The Moto Z & Z Force Thread - - - - -

deadanonymau5

The Moto Z and Moto Z Force were just announced.







The Moto Z is 5.2mm thin, and it's made from "aircraft-grade aluminum and stainless steel". It has a 5.5-inch QHD AMOLED touchscreen, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 SoC, 4GB of RAM, and 32 or 64GB of expandable storage. The rear camera is a 13 MP unit with laser autofocus, OIS and dual-tone LED flash, while the selfie shooter is a 5 MP affair with a wide-angle lens.

The handset has a fingerprint scanner, and a water-repellant coating. It's kept running by a 2,600 mAh battery which can charge very quickly - up to 8 hours of use delivered with just 15 minutes of charging. The connector is USB Type-C. The Moto Z runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.

The Moto Z Force is thicker at 6.99mm, but that means it can pack a bigger, 3,500 mAh battery, a higher-res camera, and a shatter-proof display. It's got a 21 MP shooter with f/1.8 aperture on the back with phase detection autofocus, while keeping the laser autofocus and OIS features from the Z. Otherwise, the two phones are identical, including the fact that neither has a 3.5mm headset jack. Motorola will include a USB Type-C to 3.5mm adapter in the box, though.

The main selling point of both Moto Z devices is their support for the new MotoMods. These are modular accessories that simply snap onto the phones' backs thanks to some powerful magnets. They connect using those 16 "magical" dots you can see on the lower part of the rear of the Z and Z Force.

Available in December. No pricing announced yet.

Moto Z Specs

Moto Z Force Specs

deadanonymau5

Moto Z Force Specs

Operating System
Android™ 6.0.1, Marshmallow

System Architecture/Processor
Motorola Mobile Computing System, including Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 820 processor with up to 2.2 GHz CPU Quad-core CPU and Adreno 530 GPU Natural Language Processor Contextual Computing Processor

Memory (RAM)
4GB LPDDR4⁶

Storage (ROM)
32GB/64GB UFS, microSD Card support (up to 2 TB)⁶

Dimensions
Height: 155.9 mm
Width: 75.8 mm
Depth: 6.99 mm

Weight
163g (5.8 oz)

Display
5.5” AMOLED
1440p Quad HD (2560 x 1440)
535 ppi
ShatterShield™

Battery
Mixed usage up to 40 hours (3500 mAh)³
TurboPower™ for up to 15 hours of power in 15 minutes of charging⁴

Water Protection
Water repellent nano-coating⁵

Networks
4G LTE (Cat 9)
CDMA / EVDO Rev A
UMTS / HSPA+
GSM / EDGE

Bands (by model)
CDMA (850, 1900 MHz)
GSM / GPRS / EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
UMTS / HSPA+ (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
4G LTE (B2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 13)

SIM Card
Nano-SIM

Sensors
Fingerprint sensor
Accelerometer
Ambient Light
Gyroscope
Hall Effect
Magnetometer
Proximity

NFC
Yes


Rear Camera
21 MP
႒/1.8 aperture
Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)
Laser Autofocus
Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF)
Zero Shutter Lag
Color Correlated Temperature (CCT) flash with dual LEDs
1.12um pixel with Deep Trench Isolation (DTI)
Professional mode
Quick Capture
Best Shot
Scan barcodes, QR codes and Business cards
Google Photos integration with free original file size backup for two years
Shutter button or tap anywhere to capture
8X digital zoom
Burst mode
Auto Night mode
Auto HDR
Closed loop processing
Panorama
Drag to focus & exposure
Video Stabilization
1080p HD video (30 fps and 60 fps)
4K video (30fps)
Slow Motion video
Video HDR (1080p and 4K)

Front Camera
5 MP
႒/2.2 aperture
Wide-Angle lens
Flash
1.4um big pixel for better low light
Auto Night mode
Beautification software
Professional mode

Connectivity
Moto Mods™ connector
USB-C port for headphones, charging and data transfer
3.5mm to USB-C headphone port adapter included

Bluetooth® Technology
Bluetooth version 4.1 LE

Wi-Fi
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2.4 GHz + 5 GHz with MIMO

