Motorola has carved a niche for itself in the android market, with some excellent budget and mid-range offerings. It recently announced two phones — the Moto Z and the Moto Z Play, which support modular attachments that can add a slew of features. The Moto Z, a premium model, is aimed at the high-end buyers.

Rich look

Motorola has seldom disappointed in the looks department, and the Moto Z is no different. The super-slim design and feel is reminiscent of the Moto Razr in a way. The body is all glass and metal, and looks nice when held, although it feels a little thin and I kept worrying about dropping it. However, Motorola seems to have recognised this issue and have included a plastic bumper in the bundled accessories.

The camera and the LED flash are housed in a protruding disc on the rear, and this gives the phone a classy look. The protrusion even helps hold the Moto Mods snugly in place. The phone has quite some room below the screen and this houses the fingerprint sensor, which is easily mistaken for the home button; I pressed on it to return to homescreen a few times initially.

Heats up quickly

Hardware on the phone is top-notch, as it should be, for a phone priced at this range. The Moto Z is powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor backed by 4GB RAM, which lets it multitask quite well, apart from a few hiccoughs when gaming for long periods. The Z also has a tendency to heat up pretty quick, especially on prolonged camera and gaming use.

It has 64GB memory, expandable using a microSD to 2TB. However, if you use two SIMS, the microSD will have to sacrificed, owing to the hybrid SIM tray. Motorola has ditched the 3.5 mm audio jack, going instead with a universal USB Type C port. But strangely, as though the company couldn’t make up its mind, the earphones in the bundled accessories are the 3.5mm type, with an adaptor.

The screen size and quality are winners — the 5.5 inch AMOLED screen with a density of 535 ppi ensuring sharp images and excellent overall viewing. The speakers are quite clear. Motorola has no word on VoLTE support, which is a disadvantage.

The phone runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, with virtually no added embellishing, which I found a relief. Motorola has also indicated that the Z will be getting the Nougat update very soon.

There are also some handy gesture controls, such as a double wrist twist that gets the camera started, even from standby mode, and a double downward chop, that switches on the flashlight.

Great camera

With a 13MP rear camera sporting an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilisation, the Z offers a great shooting experience. Day pictures have an amazing clarity and sharpness to them, and while shooting at night or under low light is marred by a little noise and not-so-perfect focus, the results are still a lot better than other phone cameras. Motorola has also replaced the default camera app, and the one on the Z gets a professional mode, where you can adjust exposure, shutter speed, white balance, etc. The front camera at 5MP and with its own flash, also justifies itself with good quality images even under low light, ensuring clear video calls.

Average battery life

The 2,600mAH battery on this one could give you the feeling that it is a tad underpowered for a phone with these specifications. However, the battery performed fine, lasting long enough on a single charge even on prolonged gaming. The turbo charger ensures that your phone is juiced up pretty quick, with 10-15 minutes of charges taking the battery to 50 per cent.

The Moto Mods

The Mods are added accessories that fit magnetically to the phone, thanks to 16-point contacts on the phone’s rear.

The concept of attaching accessories, or as they are known now, modules, to phones for added features is not new. Sony Ericsson did it around 2004 with the Sony Communicam, which could be attached to some of it phones to add a camera. However, this did not find many takers at that time. Recently, even Google’s Project ARA for a modular smartphone, and LG’s G5 failed to take off. So what could work for Motorola?

The variety is a plus. Motorola launched the Z and the Z plus with four mods — a battery enhancer, a Hasselblad True Zoom camera, JBL SoundBoost and the Moto Insta-Share projector. With getting third-parties on board for the mods right at the start, Motorola could be signalling that the approach could be expanded to other feature-adding mods in the future. A major drawback is their price. The HasselBlad Mod and the projector are priced at ₹19,999 each, and the JBL Mod and the battery enhancer at ₹6,999 and ₹5,999 respectively.

The Mod with the review pack was the Insta-Share projector.With a specified brightness of 50 lumens, it can be used on any clean light-coloured surface. The mod lets you adjust focus depending on your distance from the screen and is good for video and gaming experiences. However, it heated up fairly quickly and the battery on it was not great either. The phone also gets a Style Mod, which is basically a back cover that fits magnetically to the phone, giving it some much-needed bulk.

The Moto Z is a good package overall, but the only feature that justifies its price point is the rear camera. The Mods are another advantage, if they appeal to you as a user. But if that is going to be your biggest choosing call, you could note that the much cheaper Z Play is also equipped with them.

Price: ₹41,999

Love: Camera, speed, clean software

Hate: Pricey, heats up quickly, no VoLTE support, small battery

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