The Motorola Edge 30 Ultra is a flagship-class cameraphone with a massive 200MP+50+12MP rear camera and a huge 60MP selfie. Add Qualcomm’s latest SD8+ Gen 1 processor, X65 4/5G modem, 12/256GB, rapid 125W and Qi charging, and it is hard to beat.
It characteristically offers Motorola’s supreme value proposition. At $1,399 (less on sale), it is well under the cost of lesser-equipped competitors. How and why?
How? OK, the one elephant in the room – it has IP52 weather resistance when other flagships offer IP68 or more. IP52 means the ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, and it must not interfere with the safe operation of the equipment. The ‘2’means vertically dripping water shall have no harmful effect when the enclosure is tilted at an angle of 15° from its normal position. So, it is sweat and light-rain-resistant.
Why? Motorola is determined to rise to the top of the Android heap and is pulling out all stops to get there. Its ascent is based not only on price (Lenovo has deep pockets) but also on strong product features, low return rates and high user satisfaction. As we like to say, Moto has its mojo back.
That is it – no more compromises.
Australian review: Motorola Edge 30 Ultra Model XT2241-2, 12/256GB, Retapac firmware
| Website | Product Page |
| Price: | $1,399 for 12/256GB (shop around but buy the Australian version) |
| Colours | Satin Black |
| From* | JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys, Big W, Lenovo online |
| Warranty | 24-months ACL |
| Country of Manufacture: | China |
| Company | Owned by Lenovo (Est 1984) – a multinational technology company with its primary operational headquarters in Beijing and Morrisville, North Carolina. It is the world’s largest PC maker, and it purchased Motorola Mobility from Google in 2014. Most of Lenovo’s smartphone business is now under the Motorola brand, with grand plans to become a ‘top five’ smartphone maker. |
| More | Other CyberShack Motorola news and reviews |
* Grey market – no Australian warranty, and 5G won’t work
We strongly advise you to buy a genuine model with Australian firmware. It is easy to identify the Australian version – under Settings, About Phone, and Regulatory Labels, there is an Australian RNZ C-tick mark. There is also an RNZ C-Tick on the box. They use unique Australian 5G sub-6Ghz and 5G low-band frequencies, requiring local activation first.
Deep-Dive review format
It is now in two parts – a summary and a separate 300+ line database-driven spec, including over 70 tests to back up the findings. It also helps us compare different phones and features.
We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.
First impression – svelte and slim – Pass+
First, an observation. A glass slab is the most cost-effective way to deliver superior performance, better thermal management, a larger battery, and more features than a flip or fold. While the Motorola Razr uses the same processor, this has far more usable power and can handle an uber-fast 125W fast charge.
It is a 6.67” Gorilla Glass 5 slab with rounded edges (a fingerprint magnet), a thin metal frame and a nice fingerprint-resistant velvet AG glass back. Branding is an embossed Batwing logo and Motorola.
The camera hump has a seriously large 200MP sensor on top, two smaller sensors under and dual LED flash. It is quite nice in hand and looks like it belongs in the flagship class.
Screen – 6.67” 10-bit, very bright, 144Hz pOLED – Exceed
This is a glorious screen – 1.07 billion colours, 100% sRGB and full DCI-P3 colour gamut, and up to 144Hz refresh/360Hz touch in game mode.
This is a bright screen, 500nits typical, and up to 1250 peak (for HDR10+); it is great in direct sunlight.
And it is a billion times more colourful, where many flagships only have 8-bit, 16 million colours.
Processor – Qualcomm SD8+ Gen 1 – Exceed
It is the fastest 2022 Android processor, perfect for games and heavy use. It is also one of the hotter ones when pushed.
Moto has kept throttling down to <30%, and the CPU temperature under 50°. Basically, it drops after two minutes to around 80% and is relatively stable from there. Even with throttling, the available power is still more than any other processor.
It has 12GB of RAM and 256GB fast UFS 3.1 storage, achieving 1250/644MBps seq. Read/Write – perfect for vloggers and videographers. It can use mountable external SSD storage and the USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 5Gbps interface delivery 890/183MBps seq. Read/Write – perfect for 4K or even 8K recordings. Oh, and it supports external TBs/monitors too.
