Motorola Edge 30 Fusion is one of the cheapest ultra-efficient smartphones. However, it is somewhat lacking

At the beginning of September this year, three smartphones from the Motorola Edge 30 family were shown for the world debut, the first of which was the relatively small, mid-shelf Edge 30 Neo. The main unit in that first presentation was the Edge 30 Ultra model equipped with the best first-generation Snapdragon 8+, but the debut was also a model that could be called a “middle class”, but still very functional. I’m talking about the Motorola Edge 30 Fusion, which is rated at PLN 2999 and has a Snapdragon 888+.

The Motorola Edge 30 Fusion is a smartphone with a flagship processor from a year ago, and the price of the equipment is really good. What other desirable features and shortcomings can we expect from the device?

Motorola Edge 30 Neo smartphone test – you won’t find less than this price. There’s also Qi charging and cool Dolby Atmos speakers

Motorola Edge 30 Fusion is a smartphone that is close to the flagship in front of the F phone. I am talking about the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ (about 840 thousand points in AnTuTu 9). The manufacturer that presented this smartphone used the slogan “Outstanding performance at an affordable price”. but that is not all. The visually appealing waterfall screen (Endless Edge) and ultra-high damping (144Hz) are not forgotten. Here we are also dealing with 68W ultra-fast charging, resistance class IP52 and support for 5G networks. That’s it when it comes to the most important elements, now let’s get to the bottom line, seven things that captivated me on my smartphone, and three things that disappointed me a bit.

Stylish design, outstanding performance

The Motorola Edge 30 Fusion is basically a device that’s visually appealing (however strange it may sound) that you’ll still want to hold in your hand. This seems to be due to manual proportions, a curved screen that is very pleasant to touch, and a matte back. On the other hand, it could also be due to my muscle memory, as the Edge 30 Fusion is actually a large version of the Huawei P30 Pro smartphone, which I’ve been happy to use for the past few years. The new “Motka”, to be precise, is a chassis with aluminum frames and a glass back, which is usually called frosted. So they don’t collect fingerprints, they are velvety to the touch and flicker slightly depending on how the light falls on them. I’m certainly not exaggerating when I add that the Motorola Edge 30 Fusion is one of the most stylish smartphones I’ve interacted with in recent months.

Ultra bright 144Hz waterfall screen

Motorola Edge 30 Fusion attracts the eyes not only with its elegant back, but also with its display. The p-OLED screen used here is a very bright panel, which can easily compete in its brightness with many flagships (up to close to 1,000 nits in the sun). The screen also offers very nice saturated colors, support for HDR10 + and, above all, image refresh up to 144 Hz. Many gaming monitors envy the smoothness of a smartphone. More importantly, in the settings we will also find an option for the device to switch between subsequent refresh levels (48Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz, 144Hz) to save battery power. And let’s not forget the construction of this monitor, which was called Endless Edge. This waterfall structure makes the smartphone look very modern. However, what is equally important – the “overflow” area outside the front part does not react to touch, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally activating something.

Recording in 4K @ 60 + solid OIS

There’s nothing to hide – Motorola (with some exceptions) have never been overly graphic smartphones. This is confirmed by our recent tests of the Edge 30 Neo. Fortunately, the Edge 30 Fusion model is a unit that delivers quite satisfactory photos and videos. Some samples can be found on the next page of this article, and I’ll just add that the Edge 30 Fusion is equipped with a 50MP main camera, a 13MP ultra-wide angle camera and a depth detection module (2MP). The latter is also responsible for the macro images and it must be admitted that it does this well. We shouldn’t complain about the foreground clipping off the background, the quality of the selfies, and especially about the optical image stabilization, which works very well when taking photos and videos. You just have to remember that it only works with recordings up to 4K @ 60 fps. If we want to record at 8K @ 30fps, the OIS install will not work anymore.

