Motorola Edge 70

It often makes sense to compare a new phone down the line with the one it replaces or supersedes in Moto's sequence, but in this case, the Edge 70 looks and feels very different indeed to the Edge 60 which I reviewed here on my blog just short of a year ago now. Released as the X70 Air over in China, this is Moto's shot at the thin-is-in theme, here 5.9mm thin, which a number of OEMs are having a go at. So not so much of an annual evolution of the line as something very different and interesting.

It was released in October 2025 with an RRP in the UK of £699 (though at time of writing, that does come bundled with the fabulous Moto Watch Fit, Moto Buds Loop, a 68W Moto TurboCharger and even a Moto Tag - or £499 without the bundle). When you first take it out of the box it's strikingly thin! Which is the main USP here of course - beautifully sleek. Or as Moto say, "impossibly thin" - and strong too, made with "aircraft-grade aluminium" - light too at 159g, it's remarkably featherlight to hold and carry. Doesn't sound like it's going to break anytime soon and with IP68/IP69 alongside MIL-STD-810H certification, the Gorilla Glass 7i on the front makes for a reassuring package over the previous generation. Even if it is wafer thin!

Being wafer thin is maybe one reason why Moto has switched back to the no-edge Edge! Yes, it's a flat screen. And yes, maybe technically that was unavoidable but I really do think that the (slightly) 'edged' screen of my Signature (and other models, even down to the G86 which I reviewed here too) is classy and the quad-curve makes for lovely swipes from the edges, especially the bottom. Of course, you need a properly cut-out case to be able to make the most of that. But back to flat here, like the dinky Edge 60 Neo and Edge 50 Neo which I also reviewed here - so yes, maybe a size constraint with more room to move on bigger/thicker phones.

The thinnest other phone I have here in stock, I think, is the opened-up Motorola Razr 60 Ultra, though it's still 7.2mm 'fat' compared to the 5.9mm here on the Edge 70. But it's probably the closest I have for a comparison (now that the Motorola Z from 2016 with 5.2mm is long gone)! Anyway, before we get stuck in, let's do the obligatory unboxing! A slim white box with a SIM Tray Tool, USB-C to USB-C cable, papers and the same style hard plastic case with a Qi2 ring-magnet on the back as the Signature had for anyone who has any of those accessories to make use of it. It's a really nice case with cutouts all round rather than horrible button-covering soft plastic, but, like with the Signature's, it's very slippery. Also akin to the Signature's - once you get it on, you need a blowtorch to get it off again! Very firmly in place.

I'm not the first reviewer to have been loaned this Moto, so I'm not sure how many hands it's been through - but I can just about still detect the perfume smell in the box and on the device! This one is the Gadget Grey version and the back of the phone is kind of nylon-ish silicone. It's not 'cloth/fabric' like the Signature. I think I drew the short straw here with what seems to be the most boring, conservative colour as opposed to the other options, Lily Pad (light green), Bronze Green and Cloud Dancer, which sound much more Bohemian! Cloud Dancer seems to be the Special Edition one which has a creamy, textured cushion-like back with 14 inlaid Swarovski crystals and a silver logo! Fashion, eh!

So that's it for the unboxing and now to the device itself. I realise that it is technically 1mm thinner than my Signature, but it somehow doesn't really seem so in the hand (when both cased). I guess that if I didn't have a Signature here but rather another ordinary-sized 6.7" phone, it certainly would feel slim. It's certainly light at 159g and 159.9mm tall, 74mm wide and that 5.99mm thin. On the back, at the point of the camera island, it certainly isn't 5.9mm, so that figure relates to the rest of the device, obviously. The camera island carries the usual Moto design language these days with 4 circles looking symmetrical within that raised platform off to the top-left (in portrait) with shimmering blue classy-looking accents. There's a Moto 'M' logo in the middle of the back as branding and a Pantone badge bottom-centre depicting their colour, thus continuing the partnership.

