Motorola wants you to forget about Apple and Samsung, and it’s hoping its new Moto Z2 Force will be the phone that does the trick.
Available for pre-order now, and hitting stores August 10, the Moto Z2 Force offers the kind of features you’ve come to expect from modern, top-of-the-line smartphones. But it’s the handset’s screen, which is guaranteed not to crack or shatter, that makes the Z2 Force worth your attention.
Crack is whack
The Google (GOOG, GOOGL) Android-powered Z2 Force is the follow-up to Motorola’s Z Force Droid and builds on that device’s design, while adding the latest and greatest hardware. Like its predecessor, the new handset gets a 5.5-inch Quad HD AMOLED display, which offers more dynamic colors than traditional LED screens.
Motorola has also brought back its shatterproof display, which the company says won’t shatter or crack. I’ve tested shatterproof screens before, and they genuinely do work, so I’m excited to see how the Z2 Force fares.
The Z Force and Z2 Force aren’t clones of each other, though. This time around, Motorola has slimmed down the handset’s body, trimming it to 0.24 inches thick compared with the Z Force’s 0.28 inches. The company also cut back on the Z2 Force’s weight, trimming it from 5.7 ounces to 5 ounces even.
That doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but hold the two phones in your hands and you can feel how svelte the Z2 Force is compared to its predecessor.
There’s just one problem with the Z2 Force’s diet: Its battery is far smaller. See, the original Moto Z Force had a 3,500-mAh battery, which is an impressive power plant for any smartphone. You could easily use that to get from sunrise to sunset and then some.
The Z2 Force, though, has a 2,730-mAh battery, which, if my math is correct, is smaller than Z Force’s. Motorola, however, insists you’ll be able to get all-day battery life out of the Z2 Force. I’ll have to wait until I get my hands on a review unit to know for sure, though. The company also says the Z2 Force’s fast charger can get you “hours of power in minutes.”
The Z2 Force also gets two, count ‘em, two rear cameras. Unfortunately, unlike Apple’s (APPL) iPhone 7 Plus, which uses one of its two cameras to add an extra level of optical zoom, the Moto Z2 Force uses its second camera to help capture bokeh (a clear foreground with a blurred background) style shots.
Motorola says the Z2 Force’s dual cameras can help it capture more light in low-light settings for crisper shots of your friends doing shots at the bar.
All around the world
Beyond the Moto Z2 Force, Motorola also announced its new 360 camera Moto Mod. Moto Mods are special attachments you can connect to your Z2 Force or Motorola’s new Moto Z2 Play that add additional capabilities to your devices.
Motorola previously announced a water-resistant speaker attachment, battery booster and game controller, but was holding off on the 360 mod for the Z2 Force.
Called the Moto 360 Camera, the mod connects to your Moto Z2 Force magnetically and can then be controlled directly through the traditional camera app. That’s a big change from other 360 cameras that require you to control them using a third-party app.
The mod allows you to capture both 360-degree photos and videos, ultra-wide angle images and broadcast live 360 video to your social media accounts.
The Moto 360 Camera won’t be cheap, though. Motorola says it will retail for $299 when it goes on sale August 10.
Stay tuned for both my Moto Z2 Force and Moto 360 camera reviews in the coming weeks.
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Email Daniel at [email protected]; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.