Hardware

Published on July 22nd, 2024 | by Andrew Bistak

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Review

Motorola have released two smartphone siblings into the Australian market, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro (our full review can be found here) and the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion. Both fall into the midrange smartphone category and if you’re on a budget, the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion provides a good option for those not looking to break the bank as this device retails for $599AUD (July 2024) that features lots of real world bells and whistles. However if you’re looking at the Pro, the RRP is $999AUD (July 2024) which is some impressive tech from Motorola.

So what is a midrange smartphone or a budget smartphone? We classify anything under $500 as a budget smartphone and from $500 to $1000 a midrange device. $1000+ is a high-end smartphone. Considering the price of the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion, it looks stylish with its ultrathin and curved design with a 6.7-inch FHD+ endless edge pOLED display to showcase vibrant colours and exceptional clarity with a 144Hz refresh rate. It may be on the lower end of the midrange spectrum but looks more high-end.

It is also available in different colours that includes Forest Blue (reviewed), Marshmallow Blue and Hot Pink with a vegan leather backing. The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 CPU (4 x 2.4 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4 x 1.95GHz Cortex-A55 cores), comes with a whopping 12GB of RAM plus 256GB storage, including a large 5000mAh battery. It also supports Ultra 68W TurboPower charging which makes charging the Fusion fast. To protect your investment, the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion comes with a 2-year warranty, including updates up until Android 17. Android 14 is the current operating system on the 50 Fusion.

For photography, the rear cameras are 50MP + 13MP lenses, including a Sony sensor with the front (aka selfie camera), 32MP one, however the new 50 series from Motorola features some excellent AI integration to help you achieve the best photos possible. Further, the camera system is Pantone validated which ensures more realistic skin tones and natural colours. So as you can see, the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion, delivers quite a bit more than its expected price range.

Box Contents

• Motorola Edge 50 Fusion
• 68W TurboPower Charger
• USB-C Cable
• SIM Ejection Pin
• Protective Cover

Unboxing Gallery

Once unboxed the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion is a very stylish smartphone with its accented curves, popping colour on the back plus the quality display which adds to its overall high-end aesthetics. The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion is also quite lightweight at just 174.9 grams with dimensions of 161.9 x 73.1 x 7.9 mm that feels good in your hands and the vegan leather backing adds additional grip to the smartphone.

Further, it’s very thin as well and I love how Motorola includes a Protective Cover which protects the phone and the only additional item you need is a tempered glass screen protector as drops unfortunately do happen. I should know as I’m Lord Butterfingers! The Fusion has an impressive IP68 rating that makes it water resistant in fresh water to a depth of up to 1.5metres for 30 minutes and lastly it comes with Corning Gorilla Glass to almost make it apocalyptic proof.

Setting up the Motorola Edge Fusion 50 is like any other Android phone that takes you through a setup wizard, including the ability to transfer your data from your existing phone. This also includes setting up the unlocking options (pin, fingerprint or facial recognition) and if you want to make your smartphone experience a more personal (aka Motorola experience) one, there are a handful of Motorola apps that you can also sign-up with.

Setup Gallery and Operating System

Once all setup, how does it run? Courtesy to its processor and RAM, the Motorola Edge Fusion 50 makes it a speedy phone for everyday use and whether I was surfing the net, watching Netflix or using apps, I had no concerns with the speed of this phone. The pOLED screen is fantastic with sharp text and vibrant colours and the speakers on the Fusion 50 were quite serviceable, particularly when Dolby Atmos is enabled. For its price, it is a powerhouse for speed and overall app performance.

Photography

The camera system of the Edge 50 Fusion took some great photos in good light thanks to the Sony sensor (LYTIA LYT-700) that offers a megapixel rating of 50, including optical image stabilisation and an f/1.88 aperture that adds to its zoom capabilities. Additionally it has a 13MP ultrawide lens with macro focus to help you capture those perfect shots. What about low light? Again the Sony sensor works well in this mode, however a few extra shots are always needed.

Benchmarks

3DMark and Geekbench provided a great snapshot into the CPU and GPU capabilities of the 50 Fusion. Again no surprises and definitely sits itself as a midrange phone on the more affordable level.

3DMark

What is 3DMark? 3DMark is built on data-driven stories that help you learn more about your smartphone. With its unique charts, lists and rankings, 3DMark gives you unrivaled insights into the performance of your device and also compares it to other products.

The verdict? Results above other midrange phones at this price point.

Geekbench

Geekbench allows you to compare system performance across devices, operating systems, and processor architectures that supports both Android and iOS.

Considering the price of the 50 Fusion, it scored rather well with Geekbench. CPU scores were good, however the limitation is the GPU but for the cost, it delivers.

Gaming

Gaming works on the Edge 50 Fusion but remember that some tweaking will be required in order to maximise your gaming experience. Titles such as Call of Duty Mobile, Asphalt Legends 9 and Diablo Immortal played well given the resolution of the display and hardware. So it does casual gaming extremely well and even more “gamer” gaming relatively well with some tweaking. You still can’t beat a dedicated portable console but the Fusion does come close. But if I can play Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile without any issues, then I’m a happy gamer.

Final Thoughts?