The back of the phone slopes slightly into the chamfered (on both sides) aluminium frame around the phone, which has antenna cutouts and microphones around it and a kind of 'brushed' look (though not feel) to it. On the left we have the MotoAI button (which I'll come to), quite high up on the side and it matches the lenses on the back with that shimmering blue accent, which is very attractive (to offset this boring grey)! Up the top we have the Dolby Atmos branding, on the right a volume rocker and power button (but not accented in blue) and at the bottom, a SIM Card Tray with pokey-hole, centralised USB-C port and the 'right' speaker of the stereo pair, thus bottom-firing. The front is flat with a centralised Selfie camera up-top, just below the other speaker, the 'left', which is clearly front-firing and shared with the phone earpiece. In terms of ingress and robustness, like the Signature, the phone is rated IP68, IP69 and has the MIL-STD-810H certification. The front glass is also more robust than previous models, now Gorilla Glass 7i.

I think that I'm coming to like the wireless restore rather than cable these days. Good example here, using my Signature for the switch, the battery had been left all-but dead by the last reviewer (thank you team MOTOvator!) - whilst the wireless restore is going on I can be charging the battery as well. Yes, I know, it could be done with a cable and Qi Charging on a pad, but this seems better - and certainly faster - but we'll come to the battery stuff later. Talking of the Signature again, my primary phone and serious Moto flagship, it's going to be impossible not to compare this with that as, unlike the logical Edge 60 'upgrade' route, these two are wielding the same software throughput, coming in the same 'generation' - the Signature being, in all-but name, the Edge 70 Ultra - so big brother of this Edge 70.

The usual plethora of bloatware is present, sadly, on boot-up afresh, but thankfully all of these 'additions' can be uninstalled by those who don't want to use them or use other apps to do those jobs. Adobe Scan AI PDF Scanner - OCR, Opera Browser with VPN, TikTok, Booking dot com, Perplexity (though to be fair this is a part of the Moto suite these days with MotoAI so probably best not to uninstall it), Microsoft Copilot (ditto), Amazon Music (ditto), LinkedIn, Fitbit, Facebook, Instagram and a folder full of Games (which can be disabled so you don't have to see/use them if you don't want to). I guess that some will be interested in having these onboard, especially if they have accounts for them anyway, but I still think users should have the choice - and for a £699 phone, I don't think that the financial bung Moto get for this is justified. A £250 phone, yes, OK, but not in this bracket.

Android 16 is present out of the box and Motorola are promising 4 OS updates (so to Android 20) and Security Updates to October 2031 (so 5 years from release). This unit has 512GB storage and 12GB RAM (with the silly extender on top), which is just great, with UFS 3.1. The baseline model in some markets can be snagged with 256GB storage and 8 or 12GB RAM but I don't see that as an option here in the UK. There's no microSD Card support of course, but with these amounts of storage, I'd argue that 99% of users really won't need it. The international model here has a single nanoSIM slot on the tray and there is support for eSIM.

The 6.7" P-OLED flat screen is as lovely to look at, like most Moto phones these days. This one is 1220 x 2712, 20:9 aspect ratio and returns a ppi of 446, so good and sharp for those counting pixels (at least with human eyes)! It's bright, peaking out at 4,500 nits in auto mode and the right conditions and refreshes at 120Hz, so nice and smooth. We'll come to software later but while we're talking about the screen I must add my disappointment that there's no Always on Display here. Moto can do it - the ones on my Signature, Edge Neo phones, Razr phones are just perfect. (And it's possible to include it, as we know, even with LCD panels.) But they seem to shy away beyond these models. The LTPO is absent as a tick-box for the screen specs, so I can only guess that they are frightened of users complaining about battery drain. Maybe, in this case, with some justification, as it's not a huge one to fit into the slim chassis. But we'll come to battery later.

Not having an Always on Display drives me nuts, personally, and rules a phone out for me - but maybe you're a more balanced human being! For those like me out there, I do usually recommend some AoD Apps in the Play Store that I have tried with varying levels of features and success. AOA by newGen Mobile, AOD Flow by Androxus, XPath by aodlink.com and Peek AOD by Dubiaz are some usually on my shortlist, so check them out. Most have an acceptable hit on battery life and a good-enough feature set for free (or a time-trial) before deciding whether to risk the cost of a supportive coffee for the developers pluggin' away! Go on - support them!

