Update: Motorola announced that its current lineup of smartphones, including the Moto Z Play, Moto Z and Moto Z Force, will each receive the upgrade to Android Nougat.
Once it hits, you'll be able to bask in the glory that is split-screen app support, as well as an enhanced Doze mode to make your batter last even longer.
Also, there's been an addition to the Moto Mods family. The Hasselblad True Zoom mod brings 10x optical zoom to the Moto Z family, which is obviously a huge push beyond what these phones can do without the attachment.
Original review follows below.
The formula that makes for a phone worth buying, up until this point, calls for good specs, world-class design, and a price that isn't too sharp to swallow. But that could be changing soon.
Motorola is attempting to disrupt the equation with its modular Moto Z and Moto Z Force (known as the Droid Edition phones in the US).
Focusing in on the Moto Z Force, it's a flagship smartphone, first and foremost. It boasts a shatterproof screen, and inside and out, you'll be hard-pressed to find any corners cut in terms of build quality, design and performance.
In addition, it also sports modular capabilities. Compared to LG G5 approach, the Z family wins out because it doesn't lean on them to provide the core functions, like powering the device. And better yet, these MotoMods can be hot-swapped at will to provide a boost in battery life, sound performance, or even to let you project your screen onto a wall.
On its own, the Moto Z is a powerful device with a unique talent that can make the experience even better–for a price. With MotoMods ranging in price from US$79 for the JBL SoundBoost to US$299 for the Insta-Projector mod, not everyone will be convinced to jump aboard the modular train. But for those who do, Motorola is promising that the entire line will be compatible with future Moto Z phones.
Currently, the US$720 Moto Z Force is a Verizon exclusive in the US, which is bad news for those abroad hoping to snag the shatterproof phone. Here's to hoping that this variant, as well as the Moto Z, will land in your region soon.
For those of you in the states, Verizon is offering a sweet trade-in deal that makes its flagship price easier to swallow. For an unspecified amount of time, you can get $300 in credit toward the Moto Z Force if you trade in the Samsung Galaxy S6, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, Samsung Galaxy Note 5, LG G4, LG V10, HTC One M9, and iPhone 6.
If you don't have those phones, don't fret. You can still get a cool $200 for the Samsung Galaxy S5, Samsung Galaxy Note 4, LG G3, HTC One M8, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C or iPhone 5S, Droid Maxx 2, and Droid Turbo 2.
Lastly, you'll get $100 in credit for the Samsung Galaxy S4, LG G2, HTC One M7, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, Droid Maxx, and Droid Turbo.
Design
The design of the Moto Z Force is essentially the same as the Moto Z, but on steroids. All it takes is holding one in each hand to quickly tell apart the difference.
At 163 grams, the Z Force weighs nearly 30 grams more than the standard Z. It's thicker, too, adding on almost 2mm of depth. While such a small number might not seem like a big deal, it's a difference that's easy to notice. The Moto Z is the world's thinnest smartphone, while the Moto Z Force is definitely not.
The 155.9 x 75.8 x 6.99mm build of the Moto Z Force is an impressive blend of glass and stainless steel that looks and feels every bit as "flagship" as it needs to in order to stick out amongst the tough list of competitors, both established and up-and-coming.
Looking at the phone head-on, the glass panel houses all of the usual suspects, like front-facing camera and ear speaker. You'll also find a few added niceties, like a real LED flash for selfies and a unique fingerprint sensor, which can cleverly wake the device and also put it to sleep.
If you look close enough, you'll also notice two small holes near the fingerprint sensor. Those are proximity sensors, which are used to power the Moto Display function, allowing you to get a glimpse at the time and notifications just by waving your hand over the phone. It's one of those cool, small touches that you'll find yourself wishing every phone had.
Flipped around to reveal its back, you'll immediately notice a large camera bump. Yes, despite the added girth, the rear-facing camera protrudes no less than it does on the thinner Moto Z. At least Moto made this camera better to compensate.
Aside from the bump, the rear is home to a few more interesting design and hardware features. Thin strips of black glass occupy the phone's top and bottom. Sandwiched between them is a slate of stainless steel, subtly laser-etched with the Motorola logo and thin lines. It looks stunning, although the details worth admiring quickly become drowned out by fingerprint smears.
One feature that's impossible to shroud in fingerprints is the MotoMod connector, a set of gold-colored ports where the modular accessories snap onto the phone to transmit data, and/or battery juice depending on the mod.
