Moto Edge 50 Ultra : You know that friend who shows up to the party wearing something completely unexpected and somehow pulls it off? That’s the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra with its wooden back.

Yes, wooden. In 2024, when everyone’s chasing titanium dreams, Motorola went full lumberjack chic. After a month with this quirky flagship, I’m both charmed and slightly confused.

Design: Touch Wood for Good Luck

Let’s address the elephant – or should I say tree – in the room. The Nordic Wood variant I tested doesn’t just look like wood; it feels remarkably close to the real thing.

Motorola swears it’s not actual timber (probably for the best, considering what happened to my cutting board last summer), but the texture work is convincing enough to fool your fingers.

Beyond the party trick, this is a gorgeous device. At 197 grams and 8.6mm thick, it’s neither the lightest nor slimmest flagship around, but the curved edges and premium materials make it feel expensive.

The aluminum frame is sandblasted smooth, and that camera bump? It slopes gently into the back panel rather than jutting out like a shelf. Smart move, Motorola.

The vegan leather options in Peach Fuzz and Forest Grey look equally stunning, though they lack the conversation-starting power of fake wood.

Build quality feels rock solid with IP68 water resistance and Gorilla Glass Victus protecting that curved 6.7-inch display.

Display: Bright Ideas, Some Dimmer Than Others

The 6.7-inch pOLED panel packs serious specs: 1220 x 2712 resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, and a retina-searing 2,500 nits peak brightness. In practice, it’s a stunner.

Colors pop without looking radioactive, and that 144Hz makes scrolling through Twitter – sorry, X – feel like butter sliding across hot toast.

But here’s where Motorola’s cost-cutting shows. No LTPO technology means the refresh rate can’t dynamically adjust to save battery. It’s locked at either 60Hz or 144Hz, with nothing in between.

For a phone pushing £850, that’s disappointing. Even more baffling? No always-on display. In 2024, that’s like selling a car without cruise control.

The Pantone validation is more than marketing fluff though. Colors look accurate, especially skin tones in photos and videos.

HDR10+ content shines, making Netflix binges particularly enjoyable on that curved screen – assuming you don’t mind occasional accidental touches from your palm.

Performance: Good Enough, But Just Barely

Here’s where things get interesting. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 inside is essentially a slightly neutered version of Qualcomm’s flagship chip.

It’s like ordering a V8 engine and getting a turbocharged V6 – still fast, but you know what you’re missing.

In daily use, you won’t notice. Apps launch instantly, multitasking is smooth with that massive 16GB of RAM, and even heavy games run well.

But fire up some benchmarks or really push it with intensive tasks, and the difference becomes apparent. AnTuTu scores hover around 1.7 million – respectable, but behind true flagships.

The real star here is storage. One terabyte. That’s 1,000GB for those keeping score. In an era where most flagships start at 256GB, Motorola just said “hold my beer” and quadrupled it.

I’ve been trying to fill it for weeks. I’ve downloaded my entire Spotify library, shot hours of 4K video, and installed every game I own. Still barely scratched 200GB.

Cameras: Triple Threat, Mostly

The camera setup impresses on paper: 50MP main with OIS, 50MP ultrawide that doubles as macro, and a 64MP periscope telephoto with 3x optical zoom. That’s serious hardware for the price.

In good light, results match the specs. The main camera captures crisp, detailed shots with natural colors – that Pantone partnership paying dividends again.

The periscope zoom is the standout feature. Having true 3x optical zoom transforms your photography options, and it remains surprisingly sharp even at 6x.

Push to 10x and things get soft, but it’s still usable for those “moon shot” moments we all attempt.

Low light performance is decent but not exceptional. The main camera handles darkness well thanks to OIS and competent night mode processing. The ultrawide struggles more, getting noisy and losing detail quickly.

Video tops out at 4K/60fps with impressive stabilization. The 50MP selfie camera with autofocus is overkill in the best way – your Instagram stories have never looked sharper.

Battery Life: The Speed Demon

The 4,500mAh battery sounds small by 2024 standards, and battery life reflects that. Expect 5-6 hours of screen time with mixed use – enough to get through a day, but barely.

Heavy users will be hunting for chargers by dinner time.

But then there’s the charging speed. Sweet mother of Tesla, this thing charges fast. The included 125W charger (yes, included!) rockets from 0-100% in about 21 minutes with Boost mode enabled.

I timed 0-50% at just 8 minutes. The phone gets properly hot during this Formula 1 pit stop, but when you’re running late and forgot to charge overnight, it’s a lifesaver.

Wireless charging hits 50W – faster than most phones charge with cables. There’s even 10W reverse wireless charging for earbuds or emergencies.

Motorola clearly decided if the battery won’t last forever, at least it’ll refill at warp speed.

Software: Clean, But Limited

Motorola’s Android 14 implementation stays refreshingly clean. No duplicate apps, minimal bloatware, just a few useful Moto additions like gesture controls and Ready For desktop mode. The interface feels snappy and logical.

The AI features are… fine? Style Sync generates wallpapers from your photos, Magic Canvas creates images from prompts.

Nothing revolutionary, but harmless additions that some might enjoy. What’s less harmless is the update commitment: three years of OS updates, four years of security patches. When Samsung and Google offer seven years, Motorola’s policy feels outdated.

Moto Edge 50 Ultra Verdict: So Close to Greatness

The Edge 50 Ultra is frustratingly close to being exceptional. That wooden back? Conversation starter. The display? Gorgeous. Charging speeds? Insane.

One terabyte of storage? Chef’s kiss. But then you hit the compromises – missing display features, shorter battery life, limited software support.

At £850, it’s priced below flagships from Samsung and Apple, but not by enough to ignore its shortcomings.

Wait for sales though – Motorola phones drop faster than crypto in a bear market – and suddenly this becomes very interesting at £650-700.

The Edge 50 Ultra proves Motorola can still innovate and surprise. It’s not perfect, but in a sea of boring black rectangles, sometimes different is enough. Just maybe keep a charger handy.