Motorola just announced the brand new Motorola Edge Plus (2023) for North America. This is the latest flagship smartphone from Motorola and it packs in incredible power and performance, a triple high-resolution camera system, a huge battery, and blazing-fast charging — all in a beautiful and elegant design. It looks to compete with some of the year’s best Android phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S23 and OnePlus 11.
With the Motorola Edge Plus (2023), you’ll have a 6.7-inch pOLED display with incredibly thin bezels, so it’s virtually borderless. The display itself has an anti-fingerprint coating on the front, as well as a velvet antiglare glass inlay on the back. And as the “Edge” name suggests, the edges of the screen are curved along the top, bottom, and left and right sides.
We had a chance to go hands-on with the Edge Plus at Motorola’s headquerters in Chicago recently, and the phone feels excellent to hold. The glass back has a subtle texture to it, and the curved display (while controversial to some) looks really impressive.
For durability, the Edge Plus (2023) has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, which will keep it safe from scratches, sharp contact, and drops. It also has an IP68 rating to protect it from up to 1.5 meters of fresh water submersion for up to 30 minutes.
In terms of specs, the Motorola Edge Plus (2023) has everything you could ask for. Motorola packed in a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, which means about 35% better CPU performance, 25% better GPU performance, and 40% better power efficiency than its predecessor. The Edge Plus (2023) also has 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of internal storage. The pOLED display supports HDR10+ and has Dolby Vision certification, plus an incredible 165Hz refresh rate. It also has immersive audio with Dolby Atmos and two large stereo speakers, as well as support for Motorola Spatial Sound.
For some context, phones like the Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro have 120Hz refresh rates. While the jump from 120Hz to 165Hz isn’t as drastic as going from 60Hz to 120Hz, the speed and fluidity of the Edge Plus (2023) were impossible to deny during our hands-on time with the phone. From opening apps to navigating home screens, everything moves at an incredible pace.
But let’s talk about those cameras. The Motorola Edge Plus (2023) has a triple rear camera system with a 50MP main shooter with optical image stabilization (OIS) and instant all-pixel focus. There’s also a 50MP ultrawide camera with macro vision and a 12MP 2x telephoto portrait camera. For selfies, you get a 60MP front-facing camera with Snapdragon’s Cognitive Image Signal Processor, which uses advanced AI to divide a scene up into different segments, like the sky, buildings, landscapes, and skin tones. Each of these is optimized independently for a realistic image.
Video recording is also quite promising with the Motorola Edge Plus (2023). You can record up to 8K UHD (30 frames per second, or fps), 4K UHD (30/60 fps), FHD (30/60 fps), 4K UHD HDR10+ (30 fps), or slow motion FHD (960/240/120 fps). Motorola also added some new video shooting modes, like Night Vision (brighter footage with more detail), Horizon Lock Stabilization (good for extreme sports), Auto Focus Tracking (keep subject clear and focused even with motion), and Portrait (create background blurs).
The battery is a whopping 5,100mAh, and you’ll get a 68-watt TurboPower charging adapter in the box. Wireless charging caps out at 15W, and there is also 5W reverse wireless charging as well. Motorola claims you can get about two days of use on a single charge, and with the 68W TurboPower charger, you can fully charge in about nine minutes.
The Motorola Edge Plus (2023) comes with Android 13 and will receive three years of Android upgrades, as well as four years of bimonthly security patches. There is support for the Ready For platform, allowing the phone to be used to play games on a bigger screen or as a webcam with a computer, and to just connect the phone to a PC. Motorola also made it compatible with the Lenovo ThinkReality A3 smart glasses.
You can get the Motorola Edge Plus (2023) starting on May 9 through Boost Infinite and Boost Mobile, with subsequent availability through Spectrum Mobile and Consumer Cellular. Those who prefer to get it unlocked can find it at Best Buy, Amazon, and Motorola’s website beginning on May 25. Preorders for the unlocked version start on May 19. The Motorola Edge Plus starts at $800.
Those in Canada can also purchase the Motorola Edge Plus (2023) through Motorola.ca beginning on May 25, with preorders starting on May 19 at $1,300 Canadian dollars.
Though it’s too early to make any definitive judgment about the Edge Plus (2023), Motorola’s made a lot of good calls with the phone. It looks and feels great, the display is wholly impressive, the spec sheet checks a ton of boxes, and you get all of that at a solidly competitive price. The phone made a great first impression during our brief time with it, and we can’t wait to really put it to the test in a full review soon.
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