Over time, dash cams have evolved from being a second pair of eyes while driving to all-in-one car security devices. Yes, they can help identify hoon drivers on the road and produce entertaining social media clips, but they’re just as handy for when your car is parked and left unattended. That’s the big focus for Navman this year, having recently launched its 2026 MiVue dash cam range in Australia.
According to the dash cam brand, 47 per cent of Australian drivers have experienced vehicle damage while away from the car. Unfortunately, not everyone is left with evidence to act upon, leaving them in the lurch when it comes to paying for repairs.
This high-end model includes an upgraded three-camera system in addition to a ‘Smart Parking Mode’. It records anything that happens while the car is parked, like a stray shopping trolley careening into the side door, keeping an eye on your ride at all times.
Even the cheaper MiVue 280 Safety supports the Smart Parking Mode when paired with Navman’s $59 hard-wiring kit, although you’d only see anything that happened to the front of the car.
Storing and saving footage should be easier with the 2026 MiVue range, too. New this year is what Navman calls an ‘Extended Recording Mode’. According to the brand, it reduces file sizes by roughly 50 per cent while retaining video resolution. As a result, you can store more hours of footage on a microSD card, likely to come in handy if you keep the dash cam running while parked.
MiVue 2026 range release date and price
Navman’s 2026 MiVue dash cams are available in Australia across various tech and automotive retailers now. Here’s how much each of the new dash cams costs:
MiVue 280 Safety: $189
MiVue Smart True 4K: $269
MiVue Smart True 4K DC: $369
MiVue Smart True 4K Surround: $529
Each of the 4K dash cams comes with the 12V hard wiring kit required to power the continuous smart parking feature. As mentioned before, the MiVue 280 Safety requires an extra purchase, but it still remains a relatively cost-effective alternative.
Keen to find a better deal on your home internet? We’ve compared the cheapest NBN plans from many of the biggest telcos to find the best deals for you in each speed category.
One of the best ways to save money on your internet bill is to shop around frequently. Many internet service providers (ISPs) offer introductory deals, including generous discounts for the first six months. Afterwards, it’s always worth comparing providers so you’re not left paying more than you should. Most ISPs don’t use lock-in contracts, making it relatively easy to swap to a better-value plan.
After the big NBN speed upgrade, it’s now easier than ever to enjoy fast internet at decent prices. Some older NBN plans got five times faster for the same price. Not a bad deal for those eligible.
With that in mind, here are the current cheapest NBN plans in Australia from a wide range of telcos. We also have some affordable tips and tricks on how to maximise your current internet speeds. Looking for a new phone plan, too? Compare the cheapest SIM plans to save even more money.
SpinTel currently sells the cheapest NBN home internet plan in Australia, with a discounted rate of $39 per month for the first six months on its NBN 25 plan. Compared to the telco’s standard pricing, that’s an overall discount of $155.70.
Take a look at the widget below for more of the cheapest NBN plans. We update this article monthly, but the widget updates automatically, giving you up-to-date and accurate information.
Many of the retailers display promotional prices aimed at new and returning customers. These offers generally involve paying a discounted rate for six months before reverting to a standard price. To view the details of promotional offers, click on the green text labelled ‘deal’, which will also show the standard price.
Each plan featured here includes unlimited data. Some providers let you save a few dollars every month by choosing a plan with a data cap. If you know you don’t need much data, use this search tool to find plans with monthly data allowances.
NBN 12 plans
Aimed at people who only need the internet for browsing online and checking emails, an NBN 12 plan isn’t blazingly fast but saves money.
TPG currently sells the cheapest NBN 12 plan at $54.99 per month for the first six months. Its subsequent full price of $74.99 costs more than many NBN 25 plans, however.
For the most part, you’d be better off scrolling down and looking at faster speeds available for the same price or less. Not many telcos sell NBN 12 plans these days, so there’s little competition for lower prices.
NBN 25 plans
Suited for streaming videos in HD and basic online tasks, an NBN 25 plan gives you a bit more flexibility and much more value for money.
As mentioned above, SpinTel’s NBN 25 plan is the cheapest, priced at $39 per month for the first six months. Once the discounted period ends, the plan costs $64.95 per month ongoing.
After that, Moose NBN, Tangerine, and Superloop all have discounted NBN 25 plans priced at $45 or less per month. Looking beyond discounts, Flip is one of the cheapest, charging $59.90 per month once its $48 promotional price ends.
Without discounts, most of the cheapest NBN 25 plans cost between $65 and $70 per month, so it’s a relatively cost-effective speed tier.
NBN 50 plans
Traditionally Australia’s most popular internet plan, NBN 50 balances value with performance. These plans support 4K video streaming and can sustain multiple simultaneous users.
Moose NBN and Tangerine currently sell the cheapest NBN 50 plans — discounted to $59.80 and $59.90, respectively — a meagre 10 cents separating the two. Those discounted prices last for the first six months. Afterwards, they cost $83.80 and $84.90 apiece.
