At their launch event in New York, Motorola has taken the wraps off their latest flagship announcing the Moto Z2 Force Edition as well as a 360-degree camera Moto Mod.
Moto Z2 Force
The Moto Z2 Force Edition as it’s called is described by Motorola as their ‘most advanced smartphone ever’. Powered by the 2017 flagship SoC, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and either 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of storage depending on region, the Z2 Force is a powerhouse and packed to the gills with hardware.
The Moto Z2 Force comes with a 5.3″ QHD (2560×1440) resolution SuperAMOLED display and has the familiar design of the Moto Z series.
It’s this familiar design that allows the phone to utilise the ever expanding line of Moto Mods available for the Moto Z, including the new 360-degree camera Moto Mod they announced at the event.
The phone introduces a dual rear camera setup to the Moto Z series, with dual 12MP rear sensors included behind f/2.0 aperture lenses. The dual-camera setup is pretty standard, with a monochrome and colour sensor, that also allows the phone to take pictures with a rich depth of field, allowing for effects like blur in the fore or background.
Despite shrinking the battery to a mere 2,730mAh, Motorola is spruiking the phone as having an ‘all-day battery’. Even if it doesn’t last all day it still supports TurboPower charging to top it up fast.
Full Specs:
| Key Specifications: | Moto Z2 Force Edition |
|---|---|
| Release date | — |
| Screen size | 5.5-inch |
| Screen technology | SAMOLED |
| Resolution | 2,560 x 1,440 |
| PPI | 534 |
| Rear camera | 12MP+12MP |
| Front camera | 5MP |
| Chipset | Snapdragon 835 |
| Core config | — |
| RAM |
|
| Storage |
|
| MicroSD | Yes, up to 2TB |
| Battery | 2,730 mAh |
| Battery removable | — |
| Connector | USB C |
| Headphone Port | — |
| Headphone Location | — |
| Speaker Configuration | — |
| NFC | — |
| Android OS | Android 7.1.1 |
| Vendor skin | — |
| Dimensions | 155.8 x 76 x 6.1 mm |
| Weight | 143g |
| Colours |
|
The phone will be available in Super Black and Fine Gold colour options, with US carrier T-Mobile picking up an exclusive on a third option: Lunar Grey.
Moto 360 Camera
The leaked Moto 360 Camera mod has finally been made official, with Motorola unveiling the latest mod at the New York event. The mod attached to the rear of the Moto Z series phones, using the proprietary 16-pin connector to capture 360-degree images and 4k video
The mod has software available which allows you to edit, before sharing the resulting images or video to Google Photos or other social channels.
Availability
Motorola has only announced availability for the Moto Z2 Force in the US at this stage where it will go on-sale on August 10th at Best Buy and Motorolas own online store as well as at all four major carriers: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, as well US Cellular. The phone will be up for pre-order from today, with a free Insta-Share Projector Moto Mod being included for a limited time.
Pricing hasn’t been announced officially, but Android Central are quoting $720USD for the phone outright, that’s $907AUD if it ever arrives here. Motorola says the phone is also heading to ‘Mexico, Brazil and various countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa starting later this summer’.
The Moto 360 Camera mod will be going global though, but with a $299.99 USD (MSRP) (around $377AUD) it’s almost worth buying a separate 360-degree camera like a Theta S, 360 Fly 4K or Samsung Gear 360. It will be available from August 10th.
We’ve reached out to Motorola Australia to confirm availability of the Moto 360 Camera mod and to find out if the Moto Z2 Force will arrive on our shores.
Really want the Force to come to Australia. They’ve announced a qwerty keyboard attachment for the Moto Z series at the CES this year, but without being able to put it in a case to protect it, I want the shatterproof version for when I inevitably drop it. This ain’t no Nokia E90 after all 🙂
any reason Telstra and optus and friends generally don’t sell the Z and X lines on contract ? I don’t get it. I think this years Z’s are duds because of the battery drops in the absence of new killer features like class leading cameras (or even 10th place!)
kudos to them for the fingerprint scanner on the Z’s becoming a gesture area and home buttons though.
Lenovo should bring the P2 across to the Moto line, optimise its camera post processing and obviously put the Moto skin and its gestures on there.
It is certainly priced as a flagship model but I am not sure it is worth it unless you are going to get the mods and as stated many times the mods only offer what you can get already as standalone products which will often be cheaper and better. If it does come with the projector here too then that does make the package better value but I am not sure the compromises in this version make it worth getting. I would think it is better to get one of last years models which is not that much slower and… Read more »
Please let us know as soon as moto Aus get you back with this release date on the Z2 force
5.3″ or 5.5″ screen? You stated both.