Motorola Android smartphones have a great fan following all around the world, especially within the Indian market. What makes Motorola really popular is its great value-for-money hardware, a bloat-free Android experience, and trusted brand association.

The latest launch from Motorola for the Indian smartphone market comes in the form of the Edge 40 Neo, a cheaper version of the already available Motorola Edge 40.

The Motorola Edge 40 Neo is priced at ₹23,999 ($288) for the 8GB RAM/128GB internal storage variant, and ₹25,999 ($312) for the 12GB RAM/256GB internal storage variant.

Today, we’re here with a detailed review of the Motorola Edge 40 Neo to help you better understand whether this should be your next smartphone purchase.

Motorola Edge 40 Neo Review

What’s in the Box?

Let’s begin by talking about the contents of the box. Below are all the items you receive in your Motorola Edge 40 Neo retail packaging.

• The Motorola Edge 40 Neo handset
• 68W TurboPower charger
• Sim ejector tool
• USB Type-C charging cable
• Printed documentation related to warranty and user guides
• Protective back case that’s climate-friendly

Build and Design

The Motorola Edge 40 Neo is branded as “The Head Turner” by the company. Well, the design of the phone isn’t anything out-of-this-world, but it’s the attention to detail and finer details that make this a real head-turner.

For starters, as this smartphone is part of Motorola’s “edge” series, the first thing you notice about the phone out of the box is the curved screen that flows off the edge on both sides.

The front of the phone has a 6.55-inch pOLED display that Motorola terms an “Endless Edge” display, for its curves on both edges.

The device’s selfie camera is a punch-hole unit positioned in the center of the display. The bezels on all sides of the display also seem proportional, giving a premium look on the front side of the device.

Turn the device to the back and you get to see the dual camera setup with flash on the top left corner of the chassis, followed by a Motorola logo on the center back. To the right houses the volume and power buttons, whereas the SIM tray as well as the USB Type-C port for charging is featured on the bottom of the device.

Design-wise, Motorola is focusing much on the rear panel of the Edge 40 Neo. The back panel has a premium ultra-soft vegan leather finish for that “worth the price” feel when you hold the device.

Moreover, the three available color options for the device, namely Caneel Bay, Beauty Black, and Soothing Sea, are developed together in conjunction with the Pantone Color Institute. Thus, giving the device a very vibrant, unique, and premium look on the rear.

The device is also IP68-rated for dust, sand, and dirt resistance as well as for it’s ability to withstand being submerged in shallow water for a maximum rated duration of 30 minutes.

Display

Talking about the display unit on the device, it’s a 6.55-inch FHD+ pOLED panel with a screen resolution of 1080×2400 pixels and a 20:9 aspect ratio.

The screen also has a 144Hz refresh rate. You can switch the refresh rate between 60Hz, 120Hz, and 144Hz. Unfortunately, this is not an LTPO panel, so automatic switching between refresh rates is not available. This is not really something to complain about, as it’s not seen on any devices in the Edge 40 Neo’s price segment.

One important display-related feature to note is the “Auto Mode”. In this mode, the display will automatically switch between 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz depending on what’s happening on the screen. However, in this mode, the display does not reach 144Hz. Even though it’s not the same as what the higher-end smartphones do with their LTPO panel by switching between 1Hz – 120 Hz (or more), the “Auto Mode” feature on the Edge 40 Neo is definitely a welcome addition.

The phone offers an exceptional display experience with vibrant and accurate colors, deep blacks, and excellent brightness levels, making it easily visible outdoors. The edge display adds a premium touch to the device, attracting attention from others. Additionally, the phone also features useful edge lighting that glows when receiving calls, notifications, or alerts. This enhances its appeal and functionality for a wide range of users.

Camera

The camera setup on the Motorola Edge 40 Neo includes an array of 50MP primary with PDAF/OIS and a 13MP ultrawide with a 120-degree field-of-view on the rear. For the selfie camera, the device has a 32MP unit.