Most full-priced NBN 50 plans can be found for around $85 per month, though, so it’s worth shopping around.
NBN 100 and NBN 500 plans
This is where the NBN speed upgrade starts to kick in. For customers with Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) or Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) connections, the NBN 100 tier becomes NBN 500 plans at no extra cost.
Both sets of speeds are ideal for streaming multiple 4K videos and downloading files quickly. If you get 500Mbps speeds, those downloads will be five times quicker. Only slightly more expensive than the 50Mbps tier, NBN 100 plans are still good value for most people; NBN 500 is even better value, given the small gap in pricing.
To start with, let’s look at the cheapest NBN 100 plans — these speeds apply to those with Fibre to the Node (FTTN), Fibre to the Building (FTTB), and Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) connections:
At the moment, multiple telcos sell temporarily discounted NBN 100 plans for $65 per month or less. Included among them are Moose NBN ($63.80), Tangerine ($63.90), TPG ($64.99), iiNet ($64.99), and Belong ($65).
Specifically looking at standard pricing, the cheapest NBN 100 plans start from around $90 per month. Flip is a rare exception, selling its plan at a flat rate of $83.90 per month.
If you have a direct fibre connection, here are the cheapest NBN 500 plans:
As you can see, the prices are more or less the same as NBN 100, which makes it pretty good value for those who can get NBN 500 plans.
Like above, Moose NBN, Tangerine, TPG, iiNet, and Belong all cost $65 or less per month for the first six months. As long as you have the technology to support faster speeds, the prices for NBN 500 plans are no more expensive than the slower NBN 100 tier.
NBN 750 plans
500Mbps download speeds aren’t fast enough for you? For even faster speeds, you could try NBN 750, which was NBN 250 before the wholesale speed upgrade. This is the tier you consider when you want to download the latest video game or save a whole bunch of media for offline viewing.
TPG and iiNet have the current cheapest NBN 750 deals, charging $69.99 per month for the first six months. After six months, both telcos charge $99.99 per month.
Elsewhere, Dodo charges $79.99 per month (a $20 monthly discount) for an entire year, making it one of the most cost-effective long-term deals. Without factoring in discounts, expect to pay between $100 and $110 per month for most NBN 750 plans.
NBN 1000 plans
NBN 1000 plans now come with 100Mbps upload speeds, giving you fast downloads and a strong upload rate. Consider these plans if you regularly work with large files, like content creators, and don’t want to waste time waiting for downloads or uploads to finish.
You’ll notice that not every telco promises 1,000Mbps download speeds during peak times. That’s because the NBN speed upgrade is still relatively new, so the industry is still collecting real-world performance data. Rest assured, though, that these plans are fast.
For now, the cheapest NBN 1000 plan comes from TPG and iiNet, priced at $79.99 per month for the first six months ($109.99 afterwards). For one cent extra, Belong costs $80 per month as part of a six-month promotion.
Longer term, SpinTel is one of the cheapest NBN 1000 plans, costing $99.95 per month once the $89 discounted rate ends. Otherwise, most NBN 1000 plans cost upwards of $110 per month.
NBN 2000 plans
One of the new additions following the speed upgrade, NBN 2000 plans, also known as ‘Hyperfast’, is for absolute power users. Capable of handling multiple 8K video streams and downloading large files in the blink of an eye, it’s much faster than anything previously available to the wider Australian public.
Because it’s new and a bit on the pricier side, not many ISPs sell NBN 2000 plans just yet. Still, there are some discounts available, with prices already varying between telcos.
Superloop currently has the cheapest NBN 2000 plan at $145 per month. That price lasts for six months before increasing to $165 per month.
With not as much competition as other speed tiers, some NBN 2000 plans are as expensive as $189 per month.
What you need to know
If you want broadband internet in Australia, your main and most reliable choice is via the National Broadband Network (NBN). Although the NBN provides the internet backbone, it does not sell plans directly to the public. Instead, telecommunication vendors package up retail and business plans, which include different features and levels of customer support.
NBN availability
The NBN is available to all Australians, but the way you access the NBN may be different. This might include a fixed cable into your home, wireless access via an antenna on your roof or a satellite dish.
To see what technology is available to you, start by visiting the NBN getting connected page. After entering your address, you will be shown the technology available at your address. You will also see which providers or NBN retailers sell access in your area. In Sydney alone, we were presented with 123 different retailers.
Speed and reliability
It is important to understand that the speed and reliability of your NBN plan can differ by retailer. Each buys internet capacity from the NBN. This capacity is then shared with a certain number of the retailers’ customers. This means that a retailer may have faster speeds in one suburb versus another based on how many customers are accessing the overall capacity. It’s always good to ask your neighbours who they are with and their experience with a particular NBN retailer.
It’s also worth checking the ACCC website regularly. They publish quarterly broadband performance results, measuring how well telcos deliver on advertised internet speeds. You want to be certain that you’ll get the speeds you pay for, so this is a good starting point.
