Motorola's new Edge 20 series of premium phones has just debuted in Europe. While this range is coming to the U.K. this August, one of these well-specced devices, or at least a version of one, will be arriving in the U.S. later in the year too.
The range is made of three phones spanning the upper mid-range Edge 20 Lite to the entry-level flagship Edge 20 Pro. All share common features like a main 108MP camera, a 6.7-inch OLED display and 5G connectivity, but there are still reasons why you'd shell out the extra £350 ($489) for the top model rather than just the basic Lite model.
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Below you can see the breakdown of the official specs for these three phones.
Motorola Edge 20: specs
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Motorola Edge 20 Lite | Motorola Edge 20 Lite | Motorola Edge 20 Pro |
| Starting price | £299 | £429 | £649 |
| Display | 6.7-inch FHD OLED, 90Hz | 6.7-inch FHD OLED, 144Hz | 6.7-inch FHD OLED, 144Hz |
| Rear cameras | 108MP main, 16MP ultrawide/macro, 8MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom | 108MP main, 8MP ultrawide/macro, 2MP depth sensor | 108MP main, 16MP ultrawide/macro, 8MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom |
| Front camera | 32MP | 32MP | 32MP |
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G | MediaTek Dimensity 720 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 |
| RAM | 6/8GB | 6GB | 8GB |
| Storage | 128GB | 128GB | 128GB |
| Battery | 4,000 mAh | 5,000 mAh | 4,500 mAh |
| Charging speed | 30W wired | 30W wired | 30W wired |
| Colors | Lagoon Green, Electric Graphite | Frosted Black, Frosted Emerald, Iridescent White | Midnight Sky, White, Blue vegan leather |
Motorola Edge 20: price and availability
All models are going on sale on August 19 in the U.K., with U.S. availability apparently coming but at an unknown time. We also don't know which of the three models will come to the American market, or if it will be a modified version. Motorola's European and U.S. product portfolios have very little crossover, so we could see a version more tailored for American preferences rather than one of the currently known models.
The cheapest model in the range, the Edge 20 Lite, costs £299 ($417), around the price of a OnePlus Nord N10 and a touch less than the Google Pixel 4a. The vanilla Edge 20 is £429 ($599), brushing against the price of the OnePlus Nord 2 and the Google Pixel 4a 5G. Finally, the Edge 20 Pro costs £649 ($906), a significant price increase that put it in range of the base OnePlus 9, but below the iPhone 12 and Samsung Galaxy S21.
Motorola Edge 20: design and display
Beyond one or two unique color options for each model and differing numbers of rear cameras, all the Edge 20s look very similar. Motorola's gone for a slim, boxy design, with a central punch-hole in the display for the front camera.
Motorola's added its habitual Google Assistant key alongside the volume and power buttons on the sides of the Edge 20. There's also a fingerprint sensor hidden in the power button on all models. While perhaps not as impressive as an under-display sensor, this remains a practical and fast way to unlock your phone.
On all three models, the screen is the same 6.7-inch, FHD OLED panel. The only difference is the refresh rate. The Edge 20 Lite has a maximum of 90Hz, while the Edge 20 and Edge 20 Pro go up to 144Hz. That's higher than the typical 120Hz of Android flagship phones, matching the refresh rate of phones like the Asus ROG Phone 5 or the ZTE Axon 30 Ultra.
Motorola Edge 20: cameras
The most basic camera set-up of the range can be found on the Edge 20 Lite. It consists of a 108MP main sensor, an 8MP ultrawide sensor that doubles up as a macro camera, and a depth sensor for improved portrait mode and other special effect shots.
The Edge 20 also uses a 108MP primary camera, but gets a higher resolution 16MP ultrawide/macro camera and an 8MP 3x optical zoom telephoto camera instead. The Edge 20 Pro swaps out this telephoto camera for an 8MP periscope module with 5x optical zoom, but uses the same 108MP/16MP sensors for main and ultrawide duties.
All models use the same 32MP camera on the front. This can be used as part of "dual capture" mode, one of the Edge 20's new camera features that allows simultaneous recording or photos from the front and rear cameras. Other software features include a spot color mode for adding splashes of color to black and white shots, and Pro mode, which allows greater control over your shots and the ability to save images as RAW files, allowing for more detailed editing.
Motorola Edge 20: performance and 5G
None of the Edge 20 models look to be performance powerhouses, but all pack a decent amount of processing power based on the specs. More importantly, all of them are 5G compatible, although only sub-6GHz, not the faster mmWave version used by some U.S. carriers.
In the Edge 20 Lite, you'll find a Dimensity 720, a low-powered chip as you would expect for a phone of its price, combined with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. The Edge 20 gets a Snapdragon 778G chip and either 6GB or 8GB RAM paired with 128GB storage. The Edge 20 Pro uses a Snapdragon 870, 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.
Moto Edge 20 battery and charging
All three phones have slightly differing battery capacities. The Edge 20 Lite has the smallest battery with 4,000 mAh. The Edge 20 has the largest at 5,000 mAh, while the Edge 20 Pro sits in the middle with 4,500 mAh of battery capacity.
All three use the same 30W wired fast charger, with no option for wireless charging. That charger is included with the phones too, something that is becoming increasingly rare now both Apple and Samsung no longer ship chargers with their leading phone models.
Motorola Edge 20: software
Motorola is shipping the Edge 20 series with Android 11, and promises two full OS upgrades and two years of security updates. This is comparable to the two years of full updates offered by Samsung, but doesn't match up to the three years by OnePlus, or the five-year-plus gold standard laid down by Apple with iOS.
Aside from Android, Motorola is also introducing the newest editions of its ReadyFor system, which allows you to use your phone with larger displays to access fuller versions of streaming apps, mobile games and video chat apps, or even a full-blown desktop mode.
All Edge 20 models can use the new ReadyFor PC mode, which lets you create a miniature phone desktop on your Windows 10 device. This will let you use Windows 10's fully featured apps but be able to transfer data between devices more conveniently than using cloud storage or the file browser.
The Edge 20 and Edge 20 Pro get access to ReadyFor Wireless on top of this, which ditches the cables to let you pair your phone with a display via QR code. You can then operate ReadyFor from your phone by using it as a trackpad.
Motorola Edge 20: outlook
Our full judgment of these new phones will be reserved until we get our hands on for a full review and testing session. But from the look of what's been announced, Motorola has the opportunity to crack open three different areas of the smartphone market in one fell swoop.
The generous camera, battery and charging and display specs are all areas where the Edge 20 series stands out compared to its competitors. It could make these phones excellent for users interested in getting the best photos, viewing experience or day-to-day longevity from their phones.
