Top Motorola smartphones tested and reviewed

The top-end Motorola Edge 40 Pro may not excel in any one particular area, but it provides a good balance of power, camera ability and charging tech that makes it a tempting choice at the premium end of the smartphone market. 

That means the Edge 40 Pro ticks all the boxes for what a flagship smartphone in 2023 should offer, including IP68 dust and water resistance, a combination of glass and aluminium that looks high-end, if not a little minimalistic, stereo speaker support and a suitably capable display.

More specifically, the Edge 40 Pro sports a flagship-grade 6.7-inch pOLED display with a subtle curvature. The 165Hz refresh rate is among the fastest on the market and one of few non-gaming phones to offer the tech, delivering a buttery-smooth scrolling experience while being able to display plenty of frames in high-performance games, too.

Speaking of, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 within proves a capable flagship chipset, with the Edge 40 Pro able to take on much of the 2023 flagship competition in benchmark tests. In everyday use, it’s rapid and responsive with no signs of stutter or lag, as you’d expect from a phone at this price point.

Throw in a near-stock version of Android with only genuinely helpful additions from Motorola, a triple camera setup comprised of a 50MP primary, 50MP ultrawide and 12MP 2x telephoto, rapid 120W charging that delivers a full charge in 20 minutes, and you’ve got a solid all-rounder.  

Reviewer: Andrew Williams

Review: Motorola Edge 40 Pro review

As well as the standard candybar-esque smartphones we all know and love, Motorola has dabbled in foldable tech over the past few years. The culmination of that work is the Razr 40 Ultra, the company’s top-end clamshell foldable that’s both sleek and surprisingly capable.

The Razr 40 Ultra set itself apart from the competition at launch with its sizeable 3.6-inch cover display. Samsung followed suit not long after with the Flip 5’s 3.4-inch cover display, but Motorola’s remains the more useful with the ability to run any app you’d like on the cover display, negating the need to unfold the phone for specific tasks.

Unfold the phone and you’ll be greeted by a gorgeous 6.9-inch pOLED display with no crease visible in daily use. The 165Hz refresh rate is the fastest on a foldable in 2023, and while it is large, it folds down to something extremely pocketable when not in use.

The cameras, twin 12MP primary and ultrawide lenses, offer a solid shooting experience even if it isn’t quite up to the standards of similarly priced regular flagships, and while the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 isn’t the best on the market, it still provides snappy everyday performance regardless of what you’re up to. 

If you want something a little different from your next smartphone, the Razr 40 Ultra is a strong option.

Reviewer: Lewis Painter

Review: Motorola Razr 40 Ultra 

If you’re looking for exceptional value for money, look no further than the £299 Motorola Edge 40 Neo. In simple terms, it doesn’t look, feel or perform like you’d expect from a sub-£300 smartphone. 

For one, it’s incredibly stylish with a vegan leather finish and a range of Pantone-certified colours including Soothing Sea and Caneel Bay. Throw in a curved 6.5-inch 144Hz pOLED screen, an IP68-protected lightweight design that measures in at just 7.8mm thick and 172g, and you’ve got something that clearly stands out from the crowd. 

It’s not just a looker either; the aforementioned display provides a solid experience, whether gaming or scrolling endlessly through TikTok, with vibrant colours and inky blacks that OLED tech is known for. 

The performance from the Dimensity 7030 won’t be able to compete with flagships, but it outpaces the similarly priced competition and, importantly, still delivers smooth everyday performance with no notable slowdown. It also has ample 256GB of storage as standard, plenty of room for apps, photos and videos. 

Couple that with a capable camera offering comprised of a 50MP main with OIS and a 13MP ultrawide, all-day battery life and 68W charging with a 68W charger in the box, and you’ve got one of the best value smartphones around, Motorola-branded or not. 

Reviewer: Lewis Painter

Review: Motorola Edge 40 Neo review

The Motorola Edge 40 is Motorola’s latest mid-ranger, offering a great blend of specs and a lightweight design akin to that of the Edge 40 Neo, measuring in at 7.6mm and 172g, which helps it stand out in a crowded market.

But as with the Neo, the Edge 40 isn’t just a looker. For one, there’s a curved 6.55-inch 144Hz pOLED display that’s great for gaming and binging TikToks, and the Dimensity 8020 delivers a snappy and responsive experience regardless of what you’re up to. There’s also rapid 68W charging, and you’ll get the charger in the box too.

However, the main reason to opt for the Motorola Edge 40 is its camera setup. That may sound weird considering the Edge 40 Pro has more lenses, but the regular Edge 40’s primary lens, in particular, stands out from the crowd. 

It’s a 50MP sensor with an impressive f/1.4 aperture that’s the widest of any smartphone on the market right now. It lends itself well not only to capturing fast-moving subjects but also to impressive low-light photography – especially combined with OIS. The aperture is also ideal for portrait photography, delivering a natural, soft bokeh to shots. 

So, if you’re looking for a phone with a capable camera without splashing out on a flagship, the Motorola Edge 40 is a great choice. 

Reviewer: Lewis Painter

Review: Motorola Edge 40 review

Motorola is famous for its wide array of cheap smartphones, which can make it hard to decide which is best for your needs. For most people, the £249 Moto G84 5G is the perfect option, blending its budget focus with more premium tech than you might expect. 

The phone is undoubtedly striking, with vibrant Pantone-certified colours including Viva Magenta, the 2023 colour of the year, that help it stand out from a packed budget market, with its vegan leather rear providing a nice grippiness while also feeling more premium than the plastic alternative. 

The 6.5-inch FHD+ pOLED display is another outlier for the price, with a 120Hz refresh rate and a solid maximum brightness of 1300nits that shines brighter than the budget competition. It can be a little too vibrant in its default setting, but the Natural colour mode was much more appealing.

The G84 5G has a surprisingly capable 50MP 1/1.5” primary sensor with OIS found in more premium options from Motorola like the Moto Razr 2022 and Edge 30 Fusion. That’ll deliver surprisingly great shots that, while won’t compete with flagship alternatives, are more than enough for sharing on social media.

There are weaknesses here that hint at the phone’s price point – it only gets one OS upgrade, and there’s middling performance from the Snapdragon 695 chipset – and make the Edge 40 Neo seem a more tempting option at just £50 more, but if your budget simply can’t reach that far, the Moto G84 5G remains a good budget choice. 

Reviewer: Jon Mundy

Review: Motorola Moto G84 5G review