Having good internet speed is more than just a fast broadband connection. For more, be sure to check out GadgetGuy’s guide to improving your internet for more information.
Which NBN plan?
When evaluating an NBN plan, consider the following criteria:
Data Limits – Is there a monthly download limit of data, or is the plan unlimited?
Download Speed – Best measured at its busiest in megabits per second (Mbps) typical evening speed. Is it enough to watch Netflix? (Netflix requires 10-25Mbps depending on resolution quality.) Larger households with members using the internet simultaneously will require higher download speeds.
Cost – How much do you pay each month, and is there a connection fee?
Contract – Are you locking yourself to a retailer for a period, or is it month-to-month?
Telephone – Is a fixed-line telephone service bundled into the plan?
Customer service – What hours are supported, and is it an Australian-located call centre?
Upload speed – Important for people who save large files online, like photos and videos.
Changing providers
If you wish to change internet providers, the process involves signing up with the new retailer in-store or online. You may receive a new Wi-Fi router, and you may have to return your old router to your previous retailer. The retailer-provided router is generally low quality but provides a fixed-line telephone connection if selected.
Your retailer might offer you an email address. Still, we recommend using a non-telco-specific email address, such as Gmail or Hotmail, allowing you to easily change NBN retailers.
The NBN changeover process can take less than an hour, but depending on the location and NBN technology, it could take a few days. To take advantage of introductory offers, you could swap your provider every six months.
Suppose you do not wish to leave your existing provider. In that case, you may be able to negotiate a better rate by comparing it to cheaper offerings.
GadgetGuy occasionally uses affiliate links and may receive a small commission from purchased products.
Combining the portability and convenience of a phone with the big screen and functionality of a laptop, a good tablet will serve you well. They’re powerful enough to get all your work done and look great for watching videos or browsing online. On the Android side of the fence, the Samsung Galaxy Tab series is one of the best options, and they’re even better when you can find some good deals.
As part of Samsung’s Mother’s Day sales, you can save up to $300 on the Galaxy Tab range. Now’s the perfect time to grab mum a gift she’ll use every day — or perhaps it’s time for an upgrade for yourself?
Either way, there’s a good bit of money to be saved at the moment. Samsung’s latest Galaxy Tab S11 range is nicely discounted, as are the well-priced Tab S10 Lite and Tab S10 FE tablets. Even better, they all come with an S Pen stylus for all your notetaking and drawing needs.
To save even more money, you can trade in your old tablet and get up to $580 off, on top of any existing discounts. It’s a good way to clear out some old tech while saving on newer and snazzier hardware.
Thin and powerful, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 is an excellent multimedia machine and work tablet. Its big and bright 11-inch screen is a treat to look at, using Samsung’s fanciest Dynamic AMOLED 2X display technology. Colours pop off the screen, and its high brightness makes outdoor viewing a breeze.
With the included new-look S Pen, you can jot down notes, draw sketches, and quickly access tools as you need them. The tablet’s impressively thin 5.5mm design makes it easy to take everywhere you go, whether for work or play.
Want to enjoy a big-screen tablet on a budget? Look no further than the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Lite.
Light on price, but not on features, the Galaxy Tab S10 Lite’s 10.9-inch screen is great for watching your favourite shows, getting work done, or doodling away with the included S Pen stylus.
It’s also incredibly easy to carry, with a thin 6.6mm design making the tablet fit into your life, not the other way around.
Great for students, the S10 Lite can help solve equations and neaten handwriting automatically thanks to the tablet’s built-in AI technology. It also lasts for hours at a time, with a large 8,000mAh battery and fast charging keeping you powered all day.
Smart, portable, and sleek, the Galaxy Tab S10 FE tablets include many of Samsung’s best features at an affordable price. Fast enough to keep up with your work and hobbies, these tablets are just as good at powering through your productivity needs as they are for watching movies by the pool. And if you accidentally drop the tablet in water, it’s not the end of the world — an IP68 rating means the Tab S10 FE can survive a quick dip.
Like many of Samsung’s Galaxy tablets, the Tab S10 FE supports a wide range of smart AI features, like Circle to Search and Gemini, to streamline everyday tasks. Saw a picture of an outfit, but can’t remember where it was from? Circle to Search will help you find it, while Gemini can give you all the details.
Available in either the 10.9-inch FE or the large 13.1-inch FE+ model, these tablets are a perfect middle ground of affordability, performance, and features.
GadgetGuy occasionally uses affiliate links and may receive a small commission from purchased products.
I wrote most of this article without touching a keyboard, and a little bit of editing. When UK phone brand Nothing recently announced ‘Essential Voice’, a feature that promises to upend traditional dictation, I was curious. Voice-to-text has been around for years, so how much could Nothing tangibly improve?
Based on my early tests, it has the potential to be the best phone dictation tool out there.
What is Essential Voice?
