Cell phone locate software reviews Motorola Moto Z3

Motorola's latest modular flagship may one day take us to an exciting 5G future, but it's an old soul at heart. Rather than imitating the parade of premium smartphones that have come before it, Motorola has chosen an unexpectedly conservative strategy with its latest flagship, the Moto Z3. First off, this is a Verizon-exclusive handset — which is a bit unusual in this day and age, when you can get almost any high-end phone on any network.

Motorola Moto Z3 Summary

Oh, and sometime next year, Motorola will release a Moto Mod that will also make the device 5G capable. That low price may not make a whole lot of sense until you peer beneath the Moto Z3's familiar exterior. There you'll find last year's Snapdragon processor and even the same amount of memory and storage, making it — on paper at least — functionally a Moto Z2 Force in fresh clothes. It all leaves the Moto Z3 feeling like quite the anomaly among flagship phones — albeit one that invites an interesting question: Is the trade-off of generation-old hardware worth it just to save a couple hundred dollars?

For some of the Verizon faithful, it will be. However, Motorola's modular platform doesn't fully excuse its cost-cutting measures, and getting an early glimpse of 5G tomorrow feels like something of an empty promise when it means buying an outdated phone today. The Moto Z3 isn't quite Verizon's answer to the OnePlus 6 — after all, that attractively priced phone boasts more up-to-date specs. Yet, Moto's new phone is a serviceable alternative, not to mention much more well-rounded than the similarly specced, similarly priced Essential Phone.

But the is still plenty powerful for practically anyone, except maybe those who need to have the newest silicon on the market to play games like PUBG Mobile and Fortnite at the smoothest possible frame rates. The Moto Z3 delivered a 6, score in Geekbench 4, a test that measures overall system performance. That's still shy of the Z2 Force, which hit 6,, as well as a bit behind the Pixel 2's 6, result. Newer phones, like the Galaxy S9, routinely turn in scores topping 7, Here, the Moto Z3 delivered 3, — in line with other powered handsets — while the aforementioned Galaxy S9 finished at 4, The default Standard color setting only presents hues within the sRGB color space, which many will find muted and washed out.

Conversely, you can easily opt for the Vibrant profile, which is less realistic but pleasingly saturated. Both scores are about the same as what we witnessed from the Galaxy S9, even though the Moto Z3 is several hundred dollars cheaper. Add to that the superior contrast that OLED technology provides, and Motorola's flagship won't leave you yearning for a better display. Moto Mods provide some freedom: While Motorola opted not to package the Moto Z3 with a Power Pack battery mod, which it had done for the less powerful Z3 Play , all the same Moto Mods that have been released over the last two years are compatible with this Verizon-exclusive variant.

Motorola Moto Z3 review: Don't buy this phone for its 5G promise

That ranges from the aforementioned battery-expanding accessories to a few different speaker attachments, a gamepad with physical buttons and inputs, a DSLR-like camera lens that replaces the phone's own and even a miniature Polaroid printer — just to name a few examples. Your mileage with Moto Mods will vary, of course.

Our own Marshall Honorof , proud owner of a Moto Z2 Play, says that, for special occasions, the unique platform allows him to transcend the limitations of his phone in a way that he never could with other devices. Unfortunately, the mods themselves can still be quite pricey we've yet to hear confirmation on the cost of that promised 5G mod, for one , and not all of them deliver on their promises.

That said, those who have built up a collection of Mods in recent months can rest assured that it won't go to waste with the Moto Z3. Take away the 5G and it becomes the most unexciting smartphone of Unless you're willing to wait for the 5G Moto Mod in there are better alternatives.

Verizon has also turned on its 5G network in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, with more cities to be added in The introduction of the original Motorola Moto Z in , with its attachable Moto Mods , was exciting. It was new and refreshing, and having attachable parts to add more functionality to your smartphone was unheard of in the smartphone industry. Aside from its future promise of 5G speeds , the Moto Z3 does very little to make it a compelling product otherwise.

Read Next: Motorola Moto Z3 vs the competition. So is the Moto Z3 worth buying, and if so — who is the target audience?

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The Z3 recycles the same glass sandwich design of the Z3 Play with identical dimensions and no headphone jack. There used to be a clear distinction in design between the Play and non-Play versions of the Z line, but this is no longer the case. The Z3 has the same glass sandwich design of the Z3 Play, with identical dimensions and no headphone jack. The design is sleek, comfortable to hold, and extremely thin.

Motorola Moto Z3 Full Specifications

The screen is a comfortable size for productivity and great for more casual activities like gaming and watching Netflix. The Moto Z3 ran smoothly, handling any task I threw at it. It performs well with normal everyday tasks such as reading emails and social media and can handle the most graphically demanding games from the Google Play Store. I didn't expect much from the 3, mAh battery but it definitely lives up to Motorola's claim of all-day battery life.

Battery life on the Z3 was surprisingly just as impressive. I was able to consistently achieve more than five hours of screen-on time. I usually ended the day with 20 percent battery left in the tank. My usage varied from day to day, but a typical day for me included some light gaming, watching YouTube, reading emails, and the typical social media.

Motorola Moto Z3 review, specs, pricing, and everything else you should know

Standby time was also excellent with the Z3 ranging anywhere between 16 to 20 hours off the charger. Otherwise, you can rely on the included TurboPower charger to juice the phone back up quickly. You can read our primer on 5G here , but bottom line, carriers are racing to be the first to deploy 5G networks around the country, which will bring significant speed improvements over 4G LTE, among other benefits.

It launched in pockets of Chicago and Minneapolis so far, with more than 30 cities expected by the end of the year. Like all Moto Mods, it magnetically attaches to the back of the Moto Z3. Four millimeter-wave antennas implanted in the device ensure you consistently get a 5G signal without interference.

In a 5G-supported area, it can get more than Mbps speeds. In 4G LTE areas, the X24 modem should still be able to net higher speeds — a marked improvement of what you would get from the X16 modem built into the phone. We spent a day in Chicago to test these speeds, and you can read our thoughts here. What do these dramatically faster data speeds enable?

Well, it will drastically change the way we use our smartphones. Downloading pictures from Google Drive will take 30 seconds; downloading four episode of Game of Thrones will take a minute; downloading one 4K movie from Netflix will take around a minute and a half. The Moto Z3 brings strong performance, an all-day battery, and an affordable price tag. There is no water resistance, so you should be careful with this phone around water.

It should receive software updates for the next two years, and we expect it to last your around three to four years, if not more, in total. Yes, if you want to upgrade to 5G at a relatively low price. Motorola Moto Z3.