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Intro
Motorola recently launched the Edge 2023 in the US — a lategame addition to the roster of 2023 phones that you should at least check out. It has a very classy look, in stealth black, with a vegan leather back, and overall thin profile. And it's supposed to be an affordable flagship, with an MSRP of $600, which immediately dropped to $350 since the holiday sales have begun.
That MSRP puts it in the ballpark of the Pixel 8 competition. The non-Pro Pixels did cost $600 just a year ago, but in 2023, the Pixel 8 launched for $700. That's a shame, but our point is — we are still in the ballpark.
Additionally, since Motorola phones generally run a "vanilla" Android build, with no extra reskinning or bells and whistles, they have always been compared to Google phones — Nexuses in the past, Pixels nowadays. So... how does the new non-Plus Motorola Edge compare to the latest non-Pro Pixel?
Get Google Pixel 8 for $212 off on Amazon
$212 off (30%)
The Google Pixel 8 is available at Amazon. The smartphone sells for 29% off, which equates to $212 in savings. That lands the device under $500.
OK, don't get us wrong — the Pixel design, since the Pixel 6, has been something special. It has that unique flavor of geekyness but still packaged with shiny materials that make it look like a premium accessory. And it's recognizable, it's a signature look for Google.
The Motorola Edge 2023, on the other hand, looks like a high-tech classy accessory thanks to its faux leather back and super-stealthy blacked-out look. Its screen is curved and it has an overall thin profile and balanced weight. If you were to ask us which of these phones feels better in the hand — we'd say the Edge 2023.
The one drawback that the Edge 2023 design has is its buttons — they are rattly, don't have a lot of travel, and don't click well. The Pixel feels more premium in this regard. Both phones have under-screen optical fingerprint scanners, which work quickly and accurately. And both come with IP68 protection for water- and dust-resistance.
On the display end, the Motorola gives you a bit more screen real estate, with a 6.6-inch diagonal, versus the 6.2 inches on the Google Pixel 8. The difference is not substantial, but definitely noticeable when using the devices to enjoy multimedia or play games. Though, the Motorola is not a very good gaming device — more on that in the performance section.
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance(balance between red,green and blue)across different levels of grey(from dark to bright).The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones,the better.
The Motorola Edge 2023 gives us a 144 Hz screen, versus the 120 Hz on a Pixel 8. Honestly, that's a bit overkill — we feel that 120 Hz is good enough. The only people that would claim they can spot the difference between 144 Hz and 120 Hz are super dedicated gamers — and those people wouldn't typically be looking for a midrange phone to play on. Also, 144 Hz is cool on paper, but doesn't do much when the phone itself drops frames. Again, more on that in the performance section.
But the Motorola Edge 2023 OLED screen is bright, sharp, and with beautiful colors. So, for day-to-day use, social media, and web browsing, it looks pristine. Then again, the Pixel's OLED display is no slouch. It's a very close competition here. The Pixel 8 does have higher peak brightness at 2,000 nits, versus 1,200 nits on the Edge 2023. But both screens support HDR just the same.
Performance and Software
Tensor G3 runs laps around Dimensity 7030
For its "affordable flagship", Motorola chose to outfit it with a MediaTek Dimensity 7030 processor. It's a mid-range SoC through and through and its benchmark performance doesn't inspire confidence. The Pixel 8's Tensor G3 chip is not a heavy-hitter, not even intended as one. But it's still a better performer than the Dimensity 7030:
In real life use, we would say that the Motorola Edge 2023 performs stably — web browsing, YouTube binging, it all works fine. The snappy animations on the screen are pleasing, and there aren't many stutters to speak of. However, when attempting to game on the device, we can spot the hardware's limitations. Games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Mighty Doom do run — don't get us wrong. There are occasional frame drops, but not to the point of stuttering. However, a noticeable input lag did mess with our accuracy.
The Pixel 8 is not much of a gaming device itself, but it does feel snappier than the Motorola. Plus, that extra processor power helps out when editing photos and videos, which is what the new Pixel 8 line is all about with the Magic Editor, right?
