Motorola Moto Z3 + 5G Moto Mod announced

[D13H4RD]

Hot off the heels of Motorola's August 2nd event, the company took the wraps off the Moto Z3, the latest offering in the Moto Z line alongside the 5G Moto Mod. 

Quote

The Moto Z3 follows up last year’s Moto Z2 as a near-flagship device, with hardware specifications that slot just below the recently announced Moto Z3 Play. It sports a six-inch, 2,160 x 1,080 resolution Super AMOLED display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and minimal bezels, an 8MP front-facing camera, and no home button — the fingerprint scanner is integrated into a side-mounted power button.

( https://venturebeat.com/2018/08/02/motorola-debuts-moto-z3-and-5g-moto-mod-for-verizons-5g-network/ ) 

 

The Z3 features the Snapdragon 835 SoC, which combines an 8-core Kryo 280 CPU with an Adreno 540 GPU and 4GB of LPDDR4X memory. It has 64GB of storage which has apparently been upgraded for 5G support that has an optional secondary SD slot. The display is a 6" 2:1 2160x1080 AMOLED display and the phone runs Android Oreo 8.1 out of the box with minimal customizations. The same 12MP + 12MP 1/2.9" RGB/Mono dual camera array make up the main camera while an 8MP module makes up the front. Power is supplied by a 3000mAh sealed battery, and no, there's no headphone jack, just like the last 3 Zs. 

 

The star of the show though, is the 5G Moto Mod. 

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As its name suggests, the 5G Moto Mod places a 5G modem inside a plastic backpack, using magnets and pogo pins to bond with a Motorola Z-series phone. Noticeably thick with its own 2,000mAh internal battery, the 5G backpack has a hole in its upper center for the phone’s camera. It also has a protruding top antenna bump, likely to reduce interference with the wireless hardware inside the base phone.

Motorola is using a Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 modem inside the 5G Moto Mod. While this modem is capable of supporting so-called “millimeter wave” and “sub-6 GHz” 5G radio frequencies when used with the right antenna modules, the 5G Moto Mod apparently will be restricted solely to millimeter wave use on Verizon’s network. Motorola claims the device will be capable of hitting data speeds up to 5 gigabits per second (Gbps), with single-digit rather than double-digit millisecond latency (responsiveness).

( https://venturebeat.com/2018/08/02/motorola-debuts-moto-z3-and-5g-moto-mod-for-verizons-5g-network/)

 

The mod will first work for the Z3 line before trickling down into the older phones although full performance can't be guaranteed due to the older internals. 

 

The Moto Z3 is exclusive to Verizon Wireless for a price of $480. No pricing for the Moto Mod is announced but a release date of early 2019 is announced. 

 

Personally, I'm conflicted. I like the design much better than past Moto Zs but even though the price is tempting, I'm not so sure about the internals. Yes, it's more than plenty fast and I feel that this is probably the case of a phone still being fast and snappy even with last generation hardware. But it's just a bit of an oddball for me. 

[S w a t s o n]

Not mentioned in your post but I read another article stating the 2000mah battery inside of the mod can only be used to power the 5g antenna due to high power usage, which is dumb, but at least it exists I guess.

 

Found it: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/moto-z3-specs-price-5g-motomod,news-27727.html

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In addition to those next-generation radios, the new accessory carries a 2,000-mAh battery to offset potential increases in battery drain. This battery won't be used to increase the longevity of the phone beyond normal 4G usage, but merely keep the 5G radios humming along, as they consume a lot of power.

 

[Quadriplegic]

Can we get phones with good hardware that actually fit in the pocket? 

I have been thinking about getting rid of my i6 for almost half a year,  haven't found anything to replace it with yet.

[D13H4RD]

28 minutes ago, Swatson said:

Not mentioned in your post but I read another article stating the 2000mah battery inside of the mod can only be used to power the 5g antenna due to high power usage, which is dumb, but at least it exists I guess.

 

Found it: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/moto-z3-specs-price-5g-motomod,news-27727.html

 

Yep, just like the JBL Speaker, which I incidentally have since I own the 2016 Moto Z

[Natsoup]

8 hours ago, Quadriplegic said:

Can we get phones with good hardware that actually fit in the pocket? 

I have been thinking about getting rid of my i6 for almost half a year,  haven't found anything to replace it with yet.

Huawei P10, iPhone 8, 8+, X, Galaxy S9/S9+? 

[Quadriplegic]

1 hour ago, Natsoup said:

Huawei P10, iPhone 8, 8+, X, Galaxy S9/S9+? 

8+, S9+?

They are freaking bricks, not phones.

Around 130-145 mm height is where it's at.

[Voids]

On 8/3/2018 at 4:39 PM, Quadriplegic said:

8+, S9+?

They are freaking bricks, not phones.

Around 130-145 mm height is where it's at.

Less like bricks and more like slates.

[dizmo]

Disappointing as a phone, but I get it. They're not willing to dump a lot of money into these as this is the last year that they've said they'll support the current MotoMods, and I imagine they're predicting soft sales because of that. They're also more locked into the way the phone's designed. I wonder if they'll continue with mods in the next generation of phones, or if they'll carry on in a different direction.

 

On 8/2/2018 at 11:28 PM, Quadriplegic said:

Can we get phones with good hardware that actually fit in the pocket? 

I have been thinking about getting rid of my i6 for almost half a year,  haven't found anything to replace it with yet.

Essential PH1, Sony XZ2 Compact, Nokia 8 Scirocco.

The S9, P20, are only a couple mm larger than the 145mm limit you seem to think is ideal.

 

Really though, that's just you. The market has clearly shown otherwise. I have no problem fitting Note's in my pockets. Maybe you shouldn't wear spandex

[Quadriplegic]

6 hours ago, dizmo said:

Essential PH1, Sony XZ2 Compact, Nokia 8 Scirocco.

The S9, P20, are only a couple mm larger than the 145mm limit you seem to think is ideal.

 

Really though, that's just you. The market has clearly shown otherwise. I have no problem fitting Note's in my pockets. Maybe you shouldn't wear spandex

Spandex is love, spandex is life