Lenovo-owned Motorola announced its latest flagship smartphones at the beginning of June in the form of the Moto Z and Moto Z Force.
The two devices succeed the Moto X range of devices, of which there were three announced last year, but what else is different aside from the letter change?
Read on to find out how the Moto Z and Moto Z Force compare to the Moto X Play, Moto X Style and Moto X Force.
Moto Z vs Moto X: Design
The Moto Z measures 153.3 x 75.3 x 5.2mm, while the Moto Z Force measures 155.9 x 75.8 x 7mm. Both therefore offer super slim designs, with the Moto Z taking the crown for the slimmest of these handsets and the rest of the Android flagship bunch.
The Moto X Play is the smallest in terms of footprint measuring 148 x 75mm with a curve between 8.9mm and 10.9mm. The Moto Z Force has the largest footprint, with the Moto X Style following closely behind at 153.9 x 76.2mm offering a curve of 6.1mm to 11.1mm.
The lightest device being compared here is the Moto Z at 136g, followed by the Moto Z Force at 163g. The heaviest device is the Moto X Style at 179g, while the Moto X Play and Moto X Force both hit the scales at 169g.
The Moto Z an Moto Z Force both have premium metal designs, while the Moto X Play, Moto X Style and Moto X Force all have a more plasticky finish. The two new devices also have snap on accessories called Moto Mods, which include Style Shells, a loudspeaker, projector and powerpacks, with more Mods coming in the future.
Moto Z vs Moto X: Display
The Moto Z and Moto Z Force both come with a 5.5-inch display. This puts the new devices in the same size bracket as the Moto X Play, larger than the 5.4-inch Moto X Force and smaller than the 5.7-inch Moto X Style.
A Quad HD resolution is found on the Moto Z, Moto Z Force, Moto X Style and Moto X Force. The difference in size means the Moto X Force has the sharpest display in terms of numbers however, offering a pixel density of 544ppi compared to the Moto Z and Moto Z Force's 534ppi. This is not going to be noticeable to the human eye though.
The Moto X Play has a Full HD resolution, meaning a pixel density of 401ppi and resulting in the softest display of the devices being compared here. It also uses LCD technology, as does the Moto X Style, while the other three devices opt for AMOLED. Typically, AMOLED offers richer and more vibrant colours, but they can be a little more unrealistic compared to LCD.
The Moto Z's display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4, while the Moto X Play and Moto X Style both have Gorilla Glass 3. The Moto Z Force and Moto X Force both have a ShatterShield protection however, hence their names. If you're prone to smashing your smartphone's screen then these might be your best option.
Moto Z vs Moto X: Cameras
The Moto Z has a 13-megapixel rear camera with an aperture of f/1.8 and features including optical image stabilisation and laser autofocus. The front camera is 5-megapixels with a wide-angle lens and an aperture of f/2.2.
The Moto Z Force has the same front camera capabilities as the Moto Z, but it ups the rear camera resolution to 21-megapixels, sticking with the same f/1.8 aperture. It also adds phase-detection AF to the mix too.
The Moto X Play, Moto X Style and Moto X Force all have 21-megapixel rear cameras but with a narrower aperture of f/2.2 compared to the Moto Z and Moto Z Force. This should mean the newer devices are better in low light conditions. All the three Moto X devices have 5-megapixel front snappers and all the devices being compared here have a front-facing flash, except the Moto X Play.
Moto Z vs Moto X: Hardware
The Moto Z and Moto Z Force feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 under their hoods, supported by 4GB of RAM. They come in 32GB and 64GB storage options and both the Z and Z Force have microSD support for storage expansion.
The Moto X Play has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 610 chip, supported by 2GB of RAM and 16GB or 32GB storage capacities. The Moto X Style features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB of RAM and 16GB or 32GB of storage. The Moto X Force opts for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, 3GB of RAM and is available in 32GB or 64GB storage options. All Moto X models have microSD support.
The largest battery capacity sits within the Moto X Force at 3760mAh, while the smallest is within the Moto Z at 2600mAh. The Moto X Play has a 3630mAh capacity, the Moto Z Force has 3500mAh and the Moto X Style has 3000mAh. All come with turbo charging abilities.
The Moto Z and Moto Z Force also lose the 3.5mm headphone jack in favour of USB Type-C only and they add a fingerprint sensor. The three Moto X devices are charged via Micro-USB, keep the headphone jack intact and don't offer a fingerprint sensor or any other kind of security sensor.
Moto Z vs Moto X: Software
Moto devices are known for offering a very close to vanilla Android experience with very little bloatware. The Moto X Play, Moto X Style and Moto X Force all launched on Android Lollipop and featured just a few extra apps. They have since been updated to Android Marshmallow.
The Moto Z and Moto Z Force will launch on Marshmallow when they arrive, again offering a very close to pure Android interface so all these devices should offer a similar user experience.
Moto Z vs Moto X: Conclusion
As you might expect, the Moto Z and Moto Z Force offer a number of improvements over the previous Moto X devices. Their designs are not only more premium, but there are those attachable accessories we were talking about, as well as advancements in plenty of other areas.
The camera capabilities appear to have been enhanced, especially in the case of the Moto Z Force, and performance should see a jump too with the extra RAM and faster processor.
It's the Moto Z Force that sees the best specs on paper compared to the other Moto devices being compared here, but whether it will be the best Moto device to buy remains to be seen. We will update this feature as soon as we have reviewed the latest two devices.