Daylight shots using both the rear cameras have ample details and are sharp, but we feel the colors are often oversaturated. If you like saturated pictures you will like them otherwise you won’t like it so much.

Even though the device can shoot up to 50MP using the rear camera, using the maximum resolution does mean that the photos get noisier and we feel the photos are over-sharpened during the post-processing. The best results are still using the 12.5MP default photo capture mode.

When it comes to night photography, the results are really impressive with good lighting, less noise, and awesome detail. The results are definitely competitive for the price range.

Regarding selfies, I’m not entirely satisfied with this phone’s performance. While it can capture detailed selfies in good lighting conditions, I find the skin tones and image processing less appealing. Some images lack detail, and selfies tend to be softer in low light. I have also used the Moto G84 recently which also comes in the same price bracket and found it to excel in the selfie department, making it one of the top choices under ₹20k. In my opinion, Motorola should address these camera app issues and improve its overall functionality, possibly integrating a better Gallery app seamlessly instead of relying on the Google Photos app. This would significantly enhance the overall photography experience on the device. Nonetheless, the device performs well in photography overall.

The rear and selfie cameras on the Edge 40 Neo are capable of recording videos at 4K resolution at 30 FPS. If you wish to record 1080p at 60 FPS, then it’s only possible using the rear main camera.

Here are some of the camera samples in different conditions:

UI, Performance, Gaming

When it comes to the user interface, as we mentioned in the beginning, this is one aspect that makes people really appreciate Motorola devices.

The UI on the device feels as if it’s running stock Android, even though it’s actually running on Motorola’s “MyUX” skin on top of Android 13. The device does feature some Motorola OEM applications installed, however, does not have any other third-party bloatware applications installed.

On the performance front, the device is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7030 chipset, which is a 6-nanometer SoC. There’s also either 8GB / 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM as well as 128GB / 256GB of UFS2.2 storage, depending on the variant you choose.

I’ve run benchmark tests on the device, with AnTuTu scoring it at 531,775, and Geekbench 6 showing a single-core score of 1,060 and a multi-core score of 2,500. During a CPU throttling test lasting 15 minutes with 50 threads, the device’s performance dropped by 21% from its peak.

The chipset is competitive for the price segment the phone sells at, and you should not have any hassles while performing day-to-day ordinary tasks on your phone. Even gaming with high graphics and frame-rate settings enabled must be easy to live with.

I’ve tested this phone with demanding games like Asphalt 8, Asphalt 9, BGMI, and Call of Duty, and it performs well. I usually play BGMI with lower graphics settings and have had smooth experiences, even during intense moments. The chipset handles most challenges effectively, maintaining a stable FPS. Unless you’re an extremely hardcore gamer, this phone should handle casual gaming with ease.

However, extensive gaming for hours as well as intense multitasking with resource and power-hungry apps running will definitely take a toll on the performance front, with you experiencing faster battery backup loss and overheating issues as well.

Sound

The audio experience on this phone is impressive, thanks to its Dolby Atmos-powered stereo speakers. These speakers are both loud and clear, and they provide a wide soundstage, especially for tracks in Dolby Atmos format. In fact, among the phones I’m currently reviewing, the notification tone on this handset stands out for its loudness.

Motorola has added a spatial sound feature that creates a 3D effect for tracks that aren’t natively encoded in Dolby Atmos, and while it works well, Dolby Atmos tracks sound even better. It’s worth noting that the Motorola Edge 40 Neo does not have a 3.5mm audio jack.

Battery

There’s a 5000mAh battery pack on the device, that’s capable of charging up to 50 percent within 15 minutes, thanks to the 68W TurboPower charging brick bundled in the box.

Keeping the super-fast charging aside, the 5000mAh battery by itself is sufficient enough to last you a whole day with you enjoying the best performance out of your phone. For best endurance extending over a full day, you may have to reduce your device’s refresh rate and be conservative on the apps you run.