Comms – Wi-Fi 6E and USB-C 3.1 Exceed
Wi-Fi 6E is strong, holding full-duplex speeds of 2400Mbps out to nearly 10 metres with a Wi-Fi 6E router – read Netgear Orbi RBKE963 Quad-band Wi-Fi 6E AX 11000 mesh (network review). If you only have Wi-Fi 6 or 5, it will get 2400Mbps full-duplex and 1200Mbps half-duplex, respectively.
Special mention needs to be made of the full audio/video/data/charge USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 5Gbps port. That means alt DP 1.4 for USB-C to HDMI cable for a TV, full Ready For Moto/Android Desktop and screen mirroring. As a power user, I want this! Most smartphones have USB-C 2.0 480Mbps ports.
LTE and 5G – Good for city/suburbs, regional cities, and rural use – Pass+
It has excellent signal strength and finds the four nearest Telco towers – it should be great anywhere there is a 4G/5G signal.
Most importantly, it has dual SIMs and ringtones, which many flagships do not.
Battery – 4610W and 125W 31-minute charge – Exceed
The battery will last two days of typical use, and heavy users will get somewhere up to a day. But that is not an issue with a 125W charger filling from 0-100 in 31 minutes. The following is on Adaptive screen mode.
- Video loop (1080, 50% volume/brightness) 22 hours and 33 minutes
- PC Mark Battery test (typical use) 16 hours and 39 minutes
- Accubattery 18 hours
- GFX Bench T-Rex (games) 8.03 hours
- Drain full load 4 hours and 15 minutes]
- 125W charge 31 minutes
- 15W Qi charge 4 hours and 33 minutes
- 50W Qi charge (not tested as we don’t have the special charger)
- 10W charge 4 hours
Unlike Samsung, Motorola includes the charger inbox.
Sound – Dolby Atmos downmix to two speakers – Pass+
- Stereo 2.0 with a top earpiece and bottom down-firing speaker
- 80dB maximum volume (good)
- BT 5.2 with Qualcomm aptX codecs and multi-point connection
- Two mics for hands-free
- Excellent left-right separation and DA makes quite a difference with DA content.
It is mostly Bright Vocal (bass recessed, mid/treble boosted) with a little high-bass, but the unexplained dip at 500Hz and the somewhat choppy frequency response could use work. It is firmware fixable.
Build – Solid as – Pass+
It is not a small phone at 161.76 x 73.5 x 8.39 mm x 198.5g, but it’s a good 20-30g lighter than most flagships. It has a solid alloy frame, Gorilla Glass 5 front and velvet AG glass back.
Our only issue with the phone is IP52, when almost all flagship competitors have IP68. You need to decide if it is a deal breaker.
Add Motorola’s 2-year warranty, and it is ahead of Samsung with one year.
OS – Android 12 – Pass+
It will get Android 13, 14 and 15 and three years of Security patches.
It has almost pure Android with a very light My UX 3.0 user experience that is more about adding value via Moto actions and the camera app. No Motorola account is required. It adds:
- Personalise: Styles, Wallpapers, Layout
- Display: Peek Display, Attentive Display
- Gestures: Power Touch, Quick Capture, Fast Flashlight, Three-finger screenshot, Pick up to silence, Screenshot toolkit, Media controls
Having used Samsung’s OneUI and Motorola’s My UX, I appreciate the cleaner My UX and its less intrusiveness.
Motorola Edge 30 Ultra camera – 200MP bragging rights – Pass+
Let’s get one thing clear – it may have a 1/1.22″, 200MP. .64um Samsung S5KHP1 sensor, but for most shots, you will be binning at 4:1 (50.3MP, 1.28um, Quad-Bayer), 9:1 (22.22MP – Nonapixel) or 4:1 x 2×2 (12.6MP 2.56um) or 16:1 4×4. Confused? You should be and assume that all shots are 12.6MP.
Add the issue of cropping the image, which is why you get video limited to 7680×4320@30fps (8K or 33MP). It has OIS and EIS to 4K@30fps and 10X digital zoom. We could not get it to shoot in 200MP mode (called Smart High resolution), and we suspect it needs a tripod and very bright light.
