Motorola EDGE 30 Pro REVIEW

Some weeks ago I got the Motorola EDGE 30 Pro in my hands. It’s always very exciting for me to get a new Moto phone, but ever since the RAZR was released, I kinda lost interest in conventional smartphones and only care for foldable phones. Since August 2020, I’ve used the first and second generation RAZR foldable phones for about 80% of the time. I’ve also been using 2021’s EDGE flagship, the 20 Pro.

That phone was my companion for a 25 day trip around the US, since a durable smartphone with great camera and battery life is a must for any trip (I love my RAZR, but compared to the EDGE 20 Pro’s huge battery life and powerful camera, the EDGE is better for traveling). But after a few months as a happy 20 Pro user, I decided to get back to the RAZR last April.

And then, the 30 Pro arrived. So as expected, the EDGE 30 Pro is an incremental upgrade over last year’s flagship. And with a new launch event for the EDGE franchise set for September 8, its days as the top Moto phone are over. But that won’t make it obsolete. It comes with a very attractive price depending where you get it, and it really is a powerhouse with 2022 specs.

I won’t make an extensive review talking about specs, power or camera quality, though. You can find that elsewhere. Instead, I’ll focus on what matters for me: design and uniqueness. That’s what makes me decide whether a product is worth buying.

DESIGN

The front of the phone is quite conventional. Just a black slab with a huge 20:9 screen with the most amazing refresh rate and thin bezels. Blah, blah, blah. Even the sides are quite boring. One good thing is that for this year, they removed the awful Google Assistant dedicated button. It was terrible on the Edge 20 Pro and many Motorola phones last year.


If you turn the phone around, things look better. It’s gorgeous, and it makes up the fact that smartphones have been looking the same for so long (except foldables and some unique Moto devices like the X customizable options, the Moto Z, and the Kevlar-backed Droids…those were the days).


The 30 Pro looks beautiful. I cannot say the same of the 20 Pro. I had the blue version (I hate blue phones), and its back had a weird pattern. There were other colors that looked nicer, but I got blue. Now, for the 30 Pro I got the Stardust White version, and it’s mind-blowing. It reminds me of the Moto X4 rear reflection, or can even be reminiscent of the 2006 MotoKRZR housing. It shines different in every light and gives the phone so much personality. That’s rare in today’s smartphone game.

All in all, this back makes up the fact that slab phones are boring. And it comes with a nice folio case with its stylus and a tiny window that shows notifications, so it’s also a plus. This case and its stylus brings some interesting utility, which I'll further explain when I tell you about its unique features. Design-wise, it's good to see it coming as part of the phone package. Moto has included phone cases for a while in its packaging, but with the EDGE series they went even further. Some versions come with remote controls, HDMI cables, folio cases with stylus and super fast chargers. Take a look at the clear window the folio case comes with:

UNIQUENESS

What I mean by ‘uniqueness’ is what makes the 30 Pro stand out from the very crowded industry. In this case, apart from its rear design, it’s mostly software and accessories.

In terms of software, you get the already classic and praised Moto app and MyUX user experience, which opens the door to lots of handy gestures and features that users can appreciate on a daily basis. All in a clean Android experience with no added layers of confusing user interfaces (I have to admit that I miss those days, though). As always, you can twist your phone to open the camera, and twist again to take a selfie. You get to touch the screen with three fingers and it takes a screenshot.

Chop chop for flashlight. Hold your volume buttons while the phone is locked and playing music, and it will change the song. And many more, like Power Touch, which lets you customize the double tap power button gesture to launch an app or shortcut of your choice, and Moto GameTime, gives you easy access to tools and settings that enhance the gaming experience.

MyUX lets you customize every design element of the user interface, like the icon shape, colors, fonts, home and lockscreen wallpapers, and more. And, it’s super safe, since it comes with Lenovo’s ThinkShield protection, which gives software and hardware business-grade protection. 

And one fun fact, apart from coming with Dolby Atmos stereo speakers, it comes with Motorola CrystalTalk, a technology Motorola has been developing since 2007 (it was one of the main selling features of the RAZR2 series back in the day). It has greatly improved since then, of course, but it’s cool to see this here. The same as the water-repellent coating Moto has included since 2011 in its phones.

And then you get Ready For, which is the evolution of the Motorola Webtop feature it launched back in 2011. Ready For amplifies your phone’s capabilities by connecting to any monitor or display. By connecting it to a screen, the screen turns into a desktop environment and you can access all of your phone apps and files in desktop mode.

And you can still use your phone, even as a camera for video calls. You also get TV and gaming modes when you connect it (with the in-box cable that comes in some versions with a dedicated remote, or wirelessly and it turns your phone into a remote control interface). And, if you connect it to a laptop, it opens a window with your phone interface in it. Handy, right? 

That will depend on the user and their needs. I was very excited for this feature when I got last year's 20 Pro, but to be honest I have not used it that much, apart from TV mode.

The version I got, though not all versions come with it, includes a stylus, and a flip case, which attaches the stylus to its back. The stylus is charged by the phone itself via wireless charging. I haven’t used a stylus since the MotoMING A1200 in 2006, so this was a weird, nostalgic experience (I know there are smartphones with stylus out there, but I hadn’t used one in ages). It’s nice for drawing and playing around for a bit, but it’s not my cup of tea.

Also, a very neat hardware feature I have to praise is the 68W TurboPower charger included with the phone. It’s so damn fast. You can get your phone charged in about an hour. And that charge will last more than a day with heavy use (and I watch TikToks all day).

WHY DO I CARE ABOUT THIS?

Because I miss the old days. Back in 2004-2009, phones were cool and fun. Now they are just screens, and no matter how many megapixels or gigabytes of RAM are added, it’s all more of the same. Tech blogs pushed the narrative that the more specs, the better, even if the product has no personality. It sucks.

People often like to talk about the success and obsession with the first iPhone generations. As much as I don’t like to mention it, the product itself looked unique, different from anything out there. But that’s what the industry was already doing in its own feature-phone-ish way: cool designs and weird features. And with the iPhone craziness, they lost themselves in a race of trying to imitate the iPhone at first, and then competing for having the most impressive specs.

But I still think it’s all about the unique experience a product can portray, to also make its user feel unique. And that’s where foldables have a huge opportunity. And for Motorola, the RAZR brand itself, even if the 2019 and 2020 RAZR launches weren’t handled perfectly, can still have a great outcome. In them you can see the unique and design points I’m talking about, and that’s the reason thousands of customers got those phones. Not because of night mode. Not because of the Snapdragon processor. Not because of the refresh rate. They got them because it feels like nothing else out there. And it feels good.

I’ll stick to foldables as long as they keep releasing them. RAZR means a lot to me for obvious reasons. It’s innovation and nostalgia at the same time. It’s a product I prayed for every night for years. And when it was relaunched in 2019 it was exactly what I expected.

As for the Edge series, I get it. Motorola needs a conventional flagship, because the world is not ready to be cool and have fun. The Edge 30 pro is a very solid phone with very unique features and a beautiful rear design. Sure, for much less you can get the regular Edge 30, which looks prettier in my opinion, and you won’t notice the difference in specs. The regular 30 feels more like a Moto Z, which already had a unique character.

Still, the 30 Pro is a very neat device, and a powerhouse I would recommend. And now that even newer EDGE phones are coming, its price will probably drop. It’s already a good deal, but now it might get even better!

As I said, though, I’m sticking to the next RAZR release. Call me crazy. I don’t care.