Speakers/Microphones
Front-ported loud speaker
4-Mics

Video Capture
1080p (60 fps); 4K (30 fps)

Location Services
A-GPS

Base Colors
Black with Lunar Grey trim, Black front lens
Black with Rose Gold trim, Black front lens
Fine Gold, White front lens
Available colors may vary

StereoSound

Look at that great big hump on the back. Reminds me of the hunch back of Notre Dame. It also reminds me of a cyclops with that big eye glaring back at me. The problem with this phone is that it is gonna be F'ing expensive. I do like it since it has a uniqueness about it and those plug and play additional power packs which are interesting.

deadanonymau5

StereoSound wrote: »

Look at that great big hump on the back. Reminds me of the hunch back of Notre Dame. It also reminds me of a cyclops with that big eye glaring back at me. The problem with this phone is that it is gonna be F'ing expensive. I do like it since it has a uniqueness about it and those plug and play additional power packs which are interesting.

It looks big because the phone is so thin. It wouldn't be noticeable with a motomod attached to it.

It'll be priced in line with other flagships from other established brands.

sentient_6

Design is a bit fugly in my opinion. Disappointing follow up if its supposed to be the follow up to the Moto X.

deadanonymau5

sentient_6 wrote: »

Design is a bit fugly in my opinion. Disappointing follow up if its supposed to be the follow up to the Moto X.

I think its good looks wise for motorola, considering their previous phones designs. They were never known for making good looking phones.

sentient_6

That's the thing though I really liked the design of the 2015 Moto x pure. The latest android central podcast is all about the Moto Z, just finished listening to it there, its worth a listen.

Couple of interesting points, apparently Motorola said at the launch that the Moto X was always what they regarded the quintessential smartphone to be but now the market has reached saturation, makes sense to me now why the design is now a bit left field.

Blackstar2081

I for one think that its a really, really nice looking design, but I think thats because I would buy a moto mod day one if I was to buy this phone.
For me, the biggest problem with my current phone (LG G3), is the battery life, so the idea of having a moto z force and a battery pack sounds fine by me! Over 5000 mah for the phone then, without being too thick

When you add that to the fact that Samsung with the A9 Pro is also coming out with a 5000mah battery.....I think we may see more phones over the year with bigger batteries......thank god.
I really hope that it goes well for Motorola. This is a much, much better way of doing it than the LG G5 (which looks like a terrible phone).


So what do you guys think I should do?
Hold off, and get the z force, or pick up the A9 (normal edition), or wait for the samsung a9 pro?

D'Peoples Voice

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

Moto Z Force Specs
Bands (by model)
CDMA (850, 1900 MHz)
GSM / GPRS / EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
UMTS / HSPA+ (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
4G LTE (B2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 13)

No 4G LTE Band 20 (800MHz) - forget it! :rolleyes:

sentient_6

On gsmarena it says '- USA' after the lte specs so maybe that applies to the us model only.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

ThunbergsAreGo

Really like the look of this, getting massive praise around battery life

AngryLips

Meh, not going to be available on Irish networks I imagine

Venom

AngryLips wrote: »

Meh, not going to be available on Irish networks I imagine

Argos sold the Moto X Play and the Moto G and E are sold by a few networks so ya never know. Not mad on the camera bump but the front looks great and a gazillion times better looking than the Pixel line.

ThunbergsAreGo

Venom wrote: »

Argos sold the Moto X Play and the Moto G and E are sold by a few networks so ya never know. Not mad on the camera bump but the front looks great and a gazillion times better looking than the Pixel line.

Emailed Argos on this, this morning.

Z Play plus battery mod = happiness

Tom123

naughtb4 wrote: »

Emailed Argos on this, this morning.

Z Play plus battery mod = happiness

Can't see it on their website is it available anywhere in ireland at the moment?

Venom

naughtb4 wrote: »

Emailed Argos on this, this morning.

Z Play plus battery mod = happiness

Their take on modular parts is the best one yet but until a universal standard is set up, they will probley only last the lifetime of the phone with in tech terms is just 1 year.

For modular parts to work, even basic stuff like a phones width and height need to stay the same from one year to the next and across all brands, which I just don't see happening.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Venom

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I guess its a catch 22 situation in that until modular addon's become cheaper and sell well, not many third party companies will make them and until there is alot of choice customers wont adopt the idea.

