Motorola Edge 30 Pro is Motorola’s latest flagship phone in India. The Edge 30 Pro is currently the most affordable Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered smartphone you can buy, priced at just under Rs 50,000. The Moto Edge 30 Pro follows the Edge 20 Pro (Review) which was launched in October last year at Rs 36,999 and offers great performance without leaving any dent in your wallet. With the Edge 30 Pro, Motorola aims to have a share in the sub-Rs 50K budget segment and relies on high-end features like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, two 50MP and a 60MP selfie camera, along with fast cable support and wireless charging. But is it enough to chase responsible people like OnePlus 9RT, Samsung Galaxy S21 FE and many more? Find out.

Motorola Edge 30 Pro Review: In the box

In the Motorola Edge 30 Pro retail box, you’ll find a TurboPower 68W fast charging adapter with a Type-C port. There is a USB Type-C cable to go with. In addition, there is a user manual and guide with a TPU protective case and a SIM tool.

Motorola Edge 30 Pro Review: Key Specifications at a Glance

Price: Rs 49,999 – 8GB / 128GB

Display: 6.7-inch OLED display with FHD + (2400×1080 pixels) resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, 10-bit panel, HDR10 + certified

Thickness: 8.79 mm

Weight: 196 grams

Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset

RAM: 8GB LPDDR5

Built-in storage: 128GB UFS 3.1

Expandable storage: no

5G support: n1 / 3/5/7/8/20/28/38/40/41/66/77/78

USB-C: Yes

3.5mm Jack: No.

OS: Stock Android 12 with MyUX customization

Rear camera: 50MP (f / 1.8, OIS) + 50MP Ultra-wide (114-degree FOV) with macro vision support + 2MP depth sensor

Rear camera video: 8K (24fps), 4K (up to 60fps)

Front camera: 60MP (f / 2.2)

Speakers: Stereo speakers (Dolby Atmos and Snapdragon Sound)

Battery and charging: 4,800mAh with 68W fast wired and 15W fast wireless charging

Motorola Edge 30 Pro Performance Review

The Motorola Edge 30 Pro is the first phone I am using powered by a 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. This is the latest flagship Qualcomm SoC which is faster and more power-efficient than the Snapdragon 888 chipset and one of the highlighting features of the Edge 30 Pro. The new chip has an octa-core CPU with a Cortex X2 prime core running at 3GHz, three Cortex-A710 performance cores at 2.50 GHz and four Cortex-A510 power-efficient cores and an Adreno 730 GPU. The offer includes a single storage variant and no microSD card support for expansion which is a problem for power users.

We’ve taken the Moto Edge 30 Pro through our standard testing method to see how it performs compared to its partners, as well as to understand how much it jumps compared to previous generations.

On the AnTuTu benchmark, the Edge 30 Pro did not reach the expected 1 million score but neither did the iQOO 9 Pro, the only other Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phone we have yet to get. Compared to a Snapdragon 888 phone, the Edge 30 Pro shows a 17-20% increase in performance and an almost 12% increase compared to the Snapdragon 888 Plus.

Similarly on the Geekbench benchmark, the Edge 30 Pro has got good scores in single-core and multi-core tests, consistent with the performance of this new chipset.

With PCMark testing that runs a workload with intensive tasks like video editing, photo editing and more, Edge 30 Pro has been able to advance in the competition, proving that it can easily handle high-pressure tasks.

CPU throttling tests examine whether CPU performance decreases to control thermals under intensive work. Here, the Moto Edge 30 Pro has a 79% throttle of maximum performance which means there are certain optimizations to reduce the core performance to keep the phone cool.

During this test, the Edge 30 Pro’s core CPU temperature easily reached 40 degrees Celsius, and the phone warmed to the touch. Although this is something that is only experienced in certain cases such as when playing games, using the camera or recording video, the battery is a hit.

Now, these numbers are not indicators of real-world performance that was great in my use. Whether it’s playing games like multi-tasking or Call of Duty Mobile, Battlegrounds Mobile India, Jenshin Impact and many more, the Edge 30 Pro has done just that without any noticeable problems. The Edge 30 Pro is a powerful phone that makes it easy to manage your daily tasks and gives it a unique taste without taking away the essence of stock Android 12 with My UX customization. To turn it off, there are twists for all your favorite action shortcuts like karate chop for flashlight and camera app.

Motorola Edge 30 Pro Battery Life

The Motorola Edge 30 Pro gets a 300mAh bump in battery compared to the Edge 20 Pro and I easily got about a day’s worth of normal use. These include light browsing on the web and social media, texting on Whatsapp, taking some pictures and watching some videos on YouTube. If you include other intensive tasks such as gaming and video editing, the battery will take a more significant hit.

