Motorola Edge 50 Fusion – the best value smartphone with Edge benefits (review)

19/07/2024
By Ray Shaw
In Reviews

The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion is its entry-level Edge (referring to the curved screen Edge range) and, at $599, is a compelling option for those who want quality on a budget.

In fact, the next Edge is the $999 Motorola Edge 50 Pro – an excellent upper-mid-range smartphone, and then the $1699 Razr 50 Ultra flip (review coming). If money is tight, then the $449 Moto g84 5G – how does Motorola do it? is a great phone too.

The key points include

6.7”, 2400x 1080, SDR, 10-bit/1.07M colour, 144Hz pOLED screen
Qualcomm SD7S Gen 2 SoC
12/1256GB RAM/Storage
Excellent city, suburbs and regional use phone antenna strength
Class-leading dual-camera
Decent all-day battery life and a 68W charger
IP 68 water resistance
2-year warranty, 3 OS upgrades, and 4 years of security patches

Frankly, this phone has way more value than its price reflects.

Warning – do not buy grey market

Only Motorola-approved resellers (Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Telstra, Officeworks) sell the Australian-certified version for Telco networks, which comes with an Australian warranty.

Do not buy the version with a Qualcomm SD6 gen 1 or 8/128GB RAM/Storage.

Read Don’t buy a grey market smartphone.

New review format

We are experimenting with our review format. Where we used to put all the raw data in tables at the end, we will now break them up and briefly comment on the various parts. Why? Readers who want to know more will paw over the tables. Readers who wish to see if it’s a good phone can just read the comments. Of course, we still have CyberShack’s’ View and rating explanation at the end – do make sure you read that.

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

We are also tightening up on grading. From now on, Pass, for example, means meeting expectations for the price bracket. We consider a Pass mark to be 70+/100 with extra points added for class-leading and excellence.

Australian Review: Motorola Edge 50 Fusion, 12/256GB, SIM+eSIM, model XT2429-2

Brand	Motorola
Model	Motorola Edge 50 Fusion
Model Number	XT2429-2
RAM/Storage Base	12/256GB
Price base	$599
Warranty months	24-months ACL
Tier	Mid-range with Edge benefits
Website	Product Page
From	Motorola online, Harvey Norman, Domayne, JB Hi-Fi, Bing Lee, Officeworks.
Made in	China
Company	It is owned by Lenovo (Est 1984) – a multinational technology company with its primary operational headquarters in Beijing and Morrisville, North Carolina. It is the world’s largest PC maker. It purchased Motorola Mobility from Google in 2014. Most of Lenovo’s smartphone business is now under the Motorola brand, with grand plans to become a ‘top five’ smartphone maker.
More	CyberShack Motorola news and reviews CyberShack Smartphone news and reviews
Test date	1-18 July 2024
Ambient temp	8-17°
Release	Global release May 2024
Other models not for Australia (Don’t buy)	Motorola makes models for various markets that are not for Australian Telco networks nor carry an Australian warranty. Do not buy SD 6 Gen 1 or 8/128GB versions.

Screen – Pass+

It is a colourful, bright, colour-accurate, daylight-readable, 10-bit/1.07million colour, 144Hz, pOLED screen. It would have been Exceed except that it is only for SRD (standard dynamic range content) and does not have Dolby Vision or HDR/10 metadata decoder.

For this price bracket, it is extraordinary value.