Realistically, it will be the likes of Samsung that could push the concept of modular parts due to the massive market share they have but the standard will need to be open just like CD, DVD and Bluray formats are.

Tom123

Anyone know where the moto z play can be purchased in Ireland?

Chibs

Tom123 wrote: »

Anyone know where the moto z play can be purchased in Ireland?

Seen one on Amazon for £360 so probably about 400 euro. Looking for the force myself. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-Moto-Play-SIM-Free-Smartphone/dp/B01LYV6UOB/ref=sr_1_2?s=telephone&ie=UTF8&qid=1477208584&sr=1-2&keywords=moto+z

bungaro79

will the z force work with my meteor sim??

sentient_6

http://willmyphonework.net

Sheepy99

Bit the bullet and bought a Moto Z(not Force). Ordered from Amazon(Motorola themselves are notoriously difficult to deal with), and have gone for the additional battery mod. Not sure if many here were interested in buying the Moto Z, but just unsure due to lack of legitimate feedback. Have struggled to find anyone in Ireland who has bought it. Will post my thoughts once it's arrived and had a bit of use.

ThunbergsAreGo

Have the Z Play at home awaiting Christmas, very much looking forward to it.

Will be picking up a battery mod as well. Surprised at the lack of traction, is a very well reviewed phone

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

markest

Even without the Mod, battery lasts for days.

sentient_6

Fair to say Amazon is the only way to buy one at the moment?

Sheepy99

Howdy all, Amazon is indeed the only place to buy. There was some tacky Irish-based site I found who had it listed at nearly 800 (seems like they literally buy and re-sell the phone), but that's neither here nor there.

The phone is a dream. Battery life I find to be very good, might have to charge it every 30-35 hours. Wouldn't be a flat-out user but get plenty of data use, watching of videos and general browsing done per day. If cameras are your thing, the one on this phone is bitching, very impressed but not a big interest of mine so I can't go into detail.

General speed, as to be expected, is a beauty.

Never spent large on a phone before, but for me it's well worth it. Albeit, I may have a bit of a soft spot for the Moto range, having had 2 older models.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

sentient_6

It came out top of 10 phones in Android Authoritys best of 2016 for cameras, probably the only reason im currently holding on to my S7 at the moment, so it's food for thought.

TitianGerm

The Z is down to £299 on John Lewis.

ThunbergsAreGo

Bought the battery pack, was very excited and then ran it through the wash without even getting to use it

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

ThunbergsAreGo

Just got Nougat on the Play

derekbro

Bit the bullet on this phone on amazon.de this morning

Moto Z Gold

€423.80 seems like a great price looking at other phones with equivalent specs
Its €2 cheaper now than it was when i bought it this morning as well :rolleyes:

derekbro

derekbro wrote: »

Bit the bullet on this phone on amazon.de this morning

Moto Z Gold

€423.80 seems like a great price looking at other phones with equivalent specs
Its €2 cheaper now than it was when i bought it this morning as well :rolleyes:

Down to €402 now so cancelled and reordered

derekbro

derekbro wrote: »

Down to €402 now so cancelled and reordered

Sound like a broken record now.
£350 deal of the day on amazon.co.uk roughly the same price but with free postage. Cancelled the above one and ordered the black one (only got the gold one as it was the cheapest. €550 on amazon.de today)

ThunbergsAreGo

derekbro wrote: »

Sound like a broken record now.
£350 deal of the day on amazon.co.uk roughly the same price but with free postage. Cancelled the above one and ordered the black one (only got the gold one as it was the cheapest. €550 on amazon.de today)

The Play is a great phone! expect the Z is even better

derekbro

Got the phone yesterday and it seems great, so much faster than my LG g3. Its updated to android 7 but just wondering if there is a way to reduce the size of the icons on the home screen so there's 5 across. Have the font size and display size set to the smallest in display settings but there's still 4 across. Is it possible or do i need a 3rd party launcher?

sentient_6

Try long pressing on an empty space on the home screen and see if you can access some launcher settings.

