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Motorola Edge Plus Review: Refined Style and Specs, but Still Lost in the Crowd

A premium Android phone with a big battery, snazzy look and competitive price — but not enough to stand out.

8.0

Motorola Edge Plus

Like

  • Refined, premium-looking design
  • Big battery and fast charging
  • Great curved display and audio

Don’t like

  • No expandable storage
  • Photos taken are too vibrantly untrue-to-life
  • Nothing distinguishes it apart from it competitors

The Motorola Edge Plus is the latest premium smartphone aimed at the US, and an all-around upgrade on last year’s Edge Plus. With its big battery and competitive price, Android fans have another top-tier contender to consider when phone shopping. 

Motorola has refined its premium phones over the years, adding some features and taking others away in an effort to find the right combination that will appeal to top-tier phone buyers. The newest Edge Plus is the best combination so far. But it’s also not exactly the same phone sold around the world, since Motorola releases slightly different versions in different regions. For instance, the Edge Plus available in the US is virtually identical to the Edge 40 Pro in Europe and elsewhere, but has a larger battery and more modest recharging speed.

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A black phone lays face-down on a bamboo wood table, showing its matte metal black rear cover and solid black camera block. A black phone lays face-down on a bamboo wood table, showing its matte metal black rear cover and solid black camera block.

David Lumb/CNET

In previous years, it’s been tough to recommend the Edge Plus series over similarly priced (or even cheaper) Samsung rivals. But with its $800 price tag, which is $200 cheaper than its predecessor, the new Edge Plus is a decent alternative to the $800 Samsung Galaxy S23, and lands right in-between the $600 Google Pixel 7 and $900 Pixel 7 Pro

That doesn’t mean that the Edge Plus is the absolute best value. It’s pricier than the $700 OnePlus 11, though its base model packs more onboard storage. And like other higher-end Android handsets, the Edge Plus faces stiff competition from the $500 Pixel 7A, which has most of its pricier Pixel sibling’s features.

The Motorola Edge Plus looks and feels premium with a sharp display featuring waterfall-style curved edges. That screen along with nearly top-of-the-line specs, like a big battery and truly fast charging speeds, make the Edge Plus a suitable option for anyone who doesn’t need the Galaxy S23’s zoom photo capabilities or the Pixel 7’s AI-powered photo editing. But aside from its tremendous battery life, there isn’t much else that distinguishes the Edge Plus from other premium phones.

A phone held in hand shows its bright, 6.7-inch full HD display. A phone held in hand shows its bright, 6.7-inch full HD display.

The Edge Plus’ display curves over the side of the phone.

David Lumb/CNET

Good battery life, great recharge speeds

The new Motorola Edge Plus has a 5,100-mAh battery, which is 300 mAh more than its predecessor. In practice, the phone easily survived media-heavy everyday activities. When I put the Edge Plus through CNET’s intensive-use media test — which includes streaming movies, playing games, scrolling social media, and joining video calls for a total of 45 minutes — the battery dropped 8%.

That’s comparable to the battery drain on the Galaxy S23 and Pixel 7A in the same test, and a little worse than the Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Ultra. Based on my early testing, the Edge Plus simply lasts longer than many other phones, especially when watching videos and playing games. The battery made it through a full day of use and then some, though it likely won’t be able to last two full days without a recharge.

The Edge Plus’s fast charging outperforms some of its peers. It may not have the ridiculously fast 125-watt charging of the European Edge 40 Pro, but the 68-watt charger included in the box is more than enough. When my test unit was down to 3% battery, a 30-minute recharge juiced it back up to 80%. Compare that to the 25-watt max charging on the standard Galaxy S23 or 45-watt charging on the S23 Plus and Ultra, and the Edge Plus has, well, the edge.

The Edge Plus’ charging doesn’t beat some phones with high-wattage chargers, like the OnePlus 11 with a 100-watt charger that juiced up a phone from zero to fully charged in 26 minutes. In addition to 68-watt wired charging, the Edge Plus has 15-watt wireless charging and can charge other devices at 5 watts.

A black phone seen from the back, showing off its matte metal rear that accentuates the glossy 'M' logo in the center and glass-covered square camera block in the top left of the phone. A black phone seen from the back, showing off its matte metal rear that accentuates the glossy 'M' logo in the center and glass-covered square camera block in the top left of the phone.