Size	6.7″
Type	pOLED
Flat, Curve, 2D, 3D	Borderless, Curved edges with centre o-hole
Resolution	2400 x 1080
PPI	394
Ratio	20:9
Screen to Body %	92%
Colours bits	10-bit 1.07 billion colours
Refresh Hz, adaptive	Fixed 60, 120, 144Hz or stepped 60/120/144Hz
Response 120Hz	Touch rate 360Hz gaming mode
Nits typical, test	Claim 500 (tests 515)
Nits max, test	Peak 1600 (Test 1250/1455 100/2% window)
Contrast	Infinite
sRGB	Claim 100% (98.9%)
DCI-P3	Claim 100% (Test 74%). This is lower than expected but better than 100% of 16.7 billion colours. I suspect that this is a firmware-fixable natural mode preset issue.
Rec.2020 or other	N/A
Delta E (<4 is excellent)	1.4 – excellent colour accuracy
HDR Level	SDR
SDR Upscale	No
Blue Light Control	Yes
PWM if known	Approx 400Hz. It is imperceptible at about 70% brightness, so it should not affect PWM-sensitive people. There is a DC dimming switch for lower brightness levels.
Daylight readable	Yes
Always on Display	Yes – tap to wake
Edge display	Edge Lights alert you to calls and notifications when the screen faces down.
Accessibility	All Android 14 features
DRM	L1 for FHD SDR playback.
Gaming	<1m GTG Up to 360Hz touch Snapdragon Elite Gaming features include: Variable Rate Shading for faster graphics performance. Qualcomm Game Quick Touch increases display responsiveness. Updatable drivers deliver the latest graphics and performance improvements in real-time. However, most games will not get past 60fps on medium-quality settings.
Screen protection	Gorilla Glass 5
Comment	Excellent 10-bit, 1.07 billion-colour screen with far greater subtleties in colour than the 8-bit Samsung S24/+/Ultra. Despite the screen’s more than enough brightness, it does not decode metadata for HDR/HDR10/DA.

Processor (SoC) – Pass+

This uses a new ‘S’ version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon, which you will see in at least the SD7 and SD8 series. The main difference is that there are eight cores, excluding the ‘power’ core in non-S SoCs. This is a totally unfair comparison to the SD7+ Gen 3 here.

Think of it as a four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine versus a turbo.

Brand, Model	Qualcomm SD7S Gen 2 If you haven’t heard of the ‘S’ range, it is a scaled-down version lacking AI and some full-version features.
nm	4nm made on Samsung 4LPE fab plant
Cores	4 x 2.40GHz & 4 x 1.95GHz
Modem	X62 (Sub-6GHz)
AI TOPS OR Multi-thread Integer Operations Per Second (INOPS) GINOPS = billion	We understand that it is well below 10 TOPS 14.62 GFLOPS 15.51 GINOPS
Geekbench 6 Single-core	1017
Geekbench 6 multi-core	2918
Like	Like Exynos 1380, MediaTek 7030/7050 or SD7 Gen 1 Benchmarks
GPU	Adreno 710/580Ghz
GPU Test
Open CL	1806
Vulcan	2308
RAM, type	12GB LPDDR45X (plus virtual RAM Boost).
Storage, free, type	256GB UFS 2.2 (213GB free)
micro-SD	No
CPDT internal seq. Read MBps sustained	804 Jazz max 923
CPDT internal seq. write MBps sustained	478 Jazz maximum 504
CPDT microSD read, write MBps	N/A
CPDT external (mountable?) MBps	20/11.7Mbps mountable
Comment	Slowish UFS 2.2 internal storage and even slower USB-C 2.0 external storage. Excellent for the price.

Throttle test – Pass+

It keeps pretty cool and loses negligible power over a 15-minute throttle test.

Throttle test
Max GIPS	243307
Average GIPS	227768
Minimum GIPS	200.145
% Throttle	12%
CPU Temp	50°
Comment	Excellent thermal management and rock-solid performance. Gamers will appreciate this.

Comms – Pass

Our only comment is that it uses Wi-Fi 5 AC 2.4/5GHz, but the SoC supports Wi-Fi 6E. At the price, you cannot expect Wi-Fi 6 or 6E. Wi-Fi signals are pretty strong at 10m.

Wi-Fi Type, model	Wi-Fi 5 AC 2.4/5GHz
Test 2m -dBm, Rx/Tx Mbps	-37/876/876
Test 5m	-47/794/876
Test 10m	-53/650/809
BT Type	5.2
GPS single, dual	Dual 3m accuracy
USB type	USB-C 2.0 480Mbps – no display port audio/video data stream support
ALT DP, DeX, Ready For	Only over Miracast
NFC	Yes
Ultra-wideband	No
Sensors
Accelerometer	Yes combo
Gyro	Yes combo
e-Compass	Yes
Barometer
Gravity
Pedometer
Ambient light	Yes
Hall sensor
Proximity	Yes
Other	SAR sensor
Comment	It is a shame to use Wi-Fi 5 AC 2.4/5GHz when the SoC supports up to Wi-Fi 6E – but this is a value device. It reaches 876Mbps (maximum).

