Motorola Edge 40 review

introduction

The Motorola Edge range has seen some refurbishments this year, with the Pro slightly outperforming last year’s model and aspiring for some Ultra-ness. The vanilla Edge 40 joins this upward trend somewhat, perhaps making it harder for a successor to the 30 Fusion to find a place in the fall ranks, even if that’s not all the upgrades.

The chosen chipset is more of a workaround, albeit with a twist. A Dimension 8020 replaces the Snapdragon 778G+ – both powerful mid-range options, but the new Mediatek chip could have the upper hand in the GPU department.

Unchanged is the main camera – or rather, that’s the initial impression, because it’s the same 50MP 1/1.55″ sensor and still has OIS. New to this is the brighter lens, at f/1.4 vs. f/aperture 1.8 of the old model.In this sense this regular Edge 40 is better than the Pro which has the f/1.8 lens.So it can be considered an upgrade.

Not quite so with the ultrawide camera, where you get the 13MP unit we saw on the Edge 30 Fusion, as opposed to the 50MP one on both the Edge 30 and Edge 40 Pro. There still AND autofocus on this, which some manufacturers don’t include on higher-end models, so while technically a year-over-year downgrade, ultrawide isn’t all that bad.

A major generational improvement will be hard to see outside of the spec sheet or… unforeseen circumstances, but the Edge 40 is IP68 rated for dust and water resistance, a significant step up from its predecessor’s splash resistance . Greater battery capacity and faster charging are also welcome developments, and that’s while keeping the phone’s size and weight within the bounds of what might pass as “easily pocketable.”

Motorola Edge 40 specifications at a glance:

• Body: 158.4×72.0x7.6mm, 167g; Glass front, aluminum frame, plastic back or eco-leather back; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30min).
• Screen: 6.55″ P-OLED, 144Hz, HDR10+, 1200 nits (peak), 1080×2400 px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 402ppi.
• chipsets: Mediatek Dimensity 8020 (6 nm): Octa-core (4×2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 and 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G77 MC9.
• Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• Operating system/software: Android 13.
• Rear camera: Broad (main): 50 MP, f/1.4, 1/1.55″, 1.0µm, multidirectional PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 13MP, f/2.2, 120˚, 1.12µm, AF.
• Front camera: 32MP, f/2.4, (wide), 0.7µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10, Gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/120fps.
• Drums: 4400mAh; 68W wired, 15W wireless.
• Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Dual SIM; WiFi 6e; BT 5.2; NFC.
• Various: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); stereo speakers.

Motorola Edge 40 unboxing

The Edge 40 ships in a sturdy two-piece recycled cardboard box, like all recent Moto Edges, with the exception of the black (but otherwise equally recycled) 40 Pro package. There’s not even plastic used for packaging on this one.

Inside, you get a 68W adapter and USB-C cable to go with it. A clear plastic snap-on back for protection is also included, though it’s debatable whether you’ll want to use it if you get one of the colorways with a faux leather back.