Im not sure about the ins and outs of the default stock launcher though but I would always say Nova is a good call alternatively.

derekbro

sentient_6 wrote: »

Try long pressing on an empty space on the home screen and see if you can access some launcher settings.

Im not sure about the ins and outs of the default stock launcher though but I would always say Nova is a good call alternatively.

Thanks. Tried that also but just brings me to google now settings and cant find anything for the display. Will have a look at Nova, seems to be recommended quite a bit.

ThunbergsAreGo

derekbro wrote: »

Thanks. Tried that also but just brings me to google now settings and cant find anything for the display. Will have a look at Nova, seems to be recommended quite a bit.

Nova is nice alright

On Evie since getting the phone and really liking it. Its pretty no frills

Banjo

Picked up the Z from Amazon, lovely phone so far, trying to get a case. The Moto G had a shell with an integrated front flip-cover, is there anything like that for the Z?

Bizarrely all the cheap cases for the Z seem to leave the Moto Mod port exposed while also covering the rest of the back so moto mods can't dock with the exposed port. It's the worse of all possible worlds!

Banjo

doublepost

Motorola selling these in the UK for £298 + delivery (+ Parcelmotel?), comes with free JBL sound mod.
https://www.motorola.co.uk/products/moto-z
Code MOTOZHOT
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/moto-z-32gb-jbl-soundboost-mod-speaker-herringbone-nylon-style-shell-298-99-motorola-2638264

So that's £1 lower than the John Lewis deal 3 weeks ago AND you get the free speaker mod with kickstand and small additional battery - it's like having a tiny cinema in your pocket! HUKD do not rate Motorola for returns though.

Only the white one left, BTW

Got the Moto Z yesterday on the deal direct from Moto with JBL Speaker for £300. Overall, am enjoying it. After a day of using it some things I've found:

- Battery fairly week as expected. Was pretty much dead by mid afternoon, with a bit over 4 hours SOT. Not crazy bad, but will definitely look at the battery mod. Was using it more heavily than usual, though. Using maps etc.
- Single front facing speaker is a lot better than I expected, and the JBL speaker isn't as good as I'd hoped. I have a £15 bt speaker which is miles louder. It was free though, so can't complain.
- Currently using the bumper that came in the case, with the style shell on the back. Don't know how long I'll survive with the bumper.
- Turbo charge seems fairly good, but can't seem to get a fast charge using a different QC 2.0 charger and a USB-C cable.
- Chop for flashlight is very handy. Can't get the hang of twist for camera, but prefer double click power button anyway.
- Was already very used to Night Mode on Nougat, but didn't seem to be available on the Moto Z, even after updating to N. Downloaded an app from the Play Store that enables it in quick settings.
- Moto Approach (or whatever it's called) is handy, but almost comes on too easily? I do wonder how much a lot of these extra features using gestures and proximity sensors drain the battery.

Nice to have a change after a year with the same device. Happy with it overall.

ThunbergsAreGo

What was the app?

naughtb4

naughtb4 wrote: »

What was the app?

Night mode enabler. There's probably a few options around.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.michaelevans.nightmodeenabler

WhiteMemento9

Another new Moto Z owner from the recent offer. Loving the phone so far.

Only complaint at the moment is the size of the icons. They are far too big for my taste. I can't believe my only option is to use Nova if I don't want to root it. It seems like such a standard setting that should be available.

WhiteMemento9

WhiteMemento9 wrote: »

Another new Moto Z owner from the recent offer. Loving the phone so far.

Only complaint at the moment is the size of the icons. They are far too big for my taste. I can't believe my only option is to use Nova if I don't want to root it. It seems like such a standard setting that should be available.

I hardly had a look at the launcher. Did my standard thing of installing Nova and restoring my backup. I'm just too used to my gestures on the home screen with Nova now.

sentient_6

WhiteMemento9 wrote: »

Another new Moto Z owner from the recent offer. Loving the phone so far.

Only complaint at the moment is the size of the icons. They are far too big for my taste. I can't believe my only option is to use Nova if I don't want to root it. It seems like such a standard setting that should be available.

If you're on nougat check out display scaling in settings, you can set everything smaller.