Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ review: best all-rounder under Rs 50,000

The Motorola Edge series has long been known for offering great value for money, with devices that generally deliver across key areas like performance, design, cameras, and battery life. This year, though, things are a bit different. With the ongoing memory shortage, brands have had to adjust priorities and cut back on certain hardware aspects. That is where the Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ comes into play.

Priced under Rs 50,000, the Edge 70 Pro+ aims to offer a more complete experience. It brings a proper periscope camera system, something that is missing on the more affordable Edge 70 Pro (review). Alongside that, Motorola has equipped it with the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 SoC, fast RAM and storage, and a large 6,500mAh battery.

On paper, it does seem like a well-rounded package for the price. But how well does it actually hold up in day-to-day use? That is what I will be looking at in this review.

Short verdict

The Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ is one of the most balanced smartphones under Rs 50,000. It delivers good performance, a vibrant 144Hz display, a capable periscope camera system, and a slim, comfortable design with excellent durability. Although battery life falls slightly short of expectations and software support lags behind rivals, for anyone wanting a phone that does everything well without crippling compromises, this is the clearest choice in the segment.

Design: Incredibly thin and oh so light!

The Edge 70 Pro+ is actually the slimmest phone around its price point, measuring just 7.19mm thick (in this Silk-inspired finish) and weighing around 190g. In hand, that combination works really, really well. It feels light yet durable, and the overall in-hand feel is exceptionally comfortable for long periods of use.

The unit I have is the Silk-inspired finish in this deep, velvety red, and it looks so distinct from most other phones at this price. It is not overly flashy, but it does stand out quite enough, especially when the light hits it right. Motorola has also packed in a fair bit on the durability front, with IP68 and IP69 ratings, along with MIL-STD 810H certification, which is reassuring for a phone this slim.

All that said, there are some minor annoyances to confront here. The finish, while nice to look at, is quite slippery in daily use. If you rest it on your lap or any slightly angled surface, it tends to slide off rather easily. The curved edges improve the feel in the hand, but they do not help much with grip. The handset also does not come with a case, and finding a good one might take some effort because of the curved display.

Even so, as a whole, it is an extremely well-designed device. The Edge 70 Pro+ is slim, light, and comfortable to use and is rather durable with IP68 and IP69, but you will want to put a case on it sooner rather than later.

Cameras: vibrant, detailed, appealing output

The Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ comes with an all-star 50MP camera setup. At the rear, the handset boasts a 50MP OIS Sony LYT 710 primary camera, a 50MP OIS periscope lens with 3.5x optical zoom and a 50MP ultrawide lens.

For selfies, you’ve got a 50MP snapper with auto focus, which is a rather rare feature around this price. The cameras are capable of delivering likeable results in nearly all lighting conditions, be it daylight or nighttime, when things get tricky.

To get a better idea of how it performs, I compared it against the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro (review), another capable camera phone in this price segment. Check it out below: 

Daylight

In daylight conditions, the Edge 70 Pro+ delivers better results compared to the 4a Pro in some key areas. The former’s image is sharper, better detailed, and its colour reproduction is closer to the actual scene. The 4a Pro colours look a bit dull compared to the actual scenario, although it does offer better dynamic range compared to its peer. 

Ultrawide

For the ultrawide shot, the results are largely the same as the daylight scenario. Motorola delivers a more detailed image, and its colours are actually consistent with the primary camera, unlike Nothing’s ultrawide shot, which has a substantial shift in colours. 

Portrait

This scenario is where the Nothing phone is squarely at the front compared to the Motorola smartphone. The handset offers better skin colour accuracy compared to its rival. Additionally, its detail level and edge detection are a fair bit superior. Unlike Motorola, the 4a Pro manages to retain the stray hair of the subject in the image and delivers a more likeable result. 

Selfie

If you like selfies, the Nothing phone would be a better choice for you. While it may be lacking in colour accuracy, the phone manages to deliver better detail level and sharpness compared to the Edge 70 Pro. 

Lowlight (night mode)

The Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ is a superior camera phone at night when you enable the dedicated night mode. It manages lens flares from light sources a lot better and has more controlled exposure. Although its colour accuracy isn’t as good, it makes the shot vibrant to produce a more likeable result. 

Performance: powerful and smooth throughout

The Edge 70 Pro+ is powered by the Dimensity 8500 Extreme, paired with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.1 storage. It’s all top-end hardware, and the result is a snappy, responsive experience.

The phone’s AnTuTu results sit towards the top of the segment, excluding performance-focused devices like the iQOO 15R (review). Against general rivals such as the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro, the Motorola smartphone delivers enough juice to manage even the most demanding tasks.

There’s no lag, even with multiple apps running in the background, and the overall experience is buttery smooth throughout. Gaming performance is also impressive for such a thin phone. Both COD Mobile and BGMI are well optimised, with 120fps support across both titles, and the phone handles them without breaking a sweat.

One thing to note is that it tends to heat up quite a bit. Over 30 minutes of gaming, the average temperature increase is around 7.5 degrees Celsius. That’s not a huge problem in day-to-day use, especially since the device is more lifestyle-focused. The thinness, which is a strength in comfort, also means it’s not as well equipped to disperse heat like thicker phones.

