Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Review: An Affordable Edge 50?

Motorola has diversified its Edge 50 series quite a bit this year compared to last year’s Edge 40 series. The company first launched its Edge 50 Pro (from Rs. 29,999), which was then followed by the launch of the Edge 50 Fusion (Rs. 22,999). Recently, it launched its Edge 50, which, at Rs. 27,999, seems to offer good value as well. Out of the three, the Edge 50 Pro is an easy high-end mid-range recommendation, provided you have the budget to spare. Sitting at the very bottom of the Edge 50 series is the Edge 50 Fusion. It’s not as feature-packed as the other two, so is it still relevant after the launch of the Edge 50? And is it a good pick for those looking to buy their first mid-range smartphone?

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Review Design: Plenty to choose from

• Dimensions – 162mm x 73.1mm x 7.9mm
• Weight – 175g
• Durability – IP68 (dust and water)

The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion is the second phone to be launched in India as part of its mid-range Edge 50 series. The mid-range smartphone was launched alongside the premium Edge 50 Ultra. If there’s one thing that’s common among all smartphones in this series, it’s their designs. While Motorola seems to have taken immense care in giving each phone enough individual attention (by going with different materials and textures), they all appear very similar when lined up.

Our Marshmallow Blue’s unit’s vegan leather back offers plenty of grip

The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion gets the same design treatment as the Edge 50 Pro and the newer Edge 50. There are rounded corners and curved edges with a 3D curved-edge display as well. At 175 grams, it is lighter than the other two as it does not have the wireless charging coil and capability.

However, as mentioned before, it’s available in its own set of finishes. One of these, called Forest Blue, has a basic polycarbonate rear panel. The Hot Pink and Marshmallow Blue finishes come with vegan suede and vegan leather rear panels, respectively.

Whether you place the phone on a table or hold it in your hand while browsing, the vegan leather material (bonded to the rear panel) always ensures a solid grip. I also like how the cameras sit nearly flush with the rest of the rear panel. Motorola also includes a colour-matched, environmentally-friendly translucent case in the box, which can be attached for added protection.

The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion’s cameras don’t protrude as much as on other smartphones, making for a slim overall appearance

One of the finer points about the Edge 50 Fusion’s design is its durability. The phone is IP68-rated for dust and water resistance, so you won’t need to worry about it when taking it to the beach or poolside, as it can withstand submersion in sand and fresh water. What it misses out on is the rugged MIL-STD-810H certification which the Edge 50 gets.

While water damage is not usually covered under warranty, Motorola will provide some coverage provided the phone has not exceeded its IP68 claims (mentioned in its legal warnings), which is limited to immersion in up to 1.5 metres of fresh water for up to 30 minutes.

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Review Display: Could have been better

• Display – 6.67-inch, 1080 x 2400 pixels, 144Hz
• Display type – 3D curved, pOLED
• Display Protection – Corning Gorilla Glass 5

The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion has a 3D curved edge display, which is mainly there for cosmetic reasons as the software does not take advantage of it. It has a slim border all-round that appears slightly thicker at the top and bottom. It gets the job done well in broad daylight with its 1,200 nits of brightness and also comes with Motorola’s Aqua Touch feature that works just fine when used with wet hands. PWM/DC dimming is available even though it’s just 720Hz.

The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion’s curved-edge display gets bright enough to tackle direct sunlight

The display does not have an HDR certification. But it shows a lot of colour banding (or gradients), especially when viewing dimly lit scenes. The phone supports Widevine L1 and, so you can stream movies and shows in full-HD quality.

Its high refresh rate seems a bit unnecessary keeping in mind that its hardware will rarely allow demanding 3D games anywhere near its peak performance (144Hz) and is so mainly used when browsing through the phone’s software interface.

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Review Software: Nothing new to see

• Software – Hello UI
• Version – Android 14
• Latest security patch – 1 May, 2024

Hello UI continues to add more bloatware (native apps) to what still appears to be a very clean and customisable operating system. It’s based on Android 14, but this is not the near-stock operating system we know and loved half a decade ago. You do get two preinstalled apps – Facebook and Netflix and these can be uninstalled if not needed. The native weather app shows a lot of ads, which is a first for a mid-range smartphone.

Motorola seems to be adding quite a bit of bloatware on its phones lately

The phone is not as big on AI-enabled features as the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra we reviewed earlier. And most of these ”AI features” like Magic Eraser, Unblur and Best Take come courtesy of Google’s apps and are not exclusive to Motorola.