Available as a native tool within the phone’s keyboard as part of Nothing OS 4.1, Essential Voice transcribes spoken words into neat sentences, paragraphs, and dot points. Most native dictation tools, like the one you can use on an iPhone, transcribe everything you say verbatim.
Nothing claims that its latest feature cuts out ‘ums’, ‘ahs’, and any filler words
I tried using Essential Voice on the recent Nothing Phone (4a) Pro, but it wasn’t available at the time of testing (it’s meant to arrive by the end of the month). Fortunately, I had last year’s Nothing Phone (3) on hand, which is compatible.
Whenever the phone’s keyboard is active, tapping the symbol in the bottom-left corner or holding down the Essential Key activates Nothing’s new transcription feature. From there, you chat away, letting your stream of consciousness fly. After a few seconds, Essential Voice pastes the transcribed text, without any stutters or silences along the way.
However, unlike some dictation tools that operate locally, this tool uploads your audio to a server for processing. According to Nothing, recordings are “encrypted” and not stored on the company’s servers.
Based on the ‘AI Usage’ menu (located within Settings > Intelligence Toolkit), it appears that Essential Voice uses Google’s Gemini 3 Flash AI model to generate transcriptions. Unfortunately, that means no local processing, so no native transcriptions without an internet connection.
Essential Voice relies on cloud processing, so no offline functionality at this stage. Screenshot: Chris Button.
How well does it work?
It’s quite remarkable how well and how accurately Essential Voice works. It’s also quite quick, generating text within seconds. Even after I rambled on for a solid minute, text appeared within seconds, arranged in a neat and easy-to-read format.
While not perfect, Nothing’s dictation can reasonably figure out different trains of thought, separating chunks of text into paragraphs. I’ve dictated notes before on my iPhone that just end up being an overwhelming mass of letters, replete with filler words. By that measure, Essential Voice is great at accurately capturing what you say and instantly making it easy to parse.
An example of the unedited dictation in a Google Keep note. Screenshot: Chris Button.
One limitation I’ve found so far is needing to hold the Essential Key down the entire time while dictating longer notes. When I just pressed the button via the on-screen keyboard, the recording would end, and start processing the audio, whenever I went silent to gather my thoughts. Holding down the physical side button solved this problem, but my hand would get sore after a while.
On occasion, Essential Voice condensed some of what I said. Not in terms of summarising my words like some generative AI tools do, but instead placing some text in dot points as opposed to fully formed sentences.
More importantly, though, Essential Voice’s accuracy was impressively good. It nailed spelling, including the recognition and capitalisation of proper nouns. Cutting out gaps in speech stutters was also extremely helpful, as was the automatic sorting of paragraphs.
How Essential Voice could improve
Pretty much every modern device has some form of native dictation functionality. You can even download separate apps or subscribe to premium services that claim to be more accurate. What I like about Nothing’s take is that it’s app-agnostic and is seamlessly integrated at the system level. That means it works across messaging apps, emails, and anywhere you can input text.
By default, Essential Voice used American spelling, even though I had already designated Australia as my location. Changing this required diving deep into Nothing’s Intelligence Toolkit settings, where I could choose UK English instead.
Nothing’s new feature supports more than 100 languages. Screenshot: Chris Button.
Because the Essential Voice icon replaces what you’d normally press on the screen to dismiss the keyboard, it’s tricky to swap between typing and scrolling. You can swipe the keyboard away by using the ‘back’ gesture, but sometimes it’s easier to press the hide keyboard button.
Even though Nothing claims that its server-based processing is encrypted and isn’t stored, I’d at least like a local offline option. These days, you can download AI models that don’t take up much storage, and they’d do a pretty good job. Perhaps that’s in the Nothing pipeline as Essential Voice rolls out to more of the brand’s phones in the future.
I’d also like the option to save audio recordings for future reference. Nothing’s phones have an audio recording app, but it’s separate from Essential Voice. As much as the accuracy of the dictation impressed me, it’d be handy to refer to recordings to verify accuracy, like when using regional or highly technical terminology.
You can choose whether to have the Essential Voice button on the keyboard or the hide button, but not both. Screenshot: Chris Button.
There’s nothing that Essential Voice does that you can’t already do via dedicated AI apps like ChatGPT or Gemini. However, the appeal is in having a highly accurate native dictation feature that works seamlessly across apps. Plus, it doesn’t cost a cent.
Amazingly thin and light, the Motorola Edge 70 is quite the fashion statement.
Motorola is one of the most prolific handset makers, while the Edge range sports premium styling to help it stand out from the crowd.
Over the years, we’ve seen various variants of the Edge 30, Edge 40 and Edge 50 released in Australia. Last year’s standard Edge 60 didn’t make it to our shores, but we did get the $699 Edge 60 Fusion and $1,199 Edge 60 Pro.
If the standard Edge 60 had come to Australia, it likely would have cost $899, considering that the standard models tend to be $200 more expensive than the Fusion models. That was a $100 price jump on the previous year’s Edge 50 range.
