Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Moto Z4 Review: Is This The Moto Z “4” U?”.
[ Narrator ]: It’s getting warm outside folks, which means it’s time to toss the same old stack, Moto mods in my backpack and pretend once again that the modular phone dream is still alive.. That’S right: Motorola just dropped the Moto Z4, but unless you’re on Verizon Wireless, it’s probably not the Moto Z4 for you. ( light electronic music ). Don’T misunderstand: I still think modular phones are absolutely a cool idea and if you stick around to the end I’ll show you a few really interesting, mods from Motorola and elsewhere, but this phone, the Moto Z4. It doesn’t make any sense to buy it unless you’re already invested in the Moto mod ecosystem or again you’re on Verizon Wireless..
But that’s because this phone is basically Verizon’s gateway drug to 5G., It’s insanely, affordable. If you start a new line of service with Verizon. During the promo period, you can get the phone and it’s 5G Moto mod for under 500 bucks, and on top of that, Verizon will waive that 10 dollar a month charge for 5G. If you do so., You might remember the 5G Moto mod from my preview, video last summer..
It slaps onto the back of the phone just like any other Moto mod, but instead of a camera or a speaker. It packs the radios, antennas and modem necessary to make the phone work on Verizon’s 5G network. Now the phone beneath the mod in some ways, it’s a tremendous value., No fingerprints. Thanks to this nice matte finish on the curved Gorilla Glass, three backplate., A display covering almost the whole face of the phone.
Little things like a headphone jack for those who want it and a top mounted speaker that makes it harder to accidentally cover up the sound When you hold it., More importantly, a couple of very big things too, like a battery that I just can’t kill in one day, no matter how hard I try. No wireless charging, but there’s a mod for that, and if the battery is not big enough for you, I can’t imagine that’s true, well, there’s a mod for that as well. No need to fall back to the old Hasselblad mod for your photos.
Presiding over the Z4’s. Backside is a camera with one of the highest resolutions on the market. I’ll share more samples. At the end of video. Phone calls are crystal clear and that display well, it could be a lot brighter is plenty colorful and powering everything is the familiar minimalistic, Motorola software..
I still love these features folks, but I also want to see more of them and it seems, like Motorola, has kind of stopped innovating here., There’s still creative execution at work.. In fact, Motorola found a cool, ultrasonic method of detecting, when your hand is nearby, so it no longer has to drill holes in the faceplate for sensors, but the Moto display that pops up is the same one we’ve seen for years.. Those gestures are again the same ones first introduced six years ago and while Motorola genuinely deserves credit for making phones compatible with its Moto mods for even longer than it initially promised, we got no new Moto mods at this announcement.. Let’S take a second and contrast: the Moto Z4, with the only other modular phone to even get close to the mainstream.
The S90 from a company called Doogee. Less than 500 bucks gets you a rugged, Android handset, with intense dust and water resistance, a massive battery and four slap-on accessories. Similar to Moto. One of these is a battery and one is a gamepad.. The other two, though, are wild. A night-vision camera for super low-light shooting and a PRS radio add-on that turns the phone into a walkie-talkie.. Now look to be 100 % clear. I am not saying you should go, buy a Doogee phone instead of the Moto Z4., The mods feel light and cheap.
The phone has no oleophobic coating to fight fingerprints and the typos on everything from the stickers to the software. Make it very difficult to take this thing seriously, but I bring it up so that we can sort of remember together what it was like when modular accessories were still aspirational and I still love using Motorola’s, mods, printing goofy Polaroids taking goofy or 360 degree photos going. A whole weekend without charging., It’s never not fun, but even here there’s a compromise., Many of the old mods don’t fit as well. On the new curved back, so they’re sharp edges scrape annoyingly against your palm.
When you hold the phone., It just feels slapdash and tired. Nothing like the adventurous anything-can-happen energy at the first Moto Z launch in 2016.. When I balanced the list of compromises against the Moto Z4s unlocked price of 4.99. It makes it a tough sell.
For a hundred bucks less. You can get the Pixel 3A from Google, which will be updated, faster and for longer who’s. Smarter cameras will give you consistently better photos or for 50 dollars more. You could get the OnePlus 6T.
Faster software, more raw power under the hood and a slightly faster fingerprint sensor, though that’s not saying much., If getting 5G at a discount with your new phone is something you’ve got ta have well then yeah. The Moto Z4 is the only deal in town for now.. If, though, you were hoping for some flicker of the Motorola of old, this isn’t it. Some more camera samples for you.
While I try to go out with a silver lining, here., The Motorola of 2019 is actually making money again under Lenovo. So it’s strategy of catering to the low and mid-range appears to be working. Well., Here’s hoping that gives the company the stability it needs to jump back into the high-end sometime this year, because the troubles surrounding Samsung and Huawei’s folding phones thus far leave the door wide open if Motorola wants to walk in and crush it with that rumored razor Folding phone. Be sure to check out my friends at Android central for their take on the Moto Z4 and don’t miss my 5G test from Chicago. Subscribe to the Mr. mobile on YouTube and follow me at the same handle on Instagram.. This video produced with the aid of a Moto Z4 for review device on loan from Motorola..
I don’t take money for reviews and I don’t grant copy approval.. So this video is hitting your feed at the same time as Motorola’s. Until next time.
Thanks for watching and stay mobile, my friends .