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The Motorola Edge 40 Neo offers you everything you can and should expect from a mid-range smartphone. You receive a balanced overall package at a reasonable price. The
The Motorola Edge 40 Neo offers you everything you can and should expect from a mid-range smartphone. You receive a balanced overall package at a reasonable price.
The Motorola Edge 40 family consists of three members: the Edge 40 Pro, the Edge 40 and the Edge 40 Neo, which launched in fall 2023. The manufacturer sets a clear hierarchy between the three devices: The Edge 40 Pro must be the top model, below it is the Edge 40, and the Edge 40 Neo is placed in the lower middle class. That doesn’t mean that Motorola has cut corners: the manufacturer also faces strong competition in the lower price ranges, for example with the OnePlus Nord 3 and the Samsung Galaxy A54, to name just a few names.
Let’s start with the design. Motorola loves bold colors and with the Edge 40 you can choose between blue, white-green or even peachy pink with a faux leather back. We kept it in “plain” black with a plastic back, but even then there is a sticker on it indicating that this is indeed the case Pantone black go. It’s nice and black, that’s for sure, but black is just black, so don’t let all the marketing distract you. The Motorola Edge 40 Neo looks well made and you certainly don’t have to be ashamed to be seen with it in public.
What Motorola would like to highlight is the IP68 protection rating of the device. This means that the device consumes dust and water. According to Motorola’s marketing images, you can even splash around in the pool with the Edge 40 Neo in your hand and keep the device submerged for up to thirty minutes. We would have liked to test this in practice, but the outside temperatures did not allow us to swim in the pool during the test period.
The Edge 40 Neo’s screen is almost identical to that of the Edge 40: the size is the same (6.55 inches), adopts the curved screen edges and has the same number of pixels (1080 x 2400). The term “polished” refers to a thinner and slightly cheaper variant of OLED, which, like OLED screens, offers good color and black values. There is little to complain about when it comes to image quality.
One image specification that catches the eye is the maximum refresh rate of 144 Hz, which even many premium devices cannot achieve. This number requires some nuances. The software regulates the refresh rate depending on which application you are running: in practice you will rarely use the full 144 Hz. Thank goodness, because that would drain the battery in no time if you unknowingly allow this to happen. You can also set the refresh rate to a value via Settings.
We take a look under the hood. Motorola is generous when it comes to memory: you get 12 GB of RAM and 265 GB of storage. Price competitors are usually limited to 8 GB and 128 GB, which is also more than enough for most applications. Motorola has installed a MediaTek Dimensity 7030 processor in the device. There’s a noticeable difference in the MediaTek 8020 that powers the Edge 40, although that’s not illogical.
We prefer to compare with the price competitors from OnePlus, Samsung and Oppo. The Edge 40 Neo has to give up here too. The GPU (Mali-G610) performs better compared to the competition. The difference to the OnePlus Nord 3 is striking, but it is more due to its above-average performance.
Because of the high computing power, you should not use this device. But don’t let the graphics blind you either: the Edge 40 Neo doesn’t feel slow at all, and thanks to its generous memory, running multiple applications isn’t a problem. The computing power is more than sufficient for everyday use.
Motorola has installed a large 5,000 mAh battery in the Edge 40 Neo: a larger battery than in the Edge 40. The other devices in the graphic also have a 5,000 mAh battery, which enables a good comparison of the condition. The Edge 40 Neo is slightly disappointing here: the battery lasts faster in both the performance and video tests. So a little frugality can’t hurt.
Motorola makes up for this with a fast 68W charger. After just fifteen minutes you’ll already be at fifty percent and in less than half an hour you’ll have enough to get through the day smoothly. A comparison with other brands shows that fast charging has become standard even in the budget segment, unless you own a Samsung Galaxy A54.
With the Edge 40 Neo, Motorola shows that more cameras are not always better. You have three cameras at your disposal: a 50 MP main sensor and a 13 MP sensor with a wide-angle lens on the back, complemented by a 32 MP sensor on the front. There’s no room for a useless depth or macro lens found in many budget devices, and we’re more than okay with that.
The quality of the cameras is decent, but not overwhelming. The sharpness is sufficient and colors are displayed true to life. For example, in the series of photos below you can see that the Christmas tree stands out from the surrounding concrete buildings without the effect being over the top. The wide-angle camera is a little less sharp, which is almost always the case, and seems to make your photos a little brighter. The zoom functions are rather poor. The selfie camera tries hard to capture your face properly, so the background is somewhat neglected.
Motorola’s software layer is very user-friendly because it is low in bells and whistles. Motorola tries to keep its software shell as “clean” as possible. Iconic for the brand, the female voice is full of conviction Hello Moto Shouting when starting the device, which can sometimes cause embarrassment in public spaces.
Still, we see more pre-installed apps than usual. Motorola has some apps of its own, like Ready For, that it’s happy to push, but we’re also seeing external apps that we didn’t ask for. This is an unfortunate development that Motorola will hopefully reverse.
When it comes to support, you can expect two software updates and three years of security updates. For a long time this was an acceptable term for mid-range devices, but these days you can expect a little more. We definitely think so, because we know that you will soon have to do without one of the two software updates in order to update the device to Android 14. OnePlus offers three years of software and four years of security updates, Samsung even offers four years and five years. It’s up to Motorola to go one step further.
The Motorola Edge 40 Neo offers you everything you can and should expect from a mid-range smartphone. Nothing too much, nothing too little: what you see is what you get. Motorola has focused on a balanced package of specifications and that is the right strategy for a mid-range smartphone. The Edge 40 Neo doesn’t stand out in anything, but it doesn’t have any major flaws or annoyances either. This device is simply pleasant to use and sometimes it doesn’t have to be anything more.
The Motorola Edge 40 Neo is available in four colors: black, blue, white-green and peach-pink. The basic version gets 12 GB of RAM with 256 GB of storage and costs 399 euros including VAT.
Android Update Policy: Motorola promises at least three years of security updates and two years of operating system updates. This period begins with the launch on September 14, 2023 with Android 13.
Source: IT Daily
As an experienced journalist and author, Mary has been reporting on the latest news and trends for over 5 years. With a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines, Mary has earned a reputation as a trusted voice in the world of journalism. Her writing style is insightful, engaging and thought-provoking, as she takes a deep dive into the most pressing issues of our time.