The Edge Plus has a matte-finish metal back.

David Lumb/CNET

The best-looking Motorola phone yet (come at me, Razr fans)

Motorola’s premium phones have been on a journey since the brand released the Edge Plus debuted in 2020. The original had an attractive device, and its display edges curved down to abruptly meet the phone’s rear metal plate with such a severe edge that I still remember it biting into my hand as I gripped its sides. The next Edge Plus in 2022 did away with the waterfall-style edges in favor of a standard flat screen, which was less painful but also less stylish.

The latest Edge Plus is a return to form with carefully curved display edges that smoothly meet the polished metal frame. The back is a matte metal with a slight texture, like fine-grain sandpaper, that gives it a refined look and contrasts against the glossy Motorola logo. The smoky glass-covered square camera block is a serious upgrade over the somewhat cheap-looking camera oval on last year’s model. Overall, it’s a phone that would look professional being held up to your ear, if we ever raised our phones like that anymore.

The Edge Plus’s 6.7-inch, 2,400×1,080-pixel OLED display has sharp and clear visuals and supports HDR10 Plus. It has a 165Hz refresh rate, which is technically faster than the last Edge Plus’s 144Hz refresh rate screen. While I could barely tell the difference between the phone’s maximum 165Hz refresh rate and the 120Hz step down setting, the higher refresh rate did look slightly smoother when scrolling through the operating system animations or browsing the web. It also has an under-display fingerprint sensor for security, as well as facial recognition to unlock your phone with your mug.

A phone with its entire display (except for the front-facing camera) showing a crisp and vibrant video of a green lizard in a Costa Rican jungle. A phone with its entire display (except for the front-facing camera) showing a crisp and vibrant video of a green lizard in a Costa Rican jungle.

The display has a hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera.

David Lumb/CNET

Specs keep up with the competition

The Edge Plus packs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, the top-tier premium silicon from Qualcomm, 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage, though it lacks the option for expandable storage via microSD card. This is a bit of a step down from last year’s model, which came in both 8GB and 12GB of RAM configurations, but I didn’t feel the new Edge Plus was let down without the additional memory.

Overall the Edge Plus performs well. I didn’t experience any slowdown or delays transitioning between apps or doing light tasks. The phone kept up with more process-intensive tasks like gaming and fiddling with video, like switching between horizontal and vertical video orientations. 

For raw stats, the Edge Plus kept up with its rivals scoring similar benchmark test results to its premium handsets peers. Take a look at Geekbench 5 results below.

Geekbench V.5.0 single-core

Motorola Edge Plus 1,470Samsung Galaxy S23 1,518OnePlus 11 1,160
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

Geekbench V.5.0 multicore

Motorola Edge Plus 4,849Samsung Galaxy S23 4,789OnePlus 11 4,840
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

The Edge Plus runs Android 13 with a mostly stock version of the operating system and will get three years of Android updates and four years of twice-monthly security updates, which is encouraging for folks who want to keep their phones for longer. Though with Android 14 expected to launch in October, Motorola’s phone won’t be on a par with other leading Android phones for that long. Samsung still leads the pack with a guaranteed five years of major Android updates and security updates.

The Edge Plus also retains Motorola’s small suite of beloved gesture control shortcuts like the chop-chop to turn on the flashlight and the double-twist to open the camera app. 

A close-up of the glass-covered camera block on the black metal back of the phone, showing three lenses and a flash. A close-up of the glass-covered camera block on the black metal back of the phone, showing three lenses and a flash.

The Edge Plus has triple rear cameras.

David Lumb/CNET

Cameras are good, but not the best

The Edge Plus has a triple rear camera consisting of a 50-megapixel, f1.8 main shooter, a 50-megapixel ultrawide and a 12-megapixel, 2x optical zoom camera that extends to 16x digital zoom. Given last year’s Edge Plus lacked a telephoto lens, this alone makes the new model superior to its predecessor.

A scene in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles, where red and white lanterns strung between trees and shops hang over passersby. A scene in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles, where red and white lanterns strung between trees and shops hang over passersby.