Our review unit rocks the Lunar Grey aluminum trim that wraps around the device. On the right side of the Z Force are the volume keys and the textured power button. The button layout on the Z series might take a little longer to learn than it should due to the equidistant layout. Visually, they are distinct enough to tell apart, but it could be an error-prone arrangement for some.
A few other attractions around the device are the nano SIM and microSD slot sitting on its top and the USB-C slot on the bottom. What you won't find no matter how hard you look is a 3.5mm headphone jack. Many thought that Apple would be the first to cut out the household jack with the iPhone 7, but Moto beat it to the punch.
Thankfully, a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter is included in the box, so your old headphones will work fine here. You just won't be able to charge and listen at the same time.
It's about time we got to talking about MotoMods. The Moto Z Force has plenty of killer features, but this is obviously the one that sticks out the most.
Motorola has partnered with a batch of companies to make compatible modules for its current lineup of Moto Z devices, which are guaranteed to work with future iterations.
Though plenty more are on the way in 2016, we've gotten to try a few of the first MotoMods to debut alongside the phone's launch: the JBL SoundBoost, the Moto Insta-Share projector, and the Tumi battery pack.
Each of the mods attach to the Moto Z Force by aligning and snapping together the strong magnets, which yields an affirming vibration.
The US$79 JBL mod re-routes the audio through a much more capable speaker, which also sports a kickstand. It's essentially like connecting to a small Bluetooth speaker, except the sound here isn't as robust due to the thin form factor. However, it's a clear step-up in a pinch and can provide an extra 10 hours of battery life with its built-in 1,000mAh capacity, too.
Moto's Insta-Projector mod does exactly what you'd expect: it projects your phone's screen up to 70 inches onto a wall. This is the ideal mod if you're someone who likes to share YouTube videos or watch a nighttime movie while camping out. This is the coolest of all the available mods, but doesn't come cheap at US$299. Projecting at 50 lumens and a max resolution of 480p means that this addition isn't for home theater enthusiasts, but it provides a stellar added function that can still fit in your pocket.
The most form-fitting mod so far is the Tumi battery pack, which only adds a few millimeters to the thickness of the Moto Z Force. It offers an extra 2,200mAh of additional battery, meaning that you could be packing 5,700mAh of power if you leave the house with a fully-charged Z Force.
Lastly, Motorola includes a Style Shell with each phone. You could say this is a mod, as it attaches magnetically in a snap to the back. If the wooden style isn't your flavor, you'll be able to pick out a different shell in the future.
It's easy to imagine MotoMods arriving in the future that can expand the storage capacity, or offer solar charging solutions. Motorola showed off a few examples of mods that were whipped up using the developer kit, which can be purchased for US$125 if you want to make your own.
Here's one that simply mirrors the front screen. While it might sound silly, it could be useful if you're taking a selfie with the 21MP rear-facing camera. As you can see, it's in a proof-of-concept state and not ready for retail.
We look forward to seeing how the MotoMods community grows and will be keeping track of their pricing and availability info in this round-up article.
The Moto Z Force offers up quite the first impression with its quad HD (2560 x 1440) AMOLED display. No matter what I find myself glancing at, it pops with vibrance and detail, even when blanketed in fingerprints.
Unlike most smartphones–even the Moto Z– the Moto Z Force is reinforced with Moto's very own Shattershield technology, which guarantees that it won't crack or shatter from a drop of about five feet. Thankfully, this means of protecting the device looks no different than its Gorilla Glass-sporting competitors and doesn't detract from its looks whatsoever.
It actually works, too. Drops from waist-high onto hardwood floor didn't leave a scratch on the aluminum frame. It survived a drop on concrete, as well, but picked up a few scratches around the frame in the process.
We first saw this technology used in the Moto X Force, which this device takes a few design cues from. But compared to the X Force, we're happy to see that Moto solved how to make the Shattershield on the Z Force not look like as much like a hastily applied third-party screen protector.
The AMOLED screen measures at 5.5 inches, just like the iPhone 6S Plus. For me, that's too big for intensive one-handed use, but easy enough to wrangle with for some quick tasks if I'm in a hurry. Most will find the Z Force to be most comfortable as a two-handed affair.
Specs
While the Moto Z Force has its share of unique design attributes, what's inside of it isn't much different from what can easily be found in other modern flagships, like the Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, HTC 10, OnePlus 3 and the LG G5.
First of all, it comes running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Moto has done well to only make light adjustments to the stock experience. I know what you're wondering: will it support Android 7.0 Nougat? Yes, it will. We'll update this review when the operating system upgrade lands.