This time around, it seems we’re only getting the standard $899 Edge 70 and the $699 Edge 70 Fusion. So the price hasn’t risen from last year’s Edge 60 range, but instead, Motorola has stripped out one key feature.
It seems fairer to compare the new Motorola Edge 70 to the old standard Edge 60, even though it didn’t come to Australia, rather than compare it to the Edge 60 Fusion. The Fusion models tend to sacrifice a few features to keep the price in check.
Impressively, Motorola has managed to trim an already slender design, making the Edge 70 only 5.9 mm thick while tipping the scales at 159.9 g. Of course, this ignores the prominent camera array, which roughly doubles the thickness of the handset, but the body still feels impressively thin and light in your hand.
The Motorola Edge 70 is one of the thinnest smartphones around. Image: Adam Turner.
It features an aluminium frame and “nylon-inspired” silicone polymer back, with different finishes depending on the colour. The textured back helps add some grip to what could otherwise be a very slippery handset.
There’s even a $1,099 “Crystals by Swarovski” version which features real Swarovski crystals and a soft Pantone Cloud Dancer finish, if you’re into that sort of thing.
The biggest change compared to the old Edge 60 (and Edge 50) is that the new Edge 70 has lost the standalone 10 MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom.
Instead, the Edge 70 only features 50 MP wide and 50 MP ultrawide rear lenses, plus a 50 MP selfie lens. It’s a major blow for those who love a good triple-camera rear array.
While the rear array would appear to feature three lenses and a flash at the top right, the bottom right sensor is actually a light/depth sensor to support enhanced portrait, bokeh and exposure.
The Motorola Edge 70 is down to two rear camera lenses (top and bottom left). Image: Adam Turner.
Turn the Edge 70 phone over, and you see that it’s still an impressive 2712 × 1220-pixel, 6.7-inch display. It sticks with the Edge 60’s decision to abandon the “Endless Edge” screen with bevelled edges, meaning it looks a little less elegant.
The Edge 70’s screen technology sticks with pOLED, delivering 4,500 nits brightness to support High Dynamic Range. This reveals more details in the brightness highlights and deepest shadows, with support for HDR 10+ but not Dolby Vision.
You’ve also got stereo speakers supporting Dolby Atmos, but no old-school 3.5 mm headphone jack.
The handset retains the Motorola standard configuration of a well-placed power button on the right, with volume buttons above, and a fingerprint reader is built into the screen.
The big addition is the introduction of a dedicated Moto AI button on the left, following the trend of most Android makers to put AI features at your fingertips.
The extremely slender Motorola Edge 70 gains a dedicated Moto AI button. Image: Adam Turner.
Motorola’s AI features revolve around note-taking and summarising notifications, along with accessing Copilot and Perplexity – all pretty standard stuff these days.
Like most Motorola phones, the Edge 70 comes with a basic transparent protective case. It also features an IP68 rating to ensure it’s dustproof and waterproof up to 1.5 metres for 30 minutes – meaning it should survive an unexpected swim.
Motorola Edge 70 specifications and price
Display size
6.7-inch, 20:9 aspect ratio
Display resolution
1220 x 2712 pixel, 448 ppi
Display technology
Extreme AMOLED
100% DCI-P3 colour space
10-bit; Over a billion shades of colour
Refresh rate up to 120 Hz
Peak Brightness: 4500 nits
Touch sampling rate: up to 300 Hz
The Motorola Edge 70 ships with Android 16, although the once-low bloatware count has started to creep up. It offers the option to unselect bloatware during set-up, yet somehow those apps are still installed.
The good news is that the handset gets four years of OS upgrades and five years of security updates, which is not the best around but is far more generous than what you get with the cheaper Motorola handsets (yes, I’m looking at you, Moto G57). For comparison, the high-end $1,499 Motorola Signature gets seven years of updates.
Peeking under the bonnet reveals that the Edge 70 has switched back from MediaTek Dimensity to Qualcomm Snapdragon silicon. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 powerplant is accompanied by 8 GB of RAM, plus the option to commandeer another 2 GB of virtual RAM from the 256 GB of internal storage.
When it comes to connectivity, the Edge 70 supports Australia’s sub-6 GHz 5G networks but not faster millimetre wave 5G. It’s accompanied by Wi-Fi 6e and Bluetooth 5.4.
To keep things chugging along, there’s a 4,800 mAh battery, a slight drop from what you’d expect. It’s a silicon-carbon (Si/C) cell, which offers a greater energy density and assists with the slender design. The handset should easily be able to go for 24 hours before recharging if you don’t push it too hard.
When it comes to recharging, you’ve got the advantage of 68 W TurboPower fast charging via USB-C 2.0, but no AC adaptor in the box, or 15 W wireless charging.
Quality
Put to the test, the Motorola Edge 70 returns reasonable Geekbench 6 scores of 1,324 single-core, 4,122 multi-core and Open GL 4,726 – enough for day-to-day tasks.