Edge Plus main camera  

David Lumb/CNET

Photos taken with Motorola phones have never reached parity with those shot and processed on premium Apple and Samsung phones, and while that’s still the case, Motorola is catching up. In side-by-side comparisons of the same photos taken on an iPhone 12 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, the Edge Plus’s photos have slightly more saturated colors but lack detail in shadows. 

A pinkish purple flower sits in the foreground, but the colors blend together to make it hard to pick out petal edges. A pinkish purple flower sits in the foreground, but the colors blend together to make it hard to pick out petal edges.

Edge Plus main camera (portrait)  

David Lumb/CNET

This leads colors to streak into uniform hues rather than dappled with subtle differences from angled light, moisture or some other factor. It’s not too noticeable unless you look closely.

A photo taken at night on a partially-lit street, showing how bright the Edge Plus makes its nighttime subjects. A photo taken at night on a partially-lit street, showing how bright the Edge Plus makes its nighttime subjects.

Edge Plus main camera  

David Lumb/CNET

A nighttime shot of a baseball game from above home plate, showing a brightly-lit stadium and cheering fans as a home team player rounds the bases after a home run. A nighttime shot of a baseball game from above home plate, showing a brightly-lit stadium and cheering fans as a home team player rounds the bases after a home run.

Edge Plus main camera  

David Lumb/CNET

A slightly zoomed-in shot of a baseball field using the phone's 2x telephoto camera. A slightly zoomed-in shot of a baseball field using the phone's 2x telephoto camera.

  Edge Plus telephoto camera (2x zoom)

David Lumb/CNET

Using its maximum 16x digital zoom, the phone can zoom in from the cheap seats to see the pitcher on the mound in a baseball game, albeit in fuzzy detail. Using its maximum 16x digital zoom, the phone can zoom in from the cheap seats to see the pitcher on the mound in a baseball game, albeit in fuzzy detail.

  Edge Plus telephoto camera (16x digital zoom)

David Lumb/CNET

The Edge Plus’ 2x telephoto works well and compares favorably with an iPhone, though the premium Galaxy phones still take far clearer photos out to a distance. The ultrawide camera has a narrower field of view, capturing less area than either Galaxy or iPhone. 

A bee buzzes around a column of purple flowers in the foreground while, blurred with a portrait effect, other purple flower columns rise in the background. A bee buzzes around a column of purple flowers in the foreground while, blurred with a portrait effect, other purple flower columns rise in the background.

Edge Plus main camera (portrait)

David Lumb/CNET

The Edge Plus’s cameras take capable portrait photos, and while the saturation is a bit much for normal photos, it actually pops nicely against the added depth. At night, photos capture a good amount of light, preserving detail of subjects if losing out on some shadow and texture. 

Photos from the 60-megapixel, f/2.2 front-facing shooter have an impressive amount of detail and color, though come out a bit more vibrant than they should. The phone can record 4K video in 60fps with the main and ultrawide cameras.

A hand holds a phone with camera app open pointed at a subject (a tiny Gundam figure). It is adorable. A hand holds a phone with camera app open pointed at a subject (a tiny Gundam figure). It is adorable.

The Edge Plus’ camera app.

David Lumb/CNET

Should you buy a Motorola Edge Plus?

Motorola made the right tweaks with the Edge Plus, with a snazzier design and slight upgrades everywhere else to make it better than its predecessor. While its cameras and software still don’t produce photos that truly top those coming out of Samsung or Apple phones, they get close, producing good shots in dark and light settings. 

But it’s the Edge Plus’s $800 price that makes it a true competitor to the Galaxy S23 and other premium phones. So long as you don’t need extensive zoom photo capabilities or Google’s line of photo software tricks. The new Edge Plus’s large battery and fast charging should make it a consideration among top-end Android devices.

How we test phones

Every phone tested by CNET’s reviews team was actually used in the real world. We test a phone’s features, play games and take photos. We examine the display to see if it’s bright, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and build to see how it is to hold and whether it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s performance to the extremes using both standardized benchmark tools like GeekBench and 3DMark, along with our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates.

