Motorola Edge battery test complete: measuring the Snapdragon 765 battery drain

The Motorola Edge is a phone with a bold design where its screen overflows like a waterfall over the edge of the device (hence the name), but it is also a phone that ranks as one of the most affordable 5G handsets out there and it is the first phone powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 chip that we get to test. It comes with a 4,500mAh battery and a display that defaults to a 90Hz refresh rate for a smoother experience. So how does it do in terms of battery life?

We have now completed our battery test for the Motorola Edge and the results are in, but before we dive deeper, first, a few details. 

The Snapdragon 765 chip inside the Motorola Edge is particularly interesting. One of the reasons why is that it has an integrated 5G modem and is rumored to also power the upcoming Pixel 5 series this fall. And looking at the specs for this chip, we notice a vast amount of supported bands: basically, the chip supports all of the low-band and mid-band 5G frequencies used by AT&T and T-Mobile, plus a bunch more, meaning that it will work with 5G networks across most of the world. 

It does not, however, support mmWave 5G frequencies (the ones that Verizon is using exclusively at the moment), but coverage for those frequencies is still extremely limited anyway. Of course, since this is a 7xx series Qualcomm chip, and not an 8xx one, it means it doesn't quite deliver flagship grade performance, but rather more of an upper mid-range. We ought to say that Motorola has not mentioned anything about US availability of this phone yet, though, so there's that.

With all of that in mind, let's take a look at how the Motorola Edge performed in our battery life test!

First, we start with our browsing battery test. This is our lightest test and it shows what kind of battery users can expect just browsing the web and social media. The Motorola Edge is set to an Auto refresh rate by default, which means that it will use the faster 90Hz refresh rate in places like the browser, so this test was essentially performed at 90Hz.

And the results are quite decent, even if not record breaking.

With a score of 11 hours and 9 minutes, the Motorola Edge battery life is on par with that of the OnePlus 8, another phone in a similar price range, but equipped with the more powerful Snapdragon 865 chip.

The Motorola Edge also beats the Pixel 4 XL on this test by an hour, and it also tops the OnePlus 8 Pro by a bit, but it's not quite as long lasting as the Galaxy S20 Ultra (in 60Hz mode) or iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Our next battery test is about YouTube video streaming and how quickly it drains the battery.

And we have a surprise here: the Motorola Edge is out there with the very best in terms of YouTube battery life, take a look at the scores:

With a result of 10 hours and 29 minutes, the Edge is about as good as the latest Samsung phones which are traditionally holding the top spots in this test. It's on par with the S20 series, and even beating the S20 Plus.

And it lasts significantly longer than OnePlus phones and iPhones. Great job, Motorola!

Finally, we have our 3D gaming battery test which puts the GPU to work and provides a different perspective on battery life, one for the gamers.

In this test, the Motorola Edge performed just decently, but it did not last nearly as long as other phones.

The OnePlus 8 series for example with their Snapdragon 865 chips stand at the very top of the rankings here with a battery life of more than 10 hours, while the Motorola Edge comes in with a score of 7 hours and 36 minutes. This is about on par with the latest iPhone 11 series, though, and it is not a bad score, just not a great one either.

At the end of the day, we can say that the Motorola Edge battery life is quite good: the phone performed above average on our light use test (browsing), it was right there with the very best on our YouTube video streaming test, and it was just decent, but not great on our 3D gaming test.

All of this paints a good picture for the new Snapdragon 765 chip and its battery life as well: the chip seems to do a good job with power management and we are definitely excited to see it in even more phones. After all, not everyone needs a flagship these days and the Snapdragon 765 will be sufficiently fast for many users.

What is your experience with the Motorola Edge and its battery life? And what do you think about the new Snapdragon 765 chip? We are looking forward to your comments right below.