Geekbench 6 results, sorted by CPU multi-core performance.
Those single/multi-core figures put it close to the similarly priced $749 Samsung Galaxy A57 and $849 Google Pixel 10a – both of which are arguably more attractive Android handsets, even if they don’t look as pretty. It’s worth noting those handsets seriously outgun the Edge 70 in terms of GPU graphics grunt.
When it comes to photography, the 50 MP main shooter offers decent results, with plenty of contrast and detail, even if things look a tad too processed and the colours a fraction overblown.
The Motorola Edge 70’s main shooter does a fine job, even if the colours are a tad over the top. Image: Adam Turner.
It’s great to see no drop in quality when switching between the wide and ultrawide lenses. Of course, there’s no optical zoom – 2x digital still looks great, but things get murky at the maximum 20x digital, especially when you don’t have AI helping fill in the details like on the 100x super zoom handsets.
Without a telephoto lens or AI assistance, 20x zoom looks a bit shabby (it looks like they still haven’t sold that house). Image: Adam Turner.
Portraits and selfies offer natural-looking bokeh thanks to that extra sensor. It’s great to see Motorola hasn’t enabled aggressive selfie beautification by default, revealing life’s little imperfections.
Whenever you’re taking a selfie in low-light conditions, the screen around your face brightens up to shed a little more light on the situation.
Image: Adam Turner.
Who is the Motorola Edge 70 for?
If you’re looking for a very slim and sexy handset that offers change from a thousand bucks, the Motorola Edge 70 is very tempting. But if you care more about substance than style, it’s worth playing the field.
Two rear 50 MP lenses and a third around the front sounds impressive, even though we all know megapixel counts aren’t everything. Losing that dedicated telephoto lens is a major blow to the Edge 70’s value proposition, even if it was only 3x optical zoom.
Without a telephoto lens, it’s much harder to stand out from similarly priced dual-lens competitors like the Samsung Galaxy A57 and Google Pixel 10a – both of which are better all-rounders with more graphics grunt that get more years of OS updates.
GadgetGuy occasionally uses affiliate links and may receive a small commission from purchased products.
Motorola Edge 70
Slimming down, but shedding a telephoto lens, the Motorola Edge 70's beauty is largely skin deep.
Features
7.5
Value for money
7.5
Performance
7.5
Ease of use
9
Design
9
Positives
Slender, lightweight design
50 MP wide, ultrawide and selfie lenses
IP68 ruggedness
Negatives
No telephoto lens
Middle-of-the-road performance
Fewer software updates than similarly priced phones
If you want to spend more than $1,200 on a phone in Australia, you’re usually looking at something from Apple or Samsung, and to a lesser extent (based on market share data), Google or Oppo. Aside from its foldable Razr phones, Motorola hasn’t dabbled in the high-end phone market for some years. The brand must have felt something in the air, because the Motorola Signature is a bold attempt to topple the current flagship phone hierarchy in Australia.
Sleek and slim, the Signature boasts one of the best camera systems going around. On the inside is a hardware stack that challenges its iPhone and Galaxy contemporaries. Look at the outside, and you see an aesthetic unlike any other phone at a similar price.
Not every flagship feature has found its way into the Motorola Signature. But enough of them have, and to a high enough quality, to make it a premium Android handset worth considering.
In recent years, Motorola has flirted with the premium market without fully committing. Its closest dalliance in Australia came in the form of the foldable Razr 60 Ultra, which cost $1,699 when it launched in 2024. More recent phones, like the Edge 60 Pro, came close with its $1,199 pricing, still a couple of hundred dollars off recent iPhones and Samsung Galaxy handsets.
The Motorola Signature is a statement of intent from the experienced phone company. At $1,499 (temporarily $1,199 at launch), it’s pricier than the standard iPhone 17 but $100 cheaper than the base Samsung Galaxy S26 model. By competing so closely with the top end of town, Motorola is confident that the Signature is on par with well-established competition.
Some of Moto’s recent higher-end phones have tried to straddle affordability with premium features. Most of the time, camera quality has been the selling point, but the processing power hasn’t been on the same level. This time, the gloves are off, with Motorola fully committing to high-end hardware all the way through, but stopping just short of using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Elite series of chipsets.
Motorola has copped some justified criticism in recent years for not supporting its devices with enough post-launch software updates compared to its similarly priced rivals. That shortcoming has been laid to rest, with the Motorola Signature coming with seven years of guaranteed operating system and security updates.
It puts the phone on much more even footing alongside Android heavyweights in Samsung and Google, while beating the five years of OS updates supported by the $2,299 Oppo Find X9 Pro.