For $599AUD (July 2024), the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion is a very competent midrange smartphone which makes it a nice all-round device. Aesthetically it looks great as does the high quality screen and its large battery, 68W TurboPower and 256GB of storage will be more than ample for most users needs. So with all these features, the specifications of the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion delivers a powerhouse experience on a budget!

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion technical specifications

• Operating System: Android™ 14
• Storage: 256 GB built-in, UFS 2.2
• Sensors: Proximity Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Sar sensor, Sensor Hub, E-Compass
• Processor: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 7s Gen 2
• Memory (RAM): 12GB LPDDR4X
• Security: On-screen fingerprint reader, Face unlock, ThinkShield for mobile
• Battery: Battery Size
• 5000 mAh
• Charging: TurboPower™ 68W charging
• Battery Life: Over 30 hours of battery life
• Display Size: 6.7″ pOLED Endless Edge Display
• Resolution: Full HD+ (2400 x 1080) 395 ppi
• Screen to Body Ratio: Active Area-Body (AA-Body): 92%
• Display Technology: pOLED, 10-bit, DCI-P3 colour space, 144 Hz refresh rate, Peak brightness: 1600 nits, Touch sampling rate: 360 Hz (gaming mode)
• Aspect Ratio: 20:9
• Dimensions: 161.9 x 73.1 x 7.9mm
• Colours: Forest Blue, Hot Pink and Marshmallow Blue
• Screen: Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5
• Ports: Type-C port (USB 2.0)
• Weight: 174.9g
• Water Protection: IP68 water resistant

Rear Camera Hardware

• 50 MP (f/1.88, 1.0 µm) | All-Pixel Focus | Ultra Pixel Technology for 2.0 µm l Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS)
• 13 MP (f/2.2, 1.12 µm) | 120° ultra-wide angle | Macro Vision
• Rear Camera Video Software
• Shooting modes:
• Dual Capture
• Slow motion
• Timelapse (w/ Hyperlapse)
• Macro
• Spot ColourOther features:
• Video Stabilisation
• Horizon Lock
• Audio Zoom
• Video Snapshot
• Selfie Stick Support
• External Microphone Support
• Front Camera Video Capture
• UHD (30fps)

Rear Camera Software

• Shooting modes:
• Portrait (24mm/35mm/50mmm),
• Macro
• Dual Capture
• Ultra-Res
• Night Vision
• Tilt-Shift
• Pro
• Scan
• Spot Colour
• PanoramaArtificial intelligence:
• Google Photos Auto Enhance
• Auto Smile Capture
• Gesture Capture
• Google Lens™ integration
• Shot OptimisationOther features:
• Super Resolution Zoom
• Burst Shot
• Timer
• Assistive Grid
• Leveller
• Metering Mode
• Watermark
• Live Filters
• Selfie Stick Support
• RAW Photo Output
• QR/Barcode Scanner

Front Camera Hardware

• 32 MP (f/2.45, 0.7 µm) | Quad Pixel Technology for 1.4 µm
• Rear Camera Video Capture
• Rear Main Camera:
• UHD (30fps),
• FHD (60/30fps)
• Slow motion: FHD (120fps), HD (240fps)

Rear Ultra-wide/Macro Camera:

• UHD (30fps)
• Front Camera Software
• Shooting modes:
• Portrait (w/ Group Selfie & Smart Adjustments)
• Photo Booth
• Pro
• Dual Capture
• Spot ColourArtificial intelligence:
• Google Photos Auto Enhance
• Auto Smile Capture
• Gesture Capture
• Face RetouchOther features:
• Burst Shot
• Timer
• Assistive Grid
• Leveller
• Metering Mode
• Watermark
• Live Filters
• Selfie Photo Mirror
• Selfie Stick Support
• RAW Photo Output

Front Camera Video Software

• Shooting modes:
• Dual Capture
• Timelapse (w/ Hyperlapse)
• Spot ColourOther features:
• Video Stabilisation
• Video Snapshot
• Selfie Video Mirror
• Selfie Stick Support
• External Microphone Support
• Face Retouch

Other features

• Speakers: Stereo speakers
• Dolby Atmos: Yes
• Microphones: 2 microphones
• Voice Control: Google Assistant
• Gestures: Quick launch, Quick capture, Fast torch, Three-finger screenshot, Lift to unlock, Flip for DND, Pick up to silence, Swipe to split
• Networks + Bands: 5G: sub-6, 4G: LTE, 3G: WCDMA, 2G: GSM, 2G: GSM band 2/3/5/8, 3G: WCDMA , band 1/2/5/8, 4G: LTE band 1/2/3/5/7/8/18/19/20/26/28/32/38/40/41/42/71, 5G: n1/n3/n5/n7/n8/n20/n26/n28/n38/n40/n41/n77/n78
• Bluetooth Technology: Bluetooth® 5.2
• NFC: Yes
• Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4 GHz + 5 GHz
• Location Services: GPS, A-GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou, QZSS
• SIM Card: Dual SIM (1 Nano SIM and eSIM) 

About the Author

Andrew Bistak When he's not trying to save the world, Andrew enjoys travel (although loathes turbulence), going to the movies, reading and being a dad to his two dogs (and now twins) with his wife.

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