Motorola Unveils the Moto Z2 Force, a Smartphone With Double the Cameras and a Shatterproof Screen (theverge.com)

Motorola has announced a new flagship smartphone that will be available on every major U.S. carrier. Some of the noteworthy specifications include a nearly indestructible screen and dual rear-facing camera sensors. The Verge reports: The Moto Z2 Force is the closest thing to a flagship phone that Motorola has released this year, and it's got all the hardware specs to show for it: inside is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. It runs Android 7.1 with a promised upgrade to Android O to come. That's all standard fare for an expensive 2017 smartphone, and the Z2 Force is certainly expensive at around $720. It's priced even higher on some carriers like AT&T ($810). This version is much thinner than last year's phone, but that sleek design comes with a significant sacrifice in battery capacity; the Z2 Force has a 2,730mAh battery compared to the 3,500mAh battery in the old Moto Z Force. Between this and the Moto Z2 Play, Motorola sure does seem obsessed with slimming things down lately, and what are we gaining? Oh, there's no headphone jack on this thing either. Be prepared to go wireless or live the dongle life.

Comments

Early adopters

[nwaack]

I sure am glad there are so many people out there that are willing to spend $700+ on a phone. That way I can get a phone that can do 80% of what the "flagship" phones can do for 1/5 the price.

Re:Early adopters

[mspohr]

I've had a Nexus 5 for three years. Still works fine and does everything I need. Runs all the current wireless protocols and software.
My wife's Nexus 5 finally succumbed to being dropped too many times. I found a "refurb" Nexus 5 for $79.
I replaced the battery in mine for $9 even though it still had reasonable run time.
Phones reached "peak functionality" several years ago. Everything now is just bells and whistles. I'll wait until there is some real advance that I must have... but I don't anticipate it coming anytime soon.

Good enough

[rodrigoandrade]

We've reached the "good enough" point in smartphones a while ago, just like we did with PCs in the early 00s. Nobody cares anymore about spec sheets that much...

Hence, first post.

Thinner

[godel_56]

OK, so they've made it thinner, reducing battery capacity in the process (and getting rid of the headphone socket), but then they put a large camera bulge on the back?

Shattering.

[dohzer]

Shatterproof? I'll believe it when I *don't* see it (shatter).

Again

[Daetrin]

I know i'm shouting into the wind against what the market (apparently) desires, but i don't want thinner. I want smaller, like the 1st gen Moto X. As long as the height and width are reduced enough so that i can use it one-handed without too much difficulty i don't care a great deal about the thickness. And a headphone jack is a requirement.

I started with the Nexus One, moved onto the 1st gen Moto X when the Google phones got too large, and then moved onto the Xperia X Compact when the Motorola phones got too large. Of the three phones the Moto X had the best UI and form factor, but i'm not going back to Motorola unless they start putting out smaller quality phones again.

Re:Again

[vivian]

I have an S8 that's sitting in the drawer - because of this exact reason. It was a nightmare to try and use outlook on it. It is all but impossible to hold the phone without activating touch sensitive side areas which would open emails or trigger things I didn't want triggered.
Apparently the problem goes away if you use a phone cover - but I never got round to getting one. Another annoyance is that despite it's metallic appearance, the whole phone is covered in glass, so there is no way for it to survive a drop - even though I had a quite expensive after-market screen protector on it to protect the curved glass front. The back of my phone is shattered now, as is one corner - after my cat knocked it off the bedside table - a drop of less than 1 meter.