TechRadar Verdict
The Moto Edge 20 Fusion is a competitive mid-range device as it performs well in all departments. The star of the show here is the 10-bit AMOLED display which is the best in the segment. Also, the device brings a clean software experience with useful features. However, the phone might be bulky for many people.
Pros
- +
Great display
- +
Software experience
- +
Battery life
Cons
- -
Bland design
- -
Bulky
- -
Inconsistent cameras
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There is no shortage of smartphones under Rs 25,000 in India. In the last few months itself, we have seen great offerings such as the OnePlus Nord CE, Poco X3 Pro, Redmi Note 10 Pro Max, and Xiaomi Mi 10i. The Moto Edge 20 Fusion is the new kid in the block which ticks all the boxes 一 at least on paper.
The phone comes with a 10-bit OLED screen, a big battery, 108MP main camera, support for multiple 5G bands, and most importantly 一 a clean software experience. The Moto Edge 20 Fusion is a slightly tweaked version of the Moto Edge 20 Lite global variant. The Moto Edge 20 Fusion is the cheapest phone to feature a 10-bit AMOLED display and is also the best display we’ve seen in the segment yet.
Further, the phone is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 800U 5G processor 一 a capable mid-range performer with support for 13 5G bands. However, one of the other biggest takeaways of the Moto Edge 20 Fusion is the clean Android experience it offers. Running on Android 11 out of the box, the device comes with less than 40 pre-installed apps and also offers a bunch of nifty customization options.
The company is promising 2 Android upgrades and it also comes with ThinkShield that offers end to end mobile security and privacy solutions. While the phone misses out on a stereo speaker setup, it does offer a 3.5mm headphone jack. For now, we think the phone might be too bulky for many people and also the design feels a bit old school style.
Moto Edge 20 Fusion price and availability
Design
Right out of the box, the Moto Edge 20 Fusion is a bulky device to hold. The device spans a large 6.7-inch display and weighs 185 grams. In terms of thickness, the phone measures 8.25 mm. Given the size of the display, the weight and thickness of the Edge 20 Fusion are respectable, but it is not a thin and light device by any means. The weight balance is done well here as the phone doesn’t feel too heavy.
The Moto Edge 20 Fusion comes in Cyber Teal and Electric Graphite colour options. We are using the latter one in our review. On the back, there is a triple rear camera setup on the left-hand corner along with an LED flash while the iconic M logo sits in the middle. It is a matte finish back panel and the phone attracts fingerprints easily. Keeping the back clean can be a never-ending task. For what it’s worth, you get a transparent case in the box.
On the front, you get a centre punch-hole notch and right above it is the earpiece. The front is dominated by the 10-bit AMOLED display. There is also a fairly large bezel on the bottom and thin bezels on the other three sides.
The phone is made up of all plastic material and it is not a unibody design like most phones. The phone feels good to hold in the hand, but this might not be everyone’s cup of tea as it’s huge. The Electric Graphite colour looks grey most of the time, but it changes to a blue-ish tint as the light falls on the back. The power button also incorporates a fingerprint scanner which is positioned on the right side while the volume rockers are placed right above it. Further, there is a dedicated Google Assistant button on the left along with a hybrid slot. Lastly, on the bottom, you get a 3.5mm headphone jack, Type-C port, and speaker.
The phone is also IP52 rated for protection against dust and water. Overall, while there isn’t much to complain about the design, the overall design could have been better as it looks like an old school design.
Display
In the sub Rs 25,000 segment, most smartphones offer an AMOLED display and some of them even offer a high refresh rate and this has been a success story for most brands as well. But, the Moto Edge 20 Fusion takes it to the next level here with the inclusion of a 10-bit AMOLED panel and a 90Hz screen refresh rate. This is the best screen we’ve used for under Rs 25,000.
The Moto Edge 20 Fusion sports a large 6.7-inch Full HD+ resolution display and a 20:9 aspect ratio. It is also HDR10 certified and covers DCI-P3 colour space 一 the device is a feast to your eyes, be it watching content or playing games. Thanks to the 90Hz refresh rate, scrolling through the UI feels smooth and fluid. The colours are punchy and have the right amount of contrast.
The screen gets extremely bright and is easily readable even outdoors. Overall, we liked the display on the Moto Edge 20 Fusion and easily the best in the segment we’ve seen in the segment. That being said, the size of the device might be too big for many people. But, if you can let that go, you are getting a great screen to watch movies and shows.
Performance
The Moto Edge 20 Fusion is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 800U 5G chipset. It is an octa-core chipset built on a 7nm fabrication process. It has two Arm Cortex-A76 processors clocked at 2.4GHz and six Arm Cortex-A55 processors with a clock speed of 2GHz. It has Arm Mali-G57 GPU and there is an independent AI processing unit (APU).
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The device comes in two configurations 一 6GB and 8GB LPDDR4X RAM along with 128GB UFS 2.2 internal storage. With the RAM boost feature a.k.a Virtual RAM, the memory can be expanded by an additional 2GB. The phone comes with a hybrid slot. One of the features that the company is marketing is support for multiple 5G bands. The Moto Edge 20 Fusion supports 11 global 5G bands and if you plan on keeping the device for at least two to three years, this might come in handy.
The phone also comes with dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11, NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, and also a 3.5mm headphone jack 一 all of which worked well. The phone did perform well while we were switching between apps and did not lag at any given point in time. The Dimensity 800U is a capable mid-range performer and it could also manage to keep the temperature under check.