Moto have moved away from MediaTek this year and used a SnapDragon 7 Gen 4 (4nm) over the Edge 60's Dimensity 7300/400 (4 nm) depending on market. Neither reach the heights of the Signature's SnapDragon 8 Gen 5 but this is understandable I guess, given the price difference. The SnapDragon 7 Gen 4 is no slouch and is used in plenty of phones, especially from the likes of Xiaomi and the BBK Group - and even the just-announced Honor 600 range. It feels perfectly fine in terms of horsepower to me but yes, when directly comparing it on a test bench, against the Signature (and higher) one can see the slight difference in speed if you pick the right activities.

Further, I've tested the phone using my favourite Car Racing game (I'm no gamer but other reviewers tend to use Asphalt 9, so I follow suit) and I can see no juddering, buffering or anything of the like during gameplay. Seems perfectly smooth to me in fact. And updating a bunch of apps from the Play Store, copying loads of files with a cable into the USB-C port from my PC - it all works perfectly well, but, as usual, I'm probably not the most demanding of users and those pushing boundaries and limits might find some holes, as they might in pretty much any phone when driving to extremes, I'd guess!

My main concern was probably the battery at 4,800mAh, as I say, slimmed down for this body. Unlike last year's Edge 60 (5,200/5,500) it is a Silicon-Carbon battery, so I was interested to see how it competes, especially against the Signature's 5,200mAh Si-C as well. What it does do, much like last year's model, is charge at 68W with a Moto TurboPower charger and cable. Even with my generic UGreen 100W GaN charger and cable it doesn't do badly. But technically it should charge from flat to full in about 45 minutes (with the right gear). I find that even with a half-hour charge it's almost there, even without - so yes, very good and reliable. There's Qi Charging at 15W which is great for overnight trickling. Slow as it might be, so much better to have than to not! And then, for those who want to dabble with magnets and have some supporting gear, there's that case included with a 'ring' built into it. Unlike big brother Signature there's no reverse charging at all (but to be fair I'm not sure that I've ever used that outside of testing - I probably have the wrong lifestyle)! By the way, the Signature can charge at 90W so does leapfrog the Edge 70.

So now it's down to performance of said battery. It's clear that the standby time, screen-off, SIM Card in, connected to WiFi, is very good - as I reluctantly perhaps accept that the AoD might have taken a hit (though it certainly doesn't with, for example, the Edge 60 Neo)! Stretching the phone to its limits of all-day, average use (for me), I can get to a day and a half. All subjective of course, depending what you're using it for and how much you use it. Which is why I try to report on my 'average daily use'. But against other phones (with AoD on) it does do pretty well in fact, perhaps surprising given the slightly smaller battery, no doubt helped by the Si-C. Turning to my 10% Reading Test, screen-on, reading news, feeds, social media, but no video or music rolling, nor camera-use, it's good for over 2 hours, which is good-enough. Again, against other devices over the years I can form my own yardstick here. I test this between 100% and 90% and 50% and 40%. It's not up there with the 3-hour+ Moto 'Power' dubbed devices, but still much better than many I've tested. So yes, overall, I'm surprised and impressed at how well the battery performs, given the thin size. All of these figures are spookily similar to the Signature's, by the way - with its bigger screen, more power, leveling things out.

In terms of security and connectivity, there is an optical under-screen fingerprint scanner. This works well-enough in testing here and setup is fast and painless. It's not an UltraSonic like the Signature's (and there is a slight difference) but, yes, good-enough. Face Unlock is quick to set up and works flawlessly in my tests here. Coupled-up with lift-to-wake, a fingerprint is barely needed anyway. I've not been able to test 5G here (for various reasons about my situation) but I can report that it works well on 4G, fast and good connections for voice and data over cellular and VoIP also works, remember, over 4G as well! We have WiFi 6e which I have tested with 3 networks and can't fault it for connection, pick-up, hanging on and decent speeds. GPS seems to do the job nicely with various apps which rely on it. Locks on fast enough and holds on well. I've not been able to test NFC for Google Wallet payments but can report that it works fine and well connecting to other pieces of gear similarly capable and the range, connection and consistency seems to work very nicely with Bluetooth v5.4 here, tested with various headphones, earphones and other equipment.