Don’t get me wrong – it is an excellent sensor. The reality is that Samsung and Sony 50 and 100MP sensors bin to similar finished sizes, and you would be hard-pressed to see any image difference between the Samsung S22 Ultra, OPPO FindX5 Pro, and Google Pixel 7 Pro.
The second rear sensor is a 50MP, .64um Samsung S5KJN1 that bins to 12.5MP 1.28um, used as an Ultra-wide and macro lens. It is the primary sensor in over 150 mid-range phones. This has Autofocus – far more useful than most fixed-focus ultra-wide cameras.
The third sensor is a 12MP, 1.22um, used for Portrait and 2x optical zoom Telephoto. It has a very bright f/1.6 aperture for low light.
The front selfie camera is an Omnivision OV60A, 60MP, .61um that bins to 15MP and 1.22um. It will take videos up to 4K@60fps, HDR with EIS (electronic image stabilisation). You can select binning – 8MP Quad Pixel, 15MP Quad Pixel or 60MP (not binned).
So the rear camera is really 12.6+12.5+12MP, and the selfie is 15MP.
Camera Overview
Before we get to the results, we must be clear that we only test ‘point-and-shoot’ – what Joe and Jane Average do. Our mark of a good shot is good dynamic range (brightness and contrast), accurate colours (is what you see what you get?), decent detail in the highlights and shadows (HDR), low noise (visual static) and that feeling – ‘What a great shot’.
It is more than an acceptable point-and-shoot camera. What is a little disappointing to a photophile is that the images are not as good as Samsung S22 Ultra or OPPO FindX5 Pro.
Let’s put that in perspective. If you listen to Spotify (et al.), as most do, you get low-res, compressed, lossy music, but it sounds good to you. If you are an audiophile, you will commit hari-kari before you listen to that.
All I want to say is that Motorola needs to do more work on its photography prowess before the 200MP bragging rights mean more than that. I wanted to say it took the best photos – they are good but not great.
Camera Results
- 1X Day Primary sensor: the colours are good but not quite right. Good details in the background, shadows, and highlights.
- 2X Day Primary sensor: natural colours and good detail
- 4X Day Primary sensor: Good colour and details – particularly good background with little noise
- 8X Day: Primary sensor: Pushing its limits with a noisy background – still pretty good
- 16X – not bad, but at the limit of the sensor’s capability
- Ultra-wide: 50MP sensor: Slightly muted colour and details. You can tell it is a different sensor from the primary.
- Macro 50MP sensor: excellent details and colours and not as critical about 4cm focus distance.
- Indoor office light: Slightly muted colours, good details but a slightly out-of-focus background
- Bokeh Depth: Slightly muted colour, good detail and bokeh background. But it is software-driven – no depth sensor in sight.
- Dark <40 lumens: The standard mode (not night mode) is quite decent, picking up details from the screen.
- Night mode: Saturates the colour, adds missing detail and removes much noise
- Selfie: The 60MP (bins to 8MP or 15MP) has natural skin tones, good detail and a range of filters to enhance any image.
• Video (we are not video experts):
- Primary sensor: You can shoot at 8K@30fps (no stabilisation) 4K@60/30fps with OIS and HDR, and the day/office light results are very good.
- Ultrawide sensor: You can shoot 4K@30fps with no OIS and 1080p@60/30fps with EIS.
- Selfie: 1080p@60fps with EIS.
CyberShack’s view – Motorola Edge 30 Ultra tries hard and succeeds in most, but not all, ways
Initially, I put the camera foibles down to early firmware. But we retested with the 29 November firmware and the 1 November security patch (three after the launch – excellent), which made little difference. There was a slight improvement in camera quality.
To be blunt, it has a way to go to better the Samsung S22 Ultra and OPPO FindX5 Pro cameras. Consider that a challenge Motorola.
Would I buy it?
For the price, it is very good. If I had typical needs, then yes. But I need Qi charge (OPPO and Samsung), the best camera (OPPO FindX5 Pro), and the S-Pen is useful to me for work (Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra). I can live without IP68 water resistance, but I never have a toilet-dunked phone.