Motorola Signature specifications and price
Display
6.8-inch Extreme AMOLED
1264 x 2780 resolution
120Hz refresh rate
Motorola has perfected its slim edge-to-edge design with the Signature. I’ve complained previously that it’s been too easy to accidentally touch the screen of Moto’s previous edge-to-edge phones, like the Edge 60 Pro. Thankfully, the Motorola Signature combines the generous screen real estate of its Edge predecessors with a more conventional approach that doesn’t see the screen awkwardly curve around the edges.
Even with a large 6.8-inch screen, the Signature is pleasantly thin and easy to pick up. Its fabric-like back provides a nice level of grip, unlike the rather slippery design of many glass or metal-backed phones. Despite the thinness, nothing about this phone feels flimsy. That’s partly due to its aluminium frame and the stunning AMOLED display made from the sturdy Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 material.
Image: Chris Button.
On the back, as big as the camera array is, it’s unobtrusive, bordered by a nice metal-brushed frame. These cameras may protrude a little bit, but the phone doesn’t wobble when placed on its back. There’s no panic quite like the feeling of seeing a $1,500 phone precariously teeter on a benchtop when bumped.
Adorning the right side is the power button with the volume adjustments just above it. On the left is a dedicated Moto AI Key. Unfortunately, its usability is limited to several specific functions. Holding down the button activates Moto AI, which can be summoned to interface with Perplexity or Copilot. Double-tapping the button either summarises your notifications or starts an audio recording that transcribes the results.
Screenshot: Chris Button.
Accessing any of these features requires signing in with a Moto account, which feels a bit redundant, given that you’ve already signed in using a Google account that gives you access to Gemini. Annoyingly, you also can’t assign the button to anything else, like a shortcut to opening the camera app. It’s either Motorola’s AI features or nothing.
Motorola packs a clear phone case in the box, which is more than what most brands do. Just don’t expect it to hold up to anything too rigorous; it’s a bit on the cheap and flimsy side. Still, it’s not a bad stopgap until you get a sturdier case.
A clear case comes included, but not the Moto Pen Ultra. Image: Chris Button.
That’s where Motorola’s generosity stops: it ships a USB-C cable in the box, but no charger. Wrapping the cable neatly is a bit of cardboard that has a QR code linking to Motorola’s website, where you can buy one of its branded chargers.
Out of curiosity, I looked at the specific listing for Moto’s TurboPower chargers, only to find that the JB Hi-Fi link didn’t return any results. Harvey Norman had stock at the time of writing, charging $89 for the 125W wall charger required to take full advantage of the Signature’s 90W peak speeds.
Performance
With the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset and 12GB of RAM in tow, the Motorola Signature is one speedy phone. Everything is smooth, and swapping between apps is satisfyingly snappy. More than any Motorola phone I’ve used before, this is the most ‘flagship’ the brand has felt in the face of stiff competition.
Based on raw processing performance, the Signature comfortably outpaces cheaper phones, while taking it right up to last year’s flagship handsets, including the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Google Pixel 10 Pro.
Put through a 20-minute stress test using either of 3DMark’s Wild Life benchmarking tools, the Motorola Signature heats up quickly. Data from the tests shows that performance gradually drops during the first 10 minutes. Afterwards, the phone stabilises by throttling performance, preventing it from getting any hotter.
Screenshot: Chris Button.
Even so, the Wild Life stress test (as opposed to the ‘Extreme’ variant that runs at 4K) rarely dipped below 60fps. Put simply, the Motorola Signature can play some reasonably intensive games, provided you don’t push the phone too hard.
Battery life
Equipped with a 5,200mAh silicon-carbon battery, the Motorola Signature doesn’t have much trouble getting through a full day of use. That depends on how you use it, however.
To refer back to the stress testing, the Signature’s battery drained by 13 per cent during the 20-minute Wild Life benchmark. That’s more than most phones I’ve tested, suggesting that the heat generated while under heavy load is a bit of a battery-sapper.
As for general use, though, I got roughly a day and a half out of the Signature before I started looking for a charger.
Moto Pen Ultra
To put the Signature through its paces, Motorola also loaned me its latest stylus, the Moto Pen Ultra. Ironically, for a device with ‘signature’ in its name, the phone doesn’t come with the stylus. Instead, it’s an optional $139 accessory sold through Telstra.
Even before you start using the Moto Pen Ultra, one flaw quickly becomes apparent: storage. The stylus comes in a neat fabric-coated sheath, with a USB-C charging port at one end, and the slot for the pen at the other. Removing the stylus is as easy as pushing it in until you hear a click, and then it pops out for removal.
Image: Chris Button.
Neither the pen nor the case reliably attaches to the phone in any way. Rather than an on-device solution, you need to carry the pen separately. It also points to the Signature’s lack of Qi2 magnetic technology. I can feel a slight pull when lining the phone up to a Belkin wireless charging pad I have on hand, but the phone slides straight off when I tilt the pad vertically.
Back to the stylus, it’s a bit thin, particularly compared to other stylus accessories, like an Apple Pencil. But it’s a reasonably feature-rich pen that includes a quick-access menu for making new notes, annotating screenshots, and converting handwriting to text.
