“With everything and that it did not have a price increase compared to its predecessor, the new phone does not feel like a true evolution. It makes more sense when you put it in front of the Moto G100.” keep reading this review.
Pros
Wide, quality screen
Balanced battery and fast charging
Sleek and modern finish
Good performanceCons
Ready For fails to be an intuitive platform
Motorola does not risk in design“Motorola’s return to the high-end looks promising, especially as it put next-generation components and a sleek, functional design in the Moto Edge Plus,” I wrote a little over a year ago about this phone. What about its successor, the Motorola Edge 20 Pro? Did the Chicago firm decide to continue on this path or take a safer one? This is what the following analysis aims to answer.
At first glance or in terms of components, the Edge 20 Pro does seem to improve over the Edge Plus, especially since the former includes a higher refresh rate, a 30-watt fast charge, and more advanced optics. However, the latter seems riskier in design, as its screen “bends” around the edges to almost 90 degrees and feels more secure in the hands.
Motorola Edge 20 Pro
Thus, it seemed more that, at least, Motorola would give continuity to the curved finish for which it opted last year, not one that has more than proven in its other recent generation models but that is more accessible, such as the Moto G100.
Elegant touch
The first thing that catches the attention of the Motorola Edge 20 Pro when you look at it from the rear is its optical system, vertically aligned and composed of a periscope lens for “telephotography” (zoom of up to 50x), high-resolution camera of 108 MP and 16 MP hybrid sensor (wide-angle and macro). Also, here is the Motorola logo, located in the center.
Motorola Edge 20 Pro
The optics perform well in a variety of conditions – it makes shots vivid in colour. Compared to the 50x zoom, the accurate image fades when pushed to its highest level.
It is also striking that the Edge 20 Pro was decided to do without the 3.5 mm jack for wired headphones and stereo sound. It is at the smartphone base where Motorola decided to put the only audio channel, the USB-C charging port, and the mobile data card slot.
Yes, it is worth immediately putting on the plastic cover included in the purchase box since you feel that the equipment could slip from your hands, especially due to the matte finish of the rear glass that is not it is a “magnet” of footprints.
Performance and autonomy
No problem, the Edge 20 Pro will respond optimally to any request from people, from playing your favourite content in streaming to everything that has to do with your communication and productivity.
Motorola Edge 20 Pro
The fifth generation of mobile telephony technologies is not yet available in Mexico, where I write these lines. However, it does begin to see more and more routers compatible with Wi-Fi 6 that do not represent a strong blow to the pocket of consumers.
Multimedia
The Edge 20 Pro screen is wider than that of the Edge Plus, and it is in this element that it, noticeable that Motorola “broke” with the series to deliver a different unit. In simple terms, the display of the 2020 phone looks more modern than that of 2021, although already inside, the latter may win.
For starters, the panel – OLED – now has a refresh rate of 144 Hz (instead of 90 Hz) and brightness that gives the feeling of being more intense.
Motorola Edge 20 Pro
All this translates into still images and video with great detail and vivid colours, without forgetting the optimal contrast level. Also, the display is HDR10 + compliant to enjoy movies, concerts and games with truer and sharper tones.
The circular notch that houses the 32 MP selfie camera does not “interrupt” the multimedia experience since it is not as large as other phones of its type. Also, people will only be able to use their wireless headphones to enjoy their content unless they have a USB-C to 3.5 mm jack adapter.
Motorola Edge 20 is compatible with all the modalities of Ready For, the Motorola platform that allows you to use your phone – even without cables – as a multimedia player or game console with the help of a wireless keyboard, mouse, screen and game controller.
You can also use a couple of extra accessories that the company sells to get the best out of this solution. It is a dock with a fan that allows you to keep the mobile at an optimal temperature, especially when it transmits video and charges at the same time, and a small remote control like the one included in televisions, which allows you to go to the different Ready For screens easily. For this review, both were tested and left a good taste in the mouth.
Likewise, the Motorola principles also offer the possibility of using the cell phone as a webcam in the different call services and even replicating the phone interface on the computer display (Windows only). Here it is with the cable used—included with the charger (USB-C to USB-C) or with a USB-C to USB-A, depending on the device you have at home.
How intuitive are each of these experiences? One of the utilities of Ready For is to play a streaming video application on the cell phone on a Miracast-compatible television without having to offer the access credentials again. An example: with the recent arrival of Star Plus in Latin America, the problem arose that its app was not available on Roku, so the only way I had to reproduce its content, from original series to live sports, was to through Ready For (on some screens it did it wirelessly, but others, on non-smart ones, did use the corresponding cable: USB-C to HDM, which is included with the remote control that Motorola sells separately). It can be said that the video streaming experience is satisfactory.
When you want to use the cellphone as a computer, there is a bittersweet result. For one thing, it’s not that a familiar desktop interface is reproduced or easy to learn. When the Chrome browser is running, the requested web pages are displayed on their mobile, doing reading, if not impossible, very hard. The same happens when you want to read incoming emails in the Gmail box.
If you can put Instagram in a proper format, the experience may not be as painful here, as some photos look more when viewed on a larger screen.
The point is that, although it is said that the Edge 20 Pro can be used as a personal computer, the applications that you want to run through Ready For are not great optimized, so it is still there is a great job for Motorola to do for future.
However, we find a perfect performance when the user wants to use his mobile as a webcam. In this mode, the phone allows you to choose the front or rear optics, track the object (the person’s face) and use the flash as a light source (rear camera only), among other features.