On the pro side
- Full implementation of UBS-C 3.1 Gen1 (OPPO and SAMSUNG)
- 10-bit 1.08 billion colour screen (OPPO but not Samsung)
- 200+50+12MP camera setup will be awesome when it gets it right (OPPO MariSilicon and Samsung get more from smaller sensors)
- 125W charging inbox (OPPO 80W SuperVOOC is about the same charge time, and Samsung does not provide a charger, let alone a fast one)
On the negative side
- Qi charge (OPPO and Samsung)
- IP52 is no match for IP68 (OPPO and Samsung)
As long as we have done our job in letting you know, we see it as a terrific value device from which you will get many years of use.
Motorola Edge 30 Ultra, Motorola Edge 30 Ultra, Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
CyberShack Smartphone comparison v 1.1 (E&OE)
Motorola Edge 30 Ultra 12/256GB, Dual SIM
| Brand | Motorola |
| Model | Motorola Edge 30 Ultra |
| Model Number | XT-2241-2 |
| Price Base | 12/256 |
| Price base | $1,399 |
| Warranty months | 24-months ACL |
| Their | Flagship |
| Website | Product page |
| From | JB Hi-Fi, Big W, Lenovo online, |
| Country of Origin | China |
| Company | Owned by Lenovo (Est 1984) – a multinational technology company with its primary operational headquarters in Beijing and Morrisville, North Carolina. It is the world’s largest PC maker. It purchased Motorola Mobility from Google in 2014. Most of Lenovo’s smartphone business is now under the Motorola brand, with grand plans to become a ‘top five’ smartphone maker. |
| More | CyberShack Motorola news and reviews |
| Test date | 20-25/11/2022 |
| Ambient temp | 16-24° |
| Release | 1/09/2022 |
| Other models not for Australia (Don’t buy) | Different ram/storage/colour variants |
Screen
| Size | 6.67″ |
| Type | pOLED |
| Flat, Curve, 2D, 3D | Rounded |
| Resolution | 2400 x 1080 |
| PPI | 395 |
| Ratio | 20:9 |
| Screen to Body % | 92.12% |
| Colours bits | 10-bit 1.07 billion colours |
| Refresh Hz, adaptive | 60Hz fixed 144Hz fixed game mode Auto 48, 60, 90, 120, and 144 stepped adaptive. |
| Response 120Hz | Max touch rate 360Hz |
| Nit typical test | 500 (501 tested) |
| Nits max, test | 1100 (1040 tested) 1250 peak (not tested) |
| Contrast | Infinite |
| sRGB | Natural – 100% (Tested 97%) |
| DCI-P3 | Saturated – 70% of 1.07 billion colours |
| Rec.2020 or other | Natural and saturated plus temperature adjustment |
| Delta E (<4 is excellent) | 3 |
| HDR Level | Capable of HDR10+ playback scaled to screen capability |
| SDR Upscale | No |
| Bluelight control | Yes |
| PWM if known | 250Hz |
| Daylight readable | Yes |
| Always on Display | Yes |
| Edge display | No, but it has Edge Lighting for notifications. |
| Accessibility | All Android 12 features |
| DRM | L1 for FHD HDR playback |
| Gaming | Up to 360Hz touch |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Comment | Excellent 10-bit, 1.07 billion colour screen with greater subtleties in colour than Samsung S22/+. |
Processor
| Brand, Model | Qualcomm SD8+ Gen 1 |
| nm | 4 |
| Cores | Octa-core (1×3.19GHz + 3 x 2.75GHz + 4 x 1.80GHz |
| Modem | X65 |
| AI TOPS | 27 |
| Geekbench 5 Single-core | 1320 |
| Geekbench 5 multi-core | 4381 |
| Like | Fastest 2022 processor |
| GPU | Adreno 730 |
| GPU Test | |
| Open CL | 6411 |
| Like | Closer to Exynos 2100 |
| Vulcan | 6717 |
| RAM, type | 12GB LPDDR5 |
| Storage, free, type | 256GB UFS 3.1 |
| micro-SD | No |
| CPDT internal seq. Read MBps | 1250 |
| CPDT internal seq. write MBps | 644 |
| CPDT microSD read, write MBps | N/A |
| CPDT external (mountable?) MBps | 890/183 Mountable – excellent and reflects USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 5Gbps interface |
