Motorola's Viva Magenta Edge 30 Fusion is fun, and fun is good

There's really no sensible argument for the Viva Magenta Motorola Edge 30 Fusion. It's $799 and doesn't include wireless charging, an IP68 rating, or a telephoto camera. You should get at least two of these things in 2023 for $800.

A lot of that fun factor has to do with the Edge 30 Fusion's best and most obvious feature: its color. I think it's pink, but my sources (lots of people on Twitter) tell me it's actually red. And not just any red: Viva Magenta, the official 2023 Pantone Color of the Year.

Pantone uses some forced alliteration when it says that it "vibrates with power and strength". It apparently "inspires our spirit, helping us to build up our inner strength." I've been using the phone for a few days now, and I can't say whether I feel more or less excited in my soul, but I've only recently plucked up the courage to deep-clean the inside of my refrigerator. Has my exposure to Viva Magenta helped me? Who can say?

I've been using the phone for a few days, and I can't say whether I'm more or less enthusiastic

In any case, this pink phone stands out from most other modern smartphones, regardless of whether it builds internal power or not. At any given time, I have a small pile of phones on my desk, and four out of five of them are black. Occasionally a forest green or midnight blue will enter the mix, but nothing as attention-grabbing as Viva Magenta. It's a welcome change from the muted rectangles.

The magenta variant of the Edge 30 Fusion also comes with a pair of colour-coordinated wireless earbuds. When was the last time you bought a phone that came with wireless earbuds in the box? Maybe never, when is that. They're not exactly top notch, but they're surprisingly good.

Noise cancellation is on, and both the phone and the buds support Dolby Atmos sound, which is claimed to deliver "clearer dialogue, clearer details and more immersive sound". It sounds like some marketing gibberish, but you know what? It is very attractive. The sound felt richer and more immersive on an episode of White Lotus as I watched rich people drown in their problems. Color impressed me.

To sweeten the deal, the back of the Edge 30 Fusion sports a leather-like finish, which not only looks good but also makes the phone comfortable to hold in one hand. One drawback: The porous surface seems to hang onto strong odors more willingly than an all-glass device. The loaner unit I was using had a strong perfume smell somewhere along the way, and it took a few days to dissipate. I don't believe Viva Magenta has a multi-sensory feature; It's definitely not soul-galvanizing. Anyway, I asked Motorola about this, and the company didn't respond to me.

Apart from cosmetics, the Edge 30 Fusion is also a good phone. It features a Snapdragon 888 Plus processor with blazing fast performance, a fancy 6.55-inch OLED with 144Hz refresh rate, and fast 68W wired charging (cable and charging brick included). There's a 50-megapixel fixed main camera, a 32-megapixel selfie camera with heavy face-smoothing by default, and a 13-megapixel ultrawide. It's all very well, if you can't get the best for the money.

However, I can confidently say that this is the Viva Magenta-est phone you can buy at any price. It's been fun to toy around with a pink phone for a while, and when I posted about it on Twitter, a lot of you thought it might as well. And if you're not sold on magenta, well, there's always next year.