Motorola Edge, unlocked for all US carriers, goes on pre-order starting at $500

And there's a spec switcheroo, too

by · Android Police

This story was originally published 2020/06/30
6:00am PDTon Jun 30, 2020 and last updated 2020/07/22
6:48am PDTon Jul 22, 2020. 

In April, Motorola brought out the Edge+, a Verizon-exclusive $1,000 phone that broke away from the Moto Z monotony with invigorated industrial design and integrated 5G connectivity. What we kinda glossed over — with fair reason given what little detail we had then — is the fact that the company also launched a mid-range 5G phone with similar looks called the Edge in Europe. Well, that device has made its way stateside, unlocked, and with a couple key spec boosts to boot.

The Edge has a similar industrial design to the Edge+ — curved glass wrapped around an aluminum frame. In fact, both share the same 6.7" display with 90Hz refresh rate and the same 25MP selfie camera that's been "punched" into said display.

Here are the specs as they are provided for the U.S.:

Specs

SoCQualcomm Snapdragon 765
RAM6GB
Storage256GB + microSD up to 1TB
Display6.7" 19.5:9 1080p OLED, 90Hz refresh
Battery4,500mAh w/ 18W charging
Rear cameras64MP main (macro-capable), 16MP ultra-wide, 8MP telephoto (2x), Time-of-flight sensor
Front camera25MP
SoftwareAndroid 10
ConnectivitySub-6 5G, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, Wi-Fi ac
Headphone jackYes

We were told that the phone was originally intended to be equipped with 4GB of RAM in the U.S., but that was until we saw it pushed in Europe with 6GB instead. So, the company decided to throw in the RAM bump for statesiders, stick in the overclocked Snapdragon 765G to replace the standard 765, and double the storage it gave to Europe from 128GB to 256GB — on par with the Edge+, which we have reviewed. The only major hard spec difference tilted against the Edge is that the main camera's resolution slips from 108MP to 64MP (pixel binned down to 16MP by default), but it does keep the time-of-flight sensor.

But besides the above compromises and the loss of millimeter wave 5G (arguably not much of a loss at all), the biggest difference you'll notice is the price: the Edge will be available unlocked for $700 later this summer — the 128GB version was in Europe for £550 and €600.

Update 1: 2020/07/22 6:48am PDT by Jules Wang

Availability and sales

Motorola has opened up pre-orders for the Edge with AmazonB&H, and Motorola.com giving customers a $200 discount from MSRP off the bat for an introductory price of $500. Best Buy also has pre-orders, but they are at the full $700 as of press time. Reservations will be fulfilled starting July 31.

A spec note: it turns out that the United States will not be getting the Snapdragon 765G, just the regular 765 — it's a minor disappointment that a trade-off took place here, but one to be noted nonetheless. The good news, though, is that customers will be able to bring the Edge to GSM and CDMA networks in the U.S., though 5G connectivity is relegated to the sub-6GHz category.

We've updated the article above to reflect this new information.

End of Update