| Comment | Fast and externally mountable SSD storage means videographers can use this. |
| Throttle test | |
| Max GIPS | 337,098 |
| Average GIPS | 270,352 |
| Minimum GIPS | 235,294 |
| % Throttle | 27% drops at 9 minutes |
| CPU Temp | 50° |
| Comment | Most SD8+ Gen 1 run hot, and the glass slab is best suited to keeping it cooler. The drop is acceptable to gamers and power users, but we recommend not using a case with heavy loads. |
Comms
| Wi-Fi Type, model | Wi-Fi 6E QCA6490 HE160 |
| Test 2m -dBm, Mbps | 6GHz -29/2401 |
| Test 5m | -42/2401 |
| Test 10m | -54/2161 (15M -69/166) |
| BT Type | 5.2 |
| GPS single, dual | Dual <3m accuracy |
| USB type | USB-C 3.1 5Gbps Display Port 1.4 |
| ALT DP, DeX, Ready For, Screen mirror | Yes by USB-C/HDMI and Wi-Fi |
| NFC | Yes |
| Ultra-wideband | No |
| Sensors | |
| Accelerometer | Yes combo |
| Gyro | Yes combo |
| e-Compass | Yes |
| Barometer | |
| Gravity | |
| Pedometer | |
| Ambient light | Yes |
| Hall sensor | |
| Proximity | Yes |
| Other | |
| Comment | Excellent Wi-Fi 6E speeds |
LTE and 5G
| SIM | Dual Sim |
| Active | Both are 5G capable, and both are active except when one is in use |
| Ring tone single, dual | Dual ring tones – excellent |
| VoLTE | Carrier dependent |
| Wi-Fi calling | Carrier dependent |
| 4G Bands | B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/25/26/28/32/34/38/39/40/41/42/43/48/66 |
| Comment | All Australian and most world bands |
| 5G sub-6Ghz | n1/2/3/5/7/8/20/28/38/40/41/66/77/78 |
| Comment | All Australian 5G sub-6 and low bands |
| mmWave | No |
| Test Boost Mobile, Telstra | |
| UL, DL, ms | 22.9/32.6/38 |
| Tower 1 -dBm, fW or pW | -86/2.5-6pW |
| Tower 2 | -88/1.6pW |
| Tower 3 | -90/1.3pW |
| Tower 4 | -99/190fW |
| Comment | It has seven antennae and gives excellent signal strength seeing four towers. Overall it should be a good city, suburbs and regional use phone. |
Battery
| mAh | 4610 |
| Charger, type, supplied | 125W 5V/3A/15W, 9V/3A/27W, 15V/3A/45W, 20V/6.25A/125W |
| PD, QC level | Care you must use the 5W cable supplied, or it will only charge at a maximum of 60W |
| Qi, wattage | 50W (needs Motorola 50W Wireless charger) |
| Reverse Qi or cable | 10W |
| Test (60Hz or adaptive screen) | Adaptive mode screen |
| Charge % 30mins | Full |
| Charge 0-100% | 31 minutes – 125W |
| Charge Qi, W | 4 hours and 33 minutes |
| Charge 5V, 2A | Approx 4 hours |
| Video loop 50%, aeroplane | 22 hours 33 minutes |
| PC Mark 3 battery | 16 hours 39 minutes Accubattery 18 hours |
| GFX Bench Manhattan battery | Would not run |
| GFX Bench T-Rex | 482 minutes (8.03 hours) 6589 frames |
| Drain 100-0% full load screen on | 4 hours 15 minutes |
| mA full load | 2000-2500mA |
| mA Watt idle Screen on | 250-300mA |
| Estimate loss at max refresh | Probably about 20% less battery |
| Estimate typical use | Heavy users will need a daily top-up. Typical users may get two days. |
| Comment | This is a power user’s phone with a 31-minute recharge (with the 125W adapter) and Qi charge. |
Sound
| Speakers | Top forward, up-firing and bottom down-firing stereo. |
| Tuning | No |
| AMP | Qualcomm Aqusitic sound |
| Dolby Atmos decode | Dolby Atmos decode to 2.0 speakers |
| Hi-Res | No |
| 3.5mm | No |
| BT Codecs | SBC, AAC, aptX and variants and LDAC |
| Multipoint | Can connect to two devices |
| Dolby Atmos (DA) | Yes – auto, movie, music, voice and games mode |
| EQ | No |
| Mics | Dual with noise cancelling |
| Test dB – all on EQ flat DA off | |
| Volume max | 80 (good) |
| Media (music) | 75 |
| Ring | 80 |
| Alarm | 80 |
| Notifications | 70 |
| Earpiece | 60 |
| Hands-free | Decent noise reduction and volume levels were quite good and clear. |
