Motorola Edge 70 Review: Slim design first, everything else follows

The Motorola Edge 70 arrives at a moment when smartphone brands seem fixated on a single idea: making phones thinner. Lighter builds, slimmer profiles and designs that feel impressive the instant you hold them have become the new talking points. Motorola’s approach, however, feels slightly more considered. Rather than chasing headline-grabbing specifications, the Edge 70 places a clear emphasis on how a phone feels in everyday use. Priced at Rs 29,999, the Edge 70 is being marketed as a device that prioritises comfort, balance and a premium in-hand experience before anything else. Motorola then attempts to reinforce that promise with a sharp display, dependable cameras and its familiar, clean software experience.

That also means the Edge 70 is not trying to be the most powerful option in its segment. Instead, Motorola is betting on refinement over raw performance. The bigger question, though, is whether this focus on thinness and usability actually holds up once the novelty wears off and the phone becomes part of daily life.

Here’s my full review of the Motorola Edge 70.

Motorola Edge 70: Design

If there is one reason the Motorola Edge 70 immediately makes sense, it is the design. The moment you pick it up, the reaction is hard to miss. I showed it to a few people in the office, and the response was identical: this phone feels exceptionally thin.

Weighing just 159 grams, the Edge 70 is lighter than most phones in this price segment, and the slim profile makes it almost effortless to use. It is the kind of device you quickly forget is in your pocket, which is perhaps the highest compliment you can give to a modern smartphone.

Motorola has gone with an aluminium frame finished in brushed metal, which instantly adds a premium touch. The back panel uses vegan leather, and it does more than just look good. It improves grip, resists fingerprints, and gives the phone a soft yet secure feel in the hand.

The unit I tested is finished in Pantone Gadget Grey. It looks clean and understated, with subtle blue accents around the camera rings that add just enough visual interest. Motorola also offers Pantone Lily Pad and Pantone Bronze Green for those who prefer something a little more expressive.

The Edge 70’s camera module is squarish, which may not be to everyone’s taste, but it feels deliberate and well executed. Button placement is sensible too. The power and volume keys sit on the right, while a dedicated Moto AI key is placed on the left, and all the buttons feel reassuringly tactile.

Despite its slim body, Motorola has not cut corners on durability. You get Gorilla Glass 7i protection on the front, along with IP68 and IP69 dust and water resistance, along with a MIL-STD-810H certification. For a phone this thin, that combination is genuinely impressive.

The Motorola Edge 70 comes with dual stereo speakers that get loud enough, although the sound quality itself is fairly average. The in-display optical fingerprint scanner is fast and reliable, even if its placement feels a touch on the lower side of the screen.

Motorola Edge 70: Display

The display is another clear strength of the Motorola Edge 70. The company has equipped the phone with a 6.7-inch 1.5K panel paired with a 120Hz refresh rate, and it stands out as one of the most compelling aspects of the device.

Motorola claims a peak brightness of 4,500 nits. In real-world testing, the display reached around 2,580 nits, which is more than sufficient for outdoor visibility. Even under harsh sunlight, the screen remained easy to read, with no practical issues during daily use.

HDR10+ support is present, although Netflix HDR playback is currently disabled within the app. This appears to be a software-side limitation and could be addressed through a future update.

The panel covers 100% of the colour gamut, making it well-suited for media consumption. It is sharp and vibrant without looking oversaturated, and overall, it is a display that consistently looks excellent, whether you are watching videos, browsing, or reading text.

Motorola Edge 70: Camera

Motorola has taken a fairly straightforward approach to the cameras on the Edge 70. You get a dual rear camera setup, headlined by a 50 MP primary sensor and a 50 MP ultra-wide camera. Both sensors are Pantone certified and are supported by a 3-in-1 ambient light sensor, which helps the phone make more accurate decisions around exposure and colour.

In good lighting, the main camera delivers genuinely pleasing results. Images look natural, with well-preserved textures and colours that stay close to what your eyes see. Motorola has clearly avoided aggressive processing here. Dynamic range is handled well too, keeping highlights under control while still retaining detail in darker areas of the frame.

Portrait mode is another area where the Edge 70 performs reliably. Skin tones look accurate, facial details are clean, and the background blur feels natural rather than artificially cut out. Edge detection is consistent, which is not something you can always take for granted in this price segment.

