Motorola Edge 70 review

A trio of 50MP imagers

The Motorola Edge 70 features three 50MP cameras - two on the back and one at the front. All of these are wide-angle cameras, there no telephoto though the primary one can offer 2x lossless zoom.

• Wide (main): 50MP Samsung GNJ 1/1.56", 1.0µm-2.0µm), f/1.70, PDAF; 4K@60fps
• Ultrawide: 50MP Samsung JNS (likely a variation of JN1, 1/2.76", 0.64µm-1.28µm), f/2.0, PDAF; 4K@30fps
• Front camera: 50MP Samsung JNS (likely a variation of JN1, 1/2.76", 0.64µm-1.28µm), f/2.0; 4K@30fps

The camera app performance has been improved since the Edge 60 phones we've used so far, especially when it comes to speed, though issues are still present - the shutter button feels occasionally unresponsive for example.

Daylight photo quality

The main camera captures nice 12MP photos in good light. We observed high detail levels, accurate white balance, true to life colors, and wide dynamic range. There is no visible noise.

The processing is quite mature with true-to-life look, including foliage and other complex areas.

Main camera

The 2x zoomed photos are nearly as solid as the default ones. While there is a minor drop in the global detail in areas of random detail (foliage, faces, decorations), the rest is equally great - sharpness, colors, dynamic range, and noise reduction.

Main camera, 2x zoom

The 50MP images appear upscaled from the 12MP ones, and there is no benefit in using this mode.

Main camera, 50MP

The Edge 70 is an impressively proficient camera when it comes to capturing people. All facial details are rendered very well, skin tones are true to life, the subject is well exposed, and the dynamic range is quite wide.

People shots, 1x zoom

Portrait mode, 1x zoom

The same can be said about the 2x zoomed images of people - they are just as great even if there is a minor drop in the global detail and sharpness.

The indoor photos shot not in perfect light conditions may have some visible noise and poor detail, though.

People shots, 2x zoom

Portrait Mode, 2x zoom

The ultrawide camera saves nice 12MP photos with very good detail levels and sharpness, wide enough dynamic range, and realistic colors that match the ones produced by the main camera. Noise is handled once again very well and all images look natural.

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera supports autofocus and can accurately focus on objects as close as 10cm away. The automatic macro mode kicks in seamlessly and it crops and upscales the image to match the 24mm FoV of the main camera. The results are still nice with good detail, excellent colors, and superb dynamic range.

Closeups with ultrawide camera

The Motorola Edge 70 has an extremely good selfie camera that captures impressively detailed photos, with greatly reproduced facial features, natural skin tones, and realistic colors. The dynamic range is plenty wide, too.

Selfies

Low-light photo quality

The main camera produces very good photos at nighttime - the resolved detail is plenty, the noise reduction is proficient and gets rid of the noise without smudging details, and the colors are pleasantly saturated. The dynamic range is impressively wide, and the contrast didn't take a major hit because of that.

Main camera

The Night Mode brightens the whole image and lowers the contrast, and there is a small drop in the detail, too. The images are good, yes, but we don't like this overly bright look for a nighttime photo.

Main camera, Night Mode

The 2x zoomed photos are usable, if not good. And while their overall look matches the regular ones, about a third of the detail is gone and the images have this distinct washed-out look.

Main camera, 2x zoom

The ultrawide photos we took at night are good with sharp and detailed for this sort of camera, with some nice colors, exposure and dynamic range.

Ultrawide camera

The Night Mode for the ultrawide camera improves the dynamic range and there are less blown highlights, so you may want to try it in certain scenes - it does well enough.

Ultrawide camera, Night Mode

Video recording

All three cameras of the Motorola Edge 70 support up to 4K30 and up to 1080p60 video capturing. There is always-on electronic stabilization. Audio is always captured in stereo with a 256Kbps bitrate and a 48kHz sample rate.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

The main cam captures excellent videos during the day. They have good detail, low noise, accurate colors and wide dynamic range. If you zoom in 2x, you will get a simple digital zoom that crops and upscales, and the result is noisy and not very sharp.

The low-light videos by the main cam have great dynamic range and color reproduction, detail is above average, and the noise is low.

The ultrawide camera shoots good videos during the day with enough detail, good colors and contrast, and solid dynamic range. The low-light footage, while usable, is noisy and has a narrow dynamic range.

Last, but not least important, the stabilization works well, but there is room for improvement - the walking shake is not entirely dampened, and there is some wobbling present here and there.