Durable and expressive

Review: Motorola Edge 70 - Thin and durable with few compromises

A truly thin phone that, despite this, does not compromise too much on other aspects.

Published 9 December 2025 - 16:43

A large battery, durable design, and perhaps above all, a selection of colours and material choices that stand out. That is somewhat of Motorola's hallmark.

Going beyond the norm and daring to invest in more personal materials and colour options has been a successful concept for Motorola. Therefore, the focus on an extra thin mobile is entirely in the manufacturer's style. The reason for making a thin mobile is primarily the feel and the aesthetic expression.

Review: Motorola Edge 70 - Thin and durable with few compromises

The obvious disadvantage of thin phones is and has been that they can force compromises. Consumers probably ask most for good cameras and longer battery life, and precisely that is what thin phones have been worst at. New technical solutions on the battery front have, however, enabled the latest thin mobiles, and the Edge 70 is the phone among these that has the largest battery.

More stylish than smart

Thin phones generally, or the Edge 70 in particular, do not offer any direct practical advantages, but it is more about contributing to the experience and especially the aesthetics, and with Motorola focusing a lot on experience, materials, and colours, they as a manufacturer may very well be the right place for such a thin phone.

Thin as it may be, this phone is both durable and has the integrated features we have become accustomed to with Motorola. When I let the phone bathe in a puddle and then wash it off in the sink to test its water resistance, I shake it to remove the water. Then the light on the phone turns on, reminding me of Motorola's gesture control. Chop in the air with the phone to start the flashlight and shake it to start the camera. Shake once more to switch from the rear to the selfie camera.

A bit trimmed

The cameras are perhaps the most obvious area where you have to compromise on quality to prioritise a thin design. Overall, the cameras provide good pictures. There are two cameras on the back, a wide-angle and a main camera, but no telephoto camera with optical zoom. You will have to do without that. The wide-angle camera at least has a macro mode so you can take nice close-ups.

Messy system

The software in Motorola's Edge 70 is not always the most well-thought-out or helpful. Basically, the system is quite clean, but it comes with a whole bunch of unwanted apps that you cannot opt out of. Temu and Booking.com, for example, and a couple of simple games. At least they are easy to uninstall. Motorola also likes to recommend even more, and in the app list, with a swipe to the right, you also get a news feed as standard. But it is not available in Swedish and mostly seems to be a way for Motorola to get advertising revenue.

In the app list, I can note that Motorola relies heavily on Google's apps, the image viewer is for example Google Photos, and historically Motorola has often started from Google's apps and then developed its own additional features instead of replacing something from scratch or creating unnecessary duplicates of apps.

Unfortunately, I encounter a lot of incorrect and sloppy translations in the system, which can lead to misunderstandings. Moto AI, for example, says it will text me, but when I click further, I realise after a while that it means I will receive information in text form when I look at the screen and in voice form when I am not looking at the screen. In the instructions for Moto AI, I am also encouraged to say “Catch me”, an incorrect translation of the phrase “Catch me up” which is supposed to summarise app notifications and in the introduction to Moto AI, this means I end up in a loop where nothing works. Motorola's AI strategy is to engage a number of different partners, so Meta, Perplexity, Microsoft and Google coexist. This can make it a bit confusing.

Motorola's basic AI functions include the ability to remember and summarise things like meeting recordings and other things, summarise app notifications and answer questions. The latter is handled by Copilot Live and most functions are very limited and mix Swedish and English. When it, for example, summarises app notifications, it does so in English even if the notification is in Swedish and it removes important information, so if someone asks me if I want to eat pizza or fish for lunch, the summary only says that someone is asking me about lunch options. Which means I get more out of looking directly at my notifications than at the AI-generated summary, because it often also misunderstands some parts. There are also only a few apps whose notifications are supported, so the majority of my notifications it cannot summarise and completely ignores. Swedish language support is officially lacking, but it can often understand Swedish but not provide Swedish responses, so it often ends up being in English.

A phone with personality

The strengths of the Motorola Edge 70 phone are therefore not AI, but format, appearance, and battery. The screen is also good. It is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i and is sharp and bright. However, it unfortunately lacks an always-on display, so I have to pick up or press the phone to see if I have received any new notifications or what the time is, for example.

Questions and answers

What is included?

The package includes a transparent magnetic case that helps keep the phone in place on a wireless charger. Of course, the case is transparent so you can still show off the phone's appearance.

What appearance options are available?

The phone I am testing is in the colour Bronze Green, a green matte, rubbery back where the rings around the camera have a more yellow-greenish tone. There is also another green with orange accent colour on the camera lenses and a grey variant with blue camera colour.

How fast does it charge?

Battery capacity is often something manufacturers are forced to reduce in thin mobiles, but the Edge 70 has 4800 mAh and fast charging at 68 W. Wireless charging is slower at 15 W.

An alternative

We certainly know which other thin ones there are, Iphone Air and Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, but it is more relevant to look at what you can get with the same features in terms of camera, performance and so on but with a few extra millimetres in thickness. Then Oneplus Nord 5, Samsung Galaxy A36 or Motorola's own Edge 60 neo are reasonable and they cost about half of what the Edge 70 costs. So you pay a lot for the thinness.

Camera example

A good basic camera without any extras, but also without major weaknesses.

Review: Oneplus 15 - Magnificent

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