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.
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.
Key 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
Main Shortcomings
- No USB transfer cable included (charger and cable are single piece)
- No standard 3.5mm audio jack (USB-C adapter is included)
- Moto Mods aren't cheap
- Exclusive to the US market via Verizon
The Moto Z Force is a worthy competitor to the Samsung Galaxy S7 active as they 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
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