Air and Galaxy S25 FE. Its design is among the greatest on any cellphone, with nice aesthetics and top-tier sturdiness. 

Whereas the cameras aren’t fairly high tier, you may get some glorious outcomes from each the primary and selfie lenses. Nevertheless, the shortage of a telephoto lens means zoom pictures is fairly terrible. 

However the large shock is the poor software program expertise. Motorola’s once-slick tackle Android has develop into a bloated mess that’s filled with ineffective pre-installed apps and advertisements at each flip. In the meantime, the dedication to solely 4 years of OS upgrades falls behind the likes of Apple, Samsung and Google. 

The Edge 70 will get quite a bit proper, together with a extra inexpensive price ticket than rivals, however it’s a cellphone I merely can’t advocate. 

Specs

• My UX, based mostly on Android 16 
• 6.7-inch, 1220 x 2712, pOLED, 120Hz  
• Optical fingerprint scanner  
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset 
• 12GB RAM  
• 512GB storage 
• 50Mp, f/1.8 predominant digicam 
• 50Mp, f/2.0 ultrawide  
• 50Mp, f/2.0 selfie  
• As much as 4K @ 60fps rear video  
• Stereo audio system  
• Wi-Fi 6E 
• Bluetooth 5.4  
• 4800mAh battery  
• 68W wired charging  
• 15W Qi wi-fi charging  
• 159.9 x 74 x 5.99mm
• IP68/69 licensed  
• 159g
• Colors: Pantone Gadget Grey, Lily Pad, Bronze Inexperienced