Motorola’s new Edge 30 Pro is the company’s big phone for 2022 and it’s a power player. The top chip Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, made by Qualcomm , is the best the Android family can offer right now. Hardware and design In terms of hardware specs, Motorola’s device is in solidly the top league, able to hold its own against the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S22 . With 12 GB of RAM, the Edge 30 Pro won’t let you down when it comes to performance and you won’t need to worry about jittery apps or slow load times when you have several apps running at the same time. That makes for a performance gamers will love, with animations running smoothly even when your games have the highest graphics settings. The Edge 30 Pro’s 6.7-inch display can show up to 144 frames per second (144Hz). Most mid-range and top-end smartphones these days, such as Samsung’s Galaxy S22, have upgraded their display’s refresh rate from 60Hz to 120Hz. Motorola Edge 20 Pro’s 144Hz refresh rate, 5X zoom may woo Samsung fans While the jump from 60 to 120Hz helps makes swiping animations buttery smooth, most users won’t even be able to notice the difference between 120Hz and 144Hz. Very high refresh rates tend to consume much more power, and the Edge 30 Pro can switch down to 60Hz. The OLED display is great for watching videos, playing games and is generally pleasing to look at, with vivid colours and rich, crisp images. Software and features The model’s predecessor the Edge 20 Pro still had a main, ultra-wide-angle and periscope telephoto lens. But in the Edge 30 Pro, the optical telephoto lens has been replaced by a depth sensor, which supports the system, particularly for portraits. Motorola argues that the Edge 30 Pro’s hardware can still deliver great digital zoom results. And when used in bright surroundings, that may be true. However, we spotted more noise in the Edge 30 Pro’s telephoto pictures in darker settings. Images from the main camera proved to be sharp, bright and have a good dynamic range. The camera can convey different textures and details well. The selfie camera also did well in our tests. With an unusually large resolution of 60MP, the front-facing camera takes detailed photos. When the camera detects several people in the shot, instructions appear on the display telling you how to pan the camera so that you can see everyone in the picture afterwards, a feature Motorola calls “group selfie”. Performance and battery power If you use the Edge 30 Pro for extensive picture editing or longer gaming sessions, then pack your power adaptor. The battery won’t last the whole day if you are using it constantly. For regular use, though, the battery will last you a whole day. Motorola includes a high-quality high-speed charger (68 watts) which will have your empty Edge 30 Pro brimming with power in just 45 minutes. A 68-watt charging speed is also much faster than Samsung and Apple offer. The Edge 30 Pro supports high-speed 5G connectivity as well as the new Wi-fi standard Wi-fi 6. Motorola Razr 5G: one of the best folding phones, but not cheap Conclusion The Motorola Edge 30 Pro boasts excellent performance thanks to the latest Snapdragon chip and it has a nice 144 hertz display for rich, vivid colours. The cameras are good, but they’re not outstanding. You have a comparatively short battery runtime for heavy use but that’s outweighed by the extremely fast charging time. For about US$800/€800 (price from about HK$3,600 in Hong Kong) you get a good smartphone with a clean version of Android. If you mainly want to take lots of pictures with your smartphone, the OnePlus 9RT or Samsung Galaxy S21 FE are good alternatives in this price range.