The Moto G 5G from Motorola is one of the most aggressively designed smartphones to take on the likes of spec-focused Xiaomi and Realme phones. If you assumed that would be all from Motorola, there’s another new entrant from them in the flagship-killer category. The long-discussed Motorola Nio is now born as the Motorola Edge S. It starts at CNY 1,999 (approximately Rs 22,500) and is set to assign a benchmark for the 2021 flagship killer segment. Also Read - Phones launching next week: Pixel 6 series, Samsung Galaxy S21 FE, Motorola Edge S, more
The Motorola Edge S uses the Snapdragon 870 chipset from Qualcomm and that alone seems enough to make mobile gamers as well as enthusiasts happy. The rest of the package isn’t as ambitious, but Motorola is playing the pricing game (at least in China for now) to appeal to the crowd that’s used to similarly priced Xiaomi, Realme, and Oppo devices. As of now, there’s no hint on whether India is going to get this phone. Based on the specifications, however, this seems like the Poco F2 in soul. Also Read - Phones launched last week: Realme GT Neo 2, Moto E40, OnePlus 9RT, and more
Motorola Edge S: A look into its specifications
The Edge S by virtue of its nomenclature belongs to the premium Edge series phones but has very little to do with the Edge series feature-set. In fact, strip the Snapdragon 870 chip and it appears to be a retouched Moto G 5G Plus. Also Read - Motorola Moto E40 budget smartphone launched in India with a price under Rs 10,000
The Snapdragon 870 chipset is the main draw here. Qualcomm’s latest chipset for non-flagship premium phones essentially offers the same performance as the Snapdragon 865 Plus, except for a boosted clockspeed of 3.2GHz on the primary performance core. Motorola lets you pair this chip with 6GB and 8GB RAM options, and 128GB as well as 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage options. For those wondering, there’s support for 5G networks baked in.
Image: Motorola Edge S
The front of the Edge S is dominated by a 6.7-inch 1080p display using the IPS LCD technology. There’s support for faster refresh rate of up to 90Hz and HDR10 colors. The dual punch-hole cutout is present on the top to accommodate a 16-megapixel primary selfie camera and an 8-megapixel secondary ultra-wide camera.
The main camera setup on the rear consists of a 64-megapixel primary sensor accompanied by a 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera with PDAF system. You will also find a 2-megapixel depth sensor and a fourth ToF sensor. Doesn’t sound like a flagship camera setup, does it?
The 5000mAh battery is responsible for keeping the lights on and a 20W wired charging system is doing the charging duties. Some of the miscellaneous features include a 3.5mm headphone jack, power key-mounted fingerprint sensor, and IP52 certification of water and dust resistance. Do note that Motorola is using a plastic unibody construction for the Edge S.
In China, the base variant of the Edge S comes with 6GB RAM as well as 128GB storage, costing CNY 1,999 (approximately Rs 22,500). By paying CNY 2,399 (approx. Rs 27,000), you can bump up the RAM to 8GB while keeping the 128GB storage intact. The top-end variant with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage comes at a price of CNY 2,799 (approx. Rs 31,500).