Very good speakers + Dolby Atmos

Another thing that the Motorola Edge 30 Fusion can envy over other smartphones is the stereo speakers, or more precisely – how they sound. As in the Edge 30 Neo model, here we are dealing with units that look like a Bluetooth speaker. This is due not only to the wide frequency response (bass power during the first listening sessions is seriously impressive), but also to the support for Dolby Atmos technology. After all, it works not only after connecting the headphones to the smartphone, but also with the above speakers. Thus, when you turn the smartphone to landscape mode, the speakers are adjusted to ensure the possibility of spatial sound. In addition, in the options related to Dolby Atmos we will find not only ready-made audio settings (music, movie, game, podcast, smart audio), but also a 10-band equalizer for independent operation. And if we use wireless headphones to listen to music, the good news is that the smartphone runs, among other things, on the aptX codec.

Fast charging and good battery

The smartphone is equipped with a 4400mAh battery that we can charge at 68W. For this purpose, we will be using the appropriate charger included in the kit. Our tests showed that this battery allows for exactly five and a half hours of mobile game fun titled The Genshin Effect, with maximum screen brightness and a 60Hz refresh rate. However, the battery charging time is better from 0 to 100% which is a real 44 minutes. For 0-50% charging, it only takes a little over 10 minutes.

Android is almost pure, Moto+ ready for gestures

Motorola smartphones have many fans, including. Because of the clear order without unnecessary clutter. It’s no different in the case of the Edge 30 Fusion model. After starting the device for the first time, the user basically receives only the applications that are necessary for the daily use of the smartphone. There are no Netflixs or other bloatware. Well, maybe apart from Facebook and TikTok, but both can be uninstalled. However, among the non-standard applications we can find one called Moto and another called Ready For, both of which are very useful. I dare point out that many current Motorola fans can’t imagine running out of these apps. The first shows, among others, using the so-called Moto gestures, that is, turning on the flashlight by shaking the smartphone twice or turning on the selected shortcut (function, application) by double-clicking on the back. In contrast, the Ready For feature allows, among other things, to transfer the image from the smartphone to the external display or create your own multimedia entertainment center from the external display.

Performance that lasts for years

The Motorola Edge 30 Fusion smartphone was equipped with 8GB of RAM and last year’s main chip – Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ octa-core. This combination produced 844,443 points (AnTuTu 9.3.9) and 106 fps (GFXBench 5.0.5 / 1080p Manhattan out-of-screen 3.1) in our tests. This means that the Edge 30 Fusion in its performance is equivalent to the flagship Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with 12GB of RAM and an Exynos 2200 chip. And thanks to these “Motce” components, not only are daily tasks or system crashes with dozens of apps not scary, But it is also the most demanding mobile game.

No wireless charging

Everything is beautiful, but just as there is no rose without thorns, there is no perfect equipment. All because the definition of ideal equipment will vary depending on the user, and also because ideal equipment (inclusive) is basically the domain of the most expensive equipment. With slightly cheaper ones, like the Edge 30 Fusion, there should be room for half-measures or shortcomings and it’s just up to us whether or not they’ll interest us. For me, for example, the lack of inductive charging in the Motorola Edge 30 Fusion is not a huge problem, but for someone who uses Qi chargers on a daily basis at home, at work or even in the car, this lack can be a critical flaw.

There is no phone camera

The Motorola Edge 30 Fusion smartphone takes very good photos (I will emphasize again – not bad, especially by Motorola standards) and not worse films (although a lot depends on the settings and environmental conditions). After all, some people may cry over the lack of a tele lens, which means, among other things, that we only have to be satisfied with digital zoom, not optical zoom. Edge 30 Fusion provides highly effective digital zoom. I dare point out that photos taken with 2x magnification are not at all different from photos taken without any magnification. As for the maximum magnification, we have an eightfold magnification here (the effects of which can be seen on the next page).

No microSD card slot

If the Motorola Edge 30 Fusion had the option of wireless charging and a telephoto lens, then it certainly wouldn’t cost 3000 zlotys, but even a few hundred zlotys more. Or otherwise – keep the price, but with Qi charging support and a remote camera offering, the manufacturer will likely either abandon fast charging or good speakers, or opt for a less efficient processor. However, the lack of a microSD card slot is hard for me to swallow. Yes, this is an increasingly common move, especially on the main shelf, but it’s totally unacceptable to me. I understand if the Edge 30 Fusion has at least 512GB of memory space, but only 128GB. And remember that recording for 10 minutes in 4K on a smartphone consumes 4 GB.