The premium smartphone that's shifting the mid-range benchmark - Motorola Edge 60 review

The Motorola Edge 60 is one of the best smartphones you can get for up to $500. Highlights include its super bright P-OLED display at 120 Hz, good triple-camera system including a telephoto lens, long runtimes and fast charging, eSIM support, as well as 512 GB of storage including the option to expand this via a microSD card.

Its strong total package is rounded out by a very high-quality case with an IP69 certification. Its screen glass, which wraps over the edges of the device, is handy for displaying notifications—but apart from that, it's simply a matter of taste.

The installed MediaTek Dimensity 7300 delivers solid everyday performance, but it could do with being a little faster. The same can be said about the phone's storage. Motorola has saved some money in other areas, too. For example, the smartphone doesn't support wireless charging and despite its WiFi 6 support, its WLAN speeds are pretty poor. Adding to this is a rather meager update promise, as its support already ends in 2029, so in 4 years time.

At the time of writing, the Motorola Edge 60 is not available to purchase in the United States. In Europe, the phone retails for 430 euros (approx. $490).

The Edge 60 is Motorola's newest mid-range smartphone, adopting quite a few features from its more expensive sibling, the Edge 60 Pro. Both mid-range phones are equipped with a curved P-OLED screen and have backs with leather and textile finishes. Plus, they both use a triple-camera with an optical 3x zoom.

The main differences between the two models lie in their processors and batteries. A MediaTek Dimensity 7300 runs inside the Edge 60, while the more powerful Dimensity 8350 can be found inside the Edge 60 Pro. Furthermore, the Pro model features a 6000 mAh battery, while the Edge 60 has to make do with 5200 mAh. As our test revealed, its runtimes are still excellent, and in general, the Edge 60 could very well prove to be the more interesting smartphone for potential buyers.

The Edge 60 feels like a real treat to hold in your hand. Weighing in at only 179 grams at a size of 6.67 inches, the smartphone feels super comfortable to hold. Plus, thanks to its display with rounded edges at the sides, which elegantly merges into the rubberized and grippy back cover, it feels like a much more expensive smartphone.

The stable and well-built Edge 60 can't be bent or dented, even when you apply lots of pressure. Moreover, it's IP69-certified, meaning the mid-range smartphone is protected against dust and water, while also being resistant to hot water and pressurized water jets. Its predecessor, the Edge 50, only had an IP68 certification.

In keeping with its product name, the device's display that extends over the edges gives the Edge 60 an impressive screen-to-body ratio of 96.3%. Its slightly roughened silicone back features a faux leather finish in the green Pantone Shamrock color variant, and the blue Pantone Gibraltar Sea color has a fabric cover. In other regions, the smartphone is also available in a third color variant, a violet color called Pantone Plumperfect.

The Edge 60's microSD card reader achieves decent speeds. In our copying test alongside our Angelbird AV Pro V60 reference card, it managed an above-average 40 MByte/s on average. Data transfers were fairly stable both when reading and writing.

The Edge 60 comes in paper packaging that bears the FSC Mix label (Forest Stewardship Council). This stands for products that use recycled materials and/or materials from FSC-certified forests. Its packaging has been printed with soy ink.

Although Motorola provides comprehensive information about its sustainability initiatives on its website, no details about the smartphone's carbon footprint could be found at the time of testing. Spare parts and instructions for self-repair are also not available.

In addition to WiFi 6, the Edge 60 supports Bluetooth 5.4 and NFC. Plus, it supports a good variety of cellular frequencies, so you shouldn't face many reception issues further afield.

Using WiFi 6, the Motorola smartphone is still limited to the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, which is generally not a problem. However, compared to the WiFi 6E-ready Edge 50, this marks a step backward and isn't enough to impress the competition in any way. Connected to our Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000, the Edge 60 only reached a maximum WLAN speed of 372 MBit/s.

For making calls, the Edge 60 uses the standard app from Android. Aside from VoLTE, the phone also supports WLAN calls. During our test, the smartphone delivered good call quality and transmitted our voice clearly to the person on the other end of the line—even in louder environments. The same can be said for using the hands-free mode, as long as you don't speak too quietly.

We took another close look at the phone's main camera in our test lab. In optimum lighting conditions, it depicted colors realistically and was able to reproduce the test chart sharply. In 1 lux of residual light, it only depicted the latter diffusely, but it remained recognizable as a whole.

Motorola doesn't deliver a power supply with its Edge 60. Its scope of delivery includes a USB-C cable, a plastic protective case, a SIM tool, as well as a short instruction manual.

The manufacturer's phones are covered by a standard 12-month warranty in the USA. Buyers have the option to extend this to up to 3 years via Moto Care. Depending on the package, this costs between $20 and $99.

Equipped with the MediaTek Dimensity 7300, the Edge 60 develops solid mid-range performance and almost always ensures smooth operation in everyday use. Moreover, the SoC's performance was sufficient to beat many a competitor during our test. In markets outside the EU, Motorola also sells some of its smartphones with the MediaTek Dimensity 7400 SoC.

With the ARM GPU Mali-G615 MP2 as its pixel generator, the Edge 60 also ranked in the midfield in the GPU benchmarks. Overall, it came quite close to the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G, but without being able to surpass its performance. If gaming is of utmost importance to you, then other mid-range smartphones such as the OnePlus Nord 4 may be a better choice.

The Edge 60 is a speedy companion when surfing the web, as web pages load quickly and are displayed swiftly. However, its benchmark results were once again only average.

The Edge 60 uses UFS storage, which combines DRAM and flash storage into one package (uMCP, Universal Flash Storage Multichip Package), which is primarily intended to reduce power consumption. As the AndroBench tests showed, it is about as fast as UFS 2.2 storage. Although its loading times remained relatively short, the smartphone didn't achieve a particularly high data throughput compared to the competition.

In terms of temperatures, the Edge 60 had everything under control during our test. Under continuous load, it heated up to over 44 °C at certain points on its surface, which was clearly noticeable with the smartphone held in our hand. Still, this is completely harmless in thermal terms and such an extreme scenario should rarely occur during everyday life. In addition, we noted no internal throttling, as the Edge 60 was able to deliver its full performance at practically any time, no matter how hard we pushed it.

The Motorola phone produces a good sound for this price range thanks to its stereo speakers. It lacks bass, and trebles dominate the sound mix—making voices in particular very clear to understand.

External audio devices can be connected via USB-C and Bluetooth 5.4. The Edge 60 supports many current Bluetooth codecs, namely SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX TWS+, LDAC, LC3, Opus and LHDC V1-V5.

The phone's 5200 mAh battery can be charged at up to 68 watts via a suitable power supply unit. During our test, we used the Anker 317 (100 watts), with which the Edge 60 managed a full charging cycle in just 50 minutes. It took 18 minutes to recharge to 50 percent and only 31 minutes to bring its battery level up to 80 percent.

Managing just over 20 hours of simulated web surfing and over 23 hours when playing an HD video in a continuous loop, the Edge 60 achieved very good battery runtimes during our test. In practice, the Motorola smartphone should be able to survive two days at a time away from a power outlet, even with intensive use. Among the comparison devices, the Nothing Phone (3a) and the OnePlus Nord 4 delivered similar endurance.

Motorola's Edge 60 is giving the mid-range competition a run for its money. The 6.67-inch smartphone fits into the upper class with its high-quality finish and wide range of features. In terms of performance, however, it once again only offers standard fare.