Motorola brought a handful of new handsets to Berlin for this year’s IFA show but only one truly stole the show for me – and it wasn’t the budget-friendly Edge 70 Plus. A renewed partnership with crystal jeweller Swarovski has delivered the blingiest flip phone yet.
The Razr 70 with Crystals by Swarovski, which takes the place of the Razr 60-based model announced last month as part of the new Brilliant Collection, is a special edition take on an already sharp-looking clamshell. It’s decked out in a “leather-inspired” texture and a colour picked from the moodier end of the Pantone palette – Meteorite – but the highlight has to be the 32 ‘silver night’ crystals dotted across the quilted back panel, plus three more on the front face directly above the 3.6in cover display. One final, larger crystal has been embedded into the hinge. The moody matching homescreen wallpaper is a nice touch.
It’s undeniably a head-turner, which feels properly premium to hold and adds real fashion appeal to Motorola’s more mainstream flip phone. I was a little surprised the firm didn’t use the Razr 70 Ultra as a base, but I guess that phone’s larger cover screen would’ve left less room for Swarovski flair.
Hardware-wise it’s the Razr 70 through and through, meaning the outer screen gives way to a 6.9in flexible AMOLED, which sits atop a Mediatek Dimensity 7450X chipset, 4800mAh battery and dual 50MP outer cameras.
You’ll soon be able to snag one, directly from Motorola, for £900 / €1000.
The Motorola Edge 70 Plus, meanwhile, is an all-new addition to the firm’s mainstream mobile line-up. It borrows styling cues from the pricier Edge 70, namely the offset rear camera island – except here it contains a 200MP main snapper with optical image stabilisation and a 2MP secondary dedicated to macro shots.
It’ll land in a choice of four distinctive Pantone hues. Mountain View (a dark green) has a finish inspired by silk, while Sage and Milky Blue have a soft, leather-like texture. Gray Lilac uses acetate, which does a convincing impression of marble.
Up front, the 6.78in AMOLED display is rocking curved-edge glass rather than repeat the Edge 70’s flat panel. Personally I think this is a trend the phone world should probably relegate to the past, as flat screens don’t have to content with distracting light reflections in bright sunshine. The panel itself seems decent for the cash though, with a 1.5K resolution, HDR10+ support and a huge 5200 nits peak brightness.
Motorola has squeezed a comparatively big 6500mAh battery inside, which promises all-day use and quick 45W wired charging. Gamers will also appreciate the bypass charging mode, which preserves battery health while playing on mains power. Internals are on the money for an affordable mid-ranger, with a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset, 8GB RAM and up to 256GB of storage.
There are currently no plans to bring the Edge 70 to the USA. It’ll launch in the UK and Europe later this year, for £530 / €600. Moto will likely be hoping the big battery and high pixel count camera can pull punters away from the slightly cheaper Google Pixel 10a.
Motorola also debuted an ultra-slim Qi2.2 25W magnetic wireless charger this week. It’ll ship both solo for £40 / €40 and as a bundle with a custom desk stand made from a mix of aluminium and Alcantara – but neither of the new phones will actually support it.
Read the full article here