Final Verdict: Is the Motorola Edge 40 A Good Buy?

The budget Android smartphone space is very competitive and crowded, especially in the Indian market.

Simply put, the Motorola Edge 40 Neo is definitely our top contender for a smartphone pick between the ₹20,000 and ₹25,000 price bracket at which the phone sells.

For the money you pay, you get a premium design and feel both on the front and rear, capable hardware that will easily get you through all your daily tasks and more, an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, an impressive camera, and a good enough battery life.

What impresses us most is that you get to enjoy all these without having to suffer third-party advertisements or bloatware apps.

Moreover, you can utilize offers such as bank credit/debit card discounts, exchange deals, and festive season deals, to further reduce the price to under Rs 24000, which makes the Motorola Edge 40 Neo an even sweeter deal!

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this Motorola Edge 40 Neo review are solely mine, reflecting my personal experiences. There has been no editorial input from Motorola.

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*Please Note: When you buy something using the links in our articles, we may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

The post Motorola Edge 40 Neo Review: A Solid and Stylish Midrange Smartphone appeared first on Gizmochina.

To make online engagement and e-commerce more real and less deceptive for customers, the Government of India initiated a campaign against bogus reviews and unverified ratings. The government has set up a system for businesses like Google, Facebook and Meta Platform, Amazon.com, travel websites, and food delivery applications that rely on customer evaluations to verify goods and services. Sales and interest from prospective customers are increased by favourable ratings.

But often, the brand displays fake reviews that are consistently positive about the goods and services, and this undoubtedly influences the user’s purchasing choice. Consumers and other industry professionals have criticised some businesses for suppressing bad reviews or accepting fake ratings, which makes the due diligence process for buyers challenging.

According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, the Department of Consumer Affairs established a committee in June to create a framework for identifying fraudulent and misleading reviews in e-commerce.
The founder of LocalCircles, a community platform and pollster that made the initial submission to the Department of Consumer Affairs and participated in the committee drafting the guidelines, Sachin Taparia, stated that the new rules for online reviews are “designed to drive increased transparency for both consumers and brands and promote information accuracy.”

According to Taparia, “the new regulations will force platforms like Google and Facebook to verify the genuine person behind the review by established 6-8 procedures, meaning fraudulent accounts created only for review authoring will eventually disappear or won’t be allowed to review. He further notes that if the standards are made mandatory, businesses may be held liable for unfair business practices, the suppression of bad reviews, or the facilitation of the planting of false reviews.

“This should not be bulldozed, please. We shall first observe that these rules are being followed voluntarily. And should the threat persist, we may make this a requirement “Reporters in New Delhi were warned by Rohit Kumar Singh, secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs. However, there are no proper information about the draft framework yet. We will update you if the law gets imposed officially.

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The post Government of India Drafts A New Law To Avoid Fake Reviews on E-Commerce Platforms appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Chinese phone maker Doogee seems to be producing more and more rugged phones. The S50 is a pretty good device that I recently reviewed but today I wanted to show you guys a bit cheaper slimmed down version of it – the S55. It offers great specs, rugged body and a huge battery for the price of just about $150.

VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUnM86FjEBM[/embedyt]

UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include a screen protector.

DESIGN

Once you pick the phone up, it’s obvious this is a rugged phone since it is larger, thicker and heavier than your usual smartphone.

That is because Doogee S55 has the IP-68 rating meaning that it is water and dust resistant. Also, the rugged body assures that the phone will survive a few accidental drops. Unlike some other budget rugged phones, there are flaps that cover the ports to avoid water damage.

Unlike on the Doogee S50, the headset jack flap is easier to open.

The overall build quality is solid as the phone is built to last. Despite a huge footprint, it’s quite comfortable to hold the phone in the hand. Also, the device is relatively thin considering a huge battery inside.