| BT headphones | Excellent left-right separation and DA makes quite a difference with DA content. |
Sound quality
| Deep Bass 20-40Hz | Nil |
| Middle Bass 40-100Hz | Nil |
| High Bass 100-200Hz | Slowly building to 400Hz. |
| Low Mid 200-400Hz | Still building to 400Hz. |
| Mid 4000-1000Hz | Dip at 500Hz but flat |
| High-Mid 1-2kHz | Flatish |
| Low Treble 2-4kHz | Flatish |
| Mid Treble 4-6kHz | Flatish |
| High Treble 6-10kHz | Steep decline to 20kHz |
| Dog Whistle 10-20kHz | Steep decline to 20kHz |
| Sound Signature type | It is mostly Bright Vocal (bass recessed, mid/treble boosted), but the unexplained dip at 500Hz and the somewhat choppy frequency response could use work. It is firmware fixable. At first, we suspected Moto’s Crystal Talk AI was influencing the sound quality, but it was similar with that feature off. |
| Soundstage | Slight bias to the bottom speaker. Only as wide as the phone and DA settings don’t add any wider sound stage. Left and right separation is adequate. |
| Comment | The sound signature is average, helped with a little high-bass. |
Build
| Size (H X W x D) | 161.76 x 73.5 x 8.39 mm |
| Weight grams | 198.5 |
| Front glass | GG5 |
| Rear material | Alloy |
| Frame | GG5 |
| IP rating | 52 – light rain and possibly the only significant compromise for this otherwise excellent device. |
| Colours | Starlight White Interstellar Black |
| Pen, Stylus support | No |
| In the box | |
| Charger | 125W |
| USB cable | USB-C to USB-C 5W capable cable |
| Buds | No |
| Bumper cover | Yes |
| Comment | It has a charger in the box (Samsung does not), buds and a bumper cover. Well made. |
OS
| Android | 12 – almost pure Android |
| Security patch date | November 2022 |
| UI | My UX 3.0 Personalise: Styles, Wallpapers, Layout Display: Peek Display, Attentive Display Gestures: Power Touch, Quick Capture, Fast Flashlight, Three-finger screenshot, Pick up to silence, Screenshot toolkit, Media controls |
| OS upgrade policy | Three upgrades |
| Security patch policy | Regular security patches for at least three years |
| Bloatware | Pure Android – all Google Apps. You can uninstall Facebook. |
| Other | Play: Gametime Audio |
| Comment | My UX 3.0 adds value to pure Android |
| Security | |
| Fingerprint sensor location, type | Under Glass optical |
| Face ID | Yes 2D only |
| Other | Lenovo ThinkShield is more for enterprise use |
Motorola Edge 30 Ultra rear camera
| Rear Primary | Wide – Primary |
| MP | 200MP bins to 15MP |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KHP1 |
| Focus | PDAF Omni Directional |
| f-stop | 1.9 |
| um | .64 bins to 2.56 |
| FOV° (stated, actual) | 74.8-87.5° |
| Stabilisation | OIS |
| Zoom | 10x digital |
| Rear 2 | Ultra-wide and Macro |
| MP | 50 bins to 12.5 |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KJN1 |
| Focus | AF |
| f-stop | 2.2 |
| um | .64 bins to 1.28 |
| FOV (stated, actual) | 114 |
| Stabilisation | No |
| Zoom | No (Video 1080p@60fps) |
| Rear 3 | Portrait and Telephoto |
| MP | 12MP |
| Sensor | Sony IMX663 |
| Focus | PDAF |
| f-stop | 1.6 |
| um | 1.22 |
| FOV (stated, actual) | |
| Stabilisation | No |
| Zoom | 2X Optical (Video 1080p@60fps) |
| Special | |
| Video max | 8K@30fps |
| Flash | Yes |
| Auto-HDR | Yes |
| Shooting modes: Ultra-Res Pro (w/ Long Exposure) 360° Panorama AR Stickers Live Filter Dual Capture Night Vision Portrait (w/ HDR) Scan Spot Colour Other features: Burst shot Timer Assistive Grid Watermark Leveller Selfie Photo Mirror Selfie animation Face Beauty RAW photo output HDR Active photos Quick Capture (twist-twist) |
|
| QR code reader | Via Google Lens |
| Night mode | AI |
Motorola Edge 30 Ultra front camera
| Front | Selfie |
| MP | 60MP bins to 15 |