Low-light performance is solid rather than spectacular, but it is dependable. Even without Night Mode enabled, photos retain a fair amount of detail and usable exposure. Turning on Night Mode does bring visible improvements, with brighter images and better noise control, without pushing colours too far.

The 50MP ultra-wide camera holds up well in daylight, capturing sharp and detailed shots with minimal distortion around the edges. It fits nicely with the main camera in terms of colour tuning, which helps maintain a consistent look across lenses.

On the video side, the Edge 70 supports recording up to 4K at 60fps. Colours in video footage look accurate and well-balanced, but stabilisation is not its strongest suit. While standing still, the results are fine, but the footage can appear rather shaky when you are walking or moving.

Around the front, Motorola has opted for a 50 MP selfie camera. It captures natural-looking skin tones and sensible detail, and thankfully avoids the heavy skin smoothening that still plagues many phones in this category.

Motorola Edge 70: Performance and software

The Motorola Edge 70 is powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip, paired with 8 GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage. There is only one variant on offer, which keeps things simple. This is not a flagship chipset, and Motorola is not positioning it as one. Instead, the focus is clearly on delivering stable, dependable performance within a slim and lightweight design.

In everyday use, the phone feels consistently smooth. App launches are quick, scrolling remains fluid, and multitasking does not introduce noticeable slowdowns. The overall experience feels well-balanced, which matters more than raw benchmark numbers in daily use.

Gaming performance is better than you might expect from a device this thin. In real-world testing, BGMI runs at up to 120fps, while Call of Duty: Mobile is playable at up to 90fps with minimal frame drops. Thermal management is handled well too, with the phone staying reasonably cool even during extended gaming sessions.

Benchmark results back up this real-world performance. The Edge 70 scored about 1.4 million on Antutu. In Geekbench 6, the phone recorded 1,334 in single-core and 4,248 in multi-core performance. CPU throttling stability stands at 88%, while the device scores 7,633 on 3DMark Stress Test. These are respectable numbers for a phone in this segment and align well with how the phone performs in daily use.

On the software side, the Edge 70 ships with Android 16 out of the box, running Motorola’s Hello UI. The experience remains clean, minimal and very close to stock Android, which continues to be one of Motorola’s biggest strengths. There is very little clutter, and everything feels intuitive and easy to navigate.

Motorola promises three years of Android updates and four years of security patches. While this is solid for the price, it is not class-leading, especially when compared to some rivals offering longer support.

There is a dedicated Moto AI key on the left side of the phone. Pressing and holding the key launches Motorola’s AI features, which can be used to ask questions, take notes or access quick tools, while a double press brings up updates. Beyond that, you also get familiar Motorola additions such as Smart Connect 2.0, Moto Secure and Family Spaces, all of which add useful functionality without cluttering the overall software experience.

Motorola Edge 70: Battery

The Motorola Edge 70 features a 5,000mAh battery, which is particularly impressive given its remarkably thin 5.9mm profile. In PC Mark battery life test, the phone delivered an impressive 17.5 hours of screen-on time, and in real-world usage too, it comfortably lasted a full day with moderate use, without any need to reach for the charger early.

Charging is another strong point. The Edge 70 supports 68W Turbo Charging, taking the battery from 0 to 100% in about 50 minutes. Motorola also includes a 68W Type-C to Type-C charger in the box, complete with PD 3.0 support, which is increasingly rare at this price point and adds to the overall value of the package.

Motorola Edge 70: Should you buy it?

If battery endurance is your absolute top priority and you want a phone that lasts two full days on a single charge, there are devices with 6,000mAh or even 7,000mAh batteries that will suit you better. However, the Motorola Edge 70 makes a conscious trade-off. It prioritises thinness and comfort over maximum endurance. And considering how slim it is, delivering all-day battery life is no small achievement.

Long story short, if you want a beautifully designed phone that feels light in the hand, offers an excellent display, has reliable cameras, and performs smoothly in daily use, the Motorola Edge 70 makes a strong case for itself at Rs 29,999.

As mentioned, if your priority is maximum battery life above all else, there are better options out there. But if you value design, comfort, and a clean, polished user experience, the Motorola Edge 70 succeeds at exactly what it set out to do.