I have written about Smart Connect before (and Ready For before it) and working with a PC this is where Moto leapfrogged Samsung's DeX by continuing to support Windows software. Install Smart Connect on Windows and you have a full Desktop computing environment driven by your phone. Now, one could argue that if you've got Windows in front of you and universal tools like Motorola's Phone Link, Google's Messages for Web and Quick Share, why do you need the Windows software (in terms of productivity and functionality). And this may have been the point that Samsung got to as they claimed few people were using their Windows software. But I like Smart Connect! Long may it live, I say! Inside this, we have a Messages portal, a Screen Share (whether Mirror or separate instance), using the phone as a webcam for webinars or whatever instead of the likely rubbish one in a laptop, creating a complete Mobile Desktop able to hijack the mouse and keyboard, using the phone as a Hotspot for getting connected, file management on the phone with hot-drag-drop, Cross Control to use other devices around the periphery of the PC with free-flowing mouse and keyboard hot-swapping between devices (like Second Screen for Windows), an echo of the photos on the phone, notifications, even app streaming - so run an app on the phone but control it on the PC - and loads more! It's a veritable playground of opportunity and I love it!

The stereo speakers. As I said earlier, the 'right' speaker is bottom-firing and 'left' uses the earpiece, so is front-firing. The software does a smart-enough job working that out and adjusting the output and soundstage to compensate but when comparing with the Signature's truly top-and-bottom-firing setup, there is a difference. The Signature just seems to be able to throw the sound out physically as well, making for a more immersive stereo experience. But I'm nit-picking now as this Edge 70 also sounds great in many ways.

The speakers are certainly loud-enough for most uses, though in terms of quality, bass, richness, they sit happier at about 80% volume. For those who want to push the limits however, there is the built-in Dolby Atmos to tinker with. As usual, when you do so, the payoff is usually a bit of volume loss - so the trick is to use that extra 20% volume at the top-end of the range to make things sound a little better, less trebly and thereby at 100% getting a better quality sound than it was at 80% volume, if you follow! The Signature's speakers' output is better in all these ways, but for most people, for most uses, the Edge 70 will be fine. And let's face it, none of these phones are going to please a real audiophile - and get nowhere near even the cheapest of stand-alone Bluetooth speakers. It's physics! So always a compromise.

As we have come to expect these days, the Bluetooth option with speakers or ear/headphones is the way to go, beyond casual listening - and we're rewarded! The technology seems to go forward in leaps and bounds and works beautifully with most capable equipment. I've tested it, as I say above, for range and quality and, of course, depending on the quality of connected gear, it sounds phenomenal. Far too loud for my ears, so I always have to turn volume down these days! I'm favouring Moto's own Buds Loop these days which I find work brilliantly well for me and my lifestyle, but also various ANC-capable headphones from various manufacturers and I find Bluetooth very hard to fault. Oh, there's no 3.5mm audio-out port here. I'm sure I should stop reporting that now and very few, certainly mid-range and above, now have this as Bluetooth storms on and batteries get better. Kudos to Sony, eh!

Just like the Signature (and now other Motos), the MotoAI button is on the left side, the correct side, not confusing the right side near to the power button. The button can be assigned actions for press-hold and double-press. Press and hold for MotoAI (or nothing), double-press for Update me, Take notes (or nothing). You can assign the power button on the other side for MotoAI if you like, or the usual power menu or (other) digital assistant (whatever your default is). On all of these there's now a slider for press-and-hold duration preference. You can also assign Android's own Quick Launch (so double-tap the back of the phone) to anything, pretty much, including (yet) another way into MotoAI - they want us to use it! I've written about MotoAI before and I think most of it is pretty much the same since I did, so do follow this link for a rundown of the features and how it all works.

In terms of Software, HelloUI, we continue to get all those good gesture functions with Moto of course, face unlock, lift to wake, 3-finger screenshot, chop-chop for torch, twist-twist for camera, sidebar with pop-outs, split-screen, pick up to silence, Attentive Display, fairly deep personalisation of fonts, icons, themes, colours, lock screen clocks, fingerprint animation, wallpaper and more. Long-press the home screen and enter a world of tweaks, personalisation, widgets and choices. It's just great to see someone continuing with the way things were, with only small adjustments for the better, not following the herd.