| Sensor | OmniVision OV60a |
| Focus | Fixed |
| f-stop | 2.2 |
| um | .6 bins to 1.2 |
| FOV (stated, actual) | 76.1-88° |
| Stabilisation | No |
| Flash | Screen fill |
| Zoom | Fixed |
| Video max | 4K@60fps |
| Features | Shooting modes: Pro (w/ Long Exposure) Live Filter Dual Capture Auto Night Vision Portrait (w/ HDR) Spot Colour Artificial intelligence: Auto Smile Capture Gesture Capture Shot Optimization |
Camera Results
| Comment | • 1X Day Primary sensor: the colours are good but not quite right. Good details in the background, shadows, and highlights. • 2X Day Primary sensor: natural colours and good detail • 4X Day Primary sensor: Good colour and details – particularly good background with little noise • 8X Day: Primary sensor: Pushing its limits with a noisy background – still pretty good • 16X – not bad, but at the limit of the sensor’s capability • Ultra-wide: 50MP sensor: Slightly muted colour and details. You can tell it is a different sensor from the primary. • Macro 50MP sensor: excellent details and colours and not as critical about 4cm focus distance. • Indoor office light: Slightly muted colours, good details but a slightly out-of-focus background • Bokeh Depth: Slightly muted colour, good detail and bokeh background. But it is software-driven – no depth sensor in sight. • Dark <40 lumens: The standard mode (not night mode) is quite decent, picking up details from the screen. • Night mode: Saturates the colour, adds missing detail and removes much noise • Selfie: The 60MP (bins to 8MP or 15MP) has natural skin tones, good detail and a range of filters to enhance any image. • Video (we are not video experts): o Primary sensor: You can shoot at 8K@30fps (no stabilisation) 4K@60/30fps with OIS and the day/office light results are very good. o Ultrawide sensor: You can shoot 4K@30fps with no OIS and 1080p@60/30fps with EIS. o Selfie: 1080p@60fps with EIS. |
Rating Explanation – Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
| Features | 8.5 |
| It adds USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 for mountable storage and connection to a TV. The 20:9, 10-bit screen and 125W charger are formidable features. | |
| Value | 9.5 |
| Excellent price has better specs than the Samsung S22 and S22+, but there are some compromises that pro users would understand. | |
| Performance | 9 |
| It is the most powerful processor, Wi-Fi 6E and more. Needs more work on the camera software. | |
| Ease of Use | 8.5 |
| Good upgrade policy, and My UX adds some value to stock Android. | |
| Design | 8 |
| It is a glass slab with no distinguishing features and lacks IP68. | |
| Rating out of 10 | 8.7 |
| Pro | |
| 1 | Bright, 10-bit colour display |
| 2 | 125W 31-minute charge and Qi charge |
| 3 | Decent camera performance that is not quite there yet |
| 4 | Very well made |
| 5 | Moto OS and Update policy |
| Con | |
| 1 | IP52 is barely adequate when flagships have IP68 |
| 2 | |
| 3 | No micro-SD (no flagship has this anyway) |
| 4 | Mismatched speakers |
| 5 | Throttling is controlled but could be better |
| Final comment | Overall, it presents as the best-value SD8+ Gen 1 smartphone available. It has few compromises, better specs, and performance than more expensive competitors. |
Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
$1399
Pros
- Bright, 10-bit colour display
- 125W 31-minute charge and Qi charge
- Decent camera performance that is not quite there yet
- Very well made
- Good Moto OS and Update policy
Cons
- IP52 is barely adequate when flagships have IP68
- No micro-SD (no flagship has this anyway)
- Mismatched speakers (firmware fixable)
- Throttling is controlled but could be better
