What’s in the Box?
It’s a plastic-free packaging box. Inside the box, user manual, SIM ejector tool, transparent plastic case, Mobile, and 68-watt adapter & USB Type-C data cable are provided.
“We have used this phone for 10 months, and we are sharing our honest opinion with you.”
Design and Build Quality
It has curved edges with an aluminum metal frame on the sides and a premium vegan leather finish on the back. We ordered a Nebula Green variant. It’s one of my favorite shades of green. It’s extremely slim and lightweight while providing a solid grip. It has a weight of 171 grams and a thickness of 7.5mm. The device feels comfortable in hand and well-balanced. The phone comes with IP 68 underwater protection, it can sustain itself 1.5 meters under freshwater for up to 30 minutes. This is one of the excellent design and build quality under the 30k segment.
Display
It has a curved 6.55-inch FHD+ pOLED display with its peak brightness of 1200 nits. Even in the sunlight, it looks bright. The minimal bezels at the top and bottom contribute to a sleek design. The curved sides enhance your viewing experience but may lead to accidental touches while playing games. This phone is the first in India to offer a 144Hz refresh rate display for under ₹30,000, with additional options for 60Hz and 120Hz refresh rates adapted based on the necessity. It also supports the DCI-P3 color gamut and HDR10+ certification, providing excellent viewing angles and a cinematic experience. The in-display fingerprint sensor works very well and is placed perfectly, making it comfortable and easy to use.
Performance
The Motorola Edge 40 is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 8020 chipset, which is built on a 6nm process. It’s quite powerful in this segment. In day-to-day use, it handles regular tasks, browsing, social media, and multitasking effortlessly. Apps open quickly, and switching between apps is smooth. The UI doesn’t exhibit any lag under normal conditions, making it feel responsive even with multiple apps running in the background. For most games, we can play without issues. BGMI, Asphalt 9, and Call of Duty run smoothly with medium and high graphics. When playing games at the highest graphics settings, we found out the frame drops are so minimal that they aren’t noticeable & we did notice the phone getting heated up because it’s so slim. It’s normal in every phone.
Software
It is updated with the latest Android 13 version based on the MyUX skin & minimal bloatware. This gives you a near-stock Android experience & allows for a more personalized touch on this phone. We can also customize apps by color, language themes, etc. There are some interesting gestures like double-tapping the rear panel to trigger some custom actions, turning on & off the torch with two karate chop motions, and twisting the wrist twice to open the camera. Motorola has promised to provide two OS updates and three years of security upgrades.
RAM & Storage
This phone is equipped with 8GB LPDDR4X RAM. It’s enough for most users. It comes with 256GB UFS 3.1 storage. That helps to read & write the applications faster.
Camera
Rear Camera:
- 50 MP main sensor (f/1.4, OIS)
- 13 MP ultra-wide lens (f/2.2, 120° FOV)
Front Camera:
- 32 MP selfie camera (f/2.4)
The main sensor captures detailed and sharp images in a variety of conditions. The colors are more natural and it captures highlights and shadows very well. Solid dynamic range in outdoor shots. The 13 MP ultra-wide lens captures a wide field of view in a single frame, making it ideal for landscapes and group shots. This lens delivers high-resolution close-up shots. The ultra-wide lens shows weaker performance in low light compared to the main camera. At edges, we can see a slight loss of sharpness. It’s common in most phones.
In low-light conditions, the main sensor captures well-exposed and detailed pictures. The ultra-wide lens shows weaker performance in low light compared to the main camera. Night mode performs even better, producing sharp, vibrant images.
The rear main camera shoots portrait images. The portrait images have excellent subject separation, but the background blur may appear unnatural at times. The 32 MP selfie camera’s colors are natural but skin tones appear inaccurate. Portrait images over-smooth the faces and capture grainy images in low light.
Video Recorder
This phone supports 4K video recording at 30 fps on both back & front. Colors are accurate. The OIS will stabilize the video footage when shooting. While shooting portraits, edge detection is sometimes inaccurate and struggles in low-light conditions. We can shoot front and back footage in one frame; this could be very helpful for vloggers.
Battery
The Motorola Edge 40 is equipped with a 4400mAh battery. The device’s battery life is sufficient for moderate use, but heavier tasks like gaming can drain it quicker, requiring a recharge sooner than expected. On average, it gave me 7 hours and 15 minutes of screen-on time. In the HD loop test, the phone lasted 15 hours, which is above average.
This phone introduced 68W fast charging, going from 0% to 100% within 50 minutes, and 15W wireless charging, which is the best in the segment. The phone gets slightly warm when charging.
Verdict
The Motorola Edge 40’s sleek body design and vegan leather finish give it a rich and premium look. It fits perfectly in the palm. There is a good balance between performance and efficiency. It’s not the most powerful phone on the market, but it handles everyday tasks, multitasking, and gaming competently for its price range. The near-stock Android experience, along with a 144Hz refresh rate and capable chipset, ensures a fluid and responsive experience overall.
Pros:
- Smooth day-to-day performance with no lag or stutter.
- Decent gaming performance with solid thermal management.
- 144Hz display enhances fluidity and responsiveness.
- Efficient RAM management and multitasking capabilities.
- Fast charging ensures minimal downtime.
Cons:
- Not ideal for heavy gamers who want ultra-settings in resource-intensive games.
- May show minor performance dips under very heavy loads after prolonged use.
- Camera needs some work.
If you want an all-rounder smartphone under ₹30,000 and are willing to compromise a bit on the cameras, the Motorola Edge 40 can be considered. It’s the best phone in the segment compared to others.
For a comprehensive comparison with other devices in this range, you can check out our other phone reviews.