Battery lasts for a long time, just like on the Doogee S50. You can get up to 18 hours of screen on time under light usage but if you use the phone more intensively, you should expect to get about 11 hours of SOT. It takes over 3 hours to fully charge the phone with the supplied charger which is a pretty good result considering the size of the battery.

I found the 18:9 display to be quite nice and sharp despite the fact it’s only HD+. Also, the sunlight legibility is above average.

Other features include a dual-camera system on the back, nice and tactile buttons and a fingerprint scanner that is quite accurate but there display could light up faster. On the front, there is a single camera system as opposed to dual selfie cameras found on the Doogee S50.

Removing and inserting the side-mounted SIM card tray is quite easy. You just need to open up the flap and use a sim ejector pin to remove it.

I’m a bit disappointed that the capacitive buttons are not backlit and there is no LED notification light. Lastly, the loudspeaker quality is not really good. The sound is tinny and flat just like on the Doogee S50. 

HARDWARE

As far as hardware goes, the S55 ships with a pretty nice looking list of specs, considering the price. The gaming performance is good considering this is a budget rugged phone. You should be able to play most of the games without significant lag but obviously, there will be some skipped frames and stutter in some titles.

USER INTERFACE

As opposed to Doogee S50, the S55 ships with the Android 8 out of the box. The user interface preserves stock look but there are some design changes and added features like gesture and motion controls that actually work quite well. After using the phone for nearly 3 weeks, I can assure it is fast and smooth most of the time.

IMAGE QUALITY

The overall image quality is not really good. There could definitely be more detail and the colors are usually washed out. Low light pictures do not look great either. Same can be said about selfies and the portrait shots that have artificial background blur effect.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugIe_YqLxJY[/embedyt]

1080p video quality is mediocre as the footage comes out very shaky.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLUj7YNrGlc[/embedyt]

Selfie video can be recorded only in 480p, which is really frustrating. On the other hand, the quality of the footage is quite decent.  

CONNECTIVITY

As for connectivity, the Doogee S55 is pretty good. Call quality is decent, there were no issues with signal reception and GPS is accurate while using for navigation.

There is also a gyroscope sensor on board so you can watch 360 content or play VR games with this phone.

CONCLUSIONS

The Doogee S55 is quite a decent budget rugged phone but it definitely has a few flaws to consider.

The main shortcoming is poor image quality. You should also know that the capacitive buttons are not backlit, there is no LED notificaitpn light and the loudspekaer quality is not great.

On the other hand, you get a nice-looking water and dust resistant phone that is well-built and it can take a beating, the Doogee S55 is quite a fast device on the daily basis and you can even play some 3D games on it. Finally, the battery life has been great thanks to a huge 5500mAh power bank.

At the end of the day, if you are looking for a budget rugged phone, the Doogee S55 might be a good option to check out if you don’t mind a few shortcomings.

Buy Doogee S55

The post Doogee S55 Review – Quite A Good Rugged Phone With Some Flaws appeared first on Gizmochina.

After posting the article about sharing your reviews on gizmochina, I got a few mails asking what was the exact process to get the freebie. While we did formulate a review format for the review to be posted by users, many were still confused about the smartphones that were eligible under this Review & Reward program (RAR).

So, make the process more organised and simple, here’s what you have to do to be eligible for the RAR program from our gizmochina forums.

1. Fill out this form to register for our RAR program.
2. Once you register, we’ll send out a mail to you confirming your application.
3. Once you get the confirmation mail, you can start working on your review based on this format.
4. Post the review on gizmochina’s user review section.
5. Send us a mail (joel@gizmochina.com) with the link to the review and the link from giztop / online shop (under $20) of the case that you select for your smartphone.
6. You’ll get a confirmation mail for the successful review and case for your smartphone.
7. Once confirmed, send us your address and we’ll take care of the rest.
8. Wait for a few days until we ship out your selected case and it reaches your address.

