Motorola Moto Z Force - specs review
Design
A beautiful phone with swap-able attachments that's built to last.
The Moto Z Force is made of aluminum and stainless steel. Motorola didn't forget to finish it with the water-repellent nano-coating it has used in previous models like the Droid Turbo – the solution doesn't provide complete waterproofing, but does repel splashes and drops of liquid. Finally, the available color schemes will be Black (with Lunar Grey trim), Black (with Rose Gold trim), and Fine Gold. At 6.99 mm thickness, the Z Force is considerably fatter, but presumably much stronger than the regular Moto Z, and the increased thickness let Motorola stuff a substantially bigger battery inside.
Display
A Quad-HD resolution screen that's as tough as it is detailed.
The Moto Z Force features a 5.5-inch Quad-HD resolution AMOLED display that's protected by the company's unique ShatterShield display structure. The display is split in five layers, starting with an aluminum chassis that holds the AMOLED panel and provides structural integrity. On top lie not one, but two touch-sensitive digitizers — if the primary one fails, the second takes over. Moving forth, we discover an "interior lens" – an optically transparent layer that acts as a clear protective shield. This layer is covered by a second, exterior protective lens with a proprietary hard coating to guard against damage.
With 77% more pixels than a 1080p resolution screen at this size, and at a pixel density of 535 pixels per inch, the Moto Z Force's screen is not only shatterproof, but also exceedingly sharp. Moto also took advantage of the AMOLED screen to implement glance-able discrete previews of notifications and updates. It's not an Always-On feature like the one on Nokia and Samsung handsets. Rather, you must wave at your phone's screen to see new events. In addition, the functionality allows you to play and pause your music without unlocking the phone.
Hardware
A bustling spec sheet that checks all 2016 flagship smartphone marks.
Motorola wanted the best it could get for its flagship phone, so it splurged on components and didn't spare cash for components shopping. Thus, the Moto Z Force comes tricked out with Qualcomm's reputable Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, and up to 64GB of expandable UFS flash storage.
The Snapdragon 820, which features a quad-core CPU (up to 2.2GHz) and a powerful Adreno 530 GPU is in the company of a natural language and contextual computing processors. The latter are used for two convenient features you might have experienced on older Motorola phones. You can use voice commands to ask for directions, search for information, or get answers to your questions without touching your phone. Likewise, Moto Actions is a system for motion and gesture control. In this case, twisting your wrist opens the camera, two chops downward give you a flashlight, and place your phone face down enables Do Not Disturb modes for calls and notifications.
The battery unit which powers the Moto Z Force is a sizable 3500mAh one, which is supposed to be good for up to 40 hours of mixed usage (whatever this means). Moto knew what it was doing and included a TurboPower™ charger that nearly tops up the battery in only 15 minutes of charging. With a battery this big and fast to charge, along with a modern 14nm processor and energy-efficient AMOLED screen, we don't expect any major battery woes with the Z Force.
Camera
The 21MP rear camera is supposed to focus very fast, while the 5MP front cam features a dedicated flash!
With this camera setup, the Moto Z Force is capable of recording 1080p/60FPS and 4K/30FPS resolution videos, as well as slow motion videos and Video HDR.
Expectations
Initially, the Moto Z Force will be sold exclusively by Verizon, branded as the Moto Z Force DROID. Sales will begin this summer. A Moto Z Force Unlocked Edition will hit European markets in September, with American availability to follow later. Motorola isn't discussing prices yet, but it's a sure bet that the Moto Z Force will be more expensive than the regular Moto Z.
The only smartphone that combines looks, durability, and power like the Moto Z Force is the AT&T-exclusive Samsung Galaxy S7 Active, but mind you, this one doesn't come with an obsessively-engineered shatter-proof screen. So the competition is clearly on – and may the more indestructible of the two win!
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