Motorola's Latest Edge Cuts the 5G Tax
Motorola today announced its most recent Edge phone, a $499.99 midranger with an ultra-light body that hides two major advances in 5G.
The first is for T-Mobile: The Motorola Edge 2022 is the first phone that can use "power class 1.5" for midband 5G, essentially turning up the radio in the phone so it can reach midband towers up to twice as far away as other devices do.
The second is a big deal for Verizon. The Edge is the first US phone with MediaTek's Dimensity 1050 chipset, the first MediaTek chipset with millimeter-wave 5G. Verizon tends to want mmWave in its 5G phones, and until now, Qualcomm has had a hugely dominant position in mmWave chipsets. MediaTek's presence offers hope we may see the end of the "mmWave tax," where Verizon versions of 5G phones cost $50-$100 more than other models.
The 2022 Edge has one big surprise. While it has a big 6.6-inch, 144Hz 1080p screen, it's very light at exactly 6 ounces. That's more than an ounce lighter than the Pixel 6, almost an ounce lighter than the Samsung Galaxy S22+ and a little bit lighter than the iPhone 13 (which only has a 6.1-inch screen.) If you're looking for a phone that won't weigh you down, this may be the new big-screen leader.
Otherwise, the Edge has pretty standard, midrange specs, until you get to the radio, which I'll deal with below. The phone will come either with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, or 8GB/256GB. It will run Android 12, with three years of OS upgrades and four years of security updates.
The cameras are, primarily, a 50MP main camera and a 13MP ultrawide, with relatively useless macro and depth sensors thrown in on the back. The front camera is a 32-megapixel unit that takes 8MP photos by default using quad-pixel binning.
A big 5,000mAh
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