Moto Z Unboxing & First Impressions: A Slim Flagship With Plenty to Offer

Modular phones are not a new concept. But Moto Z is one of the first phones that actually make it work without it seeming like a gimmick. Or put in other words, Moto Z is the first and by far a successful attempt of making modular phones mainstream.

You can extend the phone via Moto Mods (the name given to the modular addons by the company), and they are certainly the most attractive and enticing feature of the smartphone. Motorola says it wants to use Moto Z’s interchangeable back module system to create an “app store for hardware.”

ProPakistani brings you the unboxing and first impressions of the Moto Z, along with its various Mods. Gear up.

Unboxing

We receive plenty of phones and devices for review here at ProPakistani but trust us when we say that the packing for the Moto Z is by far the best one we’ve seen. The smartphone comes in a black briefcase-like bag, which contains the phones and accessories.

Divided into two levels, the upper end of the case houses all four of the Moto Mods: a portable projector mod, a battery pack mod, a JBL soundboost speaker mod and a Hasselblad True Zoom camera mod.

The bottom half of the case has the Moto Z smartphone, the handsfree, a USB and an additional cable.

Here is the complete list of all the equipment found in the briefcase:

  • 1 x Moto Z smartphone
  • 4 x Moto Z Mods (plus individual guide books)
  • 1 x Moto Z plain back
  • 1 x Moto Z plastic ring protector
  • 1 x hard Mods pouch
  • 1 x Moto Z pouch
  • 1 x Moto Z charger
  • 1 x Moto Z handsfree
  • 1 x 3.5mm jack to USB 3.0 converter cable
  • 5 x Moto Z guide booklets
  • 1 x Moto Z warranty card
  • 1 x Moto Z accidental protection card
  • 1 x Motorola marked USB

First Impressions

The first thing you notice about the Moto Z is its elegant design and just how light the device feels. Without any mods, the Moto Z is extremely thin at just 5.2mm.

The smartphone is made out of aircraft-grade aluminum, stainless steel and weighs only 136g. The back is made from Kevlar and is textured, which provides a superb grip.

Moto Z features a 5.5-inch Quad HD display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels. According to the company, the Moto Z has 77 percent more pixels than a full HD display and it clearly shows while using it.

The display is crisp and extremely rich in color. At the bottom of the display, you can find the fingerprint scanner and it works pretty smoothly.

The one problem I had with the Moto Z, was the amount of space taken up by the front bezel. The phone has on-screen capacitive buttons and it just felt a bit cramped compared to the devices with insane screen-to-body ratios that we are seeing nowadays.

Moto Z also offers TurboCharging and according to the company, it can give you up to 8 hours of juice in just 15 minutes of charging. We will be extensively testing TurboCharging in our full review of the Moto Z so stay tuned for that.

Digging into the Moto Mods, each Mod is equipped with its own battery storage so using them doesn’t impact your battery life. Depending on the mod, they add significant bulk to the device. The Moto Z has a magnetic back, which helps the Mods latch on. The connection is secure and the Mods do not come off easily.

Here’s a run down of the each individual Mod:

Portable Projector

I’ll be honest. Having seen phones that offered a projector experience as part of their feature sets, I wasn’t expecting much from the Moto Z projector mod. Upon using it the first time, I was kind of blown away since it provides a proper cinema experience.

The maximum resolution that the projector displays is 854×480 while the aspect ratio is 16:9. Brightness is 50 lumens, contrast ratio is 400:1, throw ratio is 1.2 and you can project an image of up to 70 inches diagonally. The lamp life is rated at 10,000 hours.

The Mod has built-in buttons which allow you to turn the projector on and off, adjust the size of the display and tinker with the focus of the display. The Projector Mod has a battery life of 1100mAh and it can run for an hour before it starts using power from your device. It weighs 125g.

Extended Battery

Battery Mod acts as a power bank for the Moto Z. Just like the normal power banks, it can be charged with the Moto Z’s charger and provide an additional 22 hours of standby time. The Battery Mod has a capacity of 2220mAh. There’s also a wireless charging mod option available if you want it. It weighs around 79g for the normal version and 85g for the wireless charging version.

JBL Soundboost Speaker

The Soundboost Mod packs stereo sound dual-speakers. The quality is great, there is no distortion and notes are clear. If you’re a bass-head, you won’t be disappointed with the speaker mod.

The speaker power is rated at 6W.  It has 80dBSPL @ 0.5mm loudness and packs a internal battery of 1000mAh which can last for around 10 hours. It weighs around 145g.

Hasselblad True Zoom camera

True Zoom supercharges the photo taking abilities of the Moto Z with a 12MP BSI CMOS sensor. It can shoot video at 1080p Full HD at 30 fps. It integrates two mics for better audio recording as well.

The lens itself has a 10x optical zoom and a 4x digital zoom. Stills feature OIS while video has EIS. The camera offers up to 9 different capture modes with Xenon flash, which include: Photo, Panorama, Video, Professional, Night Landscape, Night Portrait, Sports, Day Landscape and Back Light Portrait. It weighs around 145g.

Expect a much deeper look into the camera mod in our full review.

Moto Z Specifications

  • Dimensions: 155.3 x 75.3 x 5.199 (mm)
  • Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (2x 1.8 GHz Kryo & 2x 1.6 GHz Kryo)
  • Software: Android v6.0.1 Marshmallow with Moto enhancements (Moto Display, Moto Actions, Moto Voice)
  • Display: 5.5-inch Quad HD Amoled Display (1440p [2560 x 1440] 535 ppi)
  • ROM: 32GB/64GB (microSD card support up to 2TB)
  • RAM: 4GB
  • Camera
    • Rear Camera: 13 MP with: f/ 1.8 aperture, optical image stabilization (OIS), laser autofocus, zero shutter lag, color correlated temperature (CCT) flash with dual LEDs, 1.12um pixel
    • Front Camera: 5 MP with wide field of view and flash
  • Battery: 2600mAh, lasts up to 30 hours with mixed usage
  • SIM: Nano-SIM and Dual-SIM is available in select countries
  • Audio: Front-ported loudspeaker, 4-mic support
  • Bluetooth: Bluetooth v4.1 LE
  • Water Repellant: Nano-repellant technology
  • Network Brands: GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz), 4G LTE (B1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 19, 20, 28)
  • Connectivity: Moto Mods connector, USB Type-C port for headphones, charging and data transfer, 3.5mm to USB-C headphone port adaptor included
  • Authentication: Fingerprint reader
  • Colors: Colors will vary by country and channel

Prices and Availability

The Moto Z smartphone along with the Moto Mods are available across select retailers in Pakistan with following prices:

  • Moto Z: PKR 74,999
  • Moto Z Play: PKR 49,999
  • Moto Insta-Share Projector Mod: PKR 39,500
  • Incipio offGRID Power Pack Mod: PKR 8,650
  • JBL SoundBoost Mod: PKR 12,500
  • Hasselblad True Zoom Mod: PKR 29,500

Moto Z will be available in two colors: Black & Lunar Grey/White & Fine Gold.

SEO Team Lead, Content Strategist, and an avid sports lover!


  • Pricing isnt correct, Moto Z is available at 74K Rupees with A Free Mod of Ure Choice!!!!!!!!!!


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