Motorola aims to take on Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra with its Edge+

It took a couple of years, but Motorola’s finally back in the flagship game. 

On Wednesday, the company unveiled the Motorola Edge+ complete with a nearly bezel-less display and a 108-megapixel camera sensor. (Take that Galaxy S20 Ultra!)

Available May 14, the device will set you back $999 and is exclusive to Verizon.

As far as specs go, the Edge+ has some noteworthy features — like a headphone jack — but much of the company’s focus is on its display. 

The Edge+ sports a 6.7-inch FHD+ OLED screen with a 90Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ certification. But what’s particularly interesting is that it uses Motorola’s “Endless Edge” technology. Essentially, the panel wraps 90 degrees around both sides of the phone to give it the illusion that it’s bezel-less. 

Having recently reviewed the OnePlus 8 Pro though, I was a bit triggered by this at first. That phone has a somewhat similar edge-to-edge display and I couldn’t help but think of the accidental things I tapped on when holding it with one hand.

Thankfully, you’re able to customize all the different ways you want to actually use the edges with Motorola’s Edge Touch software.

For starters, you can turn it off completely to avoid accidentally triggering apps. And, you can customize how you interact with the edges, like swiping up or down to see recent apps or shortcuts.

When your phone is set down on the table or even on the charger, you can also set the edges to light up for specific notifications like incoming phone calls, battery status, and more.

If you’re using the phone for gaming, you’ll also have the ability to add two additional touchscreen buttons to the top edge of the screen when the phone is in landscape orientation. 

On the back is a triple-camera module which houses an 108-megapixel main camera sensor (f/1.8), a 117-degree 16-megapixel wide angle sensor (f/2.2), and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens (f/2.4) with 3x optical zoom. Meanwhile, the front-facing camera is 25-megapixels.

In terms of features, you can now use night mode with both the rear and selfie cameras, add bokeh to videos, and record in 6K at 30 frames per second.

While the phone is literally named after its “standout feature,” I’m particularly interested in seeing how the Edge+ stacks up against the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, which costs $400 more and also packs a 108-megapixel sensor.

Under the hood, the Edge+ has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor running Android 10. It also has support for 5G connectivity and, seeing as how it’s available on Verizon, it offers both sub-6 and mmWave 5G capabilities. 

The Edge+ is only offered in one storage configuration of 256GB, but you can expand that with the available microSD card slot by up to 1TB.

As for battery life, the Edge+ has a whopping 5,000mAh battery and includes Motorola’s 18W TurboPower adapter. The phone also supports both wireless charging (15W) and reverse power share (5W) to charge other devices.

If the Edge+ is a bit too much for your taste (and wallet), you might want to wait for the Motorola Edge which will be available later this summer.

It features a 6.7-inch Endless Edge display, a Snapdragon 765 processor (with 5G connectivity), and a 4,500mAh battery. On its back is a triple-camera setup with a 64-megapixel sensor, 16-megapixel ultra-wide lens, and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens.

While we don’t know pricing for that model yet, it’s clear that, based on specs, it’ll be the less expensive alternative to the Edge+.

As far as the Edge+ goes, we’ll be putting it to the test to see whether it’s actually a flagship worth investing in. Be sure to check back for a full review, soon.