Motorola Moto Z2 Force

Moto Z2 Force review: A great phone, despite the mods. But it's no bargain

Motorola's step-up sequel to the Moto Z2 has great features and solid design, but the competition in this price range is about to get fierce. The Moto Z3 Play is now an actual real thing we've had our hands on! It arrives this summer for $499 with an extra battery pack.

Moto Z2 Force

ImageTagInstance gallery-dd921c3a-5cf7-43a8-84fb-0790b8684e96 IntroductionDo smartphone shoppers like having a lot of choices? Up to a certain extent, sure, choices let us come closer to getting the phone of our dreams, and lower the risk of being stuck with some unwanted compromise. So when a company launches a device and it comes in two different sizes, we tend to look at this like a good thing; whether we want petite 5.0-inch phone or the big 5.7-inch phablet, our bases are covered.But when we start talking about modular hardware, the benefit of having all those different models can start getting more difficult to justify. Look at last year's inaugural batch of Moto Z phones from Motorola: we had the super-thin HTMLTagInstance html-tag-166dd503-66cc-42d0-8a5d-18752b169f62 Moto Z, as well as the bulkier HTMLTagInstance html-tag-ef5b36d2-abd7-442a-87e6-91f90537e8d8 Moto Z Force, and while the latter was much thicker, it also offered a significantly larger battery. ImageTagInstance gal...

Moto Z2 Force review

As a software experience, the Moto Z2 Force is excellent. But the Moto Mod ecosystem means you’re spending a hell of a lot on accessories that are only useful for the lifetime of the device. It’s also far too expensive, even before mods. Practically every other smartphone manufacturer sells a flagship device for less, and sometimes considerably less. If money is no object and you love the idea of mods and like the reassurance of an unbreakable screen, the Z2 Force will be the phone for you. For everyone else, there are cheaper high-end phones out there from Samsung, Google and OnePlus with better battery life and better cameras.