- [Narrator] It's getting warm outside folks
which means it's time to toss the same old stack Moto mods
in my backpack and pretend once again,
that the modular phone dream is still alive.
That's right, Motorola just dropped the Moto Z4,
but unless you're on Verizon Wireless,
it's probably not the Moto Z4 for you.
(light electronic music)
Don't misunderstand,
I still think modular phones are absolutely a cool idea
and if you stick around to the end,
I'll show you a few really interesting mods
from Motorola and elsewhere, but this phone, the Moto Z4,
it doesn't make any sense to buy it
unless you're already invested in the Moto mod ecosystem
or again, you're on Verizon Wireless.
But that's because this phone
is basically Verizon's gateway drug to 5G.
It's insanely affordable
if you start a new line of service with Verizon.
During the promo period, you can get the phone
and it's 5G Moto mod for under 500 bucks
and on top of that, Verizon will waive
that 10 dollar a month charge for 5G if you do so.
You might remember the 5G Moto mod
from my preview video last summer.
It slaps onto the back of the phone
just like any other Moto mod,
but instead of a camera or a speaker,
it packs the radios antennas and modem necessary
to make the phone work on Verizon's 5G network.
Now, the phone beneath the mod,
in some ways it's a tremendous value.
No fingerprints, thanks to this nice matte finish
on the curved Gorilla Glass three backplate.
A display covering almost the whole face of the phone.
Little things like a headphone jack for those who want it
and a top mounted speaker that makes it harder
to accidentally cover up the sound when you hold it.
More importantly, a couple of very big things too,
like a battery that I just can't kill in one day,
no matter how hard I try.
No wireless charging, but there's a mod for that
and if the battery is not big enough for you,
I can't imagine that's true,
well, there's a mod for that as well.
No need to fall back to the old Hasselblad mod
for your photos.
Presiding over the Z4's backside is a camera
with one of the highest resolutions on the market.
I'll share more samples at the end of video.
Phone calls are crystal clear and that display,
well, it could be a lot brighter, is plenty colorful
and powering everything is the familiar,
minimalistic Motorola software.
I still love these features folks,
but I also want to see more of them
and it seems like Motorola has kind
of stopped innovating here.
There's still creative execution at work.
In fact Motorola found a cool ultrasonic method
of detecting when your hand is nearby
so it no longer has to drill holes in the faceplate
for sensors, but the Moto display
that pops up is the same one we've seen for years.
Those gestures are again,
the same ones first introduced six years ago
and while Motorola genuinely deserves credit
for making phones compatible with its Moto mods
for even longer than it initially promised,
we got no new Moto mods at this announcement.
Let's take a second and contrast the Moto Z4
with the only other modular phone to even get close
to the mainstream, the S90 from a company called Doogee.
Less than 500 bucks gets you a rugged Android handset
with intense dust and water resistance,
a massive battery and four slap-on accessories.
Similar to Moto, one of these is a battery
and one is a gamepad.
The other two though are wild.
A night-vision camera for super low-light shooting
and a PRS radio add-on that turns the phone
into a walkie-talkie.
Now look, to be 100% clear,
I am not saying you should go buy a Doogee phone
instead of the Moto Z4.
The mods feel light and cheap,
the phone has no oleophobic coating to fight fingerprints
and the typos on everything from the stickers
to the software make it very difficult
to take this thing seriously, but I bring it up
so that we can sort of remember together what it was like
when modular accessories were still aspirational
and I still love using Motorola's mods,
printing goofy Polaroids, taking goofy or 360 degree photos,
going a whole weekend without charging.
It's never not fun, but even here there's a compromise.
Many of the old mods don't fit as well
on the new curved back
so they're sharp edges scrape annoyingly against your palm
when you hold the phone.
It just feels slapdash and tired,
nothing like the adventurous anything-can-happen energy
at the first Moto Z launch in 2016.
When I balanced the list of compromises
against the Moto Z4s unlocked price of 4.99,
it makes it a tough sell.
For a hundred bucks less, you can get the Pixel 3A
from Google which will be updated faster and for longer,
who's smarter cameras
will give you consistently better photos
or for 50 dollars more, you could get the OnePlus 6T.
Faster software, more raw power under the hood
and a slightly faster fingerprint sensor
though that's not saying much.
If getting 5G at a discount
with your new phone is something you've gotta have,
well then yeah, the Moto Z4 is the only deal
in town for now.
If though you were hoping for some flicker
of the Motorola of old, this isn't it.
Some more camera samples for you while I try to go out
with a silver lining here.
The Motorola of 2019 is actually making money again
under Lenovo, so it's strategy of catering
to the low and mid-range appears to be working well.
Here's hoping that gives the company the stability it needs
to jump back into the high-end sometime this year
because the troubles
surrounding Samsung and Huawei's folding phones thus far
leave the door wide open if Motorola wants to walk in
and crush it with that rumored razor folding phone.
Be sure to check out my friends at Android central
for their take on the Moto Z4
and don't miss my 5G test from Chicago.
Subscribe to the Mr. mobile on YouTube
and follow me at the same handle on Instagram.
This video produced with the aid
of a Moto Z4 for review device on loan from Motorola.
I don't take money for reviews
and I don't grant copy approval.
So this video is hitting your feed
at the same time as Motorola's.
Until next, time thanks for watching
and stay mobile my friends.