For charging, the Edge 30 Pro 68W takes about 45 minutes to fully charge from 1-100% using a fast charging adapter.

Motorola Edge 30 Pro Camera Review

There’s a cutback to the Motorola’s camera section when you compare it to the Edge 20 Pro. While the latter comes with an early, ultra-wide and periscope telephoto lens, the Edge 30 Pro gets a depth sensor instead of a telephoto camera which is a worse aspect than the upgrade.

Images from the main camera have become sharper, brighter and better moving range. The camera can detect a variety of textures and details and animates images without involving large edits. The stability is also good and the camera app is tuned to take a picture without any shutter lag which is great.

The ultra-wide camera produces some decent wide FOV images but nothing validates its premium. These images often end with less detail towards the corners and if you position the phone correctly you will be able to deny the barrel distortion. Images from this camera tend to be warm color tones and not compatible with the original camera’s color profile. The ultra-wide camera doubles for macro photography and produces some well-detailed images while the frame content is stable.

Portrait mode does a decent job of marking edges in a frame and can give an artificial bokeh effect to images. Although sometimes, depending on the lighting, the camera is not able to accurately optimize the blur effect around the edges.

Using night mode in low-light, the camera bumps up brightness and highlights but the images end up being full of sound that is noticeable when you zoom in on it. Although the app takes 3 seconds to capture a frame at night, the results are nothing short of remarkable.

The front camera does a great job of taking selfies and most of the pictures are bright, detailed and have a good dynamic range. You can record 4K UHD video from the front camera.

Motorola Edge 30 Pro build and design

Motorola has shipped the Cosmos Blue color of our Edge 30 Pro and there is also a Stardust white color available. The Edge 30 Pro is a long and wide phone that gives you a large screen estate and for small hands it may seem a bit huge. The frame is plastic and the rear panel is topped with Gorilla Glass 5. The plastic frame looks a bit outward as it aims towards the premium segment and degrades its quality. Although it looks and feels premium on the hands, it’s a bit thicker and heavier than the Edge 20 Pro, which had an aluminum chassis.

When you look at a premium phone, you expect a certain feeling of refinement that is sadly missing from the Edge 30 Pro. The volume and power buttons are located on the right edge but slightly above, sending ergonomics for toss. To unlock the phone with the fingerprint reader on the power key you need to use both hands or move your hand slightly upwards which is a hassle.

The rear panel has an oval camera module with smooth chamfered edges which ensures that it does not sway too much when placed on a flat surface. The back panel also has a matte finish that doesn’t attract noticeable fingerprints or stains.

Motorola Edge 30 Pro display

The OLED display on the Edge 30 Pro is great for watching videos, playing games and is usually pleasing to the eye as it creates crisp visuals with vibrant colors. Since this is a 10-bit panel, you’ll get much better color and support for a 144Hz refresh rate which means everything looks very smooth in normal use.

In our Calman test, the Edge 30 Pro’s display recorded 472.8 net brightness with an average delta of 2.7 and a maximum of delta 3.8. We have also noticed the bias of the display towards red and blue but it is not significant and does not spoil the viewing experience. HDR experiments put color gamut coverage at 99.91% in vibrant / saturated color space.

As is clear from these numbers, the Moto Edge 30 Pro has a nice display with decent brightness levels for your daily use. While the Edge 20 Pro’s display offers better brightness, the Edge 30 Pro has better color accuracy and details, and you won’t be disappointed if you spend hours watching videos on your phone.

The last row

The Motorola Edge 30 Pro is a great sequel to the Edge 20 Pro and one of the most affordable Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phones you can buy right now. While this is marked as an upgrade and looks like one most of the time, there are some downsides to the Edge 30 Pro.

The main camera does a great job and the ultra-wide camera is decent, but the presence of a depth sensor instead of a much more capable telephoto lens limits versatility which would otherwise enhance its camera game.

While the Edge 30 Pro’s design is consistent with previous models, it’s not a head-turner because it doesn’t look as refined as you would expect from a premium phone. Considering Motorola has a legacy of well-designed and unique phones, the Edge 30 Pro will be lost in the crowd with its plastic-glass making.

For performance, you can expect brighter speeds in both everyday use as well as in examples like playing games. Although the phone is not designed to withstand high temperatures, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 runs hot and fights heat dissipation. I really like the stock Android 12 experience that Motorola offers and the My UX features work well.

If you’re looking for a phone to play games, you’ll be better off with something like the ROG Phone 5s, and if great cameras are your priority, you’ll be better off with the OnePlus 9RT or Samsung Galaxy S21 FE.