Motorola Edge 50 Neo review: premium features, aggressive pricing

Choice can be a wonderful thing, and Motorola is offering plenty of it this year. After introducing the Edge 50 Pro (review, Rs 27,999) and Edge 50 Fusion (review, Rs 20,999), the brand has launched the Edge 50 Neo (Rs 23,999) – making it the fourth smartphone under the “Edge 50” banner in 2024.

In some ways, the Edge 50 Neo is an awkward middle child, borrowing features from both its younger (Fusion) and elder (Edge 50 and Edge 50 Pro) siblings. However, what makes it special is the addition of some premium features, including a telephoto camera and wireless charging support, without a premium price tag. Apart from that, Motorola boasts a clean Android OS experience for its users with some nifty proprietary apps. It also provides a hard phone cover and a fast charger in the box.

Do these features make the Edge 50 Neo a top choice in the sub-Rs 25,000 segment? Let’s find out.

Verdict

The Edge 50 Neo demonstrates that smartphones with premium features can exist without a premium price tag. Whether it is the clean Android OS or the telephoto camera, the Edge 50 offers plenty of versatility. The Dimensity 7300 SoC under the hood provides respectable juice for smooth usage. Having said that, the Edge 50 Neo could improve in video recording. For gaming, it offers adequate performance, but the Infinix GT 20 Pro (review) remains our top recommendation in this segment.

Design and display

Based on the design, the Edge 50 Neo looks similar to its siblings from the Edge 50 series with a leather back donning Pantone-validated colours. The former has become quite common among Motorola smartphones and competitors in this range. However, that doesn’t mean the Edge 50 Neo looks poor by any metric, as the slender design and curved edge offer a premium look and feel.

I also appreciate Motorola’s decision to move away from the generic black smartphones, and the Edge 50 Neo comes in colourful shades, adding a pinch of freshness to the overall segment.

I reviewed the Pantone Nautical Blue variant, which looks decent, but I like the coffee-inspired Pantone Latte the best. There are options like Pantane Poinciana (red) and Pantone Grisaille (grey) as well.

It’s great to see that Motorola has not compromised the complete unboxing experience by including a hard protective case and charging brick in the box. The former matches the phone’s colour, which is more thoughtful than the generic transparent silicone case. I am sure customers will also appreciate the brand’s effort to enhance the overall unboxing experience with scented boxes.

While the overall design is similar to this year’s existing Edge 50 smartphones, the Edge 50 Neo is the first Motorola smartphone in a long time to feature a compact design. It offers a 6.4-inch display leveraging a pOLED panel for a punchy viewing experience. While I prefer taller displays for reading or watching content, I am certain many customers will prefer this size. However, a compact build generally leads to an increased thickness, which is also the case here. The overall weight distribution is thoughtful, and the phone doesn’t feel like a brick in the pocket.

It weighs 171 grams, thanks to the plastic build. The pOLED display technology also helps keep the weight down.

Motorola promises heavy durability with certifications like IP68 combined with MIL-STD 810H standard. However, the display only gets Gorilla Glass 3, while rival brands have already started providing the tougher Gorilla Glass Victus protection in this range.

Moving to the display, you can expect a punchy display experience with 1.5K screen resolution (2,712 x 1,220 pixels), 10-bit colours, and 2,800 nits of peak brightness. The Settings app allows you to tweak display colours based on your preference, which I appreciate.

As I mentioned, I prefer taller displays since I read a lot on my smartphone. Smaller displays inherently offer smaller fonts, though there is an option to adjust the size. Do note that increasing the font size could cause overlapping or improper fitting in the limited space, leading to a somewhat unpleasant experience.

I also compared its display against the Nord CE4 (review) and Realme P2 Pro (review), and the Edge 50 Neo provided brighter output outdoors. Indoors, the display quality can be hard to distinguish with maximum brightness.

Cameras

Cameras are the key focus of the Edge 50 Neo, and you can find more details in our dedicated camera review, where I compared the performance against the Nord CE4, Realme P2 Pro, and Edge 50 Fusion.

The Edge 50 Fusion deserves credit for carrying a dedicated telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, which is rare in the sub-Rs 25K segment. With decent lighting conditions, you can expect playful images with reliable edge detection around the subject. The telephoto camera activates with an 85mm focal length or anything beyond 3x zoom.

If you take images with 30x zoom, details can get sketchy even in bright environments.

Details aren’t super-crisp either with the 50MP OIS primary camera leveraging Sony’s LYT700 sensor. You will notice typical Motorola colours across photos and videos, characterised by high contrast and prominent shadows. The Edge 50 Neo also reduces noise in images through software tweaks, which simultaneously impact details.

In fact, if you zoom into photos taken with the primary and ultra-wide cameras, you will notice an oil painting effect. This should not be a problem for direct, unedited social media uploads. However, if you want to highlight a certain area by cropping, the images won’t be as rich in detail as you’d expect. To be fair, this problem applies to the three smartphones I compared with the Edge 50 Neo.

Daylight and ultra-wide

All the images below are similar in sharpness and details, though the Motorola Edge 50 Neo represents near-accurate colours. You will notice this clearly if you pay attention to the red spots across the four images. But the smartphone tends to boost green spots (leaves and plants), which is typical of Motorola colour science.

The Realme P2 Pro offers the brightest outputs with its primary and ultra-wide cameras, though it struggles to balance the exposure of some areas.

Selfies and portraits

Even selfies with the two Motorola smartphones include near-accurate skin tones and colours around the subject. The Edge 50 Neo, by default, adds high contrast, which makes it stand out against its competition.