Notice that the 5 and 10m distances below had quite a variation in Rx and Tx speed, where it was rock solid at 2m. It is not an issue in typical use.

4/5G – Pass+

Three things stand out. It has a single SIM, an eSIM, and dual ring tones.

The antenna strength is highly suitable for city, suburb, and regional use. It may be fine for rural use, but we are not sure.

SIM	Single Sim and eSIM
Active	DSDS – Both are active but can only use one at a time.
Ring tone single, dual	Dual ring tones – excellent
VoLTE	Carrier dependent
Wi-Fi calling	Carrier dependent
4G Bands	1/2/3/5/7/8/18/19/20/26/28/32/38/40/41/42/71
Comment	All Australian and most world bands
5G sub-6Ghz	n1/3/5/7/8/20/26/28/38/40/41/77/78
Comment	All Australian 5G sub-6 and low bands
mmWave	No
Test Boost Mobile, Telstra
DL/UL, ms	35/10/35m2 – average
Tower 1 -dBm, fW or pW	from -75 to -82 and 6.3 to 31.6pW – exceptional first tower strength
Tower 2	from -78 to -95 and 316.2fW to 15.8pW
Tower 3	from -81 to -89 and 1.3pW to 7.9pW
Tower 4	Did not find
Comment	These are excellent signal strengths and should be good for cities, suburbs, and major regional towns. Rural areas with some Band 28 signal are probably OK.

Battery – Pass+

It has a 5000mAh battery and a 68W charger for 52 minutes charge time.

Motorola calls this a 30-hour battery, but it is under particular test circumstances. We expect typical users will change once a day, and power users may need a top-up later in the day.

mAh	5000mAh 4.344V/4.87A/21.15W
Charger	68W 5V/3A/15W, 9V/3A/27W, 15V/3A/45W, 20V/3.4/68W OR 11V/6.2A/68.2W Enable Boost Charge in the Battery setting.
PD, QC level	PD 3 and QC 5
Qi, wattage	No
Reverse Qi or cable.	No
Test (60Hz or adaptive screen)	Adaptive
Charge % 30mins	Advertised: 15 minutes for a day’s use
Charge 0-100%	68W and can fill in 52 minutes. It never went over 9V/3A/27W. With other chargers and 5W cables – 9V/4.A/36W.
Charge Qi	N/A
Charge 5V, 2A	Over 5 hours
Video loop 50%, aeroplane	24 hours and 30 minutes
PC Mark 3 battery	14 hours 31 minutes Accubattery: 14 hours 49 minutes
GFX Bench Manhattan battery	Did not run
GFX Bench T-Rex	311.1 minutes (5.19 hours) 5863 frames
Drain 100-0% full load screen on	3 hours 33 minutes Accubattery: 4 hours 57 minutes
mA Full load screen on	1400-1500mA – higher than expected
mA Watt idle Screen on	200-250mA
Estimate loss at max refresh	Tested on Adaptive screen and balanced power.
Estimate typical use	Motorola advertises over 30 hours. All battery life claims are approximate and based on the median user tested across a mixed-use profile.
Comment	The video loop time is very good but is the least draining of the tests. PC Mark 3 and Accubattery replicate typical use and show just over 14 hours. Under load, 4 hours is what you could expect as a gamer or heavy user. You will have to recharge daily for 12-15 hours of use.

Sound hardware – Pass

It would have scored a Pass+ but for a definite bias to the bottom speaker. It has a full suite of Qualcomm codecs, LDAC, and other new codecs.

Sound	DA Smart Audio and Spatial Sound enabled
Speakers	Top forward, up-firing and bottom down-firing stereo.
Tuning	N/A
AMP	2 x FS16xx amps (specifications unknown) FSA4480 Digital to Analogue USB DAC
Dolby Atmos decode	Yes, to 2.0, but it is really more effective with headphones.
Hi-Res	24-bit/48000Hz
3.5mm	No
BT Codecs	SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX TWS, aptX Adaptive, LDAC, LHDCV2/3/5
Multipoint	Yes
Dolby Atmos (DA)	Decode to 2.0 speakers and earphones
EQ	New DA EQ includes Spatial Audio. The remainder are 2.0 only – Smart Audio, Music, Movie, Game, Podcast and Custom.
Mics	2 – one for noise cancelling and use with CrystalTalk AI NR.
Test dB – all on EQ flat DA off
Volume max	83
Media (music)	81.5
Ring	83.5
Alarm	83.7
Notifications	80
Earpiece	60.4
Hands-free	Decent noise reduction and volume levels were quite good and clear.
BT headphones	Excellent left-right separation and DA makes quite a difference with DA content.

