Motorola Moto Z review: An impressive design and power-packed spec sheet

Lenovo-owned Motorola recently launched its Moto Z and Moto Z Play smartphones in the country. Having been launched as part of the flagship 'Z' line-up (along side the existing X series), the Moto Z duo isn't just about raw hardware specifications. Their claim to fame is their 'modularity'. Both Moto Z and Moto Z Play are compatible with hot-swappable 'Moto Mods' (sold separately) that can be snapped to them, thus transforming them into something more than just smartphones.

Of these two, the Moto Z is more powerful and hence, pricier. The Moto Z's 'modular' approach can be definitely considered to be a gamble, especially considering the less-than-stellar market response towards the LG G5 and the now-shelved Project Ara from Google.

Now, Moto Z definitely appears to be a pretty solid smartphone. But even with a competent spec-sheet and the whole buzz around modularity, is this a smartphone that can justify its price tag of Rs 39,999? We spent a couple of days, both with the Moto Z and its much-touted companion Mods, and here are our findings.

Design and display

With the Moto Z, Motorola seems to have taken the word 'thin' a bit too seriously. A mere 5.2mm thick, the smartphone has a really impressive design and a stainless steel frame that looks equally good. Compared to the competition, the Moto Z is also quite lightweight. The design is a bit 'boxy,' and despite the large display, the smartphone is comfortable to use with one hand.

The right edge is home to the power button and volume keys, while the SIM tray is located up top. Don't try to find that 3.5mm jack, as it's not there. Instead, you'll have to either use USB Type-C headphones or use the adapter that comes in the box to use your existing earphones. Obviously, this means you won't be able to charge the Moto Z and listen to music at the same time (Unless, a 'port-splitter' accessory or something like that comes to the market to solve the problem).

Flip to the back, and you'll see the protruding 13MP rear camera module with dual LED flash. There's also a 'moto' branding right in the centre. But what's truly interesting about the Moto Z's rear panel are the magnetic pins at the bottom. These are used for interfacing the device with the 'Moto Mods,' which we'll talk about a bit later.

The stainless steel frame can be a bit rough from the back, but turns smooth as soon as you snap on the style shell. The company is offering one for free with the Moto Z. It's made of a faux-wood material and feels amazing in the hand. The 'wooden' finish of the shell not only imparts the phone a good grip, but also adds to the look. However, if you go for a full shell case, chances are quite high you won't be able to stick the mods and shells to the device.


The recently launched Moto Z is priced at Rs 39,999. (Image: www.motorola.in)

Removing the 3.5mm audio jack has helped Motorola make the Moto Z reportedly the thinnest smartphone in the world, with the phone being just 5.2mm thick. In our opinion, it does give the Moto Z a really good in-hand feel.

Let's get to the display side of things. Moto Z has a 5.5-inch Quad HD display of 1440x2560 pixel resolution. Thanks to Amoled panel, Blacks are darker, colours are more vivid and sunlight legibility is really nice. The Black pixels are powered off when not being used, such as when notifications are being displayed via the 'Moto Display' feature. This is quite helpful in saving battery life.

The display also has a brightness override mode. Available only with 'Adaptive brightness' setting enabled, it brings the brightness from 370nits to 506nits. During our testing, we found the display to be really good in direct sunlight. Viewing angles and colour reproduction are quite solid.

In a nutshell, Moto Z's 5.5-inch panel is perfect for everything from high-performance gaming to binging on HD movies.

Performance and camera

Powered by a 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, the Moto Z comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. The phone also accepts microSD cards of up to 2TB in size.

With a (fairly) latest chipset and ample amount of RAM, the Moto Z doesn't disappoint when it comes to general performance. During our testing, we used the smartphone to play everything from Temple Run to Asphalt 8: Airborne and it handled everything without any hiccups. Also, we didn't come across any (major) heating issues. The smartphone handles multi-tasking and fast app-switching quite easily.

Moto Z runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system, made even better with Motorola's software additions like Moto Voice, Moto Actions and Moto Display. Like other Moto smartphones, the Z also has features like Attentive Display (keeps the screen on as long as you are looking at it), Flip for Do Not Disturb (turning the phone on its face activates Do Not Disturb Mode, Pick up to stop ringing (pretty self-explanatory) and Swipe to shrink screen (shrinks the screen content for easier one-handed usage). We found all of these to be really good for enhancing the overall usage experience.

Having a 5.5-inch display, the Moto Z is a bit big. This can make unlocking the device using the power button quite cumbersome. But why use the power button when you can unlock it using just your fingerprint?

