Moto Z force Review

MOTO Z FORCE DROID 

This year, Lenovo had the honor of unveiling Motorola's newest flagship offerings. These flagship offerings are the Moto Z, which aims to succeed the Moto X, and the Moto Z Force, which is a bigger and badder version of the Moto Z.

The Moto Z Force is aimed at succeeding last year's Droid Turbo 2 (exclusive to Verizon in the US, Moto X Force in worldwide markets). Both the Moto Z and Z Force are identical in height and width, and their thickness is the only way to tell the two apart.

The other difference with the Moto Z Force is the significantly larger battery, the added girth that comes with a larger battery, a higher resolution 21MP camera, and the shatter proof screen that will survive drops of up to 5 feet onto flat surfaces. These specs make the Moto Z Force a worthy competitor to the recently reviewed Samsung Galaxy S7 active.

The Moto Z Force will remain as a Verizon exclusive model in the US and for now. As of this review, there are currently no plans to release the Moto Z Force outside of the US. Making it like the Samsung Galaxy S7 active which remains as an AT&T exclusive and is not available anywhere else in the world.

features

• 5.5" AMOLED screen, QHD (1440x2560 / 535 ppi), Gorilla Glass
• Water-resistant nano-coating (splash-proof but not submersible)
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 - dual-core 2.15 GHz Kyro & dual-core 1.6 GHz Kyro w/ Adreno 530, 4GB of RAM
• 32 or 64GB of internal storage, microSD expandable up to 2TB
• Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with Moto Enhancements (Moto Voice, Moto Display, and Moto Actions)
• 21MP camera, f/1.8 aperture, 1.12 micron pixels, OIS, laser autofocus, dual-tone LED flash. 1080p video @ 30 or 60fps, 4K @ 30fps.
• 5MP front-facing camera with wide angle, front-facing LED flash
• Fingerprint sensor
• (U.S. Version) - CDMA: 850, 1900MHz, GSM/GRPS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz), UTMS/HSPA+ (850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100MHz), LTE Bands
• 3,500 mAh battery, 30W Moto Turbo Charger via USB-C

The Moto Z Force is a worthy competitor to the Samsung Galaxy S7 active as they are both play fine with water (Moto Z Force is splash resistant only), they both offer shatter-proof displays, and they both are touted as ultra-durable devices with large batteries.

We've already reviewed the Moto Z, but the Moto Z Force is aimed at a slightly different consumer, but mostly the power user. Paired with the US' best (although, most expensive) carrier, the Moto Z Force Droid also carries a $96 premium over the Moto Z Droid when purchasing from Verizon

The Moto Z Force takes on the Moto Z by offering a larger batter, higher resolution 21MP camera, and the aforementioned shatterproof display. We are curious to see if Lenovo has changed the recipe for creating their shatter-proof display. The previous iteration of this screen, which we saw in the Droid Turbo 2 and Moto X Force had diminished viewing angles, and the plastic-based display lens was more prone to light scratches.

The Moto Z Force works with the same Moto Mods as the Moto Z. Both it and the Moto Z Force have otherwise identical hardware on the exterior, except for the thickness. The Moto Z Force is 25% thicker than the razor thin 5.2mm Moto Z, but it's still quite thin.

Camera performance with the Moto Z was decent, and we are expecting the 21MP camera found in the Moto Z Force to be even better.

Hardware and Design

The Moto Z Force isn't as paper thin as the Moto Z, but the Moto Z Force's added weight (about 16% heavier than the Moto Z) and thickness (about 25% thicker) are justified thanks to its beefier 3,500mAh battery. Even though the phone is thicker and could have featured a 3.5mm headphone jack, there still isn't one.

The Style shell included with the Moto Z is designed out of a faux-wood exterior which mimics wood grain pretty well from afar. This color of Style Shell is called "Charcoal Ash" and comes bundled with the Lunar Grey model. We highly recommend using the included Style shell when not using any Moto Mod as it contributes to the ergonomics of the phone in the hand.

Otherwise, the phone feels "blocky" just where the frame meets the rear panel. The transition between the two is quite sharp, and the Style shell helps to round it out a bit. The Style shell also (virtually) eliminates the camera hump on the back, protecting both the camera ring and frame from frequent contact with possibly erosive surfaces.

Gone is the dimple on the back which had many fans and was even rumored to be a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner at one point. The introduction of Moto Mods is perhaps the primary reason for putting the fingerprint scanner on the front as well as the reason for flattening out the ergonomically curved backside that has been around since the original (2013) Moto X.

The Moto Z Force's right side is home to three hardware keys. These are the only physical buttons since the phone uses on-screen navigation buttons. The placement of the buttons is quite new. They are pretty far up and may take some time getting used to. A nice touch is the grippy texture on the power button which lets you differentiate the keys by feel alone.

These keys are quite satisfying. No complaints here with the travel, clickiness, or their sturdiness at all. They aren't too hard to press or too soft to accidentally fire off. The volume keys even have a nice bevel that goes around them - a great touch for attention to detail.

The back side (without the style shell) doesn't look like it has a lot going on, but there's actually more to it than meets the eye.

Let's start from the top. There are two glass panels on the top and bottom ends of the phone which are there to let signals pass through for various antennas and connectivity features like NFC and Bluetooth.

The rear camera is here too, and it combines the dual-LED flash into the camera ring with the Verizon-Exclusive "Droid" branding just between the camera sensor and the flash. This is very nice as it's the only clue that this is a Verizon device (as the 'Droid' branding is exclusive to Verizon). There is otherwise no Verizon branding anywhere on the body of the phone itself, the Verizon logo appears in the boot animation along with the Droid branding, but there are no traces of red.

The metal back plate also features a pin-striped pattern, which we've never seen on other devices before and it gives our 'Lunar Gray' review unit a professional-looking and formal appearance.

The metal backing is really hard to keep clean from fingerprints, though. We think Lenovo should have gone for a different colored Moto 'batwing' to let it stand out more. But Lenovo feels you'll be carrying it around with the included snap-on style shell which has a better contrasting batwing.

The lower backside of the phone has a bunch of pogo pins, connectors, and magnets which allow the handset to expand its functionalities by simply snapping on a Moto Mod magnetically. The Moto Mods we tried fit perfectly and the magnets are quite strong and keep them in place quite well.

The left side is empty, there are no buttons or trays. Moving onto the top and bottom edges of the phone, the top houses a noise-cancelling mic and the nanoSIM/microSD card tray while the bottom only has a single USB-C cable. Remember, there's no 3.5mm headphone jack anywhere, but there is an adapter included if you want to plug in your more expensive, noise-cancelling headphones during a long flight.

Finally, we arrive to the front of the phone. It has the same motion sensors around the display like the Moto X had - wave your hand over the phone, and Moto Display will show you any missed notifications.

Then there's the beautiful 5.5-inch QHD AMOLED screen, two microphones at the bottom (there is a total of four around the phone for improved listening of the Moto Voice commands).

On the downside, the display glass seems like it's made of plastic. Upon closer inspection, you can see some of the waviness of the display lens' reflections. The Moto Z doesn't have this wavy look because its display isn't shatterproof so it's actual glass.

The earpiece over the screen doubles as the loudspeaker, and this is the only speaker on the phone.

Then last, but not least, there's a 5MP selfie camera with a corresponding LED flash on the opposite side of the earpiece. Remember, there's no LED notification since the phone uses the entire screen to display your notifications via Moto Display.

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