Motorola Edge 70 Max review
Decent results from unimpressive hardware
The Motorola Edge 70 Max's top priorities didn't include the camera system, and the hardware you'll find there is relatively unremarkable. The main camera is solid midrange material, no complaints there, but the lack of a telephoto and the fairly basic ultrawide are at least a little bit at odds with the phone's price tag.
The main camera on the back is shared with the Edge 70 Pro, and it's based on the Sony Lytia 710 sensor. It's nothing overly fancy, but it's not half bad either.
For the ultrawide, Motorola went with an 8MP sensor, which is hardly exciting. At least they fitted a module with an AF capability - so it's not the absolute most basic 8MP ultrawide.
The front-facing camera uses a GalaxyCore sensor with a 32MP nominal resolution for 8MP binned selfies. This one is missing AF, though in fairness it probably would have been too much to ask for.
- Wide (main): 50MP Sony Lytia 710 (IMX 917, 1/1.56", 1.0µm-2.0µm); 24mm, f/1.8, OIS, PDAF(8.5cm - ∞); 4K60 video recording.
- Ultrawide: 8MP OmniVision OV08F (1/4.0", 1.12µm); 13mm, f/2.2, PDAF; 4K30.
- Front camera: 32MP GalaxyCore GC32E1 (1/3.1", 0.7µm-1.4µm); 22mm, f/2.2, fixed focus; 4K30/1080p60.
Daylight photo quality
Main camera
The Edge 70 Max's main camera captures good daytime shots overall. They are sharp and detailed, but the detail can have a bit of a questionable quality to it, with a heavily sharpened, gritty rendition of greenery - it's not bad, it's just... a little weird. Exposures run a touch on the bright side, and dynamic range is alright, but not particularly wide - again, it's a case of 'not bad, just not particularly great either'. White balance is hard to fault though, and colors are looking good.
Daylight samples, main camera (1x)
Portraits have lively skin tones, and while they do show a bit of that grittiness in facial detail, it's not a bad look. The conservative bokeh effect looks pretty great too.
Human subjects, main camera (1x): Photo mode • Portrait mode
Full-res photos look even brighter than the binned ones, with almost washed-out shadows, particularly in outdoor scenes. We wouldn't say you can extract a whole lot of extra detail from them either.
Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 50MP
2x photos are actually pretty good - there's plenty of detail, which may not be rendered in the most natural way, but it's not too processed-looking either. Some areas of relatively uniform color, mostly in the highlight region, can look soft and flattened though.
Daylight samples, main camera (2x)
2x headshots are very good, we dare say. Detail looks nice; the portrait mode bokeh is on point.
Human subjects, main camera (2x): Photo mode • Portrait mode
Ultrawide camera
The ultrawide photos are decent for a low-mid-tier device, though perhaps not quite competitive at the price Motorola is asking. Either way, they have very good detail, considering the 8MP resolution; dynamic range is alright, and colors look good. The AF capability is most welcome too, ensuring you can get nearby subjects in sharp focus.
Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x)
Close-ups
That autofocusing ultrawide comes in handy for the Edge 70 Max's macro mode, which gets you a 20mm-equivalent crop from the otherwise 13-ish mm ultrawide camera. The photos aren't exactly pin-sharp, but they're decent.
Close-up samples, ultrawide camera, macro mode
Still, we'd rather shoot our close-ups at 2x on the main camera at minimum focusing distance (around 8.5cm) - the reproduction ratio may be slightly smaller than what you'd get from the ultrawide's macro mode, but the quality is higher and you get to be at a more sensible distance from your subject.
Close-up samples, main camera (2x)
Selfies
Selfies from the Edge 70 Max are pretty great. They have a bit of a heavily sharpened detail rendition, but it's still very good detail. Colors are excellent, dynamic range is wide, low-light results are also unusually nice.
Selfie samples
Low-light photo quality
Main camera
The Edge 70 Max's low-light photos at 1x are very good. The tendency for slightly brighter exposures works well for nighttime shooting, delivering easily likable shots with well-developed shadows, which doesn't really happen at the expense of highlight preservation - the phone balances those out nicely. Detail is rendered well, the sharpening levels being quite reasonable, particularly so for a non-flagship camera. The auto white balance shows no unhealthy leanings and saturation looks pretty well judged to our eyes. The dedicated Night Vision mode didn't produce any meaningful differences - the full auto does what it needs to when it needs to.
Low-light samples, main camera (1x)
The 2x zoom photos are noticeably softer and have more liberal sharpening at play, though we still find them quite decent.
Low-light samples, main camera (2x)
Ultrawide camera
The ultrawide's low-light photos are decent, all things considered. Shadows are relatively soft, yes, and there can be the occasional white balance misstep (that third sample is way off). That said, dynamic range is good, colors are generally pleasing, and detail is alright when there's at least some light to work with. Not class-leading performance or anything, but acceptable nonetheless.
Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x)
Photo quality verdict
The Edge 70 Max's camera system is relatively lacksluster - the price tag doesn't sit well with an 8MP ultrawide and the lack of a telephoto camera. Still, within the limitations of the hardware on board, the phone does quite well - main camera results are very good in daytime and at night, and 2x zoom isn't half bad either. The ultrawide does well during the day and is also usable at night, plus it has autofocus, though it does still feel like a compromise. Selfies, meanwhile, are praiseworthy, even at night.
Video quality
The Edge 70 Max can record video up to 4K60 on its main camera, while the ultrawide maxes out at 4K30. The selfie camera can do 4K30 or 1080p60 if you'd be willing to trade resolution for frame rate. You can enable the h.265 (HEVC) codec in settings (otherwise the default is h.264), and you can also shoot in HDR10+. There's always-on video stabilization and there's also the Horizon lock mode, which locks you into 1080p30 on the ultrawide. There's no Pro video mode or other fancy capabilities, though.
You can hit '> play' below and use the '>| next' button to advance through the playlist of all video samples, or you can watch the full playlist on YouTube.
Main camera videos are alright, but they do have their flaws. They're needlessly contrasty and have somewhat limited dynamic range, which gives them a bit of a lower-end overall look. Colors are good, even if a little conservative with saturation. Detail is about average. The 2x zoom level clips are on the soft side.
The ultrawide does its own thing in video recording, capturing warmer and more saturated colors alongside a way more sensible tone curve compared to the main camera - it's a better overall look, we reckon. Detail is also just about average.
Video screengrabs, daylight: 0.5x • 1x • 2x
In the dark, the main camera does an okay job - it manages to hold on to some detail, and you get good shadow development, though highlights are harsher than usual. The ultrawide, on the other hand, is more or less unusable.
Video screengrabs, low light: 0.5x • 1x • 2x
Stabilization proved excellent in our experience. We got stable results with smooth pans when shooting from a stationary position. Walking shake was also ironed out well on the main camera.
Video quality verdict
The Edge 70 Max's video recording feature set is fairly limited, the highlight being the HDR10+ support and the main camera's 4K60 capability. That main camera doesn't exactly shine in good light, though it does maintain a decent level of quality at night. The ultrawide, in contrast, is pretty good in daytime and barely usable in the dark.
