Hands-on: Moto Z2 Force

Motorola held a launch event this morning in New York City where it announced the Moto Z2 Force. Moto is really excited for the second iteration of its flagship device. Along with two new Moto Mods announced, the Moto Z2 builds on top of last year's Moto Z and Moto Z Force Droid.

Gone is the the regular non-shatter resistant version of the Moto Z2, (unless you count the Moto Z2 Play). The Moto Z2 Force is slimmer and lighter than the Moto Z Force, but if you remember, the Moto Z Force Droid has a 3,500 mAh battery. As a result of keeping its profile slimmed down, the Moto Z2 Force comes with a smaller 2,730 mAh battery (though larger than the Moto Z's 2,600 mAh pack). The Moto Z2 Force comes with the same 15W Moto TurboPower charger as the Moto Z.

The Moto Z2's hardware looks very similar to its predecessor. The display is the same size and resolution at 5.5-inches and QHD with a POLED panel featuring Moto's Shatter Shield. We'll test the display for color accuracy and brightness and let you know of any improvements in the full review.

Moto Z (left), Moto Z2 Force (right)

New to the front of the phone is the shape of the fingerprint scanner, which Moto says is wider and larger to make it easier to use its gesture navigation: tap or swipe on the sensor to go Home, Back, or open your Recents. Moto also mentioned the fingerprint sensor unlocks the device in 750 milliseconds, definitely not as quickly as sensors of some Chinese-made devices like Huawei.

In the hand, the Moto Z2 Force feels nicer than the Moto Z did because the edges around the rear plate blend well into the frame of the phone without imprinting a crease into your palm. Our AT&T retail unit did not include a Style plate like the Moto Z did. Otherwise, the feel in the hand is pretty much the same since the overall form factor is identical.

The back of the phone has a new antenna band that goes all the way around the frame of the phone while the back plate is made of brushed aluminum.

Moto Z2 Force: Back • Buttons • Bottom • Right

In the software department, Moto has announced a few improvements to Moto Voice and Moto Display. Moto Display now lets you reply to messages right from the lock screen without having to open the corresponding app. As for Moto Voice, you can make use of the words "Show me" to ask Moto/Google to "show me": the weather, my calendar, Gmail.

Along with the Moto Z2 Force, Moto also announced two new MotoMods, the first of which, is the Moto 360 Camera, which is physically attached to the phone and supports 4K-res live streaming. The other brand-new MotoMod is the GamePad MotoMod, which features dual joysticks, trigger buttons, a d-pad, and there's even a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom of the gamepad. Both new MotoMods will be compatible with last year's Moto Z models.

Gamepad MotoMod • Moto 360 camera: front • back

New to the Moto Z2 Force is Motorola's first-generation dual-camera setup, which is made up of dual 12MP sensors. You can take pure black and white photos using solely the camera's monochrome sensor. The camera also has a proper 'portrait mode' though the option in the camera is called "depth enabled".

Other specs include the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM. 4GB of RAM with 64GB of expandable storage, dualSIM slots in some markets, and Bluetooth 4.2 with 5.0 support coming via an OTA update. Connectivity-wise, the Moto Z2 Force comes with NFC, dual-band Wi-Fi, and a USB-C for data, power, and audio (as there's no headphone jack).

The Moto Z2 will be hitting Best Buy stores, Motorola.com, and all four major US carriers starting at $750. More US pricing information, including pre-order details can be found on this post.

We'll reserve our judgements of the Moto Z2 Force until our full review is complete. In the meantime, what are your first impressions of the Moto Z2 Force?