Camera
Hard to beat the Pixel
Even at flagship level comparisons, the Pixel 8 performs really, really well. So, a midrange Motorola will have a tough time beating it. Specs-wise, we have a 50 MP main camera (F1.4 aperture), 13 MP ultra-wide, and 32 MP selfie camera on the Motorola. That's a lot of pixels!
The Google Pixel 8 responds with 50 MP main camera (F1.7 aperture), 12 MP ultra-wide camera, and 10.5 MP selfie camera. OK, the main snappers seem very similar, with the Motorola actually having a much wider aperture. How does that work in real life?
We can instantly spot that the Edge 2023 is a bit more agregious with the oversharpening — spotted in objects like tree leaves. But it also does more noise-reduction, washing out tiny details like indentations in bricks. Its colors are also a bit more saturated, but it's not egregious in that regard.
The Pixel 8 has a better dynamic range and colors, but a bit of a cold cast on its photos. That's not news — the Pixels have been leaning towards that slightly blu-ish look for a couple of years now.
In a surprising turn of events, it's hard to pick a clear winner in night shots. The Motorola gives us oversharpened pictures, sure, but the Pixel 8 photos look a bit hazy. The Motorola's colors pop, but you can also call them oversaturated. And the Pixel's cold cast isn't doing it any favors, as the photos come out looking a bit bland and uninviting. If we were picking for realism, we'd go for the Pixel 8 again, for its more accurate colors. That and the very unpleasant oversharpening from the Motorola.
None of these phones is marketed as a zoom beast, but Google does have a SuperRes Zoom algorithm working overtime to digitally stretch your photos. And, for what it's worth, it definitely does better than the Motorola Edge 2023, which looks like it's simply cropping into the image and applying tons of sharpening and noise reduction. Both of these phones cap out at 8x zoom for photos. And the Pixel 8 still kind of holds it together at that level of magnification.
The Motorola is pretty good at edge detection, but did get tricked in a couple of spots by the challenging details of the dog's fur. But in these shots in particular, it can easily be seen how the oversharpening makes the strands of fur look jagged, almost like they are drawn by hand. Also, dynamics on the Edge 2023 are not great, as it leans towards burning out the highlights on the white hairs. The Pixel portraits, look sharper, with better edge detection, and a more realistic creamy bokeh in the background.
Interestingly enough, the details from the Edge 2023's ultra-wide camera look crisper and more realistic than from its main camera. Well, at least towards the middle of the image. Towards, the edge, we can see some haziness, probably caused by distortion compensation or noise reduction, or both. The boosted colors are a bit more cartoonish here, and there's some HDR artifacting with auras around buildings. The Pixel 8's ultra-wide camera is not exemplary, but its photos look a bit more coherent, comparable to the main camera's performance, and more realistic.
But, in another twist of events, night shots with the Edge 2023's ultra-wide camera are actually... better? They are definitely sharper towards the middle of the image, compared to what the Pixel 8 did. And the edges are hazy on both cameras, so we can just give this win to the Motorola.
So, do the 32 megapixels in the Edge 2023 give me super-detailed selfies? Not quite. Under the bright sunlight, the Motorola selfie looks like it smoothened my skin quite a lot. I mean, it's not flattering, but the Pixel 8 captured all the wrinkles and dimples in my skin. And, at the risk of sounding like a broken record — the Motorola gives me a lot of oversharpening again, evident in my beard.
Indoors, however, the Pixel 8 gave me a weird pink face, which looks weird. At night, the Motorla is doing way too much noise reduction and my face looks hazy. The Pixel held it together much, much better.
Video Quality
On video, we can see that the Motorola doesn't deal that great with high dynamics, burning out the sun spots on the pavement. And its stabilization is not quite as good as the Pixel's. Then, details look sharped on the Pixel and the digital zoom — while it's not great — is better on the Pixel.
Audio Quality and Haptics
The Motorola Edge 2023 has surprisingly good speakers, considering its shape, size, and price point. The drivers are loud and meaty — they can distort at max volume, sure, but you don't need to crank them up to max volume. The Pixel 8 speakers are not bad, but they are a bit bland and not as loud.
The haptics on both phones are very precise and pleasing. It seems that Motorola knows its vibration is great, because it's amped up by default — very pronounced and reassuring as we are tapping along. The Google Pixel 8 is also very sure of itself, with every element in the interface clicking and clacking, to a point that we feel like some of the feedback isn't necessary. But overall, very nice haptics.