I hope this makes the process straighforward and simple. I’m hoping to see a lot of reviews from our readers in the coming weeks.

As always, you can shoot a mail to me at joel@gizmochina.com for any queries or questions related to this new program!

The post Here’s How To Get A Free Case For Your Smartphone From Gizmochina Forums appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Gizmochina community is growing everyday and we have millions of readers every month from across the globe. A majority of our traffic comes from smartphone users and we feel it’s about time we give our readers a platform to talk about the smartphones they are using.

The Gizmochina Forums can be a great tool to share your reviews/ opinions about the smartphone that you are using as your daily driver. Your opinion / experience about a phone can come in useful for a fellow gizmochina reader and in this regard, we want to help you to post your review on our forums.

REVIEW & REWARD PROGRAM (RAR)

In order to push regular readers to share decent reviews of their smartphones, Gizmochina has teamed up with our store, Giztop to start the Review & Reward Program (RAR). So, we will give out a free case for every smartphone review shared on our forums, provided it follows a good review format. Once your review is posted on the forums and accepted, you can choose a case (under $20) for your smartphone on Giztop and send us a message on info@gizmochina.com or just message Shine Wong on our forums (from here) with the link to the case along with your your shipping details. We’ll take care of the rest!

To make your lives easier, we have created a format to make the review (added at the end of the post). This will help all reviews to be consistent and up to the mark. Also, make sure that all reviews are posted as a new discussion in the User Reviews category in our Forums section. You can find this category here!

I know a free case may not be a strong motivator for writing down a decent experience with your smartphone, however, note that your experience with the phone will definitely be valuable for other readers who are planning to purchase the device.

While we know not everyone can or is willing to post long, detailed reviews, we would further like to encourage great reviews on our forums by selecting the best reviews of smartphones and posting them on the Gizmochina.com website under your name. This will open up your honest opinion of the handset to millions of users worldwide, giving you a much deserved exposure. To make things even more interesting, we’ll give out a Redmi smartphone to the best review of the month on our forums.

Please note that to ensure that maximum readers benefit from this, we would like to add that only recent smartphones reviews, which are less than 6 months old will be eligible for the free case from Giztop.

You can check out the format for review from this link. Make sure to follow this review format to be eligible for the free case.

As always, if you have any suggestions or questions, you can comment down below or shoot a mail at joel@gizmochina.com.

The post Share Your Review Of Your Current Smartphone On Gizmochina & Get Rewarded! appeared first on Gizmochina.

We all know that there is a trend of the full-screen smartphones today. The Xiaomi Mi Mix was one of the first mainstream phones to offer near bezel-less design and the Mi Mix 2 is a successor to it. It indeed looks beautiful, it has top-shelf specs and more. Learn more in the full Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 review.

Just before we start, the phone costs about $550 at Gearbest.com but you will find a generous discount code at the end of this review. 

VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH1bQnJwkoE[/embedyt]

UNBOXING

The phone ships with a standard set of accessories.

Some extras include a 3.5mm headset jack adapter and a high-quality case that looks nice and fits the phone nice and snug.

DESIGN and DISPLAY

There is no doubt that the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is one of the most beautiful phones out there. The star of the show is a sharp, bright and vibrant 5.99” LCD display. It has 1080p+ resolution, 18:9 aspect ratio and it is covered with the Gorilla Glass 4.

The ceramic back looks really nice in practice and it is curved on each side for aesthetics and a better grip. If you add a premium aluminum frame and responsive buttons, you definitely feel that you hold a true flagship phone.

It’s obvious that the Mi Mix 2 can be complete smudge fest if you don’t clean it, just like most of the glass-made phones. But the thing that annoys me the most is that the device is very slippery. Yes, it sounds like a cliche but it is much more slippery than other glass-made phones I’ve tested in recent memory.

When it comes to optics, we are looking a tradition camera setup that has one 12MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture lens and 4-axis OIS.