That's right. Moto Z comes with a fingerprint sensor which is located below the display. Interestingly, the sensor can be used to both lock and unlock the device. In the course of our usage, the fingerprint sensor worked flawlessly. It's fast and accurate.

A modern smartphone can't quite possibly be considered complete without a capable camera. For this reason, the Moto Z sports a 13MP rear camera with laser autofocus, optical image stabilization (OIS) and dual LED flash. There's also a 5MP front-facing unit for selfie lovers.

In our testing, we found the imaging experience on the Moto Z to be quite good. The camera focuses really quickly and shutter speeds are quite fast. Captured photos have ample amount of resolved details and are quite sharp. As for the camera app itself, it's quite clean and easy to use. The app has features like Auto HDR, the ability to switch between front and rear cameras via a flick of the wrist, 4K video recording and slow-motion recording. There's also a Professional mode which, as the name suggests, lets you tweak everything from ISO levels to white balance as per your liking.

The front camera, too, performed admirably well in our testing. Even low light selfies turned out to be good, thanks to the front-facing flash.

All this fancy goodness needs a reliable battery backup, right? Motorola Moto Z comes with a 2,600mAh battery, which we think is a bit underwhelming, especially on a top-end device. During our testing, the battery lasted about 14 hours on a single charge. This is definitely not the best backup out there. But Turbo Charging support does help in making things a little better. It can bring the battery level from nothing to about 50% in just 30 minutes. Nevertheless, you'll need to charge the Moto Z more than once a day to keep it going.

Moto Mods

'Moto Mods' are the true differentiating factor which give Moto Z edge over its competition. These snap on to the back of the smartphone magnetically. The company has introduced four mods - JBL SoundBoost speaker, Moto Insta-Share projector, Moto Mod battery pack and Hasselblad True Zoom camera. Of course, the style shells are also there.

JBL SoundBoost

Lenovo partnered with audio-accessory maker JBL to create the SoundBoost Mod. Priced at Rs 6,999, it is essentially a stereo loudspeaker with two three-watt drivers. It amplifies the phone's sound and is designed to work as a Bluetooth speaker. The SoundBoost has a 1,000mAh battery of its own and comes with a kickstand as well. This helps in propping the phone in a way that audio is fired upwards, making the sound output better. During our testing, the SoundBoost mod performed extremely well. Its sound quality is great and the audio output is loud enough. If you are a party person, this is one mod you should definitely get.

Moto Insta-Share Projector

Moto Insta-Share projector is one of the most interesting mods offered for the Moto Z. Bearing a price tag of Rs 19,999, it's basically a pico-projector that, when attached to the Moto Z, can beam images and videos up to 70-inch in size on any surface. The downside is that its resolution is a lowly 480p, which looks really bad when projected. However, there is a built in loudspeaker in the mod to make things better.

Moto Mod battery pack

The Moto Mod battery pack adds an extra 2,200mAh of juice to the Moto Z. The powerbank mod has been made by accessory manufacturer Incipio and is priced at Rs 6,999. Though we couldn't test it out in detail, Motorola claims it can keep the smartphone going for long hours.

Hasselblad True Zoom camera

The Hasselblad True Zoom camera is a must-have mod for photography enthusiasts. Developed in collaboration with Swedish camera manufacturer Hasselblad (known for making insanely expensive and quality cameras), the True Zoom comes with a 10x optical zoom lens. This means you can zoom on images really close without losing the quality. The camera's sensor has 12 million pixels and its ISO count goes up to 3200. There's also built in OIS for better photography. Everything from shutter speed to F-stop values can be adjusted, so you can get the perfect shot. What's more, the mod even lets you shoot images in RAW format. The accompanying Xenon flash ensures bright images even in low-light conditions.

There are numerous shooting modes available, such as panorama, night landscape, night portrait and sports. There's also a professional mode which lets you manually adjust all the settings. During our usage, we found the Hasselblad True Zoom camera mod to be extremely good. The image and video quality is definitely very impressive. If you want to buy this one, you're going to have to shell out Rs 19,999.

Verdict

Overall, Motorola Moto Z is a pretty good smartphone. It comes with an impressive design, a power-packed spec sheet, and the 'Mods' that lend it a unique appeal. However, it's these mods only that make the Moto Z worth it. And since you have to buy them separately, we'd say that the Moto Z is certainly not a smartphone for everyone.

If you want that 'modular' edge and don't mind shelling out extra money, the Moto Z is definitely a really good smartphone. But if don't care about modularity and just want a well rounded device, you can go for alternatives such as the Samsung Galaxy S7 and HTC 10, which are just as good.