The OnePlus Nord CE4 takes the best portrait shot with the primary rear camera, but the selfies have high saturation, resulting in an awkward orange hue on the face.

The saturation also tends to be high with Edge 50 Neo’s telephoto camera, but that’s fixable with native editing tools. However, its telephoto camera (with 85mm focal length) offers the sharpest details, and you can notice details in the image below.

Low light

In dim conditions, the Edge 50 Neo could use some improvements, especially in controlling light flare without night mode. With night mode enabled, you can expect better results, but it requires stable hands or even a tripod.

The Nord CE4 also performs reliably in dim conditions as it automatically increases exposure to capture more light. I find selfies in dim indoor conditions more pleasing than the rest.

Video recording

While users, including myself, appreciate 4K video recording, the Edge 50 Neo does not always capture the most stable shots. If you mount the phone on a tripod for vlogging, you may also need to work extra during post-production to reduce the default high contrast.

The stable mode may offer some respite, but it’s best to have your hopes grounded. To be fair, this is also the problem with most smartphones in the range. I faced a similar issue during my Nord CE4 review earlier this year.

Performance and software

The Motorola Edge 50 Neo comes in a single 8GB RAM and 256GB storage variant for Rs 23,999. To maintain an aggressive price tag, it utilises LPDDR4x RAM and UFS 2.2 standards, though most of its competitors have started offering UFS 3.1 storage.

Latest-gen memory standards typically mean faster and smoother performance, though Motorola is known for optimisation for a lag-free experience. The Edge 50 Neo testifies to better optimisation in this case.

Based on the synthetic benchmarks with Geekbench, AnTuTu, and Burnout CPU Throttle, the Edge 50 Neo achieved respectable scores. It has its own strengths and weaknesses, and you will find a detailed analysis compared to rivals, like Nord CE4 and Realme P2 Pro, in my performance review. Overall, the Edge 50 Neo proved to be a reliable smartphone for daily productivity.

In my brief usage, I barely noticed any stutters while running a variety of apps. The near-stock Android experience makes the software feel truly worthwhile. For students and young professionals, Motorola’s proprietary apps offer seamless connectivity with Windows laptops and enhanced security. My favourite is the Smart Connect app, which allows users full control of their smartphone from a paired Windows PC. The straightforward setup is also an added bonus.

In terms of gaming, the Edge 50 Neo is decent, but the compact screen isn’t my go-to choice. Of course, others may have different priorities. While I couldn’t load apps to check the average fps, playing action titles like Battlegrounds Mobile India and Call of Duty was smooth and punchy, especially on the 10-bit pOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The loud stereo speakers also offered a pleasant audio experience.

If gaming is a top priority, the Infinix GT 20 Pro, with its RGB aesthetics, is a solid option.

Notably, the Edge 50 Neo managed the thermals better in my BGMI test, while the Realme P2 Pro turned out to be more efficient in the COD and Real Racing 3 rounds.

Beyond gaming, Motorola deserves credit for taking the software game to a new level by promising five years’ worth of major Android OS updates in the sub-Rs 25K segment. The only feedback for Motorola would be timely OS updates, which has been a consistent challenge with older Motorola smartphones. I also hardly noticed native gen-AI features and the existing ones are a result of a partnership with Google.

Therefore, extending AI beyond wallpapers could definitely provide the brand an “edge”. I am sure these are doable from a brand that still offers cool gestures to launch apps.

Battery and charging

The Edge 50 Neo packs a 4,310mAh battery instead of the standard 5,000mAh battery available on most smartphones in the segment. The smaller battery capacity is due to the compact design, and any bigger would’ve led to increased weight and thickness, which Motorola has avoided.

However, the smaller battery still offered a reliable backup even with the highest settings enabled. In my case, the phone lasted till evening, with a full charge in the morning. Of course, using the device with moderate settings (AOD disabled and 60Hz refresh rate) may fetch a relatively longer backup. I couldn’t test its battery backup with the PCMark app as the test kept crashing after multiple attempts.

Motorola makes up for the small battery with 15W wireless charging support, which is a rare feature in the segment. Sadly, I couldn’t test the wireless charging speeds. With the wired charging, the speeds are respectable.

The OnePlus Nord CE4 continues to offer the best battery backup in the segment with its 5,500mAh unit. Even its charging speeds remain the fastest in the sub-Rs 25K category.

Final verdict

Overall, the Edge 50 Neo is a terrific choice if your budget is Rs 25,000. In fact, I’d recommend it over the Edge 50 Pro if a bigger display size isn’t a top priority.

Whether it’s cameras, processor, or battery, the Edge 50 Neo proves to be highly reliable. The clean Android experience is also a big flex.

However, Motorola still has ground to cover regarding timely OS updates, and it may take a while for users to enjoy Android 15 on this device. Additionally, the brand could consider adding its own version of Gen AI features, as OPPO has already done it in its mid-budget offerings. We have yet to see what the Lava Agni 3 can offer, which boasts similar specifications to the Edge 50 Neo but has the advantage of an additional display on the back.

If these factors don’t matter, the Edge 50 Neo is an easy recommendation for users prioritising a clean Android OS and reliable performance.

Editor’s rating: 8 / 10

Reasons to buy

• Compact build with a vivid display.
• The Edge 50 Neo offers fast charging and wireless charging support.
• The Pantone-validated colours provide a trendy look.
• The telephoto camera captures sharp photos.

Reasons to not buy

• Video recording on the Edge 50 Neo needs improvements.
• Only Gorilla Glass 3 protection for the display.