Last year's Motorola Edge was a perfectly performing 5G smartphone, but it was spoiled by a lackluster camera that was not up to par with rival models. Clearly, Motorola does not want that to happen again with this year's version of its mid-range smartphone.

To that end, the Motorola Edge (2021) announced today (August 19) boasts a 108MP main camera, which is comparable to the primary sensor on Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra. The key difference, however, is that the Motorola Edge (2021) is priced $500 less than Samsung's tricked-out flagship device.

The enhanced camera on the latest Motorola Edge is just one way Motorola hopes its phone will stand out in a crowded field of sub-$700 5G phones. In addition to the improved camera, the Motorola Edge (2021) has a 6.8-inch display with a refresh rate common in gaming phones and a multi-day battery life that has become the standard for Motorola devices.

All of this is packed into a phone that debuts for $699, and Motorola is taking $200 off this price for a limited time. The phone will be available on September 2 at Best Buy, B&H Photo, Amazon.com, and Motorola.com. In a few months, the Motorola Edge (2021) will be available at both Verizon and Spectrum, but Canadian shoppers will have to wait until later this year.

The new Motorola Edge is the North American version of the Motorola Edge 20, which the handset maker announced for Europe last month. The U.S. version of the Edge incorporates elements of both the Motorola Edge 20 and Edge 20 Pro, with both models featuring a 144Hz refresh rate and a 108MP main camera. However, unlike the higher-end Edge 20 Pro, which features the Snapdragon 870 system-on-chip, the Motorola Edge (2021) follows the standard Edge 20 with the Snapdragon 778G. [The Snapdragon 778G is a powerful enough chip and has built-in 5G connectivity. However, it does not offer the kind of performance one would expect from Qualcomm's 8-series chipset. Still, Motorola claims that the Snapdragon 778G will improve the Motorola Edge's graphics performance by 55% over last year's model, and AI performance will be twice as fast.

Most likely to attract attention is the camera setup of the Motorola Edge (2021), with a 108MP main sensor, plus an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera with a 119-degree viewing angle and a depth sensor for more stylish portrait shots. On the front there is a 32MP selfie cam.

Camera features offered by the new phone include a dual-capture mode that allows the rear camera and the selfie camera to shoot simultaneously. This has been featured on previous Motorola phones, but according to the company, now you choose two of the rear cameras if you prefer. Dual capture works on the Motorola Edge for both video and still images.

The new low-light selfie AI feature is automatically turned on to determine if there are areas of the selfie that could benefit from image enhancement. This means that on-board image processing can remove shadows and graininess that may negatively impact low-light photos.

On the video side, the Motorola Edge can record 4K video and shoot super slow-motion video four times slower than previous Moto devices. The audio zoom feature directs the onboard microphone to focus when zooming in, blocking out ambient noise.

It has been some time since Motorola ranked among the best camera phone picks. But with the Motorola Edge (2021), it is clear that this phone maker is looking to change that.

As noted above, the Motorola Edge's LCD panel offers a 144 Hz refresh rate that dynamically adjusts based on what you are doing on the phone's screen. Activities such as scrolling will speed up the refresh rate, while static activities will slow down the screen to preserve battery life.

Considering that the Galaxy S21 series and the latest OnePlus 9 flagship both offer 120 Hz refresh rates, the display of the lower-priced Motorola Edge (2021) should be a rather impressive sight.

The new Motorola model runs on a 5,000 mAh battery, up from the 4,500 mAh of the original Motorola Edge. This model lasted more than 12 hours in our battery test, in which it was allowed to surf the web continuously, and ranked on our Best Battery Life list. We have high hopes for the Motorola Edge (2021) and its larger battery. When charging, the new Motorola Edge supports a 30W charge.

Motorola is also touting that the Edge is compatible with the company's Ready For program, which allows it to wirelessly connect to a monitor and turn the phone into a portable PC. Motorola promises two years of major Android software updates and two years of regular security patches. Given that the phone ships with Android 11, the soon-to-be-released Android 12 update will handle one of these updates immediately. Compared to other companies like Samsung, OnePlus, and Google, Motorola's update policy is less impressive.

We liked a lot about last year's Motorola Edge and its more expensive Motorola Edge Plus. The problem is that these models are hardly differentiated from other top Android devices. With the Motorola Edge (2021), Motorola seems to be making an effort to enhance the features of its top model lineup. We will see how successful this handset maker has been when we get the new Motorola Edge for testing.