After years of uncertainty, the Motorola brand found a new home at Lenovo. While the acquisition from Google was completed 2 years back, Lenovo stuck with a familiar looking lineup last year with the Moto X and Moto G. Undoubtedly looking to shake things up a bit this year, Lenovo launched the new Moto Z series back in July, and it’s finally available for sale in Singapore. Its selling point? Mods.
If you recall, back when the Moto X was released, you could go to MotoMaker and customise the look of your phone in your favourite material and colour combination. Moto Z takes this a step further by also allowing you to augment or enhance the functionality of your phone based on your needs.
Lenovo is not the only one betting on this “modular” future. LG launched the G5 earlier this year with its “friends”, and Google’s Project Ara aims to be a truly modular phone. But is it really the future? It has been rumoured that LG is abandoning its modular smartphone platform for next year’s flagship, and Google has all but gave up on the gargantuan effort required to bring Ara to life.
Can Lenovo really make this work with its Moto Z lineup?
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Let’s start by taking a look at the phone. The highlight of the Moto Z's design is undoubtedly its thinness. At just 5.2-millimetre thin, this is one of the thinnest smartphone in the market. Despite that, the phone still feels remarkably solid with its metal and glass construction. Design wise, I can only describe it as sharp looking. It’s not the prettiest or most elegant looking phone, but it fits the “high tech” look of a phone that is striving for the cutting edge of mobile technology.
I do wish that they would go without the “moto” branding to keep the look simpler. The front of the phone looks complicated enough as it is. I think the Motorola “batwing” emblem should be recognisable enough.
Being such a thin and relatively large phone with a 5.5-inch screen, the phone is not exactly the most comfortable thing to use one-handed. Perhaps due to space constraints, the power and volume buttons are placed way higher than I would have liked. They are also pretty tiny with little to differentiate between them other than the power button being textured.
Similar to the iPhone 7, the Moto Z lacks an audio jack, which could annoy some people. I don't really mind it either way since I am using bluetooth earbuds pretty much all the time. A USB Type C to 3.5-millimetres audio jack is included in the box if you still prefer the wired option. The brilliant stereo front firing speakers from the Moto X Style unfortunately didn’t make its way over too. Instead the Moto Z has a single speaker at the top doubling as both the call speaker, and for media playback. At least it is still front firing, and it still sounds pretty decent.
The screen is a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with QHD resolution. Outdoor visibility could be a tad better in bright daylight, but in general it’s a decent looking screen. Just below the screen, there is a fingerprint sensor that can be used to turn the display on and off. It takes a little bit of getting used to as the sensor does not work as the home button like on other smartphones. While the squarish design of the sensor doesn’t look too appealing to me, it works well enough. The fact that I can long press to turn off the screen is a huge plus too considering the inconveniently placed power button.
Like most recent Motorola phones, the Moto Z runs a version of Android that is relatively close to stock Android. Instead of theming and changing the look of the user interface, Motorola added minor enhancements and features to the software to make it stand out. The result is a smooth user interface with minimal bloatware. This has been a winning formula for Motorola since the beginning of the Moto series of devices, and it’s great to see Lenovo sticking to it.
(Wave over the display to wake the screen)
(Double twist to launch the camera)
(Double chop to turn on the LED flashlight)
The use of the Snapdragon 820 chipset along with a near stock Android operating system is one of my favourite flavours of Android. Of course since then we have had newer devices like the OnePlus 3T and Google Pixel, both of which uses the newer Snapdragon 821 chipset. However, the 820 is still more than capable enough to handle most that you throw at it. While in day to day use I do find the Google Pixel and OnePlus 3 to be a bit snappier, most people probably wouldn’t even notice the difference unless they have both phones side by side. I did notice that the phone gets a little bit warm when under heavier use, probably due to the combination of being so thin, and its metal body.
Motorola has never been known for their camera prowess, and the Moto Z is sadly no different. The Moto Z packs a 13-megapixel rear camera, f/1.8 aperture, laser assisted autofocus, dual tone LED flash, and optical image stabilisation. Pretty much in line with other high end smartphones on paper.
Image quality wise, it is a decent performer, but still trails behind the top dogs. Images in general looks decent, with punchy colours and decent dynamic range. It’s a perfectly serviceable camera in most situations, just not the best. My only complaint would probably be the viewfinder. The resolution of the preview, and the refresh rate is just a bit too choppy for my liking, especially in low light.
Here's the link to the full resolution images.
Here's the link to the full resolution images.
Despite its anorexic look, the Moto Z still manages to pack in top end specifications which is no easy feat, but there’s a catch though. Space is at a premium when it comes to smartphones, especially one this thin. So something has to be reduced, and in this case it’s the battery capacity.
At 2,600mAh, it just isn’t enough to keep the Moto Z powered long enough for my liking. For my normal usage, I could get it to last a day pretty easily. Your mileage may vary though. Any heavier use, you will probably have to charge the phone before the day is done. I have to commend Lenovo on their optimisations on the phone though. I wasn’t expecting the phone to last nearly as long as it did. Still, a bigger battery would have been nice.
This is where the Moto Mods comes into play, because you can sacrifice that thinness for a much longer lasting phone if you want to. The Moto Z allows you to attach a single back shell on the back of the phone that augments or add functionality to the phone. This is not the first time we have seen the idea this year, but it’s arguably the best attempt yet.
This is made possible by the 16 pins behind the phone which allows it to connect to these mods with a snap. Strong magnets along with the camera hump helps hold the mods in place. Motorola already has a handful of mods like a projector, a speaker, a variety of battery packs, a vehicle dock, a camera attachment from Hasselblad, and a variety of back shells for purely aesthetic purposes.
They also promised that they will be releasing more mods, and all those will work with the Moto Z series of phones in the future as well. Developer kits are also available to help developers kickstart making their own mods, and Lenovo are hosting hackathons to create new Moto Mods too.
All these sounds promising, but it does mean that you have to really buy into the ecosystem, and really believe in Lenovo to keep their promise.
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The Moto Z is a decent smartphone, and that’s the best way I can describe it. It does what a modern day flagship smartphone should do, in a package that is thinner than most. But, it is a phone that I find hard to recommend to anyone unless they know what they are getting themselves into. Because if you’re looking for a great smartphone, and don’t care about the mods, there are cheaper and better alternatives out there.
While Moto Mods is an interesting idea, and I applaud Lenovo for trying, it is not something that I find exceedingly useful. It is also one that comes with compromises of its own. Instead of having mods to enhance a particular feature, like the speaker quality or battery life, I rather just have better speakers, and a bigger battery to begin with. The Moto Mods are also the reason why the camera hump is so huge. Other than to hold the camera components, it is also to hold the mods in place. To hide the hump, you have to use the style mods. While that gives the phone a nice unique look, it adds thickness to the phone without adding any extra battery life or functionality.
Then there is the matter of price too. This is not a cheap phone. At a recommended retail price of S$899, it costs almost as much as other flagship devices in the market. In the case of the OnePlus 3T, it is actually way more expensive. Furthermore, to get better battery life, better speakers, you will need to shell out additional cash for the Moto Mods. Best part is, those mods only work with the Moto Z series. This is a huge investment considering we don’t even know whether the next Moto Z is going to be any good. A comparable battery pack, bluetooth speaker, mobile projector, or even camera attachment like Sony’s QX10, costs about the same or less. And, those works with most other smartphones.
The whole Moto Mods and Moto Z ecosystem lock-in is one that requires huge amount of trust and faith in Lenovo. From their actions in the past few years after taking over Motorola, let’s just say it’s running a little low for me.
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