The Moto Z Force is stocked with a Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor clocked at 2.2GHz and offers up the Adreno 530 GPU to handle the visuals. If you're looking to get started with Android Pay, this phone supports NFC.
It comes with 4GB RAM, a completely sufficient amount, but it lags behind what you can get with the 6GB RAM-packed OnePlus 3. This shouldn't be your deciding point, however. 4GB of RAM is more than enough to power the modern smartphone experience.
You can choose between a Moto Z Force with either 32GB or 64GB (only available through Moto Maker) of onboard storage. But, given as they both possess a microSD slot, you're better off settling for the former and investing in a beefy microSD card instead.
Performance
Specs are just numbers on a paper until you can really get a sense of how they impact a device's performance. Considering the Moto Z Force's impressive (although somewhat standard at this point) set of specifications, my expectations for a powerful phone were met, and exceeded in some cases.
During our testing, the Snapdragon 820, paired with its healthy dose of RAM, made for a smooth experience and tore through the latest games with ease. Closing apps is usually a constant (slightly obsessive) practice to keep things moving rapidly, but this hardware means that you'll rarely have to look back.
We put the Moto Z Force to the test with GeekBench 3, which provides a deeper look into the phone's system on chip (SoC) capabilities. Looking first at single-core performance, it puts up an average score of 2,341 score. For its multi-core score, the Z Force achieved an average of 5,387.
Each of these averages are on par with the numbers put up by the Samsung Galaxy S7 in the US with the same processor and the LG G5.
These results are just another way of conveying that your day-to-day experience with the Moto Z Force is going to be a breezy one, no matter what you're doing with it. It's a highly capable phone that doesn't get bogged down easily or stutter under normal-to-heavy use.
But let's say that you aren't someone who downloads a ton of apps or games. Thankfully, the Moto Z Force handles most traditional smartphone tasks well, too. Calls to an iPhone 6S on AT&T didn't sound all that great, but calling the Moto Z, reviewed by Matt Swider, sounded incredibly crisp with HD calling switched on.
If you're hoping to let tunes blare out from the Moto Z Force's built-in speaker, prepare for disappointment. The only output is at the earpiece, which tries its hardest, but can only blare out sound that's flat and tinny. You'll definitely either want to listen through headphones, a Bluetooth speaker, or with the JBL SoundBoost MotoMod instead.
In the past, Moto has had a difficult time keeping up with the camera sensors and imaging software built into its competitors. But if the Moto Z Force is any indication, the company is headed in a very good direction.
For starters, the Z Force comes with a more capable rear-facing camera than its thinner Z counterpart. Compared to the Z's 13MP camera, we have a 21MP sensor here, with the same surprisingly wide aperture of f/ 1.8, and a slew of helpful features to make your photos pop, like optical image stabilization, dual LED flash and laser autofocus. However, it bests the Z's camera with deep trench isolation, a technique to squeeze even better quality images out of the hardware.
Motorola has again included the ability to trigger the camera app with two flicks of the wrist. It's nice to have extra options, but nothing beats tapping the power button twice from sleep to boot into the camera app.
The main takeaways from a week with the Z Force and its camera is that it's Moto's best camera yet. It's particularly good at taking pictures in low light and besting my main phone, the Nexus 5X, at every photo opportunity in terms of overall image quality. It bests it in clarity, color accuracy and dynamic range.
The camera software has received an overhaul, too. Instead of relegating the main camera functions to a rather unintuitive dial in the Moto X Force, more of it lives on the main screen now and is more easily accessible. Moto also added a robust Pro shooting mode, which allows you to tweak the ISO, white balance, focal depth and aperture for each shot.
The 5MP front-facing camera is fairly capable, too, and does a fine job capturing in a variety of conditions. But, given the lower megapixel count and lack of image stabilization, it's best suited for video chats and quick selfies more than relying on it for a stunning portrait.
If you enjoy shooting video with your smartphone, the Moto Z Force can shoot 1080p video at a zippy 60 frames per second, and 4K resolution at 30 frames per second.
Flip over to the next page to take a look at some sample shots provided by the Moto Z Force's camera setup.
The battery is another department that gets a boost over the Moto Z. If you're looking for one spec to blame the increased thickness on, this is it.
Up from 2,600mAh in the Z, the Z Force carries 3,500mAh–a sizable increase. On paper, this capacity is supposed to yield 40 hours of mixed use before you need to find a charger.
