Motorola Edge 70 Pro review: Nearly premium, limited surprises

The mid-range smartphone segment is quite competitive, with powerful offerings from brands like OnePlus, Redmi, Poco, and others. However, one of the underrated brands, Motorola, has quietly been making waves with its stylish and AI-centric offerings. Last month, Motorola launched the Edge 70 Pro model, which joins the Edge 70 and the Edge 70 Fusion series, all catering to the mid-range segment.

The Motorola Edge 70 Pro flaunts a slim quad-curved design, with a textured fabric-like rear panel that looks and feels highly premium. It features a triple camera setup, comes with a 144Hz display, MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Extreme processor, and more, showcasing promising features on paper. But, is it worth spending Rs 38,999 with heavy competition?

We have been testing the Motorola Edge 70 Pro for over two weeks to determine whether it's reliable and meets day-to-day expectations for heavy usage, gaming, photography, and multitasking. From long work hours and content streaming to camera performance in different lighting conditions, here’s a deep dive into what the smartphone gets right — and where it still leaves room for improvement.

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Motorola Edge 70 Pro: Design 

The Motorola Edge 70 Pro instantly stands out with its design and in-hand feel. Over the years, Motorola has consistently maintained a slim profile, but its experimentation with new aesthetics and rear-panel textures adds a unique, premium touch. It comes in three rear panel finishes:satin-luxe, fabric, and marble textures. We received the Pantone Tea colour variant, which looks absolutely premium. 

In terms of thinness, the smartphone measures 6.99mm in thickness and weighs 190 grams, despite packing a massive 6500mAh battery. It has a polycarbonate frame, but it feels sturdy and does not feel slippery when in hand. For durability, the smartphone comes with MIL-STD-810H certification along with IP68 and IP69 ratings for dust and water protection. However, it should be noted that this year, Motorola has removed the phone case from the box, which may disappoint its existing buyers who are planning to upgrade.

Despite the sturdiness, you may still need to buy a phone case due to the raised camera-deco. Overall, the Motorola Edge 70 Pro matches all the aesthetics of a premium-looking phone, but at an affordable price range. 

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Motorola Edge 70 Pro: Display

Motorola Edge 70 Pro features a 6.8-inch ‘Extreme’ AMOLED display with 1.5K resolution, up to 144Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and up to 5,200 nits of peak brightness. In terms of viewing experience, the smartphone delivers crisp and vibrant visuals. Its Pantone validation also ensures accurate colours, making any visual on the screen look vibrant. In addition, the display has narrow bezels, which also enhances the viewing experience. While the spec sheet mentions a 144Hz refresh rate, the display typically functions on 120Hz with day-to-day usage, and the higher refresh rate could be achieved on select games on Gametime. We tested BGMI on the mobile, and it ran at 120Hz and 90Hz refresh rates. Although the display was quite smooth and responsive, as you would expect.

The screen brightness is also promising, and the screen remains clearly visible even during direct sunlight conditions, making it easier to use.

Motorola Edge 70 Pro: Camera

The Motorola Edge 70 Pro features a dual camera setup that consists of a 50MP main camera with Sony LYT710, a 50MP ultrawide lens, and a 3-in-1 light sensor. This year, the company has removed the telephoto camera. But the camera performance does not disappoint in daylight conditions, and the smartphone captures detailed images. Although, after processing, the images look oversaturated due to high contrast. Therefore, the photos do not look quite natural, but are social-media worthy.

Coming to the portrait mode performance, while the images appear decent, the colours look very artificial. However, the background blur looks natural, and the edge detection is also precise. Therefore, while the images look pleasing, they may not look natural at times. 

In low-light photography, the Motorola Edge 70 Pro produces images that appear pleasing with less noise, greater clarity, and the colours also look accurate most of the time. Therefore, the Motorola Edge 70 Pro captures punchy images, but it may not entice people who prefer natural colours over contrast.

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Motorola Edge 70 Pro: Performance

The Motorola Edge 70 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Extreme processor paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.1 storage. In terms of real-time usage, the smartphone delivers impressive performance across daily tasks, multitasking, and gaming. It also maintains smooth app transitions, but thermal management could be refined. 

During heavy usage like extended gaming hours or during longer heavy usage, the smartphone tends to heat up quickly, affecting the performance. Although if you are a casual gamer or need the primary device for everyday tasks, streaming, social media, and occasional gaming, the overall performance remains smooth and reliable. 

Motorola Edge 70 Pro: Battery

The Motorola Edge 70 Pro is backed by a 6,500mAh silicon-carbon battery that easily lasts a day with day-to-day usage. In terms of screen time, the smartphone can easily last up to 8 hours under heavy use, with extended gaming hours, multitasking, chatting, browsing, and others. The smartphone supports a 90W TurboPower fast charger that takes about an hour to fully charge from 1 to 100%.

Motorola Edge 70 Pro verdict

Motorola Edge 70 Pro gets many things right, including a sleek and attractive design, crisp 144Hz quad-curved display, decent day-to-day performance, and a lasting battery life. However, there are a few areas where it falls short, particularly in camera consistency and thermal management during intensive tasks. 

However, the Motorola Edge 70 Pro is a solid, dependable smartphone for those who value sophistication and software fluidity. It may not offer many surprises, but it hits almost all the right notes for a premium mid-range experience. However, at Rs 38,999, you can explore other options from brands like Oppo, OnePlus, or Redmi for power-heavy usage.