Sound quality – Pass

It has no mid-bass, slow-building mid and almost no treble. Perfect for clear voice but not music.

When used with Dolby Atmos content, the EQ adds some 3D height and width.

Deep Bass 20-40Hz	Nil
Middle Bass 40-100Hz	Starting at 90Hz and building linearly to 500Hz
High Bass 100-200Hz	Building
Low-Mid-200-400Hz	Building
Mid 400-1000Hz	Flattening
High-Mid 1-2kHz	Flat
Low Treble 2-4kHz	Flat
Mid Treble 4-6kHz	Flat
High Treble 6-10kHz	Lineal decline to 15kHz
Dog Whistle 10-20kHz	Off the cliff
Sound Signature type	This is a mid-signature (bass recessed, mid-boosted, treble recessed) for clear voice. It is not easy listening as it lacks bass (low notes are muddy or absent), and the high treble is choppy and harsh.
Soundstage	Definite bias to the bottom impairs left/right separation. DA sound stage is quite wide and has some 3D height.
Comment	The sound signature is average, but it helped with a little high bass. Use headphones

Build – Pass+

The Edge series has a curved screen, almost no bezel, and a thin profile. It feels great in hand, and the vegan leather finish is grippy. With its OS and Patch policy, this is a keeper.

Size (H X W X D)	161.9 x 73.1 x 7.9mm
Weight grams	174.9
Front glass	Curved Gorilla Glass 5 3D glass with anti-fingerprint coating
Rear material	PMMA or vegan leather
Frame	Plastic metallic appearance and colour-matched
IP rating	68 – Liquid damage not covered under warranty 30 minutes at 1.5m
Colours	Forest Blue (PMMA) Hot Pink (Vegan Suede) Marshmallow Blue (Vegan leather)
Pen, Stylus support	No

In the box
Charger	68W
USB cable	USB-A to USB-C 3W cable
Buds	No
Bumper cover	Yes
Comment	Has charger inbox – excellent

OS – Pass+

It is rare for a $599 device to have a 2+3+4 (Warranty, OS upgrade, and patch policy).

Android	Android 14
Security patch date	1 May 2024
UI	Now Hello UX.
OS upgrade policy	3
Security patch policy	Quarterly for four years
Bloatware	Pure Android – all Google Apps. You can uninstall Facebook.
Other	Google Photos is now the default. This means AI tools such as Magic Editor (10 free uses per month), Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur and more.
Comment	My UX seems to have gone but the functionality lives on. Moto Apps now manages most Moto features and enables simple updates. Family Space, Games, Moto Connect, Moto Secure, Moto Unplugged, Moto Ready For. Display: Peek Display, Attentive Display Gestures: Quick capture, Fast flashlight, Three-finger screenshot, Lift to unlock, Flip for DND, Pick up to silence, Swipe to split
Security
Fingerprint sensor location, type	Optical under glass
Face ID	Yes, 2D only
Other	Lenovo ThinkShield is more for enterprise use.
Comment	Moto Secure – Manage network security, control app permissions, and even create a secret folder for your most sensitive data. Website

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion rear camera – Pass+

Before you get excited about the Sony LYTIA sensor, remember it is just a new marketing name that will replace the IMX model numbers. It does not imbue it with special powers! However, Motorola was the first to use this sensor, and the results were pretty good. It takes class-leading day, office, and night light shots.

It is a dual sensor: Wide 50 (binned to 12.6MP) +13MP Ultra-wide and macro. Most of your work will be done with the wide sensor. The 13MP has Autofocus and makes macro shots easy.

Interestingly, the camera app is a Motorola one, but it still uses Google Photos as the repository. The app works, but it is laggy and needs refinement.

It has a choice of Natural colours (as per the screen preview) or Enhance for higher colour saturation.

We do not extensively test video, which has a maximum of 4K@30fps. As per most smartphones, 1080p@30fps gives you OIS and EIS for very good video.

We will let the test photos tell the story.