During our testing, the Moto Z Force lives up to its claim. We were able to get about two full days of use before it needed to be recharged. Of course, "mixed use" is different for everyone. For us, a mix of texting, shooting photos and videos, and some light Pokemon Go gaming was just fine to reach the mark.
Thankfully, when you do need to stop for a charge, it won't be for long. The TurboPower charging capability tapped by the included power adapter is said to give you 15 hours of juice in just 15 minutes. If you have 20 minutes to spare, you'll bring it up 50%. These figures vary a bit depending on how much of a charge your phone has, but it's super fast nevertheless.
The Moto Z Force enters the smartphone world with specs that match a lot of popular competitors in the Android space, yet it's more than unique enough to stick out. Let's see how it handles a versus battle against the top dogs.
LG G5
Its most obvious competitor is LG's latest flagship entry, the G5. Like the Moto Z Force, this is a modular smartphone, but in a much more literal sense. In order to swap out the modules, called "Friends" in LG's world, you must first power down the device.
Unlike the Z Force's hot-swapping support, the G5 leans on modules a little too hard. Of course, if modular additions are not a concern to you, the decision boils down to personal taste and whether you're looking for a shatterproof phone.
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
The Moto Z Force is neck-and-neck in terms of specs with the device we called "the best smartphone in the world right now".
Both phones run the latest Android Marshmallow software, pack in the Snapdragon 820 (the S7 Edge carries the powerful Exynos 8890 octa-core outside of the US) and flash a quad HD AMOLED display.
Aside from the obvious modular function that the Z Force has over Samsung's curvy phone, the devices differ in a few ways that might be deciding factors for you. For example, the S7 Edge is rated IP68–fully waterproof for up to 30 minutes in five feet of water.
The Moto Z Force trumps the S7 Edge's rear-facing camera in terms of megapixel count (21MP to 12MP), but each phone can put out quality images.
HTC 10
The Moto Z Force and the HTC 10 share design excellence in common with each other. Additionally, the spec list reads just about the same for both, but the Z Force edges it out with a bigger battery.
That said, HTC fires back with a built-in headphone jack and stereo sound via the HTC BoomSound front-facing speakers. This makes HTC's a more capable multimedia smartphone from the get-go, as it doesn't need mods or dongles to enhance its skill set.
The Moto Z Force is a bold flagship smartphone in its own right, stuffed with top of the line specs and a feature set that leaves us smiling–and that's not even considering the MotoMods.
While more expensive that traditional accessories, MotoMods are useful, fun and the platform as a whole offers a lot of potential for developers to take advantage of.
We liked
Though MotoMods are touted as a must-have component of the Moto Z Force experience, the phone can stand on its own. It's a powerful and fetching Android smartphone that's capable of delivering long-lasting use.
For the moment, I'm convinced that this is the way modules should be treated: as nothing more than supplemental accessories, albeit incredibly alluring ones. That said, the future should be ripe with interesting and tempting MotoMods to check out thanks to its developer program.
Kudos to Motorola for sticking as close to stock Android as possible. Aside from the built-in Verizon bloatware, there's very little in the way of obtrusive adjustments standing in your way with this phone.
We disliked
It's a minor gripe, but the Moto Z Force really loves fingerprints. Cherish it while it's new because it's a chore to keep clean.
While the camera software has improved over time, and is better than we saw with the Moto X Force, it still lags behind Samsung and LG's offering. Many of the same options are put forward by Moto here, but looking through your photos in landscape mode, and adjusting some quick settings, to name some examples, is more difficult than it needs to be.
The choice to leave out a 3.5mm jack was an interesting move. Sure, Motorola includes a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter in the box, but that does little to alleviate the issue of not being able to charge and listen at the same time.
It's possible that Motorola's solution to this is for you to buy a MotoMod, so that battery depletion is less of a problem. Or maybe there's no solution at all. Either way, it amounts to an inconvenience for the user.
Final verdict
Even without MotoMods to boost its feature set, the Moto Z Force is worthy of your consideration if you're looking for one of the best Android phones to be released in 2016.
It competes with the top contenders in terms of sheer power, battery life and screen resolution. But in that regard, it doesn't really offer anything new. We're still on the cusp of devices packed with the Snapdragon 821, which could quickly leave the Moto Z Force in the long run.
Aesthetically, Moto has knocked it out of the park. From every angle, the Z Force has a unique identity and doesn't fall back on the familiar, yet over-used plastic antenna lines seen in the HTC 10 and OnePlus 3.
If you're in the market for something different, the Moto Z Force delivers plenty to keep you interested–at least, until Project Ara arrives.