Display: big, bright, beautiful

The Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ features a big 6.8-inch quad-curved AMOLED panel that you really notice the moment you start using it. It’s smooth and responsive, with a 144Hz refresh rate that makes scrolling and animations feel effortless.

The UI and most games we tested only run at 120Hz for now, so this could be something that will come in handy further down the line once more games get the proper support through an OTA update. The resolution is 1.5K (2772 x 1272p), so the content looks extremely sharp and detailed.

In bright conditions, the screen could theoretically hit a peak brightness of 5200 nits, but the 1800 nits in HBM is more than sufficient to keep things legible under direct sunlight without killing the battery too fast.

Colour-wise, it’s rich and vibrant, with the panel covering 100 percent of the DCI-P3 space and a 10-bit display capable of showing over a billion shades. That last bit is more observable when you’re watching HDR content or looking at photos with subtle gradients. There’s also Water Touch support to improve input with wet hands.

What I do like is that it’s quite gentle on the eyes. The blue light and motion reduction certifications make a difference during longer viewing sessions, especially at night and when you’re travelling in cabs. The quad-curved edges give the phone a refined look and add a bit of elegance, even if I still prefer flat panels for day-to-day use.

Naturally, there are also a couple of downsides. You do get occasional mistouches on the curved sides, especially if you hold the phone more firmly, as I do. Furthermore, the in-display fingerprint sensor is placed quite low on the screen, which is a bit awkward if you have smaller hands like mine, especially on such a tall device.

The stereo speakers are capable and get loud with decent vocal clarity, though at max volume, the audio does feel slightly muffled compared to a similar competitor. In normal use, that’s not an issue.

Battery: decent run-time, fast charging

The Edge 70 Pro+ packs a silicon-carbon 6500mAh battery, which is pretty substantial for such a slim phone. In practice, though, based on our tests, it’s not quite pulling the endurance you’d expect from that capacity. In the PCMark battery test, it lasted just over 14 hours, which is a bit below the segment average of around 16 hours.

It’s likely that the battery will improve over time as usage patterns settle in and software updates roll out, but right now, it doesn’t reflect the same longevity you’d want from a battery this size. For most people, it will still easily carry you through a full day, just not much beyond that. If you want longer battery life, the Vivo V70 (review) and OPPO Reno15 (review) are better suited to your needs within the same price bracket. 

Charging, on the other hand, is very good. The 90W TurboPower wired charging gets the massive 6500mAh battery to full in just under 50 minutes, which is excellent. There’s also 15W TurboPower wireless charging, 10W wireless reverse charging, and 5W wired reverse charging, which adds a lot of flexibility. 

Software: new customisations

The Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ doesn’t really offer anything drastically different from its more affordable sibling, the Edge 70 Pro (review), when it comes to the software experience. You get the same Hello UI based on Android 16, along with some new customisation options for the clock widget on the lock screen and a redesigned notification panel.

Motorola is promising three major OS updates and six years of software updates in total, which is still the clearest limitation here. Most rivals in this price bracket now offer better long-term support.

Otherwise, the software experience is largely what you’d expect from any Motorola phone: a minimal OS that’s mostly clean. I say “mostly” because both the new Edge 70 Pro and Pro+ come with a fair amount of pre-installed apps and ads baked into the UI. You’ll see things like Newsroom, app suggestions in the search tool, suggested games, and more. You can remove all of it, but it does tarnish the otherwise clean experience Motorola has offered until now.

The OS itself is still quite snappy and performs well. The handset includes all the AI features introduced in Motorola Signature’s (review) suite, so you’re sorted on that front. What doesn’t quite work yet is the overall implementation and the lack of software support.

Verdict

The memory shortage has changed expectations at pretty much every price point, and brands have had to make some difficult choices as a result. For buyers, that means being a little more careful about what they prioritise and where they are willing to compromise. In that context, the Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ ends up making that decision a lot easier. 

The handset does well across all the main areas that matter most: performance, display, design, cameras, and battery life. That is more than what most phones in this segment can claim, including rivals like the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro (review) and the Vivo V70 (review), both of which are more specialised towards cameras while giving up ground elsewhere, like performance. The Edge 70 Pro+ feels more complete by comparison against most of its competitors. 

For someone spending this much money (Rs 47,999) and wanting a phone that does most things well without any crippling compromises, the Edge 70 Pro+ is one of the clearest options in the segment. It may not be perfect, but it gets the balance right in a way that matters. 

Editor’s rating: 8.3/10

Reasons to buy:

• Slimmest phone at this price, weighing just 190g with a comfortable, premium feel
• Big 6.8-inch 144Hz AMOLED display that is bright, vibrant, and gentle on the eyes
• A capable periscope camera system with vibrant, detailed outputs across most lighting conditions
• Powerful Dimensity 8500 Extreme chip delivers reliable performance and gaming output

Reasons not to buy:

• Battery life falls short of expectations despite the large 6,500mAh capacity
• Weaker software support, with only three major OS updates promised
• Design is a bit slippery and is prone to accidental falls