All the cameras are tested in a variety of conditions from bright sunlight to dark indoor scenes. We try out special features like night mode and portrait mode and compare our findings against similarly priced competing phones. We also check out the battery life by using it daily as well as running a series of battery drain tests.

We take into account additional features like support for 5G, satellite connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus support, fast charging speeds, foldable displays among others that can be useful. And we balance all of this against the price to give you the verdict on whether that phone, whatever price it is, actually represents good value.

Motorola Edge Plus (2023) specs

Display size, type, resolution 6.7-inch, OLED, 2,400×1,080 pixels
Pixel density 394 ppi
Dimensions (millimeters) 161.2 x 74 x 8.59 mm
Weight (ounces, grams) 203 g; 7.2 oz (converted)
Mobile software Android 13
Camera 50-megapixel main, 50-megapixel ultrawide, 12-megapixel 2x telephoto
Front-facing camera 60-megapixel
Video capture 8K UHD (30fps)
Processor Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
RAM, storage 8GB RAM; 256 or 512GB storage
Expandable storage None
Battery, charger 5,100 mAh, 68W charging
Fingerprint sensor Yes
Connector USB-C
Headphone jack N/A
Special features 165Hz, 68W charger included in box
Price off-contract (USD) $800
Price (GBP) Converts to £649
Price (AUD) Converts to AU$1,225

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Apple, I’m (Sky) Blue About Your iPhone 17 Air Color

Commentary: The rumored new hue of the iPhone 17 Air is more sky blah than sky blue.

I can’t help but feel blue about the latest rumor that Apple’s forthcoming iPhone 17 Air will take flight in a subtle, light-hued color called sky blue.

Sky blue isn’t a new color for Apple. It’s the featured shade of the current M4 MacBook Air, a shimmer of cerulean so subtle as to almost be missed. It’s silver left too close to an aquarium; silver that secretly likes to think it’s blue but doesn’t want everyone else to notice.

Do Apple employees get to go outside and see a real blue sky? It’s actually vivid, you can check for yourself. Perhaps the muted sky blue color reflects a Bay Area late winter/early spring frequent layer of clouds like we typically see here in Seattle.

«Who cares?» you might find yourself saying. «Everyone gets a case anyway.» I hear you and everyone else who’s told me that. But design-focused Apple is as obsessive about colors as they are about making their devices thinner. And I wonder if their heads are in the clouds about which hues adorn their pro products.

Making the case for a caseless color iPhone

I’m more invested in this conversation than most — I’m one of those freaks who doesn’t wrap my phone in a case. I find cases bulky and superfluous, and I like to be able to see Apple’s design work. Also, true story, I’ve broken my iPhone screen only twice: First when it was in a «bumper» that Apple sent free in response to the iPhone 4 you’re-holding-it-wrong Antennagate fiasco, and second when trying to take long exposure starry night photos using what I didn’t realize was a broken tripod mount. My one-week-old iPhone 13 Pro slipped sideways and landed screen-first on a pointy rock. A case wouldn’t have saved it.

My current model is an iPhone 16 Pro in black titanium — which I know seems like avoiding color entirely — but previously I’ve gone for colors like blue titanium and deep purple. I wanted to like deep purple the most but it came across as, in the words of Patrick Holland in his iPhone 14 Pro review, «a drab shade of gray or like Grimace purple,» depending on the light.

Pros can be bold, too

Maybe the issue is too many soft blues. Since the iPhone Pro age began with the iPhone 11 Pro, we’ve seen variations like blue titanium (iPhone 15 Pro), sierra blue (iPhone 13 Pro) and pacific blue (iPhone 12 Pro).

Pacific blue is the boldest of the bunch, if by bold you mean dark enough to discern from silver, but it’s also close enough to that year’s graphite color that seeing blue depends on the surrounding lighting. By comparison, the blue (just «blue») color of the iPhone 12 was unmistakably bright blue.

In fact, the non-Pro lines have embraced vibrant colors. It’s as if Apple is equating «pro» with «sophisticated,» as in «A real pro would never brandish something this garish.» I see this in the camera world all the time: If it’s not all-black, it’s not a «serious» camera.

And yet I know lots of pros who are not sophisticated — proudly so. People choose colors to express themselves, so forcing that idea of professionalism through color feels needlessly restrictive. A bright pink iPhone 16 might make you smile every time you pick it up but then frown because it doesn’t have a telephoto camera.