Image: Chris Button.
I’m not someone who sketches, and my handwriting is terrible (hats off to Motorola for being able to accurately convert my scratchings into something legible), so I’m not the target market for a stylus. But the lack of on-phone storage for the Moto Pen Ultra severely limits how often I’d use it in the first place.
There’s no slot or magnetic strip on the Signature for the stylus to attach itself. Needing to carry a separate case wherever my phone goes, just in case I want to jot something down, is a hindrance I’d rather not bother with. It’s a handy little stylus, but I routinely forget where my phone is, let alone a much smaller accessory.
Image: Chris Button.
Motorola Signature camera quality
Of everything the Signature does, Motorola spent the most time hyping up its camera quality. It proudly waved around a DXOMARK Gold Label in the phone’s marketing materials. According to the external benchmarkers, the Motorola Signature wields the top 10 camera array of any smartphone in the world. But what do the phone’s photos look like in the real world?
On paper, the cameras certainly look impressive. There’s a 50MP main wide camera, a 50MP ultra-wide camera, and a 50MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. Turn the phone around, and you’ll see a 50MP selfie camera — 50 seems to be Motorola’s magic number.
Of course, benchmarks are one thing, while real-world performance is another. In this case, the Motorola Signature well and truly lives up to its lofty camera claims outside of a closed testing environment. Consistently across the board, photos are evenly lit, even in tricky conditions, while the colours look deep and lifelike.
Irrespective of which of the phone’s cameras you use, they all produce vibrant and true-to-life colours. It’s common to look at a photo taken by a phone and notice where it has juiced up the saturation levels. But with the Motorola Signature, I look at these photos, then look back at the Lego flowers on my desk, and don’t notice a difference.
From left to right: main camera, ultra-wide camera, and macro mode. Images: Chris Button.
A recent outing to the footy saw me sitting almost in the back row, but that didn’t deter the Motorola Signature from taking in all the action. Impressively, the consistency between ultra-wide, wide, and telephoto zoom photos stood out compared to many other phones.
Ultra-wide photos (left) don’t lose much colour compared to photos taken on the main camera (right). Images: Chris Button.
Who needs binoculars at the footy when you’ve got a phone that can zoom in as well as this? Obviously, the closer you can physically get to a subject, the better photos you’ll get overall, but when that’s not physically possible, the Motorola’s optical zoom does a bang-up job.
Images: Chris Button.
Mixed lighting didn’t trip up the phone, either:
Image: Chris Button.
Digital zoom quality is another factor that separates good phones from great phones. In this case, the Motorola Signature could punch all the way in from the nosebleed section to the banner on the oval. The edges around the text are a bit soft, but it’s a mighty effort for a phone’s digital zoom, capturing the individual creases and all.
The results were similarly impressive when getting a closer look at the Adelaide Oval’s beloved scoreboard. People’s faces turn into blurry blobs when seen through digital zoom, but inanimate objects look pretty darn good.
Image: Chris Button.
To put the scoreboard photo in context, here’s what you can see with the Signature’s main camera:
Image: Chris Button.
Turning to my trusty cat model, Billie, the Motorola Signature captured a lovely amount of detail (including the blanket’s loose threads caused by Billie). Her fur and whiskers are clearly depicted, while the shallow depth of field creates a pleasant soft background. Even using the macro mode (used on the right-hand photo), the results may not be as sharp, but you can pick out an extraordinary level of minuscule details.
Images: Chris Button.
I didn’t even physically recoil when looking back at some selfies taken on the Signature — I consider that a win. Colours look accurate, and my freckles remain intact without any ridiculous airbrushing.
Image: Chris Button.
This photo, taken after going to the footy with family, is probably what impressed me the most. Not a compositional masterpiece by any means, the way it evenly lit our faces in dim conditions without completely overexposing the background was quite the feat.
Image: Chris Button.
It’s probably obvious by this point, but I can see why the Motorola Signature scored so well in independent camera testing.
Who is the Motorola Signature for?
This may sound like hyperbole, but it’s not: the Motorola Signature has the best camera system of any Android phone under $1,500 in Australia. Keen phone photographers should seriously consider this as a viable alternative to the Samsung and Google alternatives that have occupied this space for so long.
Its main shortcoming only applies to avid mobile gamers, and even then, some settings tweaks will see the Signature cope just fine. It’s exciting when a brand takes a big swing and connects, which is exactly what Motorola has done in taking the fight to the top end of town.
GadgetGuy occasionally uses affiliate links and may receive a small commission from purchased products.
Motorola Signature
Boasting the best camera system of any Android phone under $1,500 in Australia, the Motorola Signature could shake up the local flagship duopoly.
Features
8.5
Value for money
8
Performance
8.5
Ease of use
9
Design
9
Positives
Incredible cameras, day and night
Comfortable design with an excellent edge-to-edge screen
Overall performance competes strongly with other flagship phones