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Review Performance: Meets expectations

• Processor – Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2
• RAM – 8/12GB LPDDR4X
• Storage – 128/256GB UFS 2.2

The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion’s processor does a good job of keeping up with daily multi-tasking requirements. Apps also remain in memory, so there are fewer app restarts. There’s virtually no lag or stuttering when interacting with Hello UI, which should be the case given that this is a mid-range smartphone.

Raw performance is as expected and on par with the competition. This is unless you compare it with the Poco X6 Pro which has a high-end MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra processor, aimed at the gaming crowd.

Audio quality, thanks to Dolby Atmos, sounds loud, clear and immersive. This also works well while playing games.

As for the gaming experience, I found the processor to be capable of running titles like Call of Duty: Mobile (CODM) and Asphalt Legends Unite with no problems with default settings. The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion supports a maximum of High graphics and a maximum frame rate in CODM. While playing CODM, the phone does get hot after a short while because it lacks a cooling mechanism (also why it’s so slim and light). It heats up even more when using the camera app. But this heat is mainly felt on the display rather than the rear panel. Still, performance-wise, the phone is quite stable with no noticeable drop even with sustained loads.

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Review Cameras: Needs a lot of work

• Main camera – 50-megapixel (OIS), f/1.9 aperture, AF
• Ultra-wide camera – 13-megapixel, f/2.2 aperture, AF
• Selfie camera – 32-megapixel, f/2.5 aperture, FF

I had big expectations from the primary camera, given that it’s backed by Sony’s newer LYTIA 700C sensor. But the results were far from impressive, given that this is a mid-range device.

The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion has two rear-facing cameras

The primary camera manages decent image quality with photos that appear overprocessed in the HDR department. The backgrounds like clouds, appear exaggerated and absolutely don’t resemble the actual scene. The foreground will either be underexposed or overexposed with super-saturated colours (greens and blues) that almost appear like an Instagram filter. Textures and details on objects and surfaces aren’t the best I’ve seen in this segment. In low light, the dedicated Night mode produced sharper images with better-looking textures.

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion daylight camera samples. Top to bottom: Ultra-wide camera, primary camera, 2X digital zoom (tap images to expand)

The ultra-wide angle camera is worse and has plenty of purple fringing and clipped highlights. Despite packing autofocus, the images don’t appear sharp but soft in general. In low light, photos appeared a bit blurry and soft and were mostly not usable.

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion selfie camera sample

Selfies captured in daylight appear sharp and pack plenty of detail but with reddish and oversaturated skin tones. Edge detection is decent as well. Low-light selfies are just about passable with or without activating the auto-screen flash. I also came across some random situations when shooting in daylight where the selfie camera only processed the bright background, leaving the subject in the dark (like a shadow).

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion low light camera samples. Top: Ultra-wide camera, bottom: primary camera (tap images to expand)

Video recordings at 1080p appear a bit too scaled down with low detail and lack basic clarity apart from the clipped highlights. The 4K video, which can only be captured at 30fps, appeared leagues better (at the cost of more space), but again, with a lot of clipped highlights showcasing the lack of decent dynamic range.

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Review Battery: A bit underwhelming

• Battery capacity – 5,000mAh
• Charging rate – 68W
• Charger in the box – Yes

While 5,000mAh batteries aren’t really a problem, we are beginning to see bigger batteries make it into competing smartphones in this segment. Among these is the OnePlus CE 4, which did a phenomenal job in our battery life test, lasting a whopping 32 hours and 21 minutes. Motorola Edge 50 Fusion fares well, but just not as good, managing 24 hours and 24 minutes.

The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion has a 5,000mAh battery

In daily use, the phone managed to last a day and a half with casual use but required to be plugged in at the end of the day with heavy usage. Charging the phone was fairly quick. The packaged charger managed to fully charge the phone in 46 minutes in normal mode and 36 minutes in the faster Charge boost mode.

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Review Verdict

Motorola may have found a good match of style, durability, hardware and software, but it did not spend much time refining it. This is how we have what appears to be an unfinished product which is evidently visible upon launching the camera app or when watching video. Lacklustre camera performance aside, battery life isn’t as good as some competitors. The same can be said about its raw performance, which is why we won’t see this phone being a hit with the gaming crowd as well.

The Motorola Edge 50 (Rs. 27,999 onwards), on the other hand, goes the extra mile, offering even better durability, wireless charging and a telephoto camera at a slightly higher price tag… on paper. Meanwhile, the OnePlus Nord CE4 (Review), while treading a thin line, managed to cover more bases and blew us away with its battery life. If you have gaming and raw performance on your mind, the Poco X6 Pro (Review) is a much better choice at the same price point. If all you are looking for is an IP68 rating, then Redmi’s Note And this leaves the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion with few takers who value durability and style over substance.