Color is also important because it can sway a purchase decision. «I would buy a sky blue iPhone yesterday,» my colleague Gael Cooper texted after the first rumor popped online. When each new generation of iPhones arrive, less technically different than the one before, a color you fall in love with can push you into trading in your perfectly-capable model for a new one.

And lest you think Apple should just stick with black and white for its professional phones: Do you mean black, jet black, space black, midnight black, black titanium, graphite or space gray? At least the lighter end of the spectrum has stuck to just white, white titanium and silver over the years.

Apple never got ahead by being beige

I’m sure Apple has reams of studies and customer feedback that support which colors make it to production each year. Like I said, Apple’s designers are obsessive (in a good way). And I must remind myself that a sky blue iPhone 17 Air is a rumored color on a rumored product so all the usual caveats apply.

But we’re talking about Apple here. The scrappy startup that spent more than any other company on business cards at the time because each one included the old six-color Apple logo. The company that not only shaped the first iMac like a tipped-over gumdrop, that not only made the case partially see-through but then made that cover brilliant Bondi blue.

Embrace the iPhone colors, Apple.

If that makes you nervous, don’t worry: Most people will put a case on it anyway.

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Astronomers Say There’s an Increased Possibility of Life on This Distant Planet

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers are working to confirm potential evidence of life on a distant exoplanet dubbed K2-18b.

Astronomers are nearing a statistically significant finding that could confirm the potential signs of life detected on the distant exoplanet K2-18b are no accident.

The team of astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, used data from the James Webb Space Telescope (which has only been in use since the end of 2021) to detect chemical traces of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), which they say can only be produced by life such as phytoplankton in the sea. 

According to the university, «the results are the strongest evidence yet that life may exist on a planet outside our solar system.»

The findings were published this week in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and point to the possibility of an ocean on this planet’s surface, which scientists have been hoping to discover for years. In the abstract for the paper, the team says, «The possibility of hycean worlds, with planet-wide oceans and H2-rich atmospheres, significantly expands and accelerates the search for habitable environments elsewhere.»

Not everyone agrees, however, that what the team found proves there’s life on the exoplanet.

Science writer and OpenMind Magazine founder Corey S. Powell posted about the findings on Bluesky, writing, «The potential discovery of alien life is so enticing that it drags even reputable outlets into running naive or outright misleading stories.» He added, «Here we go again with planet K2-18b.Um….there’s strong evidence of non-biological sources of the molecule DMS.»

K2-18b is 124 light-years away and much larger than Earth (more than eight times our mass), but smaller than Neptune. The search for signs of even basic life on a planet like this increases the chances that there are more planets like Earth that may be inhabitable, with temperatures and atmospheres that could sustain human-like lifeforms. The team behind the paper hopes that more study with the James Webb Space Telescope will help confirm their initial findings.

More research to do on finding life on K2-18b

The exoplanet K2-18b is not the only place where scientists are exploring the possibility of life, and this research is still an early step in the process, said Christopher Glein, a geochemist, planetary researcher and lead scientist at San Antonio’s Southwest Research Institute. Excitement over the significance of the research, he said, should be tempered.

«We need to be careful here,» Glein said. «It appears that there is something in the data that can’t be explained, and DMS/DMDS can provide an explanation. But this detection is stretching the limits of JWST’s capabilities.»

Glein added, «Further work is needed to test whether these molecules are actually present. We also need complementary research assessing the abiotic background on K2-18b and similar planets. That is, the chemistry that can occur in the absence of life in this potentially exotic environment. We might be seeing evidence of some cool chemistry rather than life.»

The TRAPPIST-1 planets, he said, are being researched as potentially habitable, as is LHS 1140b, which he said «is another astrobiologically significant exoplanet, which might be a massive ocean world.»

As for K2-18b, Glein said many more tests need to be performed before there’s consensus on life existing on it.

«Finding evidence of life is like prosecuting a case in the courtroom,» Glein said. «Multiple independent lines of evidence are needed to convince the jury, in this case the worldwide scientific community.» He added, «If this finding holds up, then that’s Step 1.»

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