There is one enhancement over previous with the lock screen clocks, also present on the Signature, which used to give 3 options, but now there's 13 and each can be adjusted for font and colour as well. Moto continue their focus on privacy and security with a plethora of options, scans and adjustments. Secure folder, App lock, SIM lock, PIN pad scramble, scammer stuff, emergency alerts, eye protection stuff, Digital Wellbeing, various modes and so on. Some of this is Android's own with Android 16 but it's also clear that Moto have added their own suite as well and on top of that.

What I particularly like about the UI though, even with Android 16 onboard, is that Moto are not following the pack, like other sheep after Apple-like features. An annoying number of (particularly) Far-Eastern OEMs are including little features like Control Centres and dual drop-panels for Notifications, illegible battery percentage stuck inside a stupid little battery icon and a load more. Moto resist this and keep to their own design language which deserves huge kudos. Well done Moto. I do like some of what Google has done with Material 3 Expressive, particularly on Pixels, but it's clear from Moto's implementation of (especially) Android 16 that OEMs can go/keep going their own way if they want to. Hurrah!

The camera setup goes with 3 x 50MP shooters, the main one (f1.8 with OIS), the wide-angle (f2 with AF) and the Selfie (f2 with AF). The main camera can shoot 4K video at 60fps and the Selfie, at 30. There's no optical telephoto here but Moto do say that the main camera can offer "2 x lossless" zoom. The UI of the Camera app is much like other Moto units, looking suspiciously like an iPhone, with big, round, white shutter button at the foot and a side-scrolling Modes selector. For anyone having used a Moto in recent years, you'll be instantly at home as you jump between various features such as Night Vision (which, as usual seems to do a great job of pulling an image from situations that the human eye sees as pretty-much black!), Panorama, Ultra-Res (to use the full 50MP), Pro Mode for control of pretty much anything manually (except aperture of course), Portrait (which does have an "f" button, but control of aperture in this sense is all done in software of course), slow-mo - and via the main interface we have the 'Macro' button which uses the wide-angle's AF to get some close-ups. I've seen better, but it's good. Then there's a bunch of stuff in Settings for Watermarking, AI audio in video shooting, Palm Capture, Auto-Smile, assistive grid and 'spirit level' visuals, as I say, all good stuff - very Moto.

I've got some very nice shots from the camera in testing, as will, I think, all-but the most demanding of photographers using this phone. Digital photography, however, is not really my thing as you will know by now (give me film again)! So I'll do my usual trick of handing over to our friends at GSMArena for a breakdown, extensive testing and samples. Compromises need to be made to get this phone so thin of course, but given that limitation, they are pretty impressed in both good light and bad. I'll also jump back here in due course to add Joe Hickey's YouTube Video when he's done it, my Phones Show Chat colleague, on his channel. Not only for the camera stuff, but an overall review of the phone too. We'll also be offering more coverage and discussion on this, and other phones, Moto and beyond, in our PSC weekly podcast. Don't miss it!

I'm pleasantly surprised by this phone - and honestly, I didn't expect to be! The cameras are clearly very good, the battery certainly did a better job than I expected, as did the sound output given the amount of space inside to get it out, and decent. As always with Moto, the P-OLED screen is great, sitting on the front of a very-well protected shell in terms of IP-rating and beyond. As usual with Moto, the layer of HelloUI on top of Android is much better than most, conservative where it needs to be but with genuinely useful additions. I'm still not totally convinced by MotoAI, but it's nice to see them trying and moving things forward. These thin phones are always going to present a compromise, because they are thin, but for the right user, it feels like a class act and slips into the pocket very nicely. Oh, did I mention there's no Always on Display?! Come on Moto - if this was present, I could very well have bought one of these for myself!

For those who do want to buy, it's available in those four Pantone colours, Gadget Grey, Lily Pad, Bronze Green and Cloud Dancer with, as I say an RRP of £699. But as I finish this review, I still see it significantly cheaper (even, as above, £499 at MotoUK just now) which, to be totally honest, actually 'feels' like the 'right' price. The reason, clearly, that it's £699, is for Moto's hard work of cramming all this good stuff into a thin body. So if you're into the thin-is-in/Air thing, you'll no doubt be OK with the RRP. If not, I honestly think that you'd do better with a Signature for not too much more. And that's pretty thin too, you know! Whichever way you might jump, all these phones carry Moto's pedigree and style. If you like that, you'll love them!