1X and a superb shot with natural colours, terrific HDR details and good foreground and bancground focus.

Ultra-wide sensor and apart from a minor colour change it is an excellent shot.

2X and great foreground and background focus, good detail and HDR.

4X and just starting to see noise in the background. Still very good.

Macro is excellent and AF gets over that critical fixed focus issue.

Office Light. The dog has excellent black face/ears and the Sudoku bnook is nicely red. If anything a slight oversaturation.

<40 lumens and this is a perfect shot without Night mode.

Night mode brightens it slightly and adds some missing details.

Rear Primary	Primary
MP	50MP bins to 12.6MP
Sensor	Sony IMX896 (no database entry). It may be under Sony LYTIA LYT-700C. 1/1.5″
Focus	All pixel focus
f-stop	1.8
um	1 bins to 2
FOV° (stated, actual)	73 to 85.5
Stabilisation	OIS (and Qualcomm EIS)
Zoom	10X with a 4.2X crop factor
Rear 2	Ultra-wide and Macro
MP	13MP
Sensor	Hynix HI1336
Focus	AF/Fixed Macro from 3-5cm
f-stop	2.2
um	1.12
FOV (stated, actual)	120
Stabilisation	No
Zoom	No
Special	Artificial intelligence: Google Photos Auto Enhance Auto Smile Capture Gesture Capture Google Lens™ integration Shot Optimisation
Video max	4K@30fps
Flash	Single
Auto-HDR	Yes
	Shooting modes: Portrait (24mm/35mm/50mmm), Macro Dual Capture Ultra-Res Night Vision Tilt-Shift Pro Scan Spot Colour Panorama Super Resolution Zoom Burst Shot Timer Assistive Grid Leveller Metering Mode Watermark Live Filters Selfie Stick Support RAW Photo Output QR/Barcode Scanner
QR code reader	Via Google Lens
Night mode	AI

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Selfie

Front	Selfie
MP	32MP bins to 8.1MP
Sensor	Samsung S5KJD1
Focus	Fixed
f-stop	2.4
um	.7 bins to 1.4
FOV (stated, actual)	70 to 82.4°
Stabilisation	EIS
Flash	Screen fill
Zoom	No – crop factor 7.5
Video max	4K@30fps
Features	Shooting modes: Dual Capture Timelapse (w/ Hyperlapse) Spot Colour Other features: Video Stabilisation Video Snapshot Selfie Video Mirror Selfie Stick Support External Microphone Support Face Retouch Shooting modes: Dual Capture Timelapse (w/ Hyperlapse) Spot Colour Other features: Video Stabilisation Video Snapshot Selfie Video Mirror Selfie Stick Support External Microphone Support Face Retouch
Comment	Excellent skin tones.

CyberShack’s view – The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion is the <$600 class leader

It punches well above its weight, and we are hard-pressed to find a Qualcomm SoC, 12GB/256GB, excellent phone reception, IP68, etc., even for $200 more.

It is a lovely-looking phone, well made, with a premium finish. It has a terrific warranty/OS/security policy and is generally great.

We can see where dollars have been shaved – the S-series processor, SDR screen, Wi-Fi 5, LPDDR4 RAM, UFS 2.2 storage, etc., but at $599, no one will care.

It gets our top buy recommendation for this class.

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Ratings

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Ratings	70+ is a Pass Mark
Features	75
	It uses a Qualcomm value ‘S’ processor (limited AI photo processing), an SDR screen (albeit a good pOLED one), LPDDR4 memory, and a dual-sensor camera system (the primary sensor does 90% of the work).
Value	85
	It is good value for a Qualcomm processor, 12/256GB RAM/Storage, a better-than-average camera for its class, IP68, and a nice design.
Performance	75
	The SD7S Gen 2 has sufficient performance for common tasks. Geekbench and XOps show it’s more like an SD6 series, and the Adreno 710 GPU is relatively slow.
Ease of Use	80
	The two-year warranty is excellent. We have not received confirmation of the OS upgrade and security patch policy.
Design	80
	It has a nice design, although some do not like the curved edge. Motorola consistently makes good-looking phones.
Rating out of 10	79
Final comment	Motorola has done it again with its Motorola Edge 50 Fusion – a $599 class leader with Edge 50 series benefits. It is worth the step up from the $449 Moto G84.