Motorola edge 70 review: forgettable mid-range phone

Motorola is joining the trend of thin phones, but we would have preferred that focus to be on other aspects of the smartphone.

Anyone who thought the limit of smartphone thickness had been reached was wrong. 2025 seems to be the year that manufacturers jumped back on the ‘thin smartphone’ trend. Samsung did it earlier this year with its Galaxy S25 Edge (5.6 mm), while Apple introduced the iPhone Air (5.8 mm) in September. In third place is the Motorola edge 70 (799 euros incl. VAT) with a thickness of 5.9mm and a low weight of 159 grams. A striking difference from its predecessor: the edge 60 is 7.9mm thick and weighs 179g.

Thin and colorful

That thin housing is striking and a choice we can support. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the smartphone itself, despite the various Pantone color versions. Purely in terms of appearance, the smartphone cannot compete with competitors such as the Google Pixel 10 and Oppo Find X9 Pro. We worked with the green version with inconspicuous fluorescent green accents on the buttons and around the cameras.

Apart from being thin, the smartphone doesn’t look super stylish or premium, but just like a decent mid-range phone. That wouldn’t be bad if the price didn’t lean towards the premium segment. Perhaps the curved screen edges of the edge 60 had a visual added value in that area, although that was probably not practically feasible on a device with this thickness.

Fortunately, the device fits well in the hand, and according to Motorola, the silicone back is less scratch-sensitive. The edge 70 is IP69/IP68 certified and enjoys a MIL-STD 810 protection class, making it resistant to dust and strong water jets. The high scores for drop resistance (A) and an ecolabel A prove that it is a sturdy device with a focus on sustainability. If you still want to play it safe, there is a sturdy transparent plastic case in the box, but it is a struggle to get it off again.

Graphical mediocrity

The 6.7 inch AMOLED screen looks good and sharp with a resolution of 1220 x 2,712 with vibrant but not exaggerated colors. Thanks to VRR, you can switch between a refresh rate of 60 Hz, 90 Hz and 120 Hz. The maximum brightness is quite low here at 860 cd/m2, but that is not a problem during everyday use. Everything is readable both in bright sunlight and in the dark. The screen is similar to that of any modern Android smartphone: just good.

Under the hood is the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4, accompanied by 12 GB of memory and 512 GB of storage. That 12 GB of RAM translates into a smooth user experience and is in line with what you can expect in this class.

Consistent snapshots

The Motorola edge 70 has three 50 MP cameras: two at the rear and one at the front. There is no telephoto lens. In daylight shots, the wide dynamic range and natural color reproduction stand out. Bright skies, light facades and areas with a lot of shade remain well balanced, without the image looking artificial. Details are captured well without excessive sharpness.

In evening and night photography, the edge 70 maintains its realistic display. Artificial light, neon and illuminated buildings are well represented, the color intensity is maintained without standing out too much against dark areas. Those dark areas remain dark and lose little detail. The noise remains remarkably well under control, only when zooming in does the quality decrease significantly. Instead of unnaturally lighting up scenes, as many smartphone cameras do automatically, realistic-looking photos are taken here.

In photos inside buildings, materials such as glass, metal and stone are captured with a visible difference, while warm lighting is displayed correctly. The camera hardly changes color profile between different situations. This makes the edge 70 primarily a camera for users who want reliable and, above all, natural photos.

Bloatware, ugh!

The device runs on Android 16 with Hello UI on top. Motorola provides four years of Android updates and six years of security updates, which is neat. The software remains fairly sober and adds little extra, but we don’t see any problem with that.

Some animations are noticeably slow and the icons on my home page sometimes only load after a second or two. That might be fixable with an update, but that should not happen in any case. Also, Moto AI, despite the separate button on the housing, still feels superfluous for the time being and adds little to daily use.

Motorola forces the user to use apps that are not standard on any smartphone.

What adds absolutely nothing to the user experience is the amount of bloatware you get served. It is incomprehensible how many pre-installed apps and services you have to click away or remove directly upon first use. From promotional apps to unnecessary partner software: it feels messy and unnecessary, some apps you can’t even refuse during installation. Motorola forces the user to use apps that are not standard on any smartphone. An overview:

Amazon Music, TikTok, Temu, Booking.com, LinkedIn, Opera Browser, Adobe Scanner and games such as Candy Crush. These are apps that are purely pre-installed because someone paid for it. The user has no say in the matter. Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot are installed alongside Google Gemini and Moto AI. Why? Motorola itself throws in its own app suite, most of which are not useful. Unbelievable.

Battery

The battery is one of the biggest pluses of the Motorola edge 70. With a capacity of 4,800 mAh and a measured usage time of more than fifty hours per cycle, the device clearly performs above average. We easily made it through a full day without recharging, even with intensive use.

Charging is also fast. With 68 watts of wired charging, you can charge the device to about eighty percent within half an hour. Wireless charging is present, but at 15 watts clearly not intended as a replacement for the cable.

Conclusion

Outside of the thickness, the edge 70 differs little from its predecessors. You know what to expect by now: decent performance, good cameras and an excellent battery. If the Chinese manufacturer can now leave behind some stubborn habits such as the bloatware, underdeveloped Moto AI and rather high price, it has a chance to leave its competitors behind next year.

For the time being, it is not worth 799 euros. If you have little interest in a thin smartphone, want a unique design or are looking for the most powerful mid-range phone, you better leave the edge 70 alone.

Tested: Motorola edge 70, 12 GB RAM, 512 GB storage, Energy label A – 799 euros incl. VAT