In terms of gaming, we did try out BGMI which can run with Smooth + Ultra combo and CoD Mobile which can run with mid graphics and high frame rate. We hope the game developers can work on optimizing the chipset which unlocks higher-level graphic settings.
The phone also comes with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner embedded in the power button. It is fast and accurate. The same goes for the face unlock as well.
Camera
In terms of camera capabilities, the Moto Edge 20 Fusion comes with a 108MP main camera(Samsung HM2), an 8MP ultra-wide + macro vision lens, and a 2MP depth sensor. There is a 32 MP sensor on the front that handles the selfies.
The camera performance seems to be decent here. For the images captured from the primary camera, the colors are natural-looking most of the time, images look sharp, and the dynamic range is decent too, but could have been better, in our opinion.
The dynamic range is the recurring issue 一 the HDR processing isn’t best and images tend to look dull which results in blown highlights in scenes of high light contrast and also dull-looking foreground.
As for the selfies, the images were respectable as well. The ultra-wide camera which also doubles as a macro shooter also does perform well. Lastly, the night vision modes bring up a lot more details by taking up the saturation level. The low light images are also a bit softer 一 which is quite common with most phones.
In terms of low-light photography, the device brings lost colors and improves edge contrast. It’s decent, but don’t expect too dramatic changes in the low-light photography.
The secondary 8MP ultra-wide and macro vision lens is handy at times, but there is a noticeable drop in color saturation and contrast. The autofocus is slow, so actually getting close-up shots like flowers or bees with sharp details might be hard if you don’t have enough light. The images are good and are satisfactory for the most part. The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is still the best in the segment when it comes to macro photography.
Lastly, there’s a 2MP depth sensor which is useful and lets you take background-blurred photos of any subject. There is a 32MP selfie shooter too which is pretty good and gets the job done for video calls and selfies. It has a wide depth of field and captures a good amount of details in solid light conditions.
While the camera performance is not the best, it is not too bad either. There is a lot of inconsistency in the images and we hope Moto can fix the issue with an update in the near future.
The camera app is simple yet offers a bunch of features and shooting modes. Some of them include spot colour video, dual capture, cutout, cinemagraph, live filter, timelapse, Pro mode, and up to 4K 60fps video. You can also shoot slow-mo with a 240fps frame rate. There is no OIS which means you miss out on super smooth videos.
Camera samples
Battery
The Moto Edge 20 Fusion runs off a large 5,000mAh battery and it supports 30W fast charging. In our testings, we did manage to get seven to nine hours of screen on time on average which is good. But, the Mi 10i and the Nord CE also offer the same or even better(Nord CE). That being said, the Moto Edge 20 Fusion will easily last one full day and two days if you are a light user.
For charging, the company is bundling TurboPower 30W charging brick along with a Type-C to Type-C cable. The phone can go from 0 to 100% in 90 minutes, which is not the fastest we’ve seen, but given the 5,000mAh battery capacity, the time taken is respectable. The OnePlus Nord CE and the Xiaomi Mi 10i charge in 60 minutes.
Software
One of the primary reasons we’d recommend the device, apart from the display, is because of the software experience it offers. The Moto Edge 20 Fusion runs on Android 11 out of the box and offers a clean Android experience with close to stock look. The company is promising two Android upgrades. In addition, you also get ThinkShield security which brings an end to end mobile security and privacy solutions starting from the supply chain, hardware security, OS, and system security.
While the Moto Edge 20 Fusion comes with close to stock Android experience, it does not shy away when it comes to features and customization 一 especially in the gesture department. Under display settings, you get options like three-finger screenshots, swipe to split apps, and screen recording. Under the style option, you can change the font, colours, shape of the icons, and layout size.
The peek display features bring a clock, animated background, tap to wake and drag to see notifications preview. Under Gestures settings inside the System, you get a bunch of gestures such as the following:
- Double-press power key open camera
- Three-finger swipe to take a screenshot
- Chop motion to turn on/off the flash
- Double-tap and swipe on the power button for a quick shortcut
- Twist your wrist quickly to open the camera
- Swipe from the left edge of the screen to the right to split 2 apps
Furthermore, the device also brings a new “Ready For” feature which is a PC companion(more like Samsung’s Dex). With this feature, you can access your phone apps and your PC files on the same screen. You can also mirror your phone’s screen to your PC. The Windows 10 version of the software is available for download.
The software experience is overall smooth and fast. And, then there is an added advantage of not detailing with Spam push notifications and pre-installed apps. The Moto Edge Fusion comes with only 35 pre-installed apps of which 25 apps are from Google’s suite 一 some of them are uninstallable as well.
Verdict
The Moto Edge 20 Fusion is a solid device and we can recommend this phone easily to anyone who is on the hunt for a good mid-range device under Rs 25,000 right now. The device brings the best screen experience with a 10-bit OLED display. The Dimensity 800U chipset performance is good enough for day-to-day tasks as well as some casual gaming.
The software experience is one thing that Moto can differentiate from its rivals and there are some nice gestures and customization options available that elevate the software experience on the Edge 20 Fusion.
The battery life is also pretty solid on the device. The cameras aren’t the best in the segment but can capture some good images in daylight while the 32 MP front camera is great for calls and selfies, promising and the device does well ticking most of the boxes with a good score. However, the device is bulky and the design could have been better. If you can live with these cons, the Moto Edge 20 Fusion is a great buy for Rs 21,499.
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