Portable Motorola Edge 40 Neo Mini-Review

As @Arboreal and @bawjaws asked, here are Thoughts about the Motorola Edge 40 Neo - written as I'm unboxing the thing and setting it up, so forgive the stream-of-consciousness approach.

First: there's a lot of eco-cred here, all of which is ruined by the fact it's... y'know, a smartphone, full of mined minerals and nasty chemicals and stuff. The packaging is plastic-free and printed with soy ink, the carbon is "offset," the rear is decorated in vegan leather, and it's bundled with a bio-plastic plant-based case from something called "agood company." Which would have been nice to know before I ordered my own case for the thing.

As well as the phone and case you get a pokey-stick for SIM tray removal, USB C-to-C cable, and a 68W rapid charger. Which is good, considering this thing's priced at the bottom end of the market for specs. Little reference sheet, bright-red pamphlet about the case, another pamphlet about the carbon offset.

Size-wise, it's the same height as the Nokia 7.2 it replaces but a bit narrower. Thinner and lighter, too, but that comes at a cost: there's no 3.5mm jack, just USB Type-C. Sad times.

Also, and I'm kicking myself for not realising this sooner, no microSD Card slot. Just one nano-SIM, no dual-SIM either. I've always put microSDs in my phones, since it was an option. I was planning to shove the one from the Nokia, which has dual SIM slots and a dedicated microSD slot, in this, but I guess it's not happening. At least it's got 256GB internal storage!

Setup is your standard Android affair, nothing noteworthy there: have your new and old devices on, shove 'em together, watch as Google could transfer the applications directly from one to the other but doesn't and instead canes your battery downloading and installing them from Google Play instead. Oh, and it prompts to open the file manager when you connect 'em - you just ignore that and wait for it to realise what you're doing.

Little annoying to poke the keyboard when it's sat flat on a desk, 'cos the camera bump sticks out on one side - so it's rocking back and forth as you're typing. Less of a problem on the Nokia 'cos the bump was dead centre horizontally. Not a problem for handheld use, 'course.

pOLED display on the Motorola has better viewing angles than the LCD (I assume) on the Nokia. Warmer colour temperature, too, though I'm assuming that's adjustable once I'm past the setup stage. I think there's supposed to be stereo speakers on the thing, too, but if there's one on the top it's behind a TINY pin-prick hole in the case.

We're at the actually-copying-stuff stage of the setup process now, and it looks like it arrives with 189GB free. That's... woof, a *lot* of the 256GB vanished by default. Should still be plenty for my needs, the Nokia only had 64GB, but still. Ouch.

Dunno what ^ that was about, 'cos I've installed all my stuff and it says I've got 221GB free now.

Woo, I can actually choose DuckDuckGo as my default search engine! Couldn't do that in Android 11 on the Nokia - so I had a useless Google search bar at the bottom of every home screen and my actual search bar at the top of my main one.

Through-screen fingerprint sensor's like proper magic. Never used one of those before. Really responsive, going by how quickly it was picking things up during finger registration: you poke the part of the screen with the icon on it and a bright light shines through. Amaze.

Some bloatware: ignoring the standard Google stuff, Motorola's added: Opera, TikTok(!), LinkedIn, Booking.com, and Weather. I'll bin those off once setup's finished. Got about two minutes left on the data transfer now... Oh, and it looks like you can use the Motorola to charge stuff - at least, the Nokia's stealing juice from it!

No, Motorola, I would not like to "join millions of Motorola fans" in receiving marketing notifications.

Nor would I like to give you my email.

Display refresh rate is up to 144Hz... but only if you *lock* it on 144Hz. By default, it's on "Auto" - which only dynamically adjusts it up to 120Hz. Which is... fine, I don't need 144Hz. You can also lock it to 120Hz or 60Hz.

Oh, good, you can uninstall the bloatware apps, you don't have to just disable 'em. Oh, but it's adding more even as I'm removing the ones setup warned me about: Temu, "Dice Dreams" whatever the hell that is, Facebook, Royal Match just appeared... c'mon, Motorola, I know you have to subsidise the cost of the hardware somehow, but I'd happily pay an extra fifty quid or so for you not to do this.

"We personalised your device with a few selected apps," a notification from "MotoApps" says. Yeah, well, don't. Chuffer.

Christ, there are SO MANY services which don't store their credentials in the proper Android place so you have to log in to 'em all manually. This is taking absolutely forever. Bah.

Still not done. Guh.

Christ, more bloatware. Logged in to Xbox Gamepass and "Moto Gametime" popped up. "Gametime brings your games together with rich content from the gaming community." NOPE. Thankfully you can disable it in the "Moto" app.

Okay, I think we're getting somewhere. Now to install all the apps from F-Droid that don't get automatically copied across...

Phone's down to 14% battery, but that's no real indicator of lifespan - it's been working hard this afternoon!

Right, I need to crack on with paid work now. Camera tests will have to wait for later. So far, though, I'm pretty pleased: it's good hardware. The bloatware can do one, but the hardware's nice.

EDIT:
Doesn't look like it's got the December 2023 security update yet - it's on November and says it's the latest. Bit slack, that, but hopefully it'll pop up at some point.

 

Yeah, it seems really responsive. Even works from off screen-off - just mash yer digit where you remember the sensor being and the phone turns on and unlocks. Neat!

Oh, and there's a trick to using the behind-screen sensors: register your thumb as well as your finger, then you can unlock it one-handed easily!

 

It does not, to the best of my knowledge.

 

I mean, it's better than having plastic packaging *and* vegan leather, I guess.

Same glass as the Nokia 7.2, and I only broke that a *little* bit. (Didn't even drop it - it was in my trouser pocket during a scramble up some rocks in the Lakes, and I think I bent my leg just far enough to snap the corner of the screen. I'll pop it in the rucksack next time!)

Yeah, that's a definite cut corner there. Though that said, I can't remember the last time I connected my phone to the PC for anything other than emergency tethering. Though that was back when I could pop the microSD out, of course - can't do that 'ere!

 

Stayed up later than I should watching some Crunchyroll on the thing. Screen is lovely, definitely an upgrade. Things load faster, everything's more responsive. Biggest improvement is Dolby Atmos: it's making my Sony in-ear XM3s sound way better. They've always been anemic unless I enable the equaliser, but if I do it drains their battery in no time (for some reason.) Dolby's doing it all on-phone, so I get more bass and crisper trebles while keeping the battery ticking over. Happy days!

 

First actual failing so far: the Motorola Edge Light... doesn't.

So, this thing has a display that curves at the edges. For some reason that I'm sure is nothing to do with being a gimmick. In order to save 2¢ on the BOM, it doesn't have a notification LED; instead, it lights up the curved edges of the display in what Motorola calls "Edge Light."

Except... it doesn't.

I've tried turning the setting off and back on again, changing the colours, everything: no lights at the edge. No idea why.

 

Nope, and I'm using the case it came with - which leaves the screen edge exposed. Absolutely no light visible anywhere, from the side or the front.