Here is a minute of a few little but important features: the fingerprint scanner is one of the best out there, selfies can be taken using a 5MP snapper and there is a nice LED notification light. Keep in mind that selfie camera is implemented on the bottom right corner, so you would need to hold the phone upside down to take portrait selfies.

However, there is no microSD card slot and no headset jack but the supplied adapter assures a very good sound quality.

There is a pretty good sound system too that is provided by a stereo speakers setup.

HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Xiaomi Mix 2 is no slouch when it comes to hardware as it ships with top-shelf components that include a Snapdragon 835 chip, 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

You can also opt in for a more expensive model that has 8GB of RAM and whopping 256GB of internal storage.

As expected, the phone can handle 3D games without any issues. However, there is one serious software bug that prevents you from installing games that take a lot of storage space. You simply get an error message every time you try to download and install a game from the Play Store. I know this can be fixed somehow but this is what you will get out of the box. That’s really frustrating and hopefully, it will be fixed with a software update soon.

BENCHMARKS

USER INTERFACE

If you are familiar with Xiaomi phones, you will feel right at home since the device ships with the MIUI 8.5 that is built on top of Android 7.1.

My phone shipped with the original Chinese ROM, meaning that you would need to install Google Services yourself which takes about a minute to do that. However, you still need to deal with some bloatware apps. Also, an error message pops up every time I open up the Gmail app, which is annoying. We have all the same features and customization options Xiaomi phones have been famous for. You can tweak the phone in a variety of different ways, adjust a ton of settings and change the looks.

Most importantly, I can assure that the phone is fast and responsive even after installing a lot of apps.

CAMERAS

The camera app can take pictures quite fast. There a few shooting modes including a pro mode that allows you to adjust some image settings. There is also a slow-motion video mode.

The overall image quality is quite good but I expected better results from the phone this expensive. Obviously, you can take some good-looking daylight pictures but some of them could have more detail. Also, I got a few shots that were out of focus.

The low-light camera performance is okay but again, I expected better results from a $500 phone.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KDB7vwttZU[/embedyt]

The 4k video looks quite good and 4-axis OIS does the job reducing the shakiness. However, I found that there are some video artifacts, continuous auto-focus is not always reliable and sound recording quality could be a lot better.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mW-FhO7koQ[/embedyt]

1080p selfie video looks great. Just bear in mind that awkward selfie camera position.

Download full resolution camera samples

CONNECTIVITY

When it comes to connectivity, I can assure that the call quality has improved a lot over the original Mi Mix. Also, signal reception is great, Wifi works fine and the phone has Bluetooth 5 and NFC connectivity options. The GPS works exceptionally well. Finally, the phone has a bunch of sensors, just like any other flagship in the market.

BATTERY LIFE

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 ships with a 3400mAh battery that performs really well considering the size of the display. The max. SOT time I was able to reach was over 8 hours, which is quite impressive. If you use the phone more intensively, you should expect to achieve about 5-6 hours of SOT every day.

Finally, the supplied charger fully charges the phone in just over 1 hour and 20 mins thanks to Quick Charge 3.0 technology.

CONCLUSIONS

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is probably the most beautiful phone the company has ever made and it sure has a lot of flagship-grade qualities for a lower price than the mainstream flagships. Also, I love the Mix 2 for its display, the overall build quality, great performance and good battery life.

However, there are quite a few shortcomings. There is no microSD card slot, no headset jack and the phone is not water-resistant. There are also a few bugs in the UI that perhaps will be fixed with the future software updates. What | also expect from Xiaomi’s software team is to improve the overall image quality.

At the end of the day, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 still offers a lot of true flagship features for a lower price tag but please consider a few shortcomings before making a buying decision.

You can now get the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 with a generous discount code ($50 OFF the retail price). COUPON: MIMX2K

The post Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Review – The Bezel-less BEAUTY with a few Flaws appeared first on Gizmochina.