Battery Life and Charging
Both are dependable
The Google Pixel 8 has a slightly larger battery at 4,575 mAh against the 4,400 mAh in the Motorola. And, in our battery tests, this difference is reflected by 90 minutes more endurance with YouTube playlists, and a massive 4 hours more in the web browser. We assume the latter is also due to software optimizations — that's a massive difference. But, in gaming, both last about the same.
How do these raw numbers translate to real life use? We'd say we felt comfortable and confident with both phones here. A full day on a single charge is what we'd expect and we didn't feel pressured by low battery percentages.
But even if you do end up in that scenario, Motorola has an ace up its sleeve — its 68 W charger. Which gets shipped to you in the box, with the phone — what a novel concept. The Pixel 8's fast charging caps out at 27 W. But, surprisingly, it's not that much slower:
For 15 minutes of charge — which is basically the most critical point and fast chargers should deliver the most power in that period — we actually don't see much difference in performance. Yes, the Pixel 8 gets 6% less power, but in the grand scheme of things, that's not a huge leap for the Motorola. Interestingly, the Motorola Edge 2023 wins at full charge — it's 30 minutes faster to hit 100%, and being able to fully charge your phone in less than an hour is definitely a huge benefit!
Alternatively, you can plop these phones on a wireless charger when you are just hanging around your desk. And, interestingly enough, the Motorola is much slower to hit 100% in this scenario.
Specs Comparison
These are two phones that differ quite a bit — on the outside and on the inside. That said, here's the inside:
Specs
Motorola Edge 2023
Google Pixel 8
Dimensions
6.24 x 2.83 x 0.30 inches (158.4 x 72 x 7.6 mm)
5.93 x 2.79 x 0.35 inches (150.5 x 70.8 x 8.9 mm)
Weight
5.93 oz (168.0 g)
6.60 oz (187.0 g)
Screen
6.6 in, P-OLED, 2400 x 1080 144 Hz, 1,200 nits peak
6.2 in, OLED, 2400 x 1080 144 Hz, 1,200 nits peak
Processor
MediaTek Dimensity 7030 8-core, 2.5 GHz
Google Tensor G3 9-core, 2.91 GHz
RAM, Storage and Price
8 GB RAM, 256 GB UFS 3.1
8 GB RAM, 128 GB UFS 3.1
Cameras
50 MP main 13 MP ultra-wide 32 MP front
50 MP Main 12 MP ultra-wide 10.5 MP front
Battery Size
4,400 mAh
4,575 mAh
Charging Speeds
68 W wired 15 W wireless
27 W wired 18 W wireless
The Motorola Edge 2023 is at least more generous with the storage — we get 256 GB of space, which should last you quite a lot of time. Especially since you won't be filling it up with 8K video clips. The 128 GB of the Pixel 8 is still spacious, but there's no comparison here — it's the more expensive phone with half the storage.
Summary and Final Verdict
In day-to-day use, the Motorola Edge 2023 treated us just fine. Which is why we have no trouble recommending this phone — so long as you find it at a discount. We find the MSRP of $600 to be a bit high, but seeing as the phone launched immediately into a discount, maybe Motorola plans to offer deals on it often. If you want a stylish phone with a pretty screen and good speakers, that runs stable for casual smartphone usage — the Motorola Edge 2023 is great!
The Pixel 8, however, offers a bit more. A better camera, better video for sure, faster performance, the Google Android experience, 7 years of updates (vs 2 on the Motorola)... it just sounds like the better phone for your money. Then again, the Pixel 8 costs $700 and doesn't drop anywhere near $350 during sales periods. If you can spend a bit more and want a phone that will last you for a long, long time (fingers crossed, we don't have a crystal ball here) — we'd say the Pixel 8 is, logically, the better purchase.
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Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work. Whether it's writing articles on an iPad Pro, recording band rehearsals with multiple phones, or exploring the potential of mobile gaming through services like GeForce Now and Steam Link, Preslav's approach is hands-on and innovative. His balanced perspective allows him to appreciate both Android and iOS ecosystems, focusing on performance, camera quality, and user experience over brand loyalty.
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