Article Summary
The newest z-series phone from Motorola goes beyond their original 3-year promise to support moto mods that let every owner customize their phone’s performance to their needs. With the mods or without, the moto z4 is one of the best-priced flagship smartphones on the market and will be released in Canada this summer.
The moto z4 is a flagship phone that's priced far lower than its competition. With support for snap-on moto mods you can add a premium speaker, 360-degree camera, photo printer, or even turn your phone into an Amazon Alexa voice assistant. Motorola has proven that performance doesn't need to come at a price and that the successful moto mods platform will continue to be around for years to come.
What's New in the moto z4
Every Motorola moto Z-series smartphone has been incrementally better than the last with each new revision pushing larger screens, faster processors and better security all without changing the size of the device. Some of the key improvements include:
Even Larger Screen
The moto z3 Play featured a 6.0" screen that seemingly pushed the edges of the display to the limits. The new moto z4 Max Vision OLED manages to further stretch the screen to 6.4" elongating it for 2340 x 1080 pixels and a 19:9 display ration. It now covers 85% of the body with only a teardrop-shaped notch at the top for the selfie camera.
Big Camera Upgrades
The selfie camera is loaded with a massive 25-megapixel (MP) camera giving sharp results for your group photos. If the lighting isn’t great, turn on the moto z4 Quad Pixel mode. You still get a large, sharp photo but more image data is used to brighten the photo without adding noise.
The rear-facing camera is Motorola’s largest ever at 48MP. Quad Pixel mode is used on every shot to give rich detail and deliver a brilliant 12MP photo. Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and AI features also work to create sharp pics.
The new Night Vision mode can help get an Instagram-worthy photo in dark places like night clubs. By combining 8 frames with different exposure values and applying Motorola’s proprietary AI technology, the moto z4 can take photos showing detail better than the human eye even in dark environments.
In-Display Fingerprint Scanner
The fingerprint reader has been a feature on the moto z-series phones since the beginning but have always needed space on the front or the side for a scanner. It’s now built into the screen and a helpful icon shows you where to press your finger when it’s time to unlock your phone. So, what did they do with that extra space?
Headphone Audio Port
This was a bit of a surprise since the moto z2 Play was the last (and I think the only) in the lineup to feature an analog headset port. Apparently, customers have been asking for it and Motorola responded. For many it’s a welcome addition to the premium moto z4.
Power Under the Hood
The processor Motorola chose for the moto z4 was a bit of a surprise. Previous generations used Snapdragon 800-series processors, but the moto z4 uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 octa-core processor. Even though it’s a step down in features, it’s a newer chip. Motorola’s own tests show better performance from this CPU over previous generations, and it’s better designed for power efficiency.
Sorry, that was a lot of tech-speak: Simply put, the moto z4 uses a power-efficient chip that is so new that it runs even faster than previously used processors.
Battery Life
Motorola added 20% more power to the non-removable battery, which now boasts a huge 3,600 mAh. Combined with other power efficiency tech in this smartphone, Motorola claims that a 2-day battery life is not unrealistic.
What's The Same?
Normally this is a section where we see what features could have been improved but have not been updated. For the Motorola z-series lineup, keeping some of these things the same is a feature:
moto mods
Since the first Motorola moto z-series model, users could customize their device by snapping on moto mods. Three years later there are accessories that allow you to turn your smartphone into a portable projector, photo printer (shown below), gaming device, and more. And since the dimensions of every z-series model are (nearly) identical, every moto mod made in the past will still fit on the new Motorola moto z4.
5G Ready*
Motorola launched the first 5G-enabled phone to market by selling a moto mod that includes the necessary hardware. It's only available in a few U.S. markets and will be expanding over 2019.
* Here's the issue for Canadians; 5G probably won't be launching until next year in the Great White North. Even then, there's no promise that a 5G moto mod will be available from Bell, Rogers nor Telus. If you travel to the States a lot and want to use 5G while there, this is one of your most affordable options but don't buy it expecting to get access to 5G networks in Canada.
Expandable Storage
The moto z4 keeps the 128GB onboard storage (dropping the 64GB option) and still lets you expand storage up to an extra 512GB through a removable microSD card.
Gestures
Flick your wrist twice to turn on/off the flashlight or give it a couple twists to quickly activate the camera. Gestures are still here for owners of earlier moto z-series smartphones so you don’t need to retrain that muscle memory.
Motorola moto z3 Play and moto z4 Compared
First Impression of the moto z4
With a glass shell and aluminum frame, this feels like a premium device. Motorola has become an expert in keeping prices low while most smartphone companies are content to push flagship phones to around $1,000 (or higher).
The screen is huge. Really huge, but there’s a notch. I’m not a fan of the notch trend. I would rather have a big, black bar across the top than be forced to stare at a notch but here’s one that doesn’t get in the way. The teardrop "micro-notch" sits comfortably in the middle of the notification bar. And since the screen is so wide, the notification icons have more than enough space.
I quickly compared the moto z4’s Night Vision with the Pixel 3’s industry-leading Night Sight feature in a dimly lit room; like that of a club environment or your favorite pub. The results showed promise. There was very little noise, color banding or blur and it held up well to the Pixel 3. I found Night Vision on the moto z4 needs a steady hand, but I’ll be testing this more for our upcoming full review.
The Motorola moto z4 in Summary
The moto z4 is a worthy update in the z-series of flagship Motorola phones. This newest model improves everything that needs to be better year after year but maintains backward compatibility with moto mods. This year extends Motorola’s original promise that moto mods would be supported for at least three years. Following the success of the program you can feel safe buying moto mods in 2019 knowing you'll be able to continue using them for years to come.
Presale starts today (May 30) in the US but we'll have to wait a bit longer in Canada. Motorola states it will arrive here in Summer 2019, but I couldn't nail down an exact date.
While the Amazon Alexa moto mod (seen below) that turns your smartphone into a voice-enabled personal assistant may not be coming here, nearly every other moto mod already has. This is a great sign that Motorola is invested in the Canadian market. Many carriers will often announce great accessories but then never bring them to Canada (looking at you, LG).
Keep tuned for our full review. WhistleOut Canada will post prices with every carrier once it's available for sale.
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