The new Motorola edge40 Pro smartphone represents the brand’s flagship and therefore benefits from a particularly attractive technical sheet. Indeed, it integrates the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset with 12 GB of RAM, a curved screen on the 4 edges offering a diagonal of 6.67 inches with a frequency of 165 Hz, the possibility of a charge at 125 watts , with a supplied charger and three cameras on the back with 2x optical zoom. We were able to take it in hand for a little while and here are our first impressions before a full test.
The design of the Motorola edge40 Pro smartphone is quite remarkable and, in our opinion, it really lives up to its rank. Indeed, it benefits from an aluminum chassis with rather thin edges. The mobile offers a back that slightly returns to the profiles to give it a greater impression of finesse.
The smartphone is available in black. It is this version that will mainly be marketed in the various brands. It is also available in blue, but only on the brand’s website. The black model benefits from a touch at the back which is extremely pleasant. The rendering is slightly glittery, without overdoing it. You can see the Motorola logo in the center.
In the upper left corner, still on the back, there is the sensor block. These are embedded in a square that protrudes slightly from the rest of the phone’s back cover. Approaching, we notice that the edges of the plate are curved, like the screen, at the front. This gives it a certain class with a nice effect. We can see the main sensor, the secondary one below and the third module, next to it. There is also the flash.
On the right profile, there is the standby button and two other keys to manage the volume.
Unlike the side profiles, the bottom and top profiles are rather flat. The bottom edge offers a speaker, the SIM card drawer and the USB-C connector as well as a microphone. Note that the mobile is compatible with eSIM technology. For connectivity, you can count on Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E which can be upgraded to Wi-Fi 7, via an update, when it becomes available.
To finish with the design of the mobile, know that the device benefits from an IP68 certification. This allows it to be fully submerged under fresh water for 30 minutes up to 1 meter deep without sustaining damage. It can also resist dust.
The proportions of the mobile are rather balanced. In hand, it gives the impression of a certain finesse and is relatively light. Count on a profile of 8.59 mm and a weight of 199 grams, which places it exactly in the average of other smartphones. Note, in addition, the relatively low weight for a high-end model which often offers just over 200 grams on the scale.
A screen worthy of its rank
On the front there is the screen. This benefits from a 6.67-inch diagonal AMOLED panel. It has the 4 curved edges, which is not so common. However, we find this atypical shape, but very pleasant on a daily basis, in particular to offer thin side edges, but also a certain ergonomics to perform the gestures which allow navigation in the menus of the system, on the Huawei P40 Pro, Honor Magic5 Pro and the Honor Magic4 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro, for example before them. Underneath there is a fingerprint reader to authenticate the owner.
The screen is pierced at the top to make room for the selfie sensor. Note that it has 60 megapixels, which should give a very high level of detail for selfies. Officially, Motorola announces a maximum brightness of 1000 cd/m². This is significantly less than the 1750 cd/m² of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra or the 1900 cd/m² claimed by the Xiaomi 13 Pro, but it should be enough to enjoy it outdoors, even in direct sunlight.
The refresh rate of the AMOLED panel is here 165 Hz. You can choose to have a dynamic frequency, that is to say, automatically selected by the system to find the best compromise between fluidity and energy consumption, to opt for the 60, 120, 144 or 165 Hz modes. This is the highest frequency currently available for a smartphone. It’s on the same level as the best gaming smartphones, and it delivers super-smooth not just when it comes to scrolling through long website pages or social media walls. It also gives a certain advantage in video games.
For flawless gameplay, running applications without delay and getting excellent performance, in general, the mobile uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. It is associated with 12 GB of RAM, thus taking advantage of a technical configuration of the faster and at the height of its rank. Scores for performance measurement applications should be particularly high. The software experience that we were able to observe during our handling proved to be extremely satisfactory, the mobile responding promptly and to the slightest of our requests. Switching from one application to another is done very quickly and the animations are displayed with excellent fluidity and very high speed.
What configuration for photos and what impressions
Finally, let’s finish this grip with the photo part on which the mobile will be particularly awaited to see if it can compete with the best on the market. To do this, the edge40 Pro is equipped with a 50 megapixel main photo sensor of 1/1.55 inch with 1 μm pixels and opening at f/1.8. It benefits from optical stabilization to limit shake. It has an autofocus system. The second sensor is also a 50 megapixel module for shooting in ultra wide-angle mode and also capable of handling photos in macro mode, that is to say very close to the subject. The third sensor is a 12 megapixel telephoto lens opening at f / 1.6 to capture maximum brightness and capable of 2x optical zoom.
The mobile can film with Ultra HD definition at 60 frames per second. In addition, Motorola offers a feature called Stabilization Horizon Lock. This keeps the horizon line always straight, regardless of the degree of inclination of the smartphone. It is even possible to turn it over completely and ultimately have a perfectly straight video. We had already been able to test a similar function on the iQoo 8 Pro, the Vivo sub-brand, unfortunately not available in France. Another small disappointment, when we got started, the function announced by Motorola was not yet available and we were therefore unable to test it. Count on us to do so when we can fully test the smartphone. The photographic capabilities could not be tried either, because the model we had in our hands did not have a definitive version of the system and fortunately, because going from level 1x to 2x the image was inverted, without the possibility of straightening it… Updates were expected between our handling and the commercial release of the device to offer an experience that Motorola knows how to benefit from.
The device comes with Android 13, minimal apps pre-installed, and the promise of two years of system updates and three years of security updates.
Overall, we were quite convinced by the edge40 Pro. This will have to be confirmed during our complete test of the device to see if the performance is there, judge the quality of the screen, its autonomy, the quality of its photos and see if the Charging is as fast as Motorola wants to say, as remember the edge40 Pro can handle charging at 125 watts (charger comes in the box) promising less than 10 minutes to fully recharge the 4600mAh battery .