At an event in New York City today, Lenovo took to the stage to announce the Moto Z2 Force, saying that it wants to relaunch Motorola as a major smartphone brand and that it will "challenge everyone, including competitors, because we see the industry as stagnant." That"s quite a change of heart, given that not too long ago, Lenovo was planning to phase out the Motorola brand, before it made a U-turn on that decision in March.
The new handset is pretty much what we expected from the leaks, including a Snapdragon 835 chipset, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, and a 5.5-inch 1440p AMOLED ShatterShield display.
Motorola says that the device is 13% thinner and 12% lighter than its predecessor, but the Lenovo subsidiary is still promising all-day battery life. If the battery life isn"t enough though, the phone will support the latest generation of Motorola"s TurboPower fast charging technology.
The cameras on the Moto Z2 Force look interesting. In the front, there"s an 85-degree lens with a CCT flash, and there"s a dual-lens setup in the rear, which includes two 12MP sensors. One of these is monochrome, and it can be used for a depth effect that Motorola is calling Selective Focus. Also, the camera uses both phase detect and laser autofocus, which should allow it to focus quickly in low-light settings.
Motorola went with one-button navigation on the Z2 Force, something that Huawei has dabbled with in its P10 handsets. Different actions can be taken with the home button (which is also a fingerprint reader) that includes tapping, holding, and swiping it.
The Moto Z2 Force will be available from all major US carriers, Best Buy, and Google.com, beginning on August 10. It will start at $30/month, and will come with a free projector Mod. It will be available in other regions later this summer.
As you"d expect, the company also announced some new Mods for its new handset, although the new device should support all of the old ones. One is the Moto Game Pad, which is a controller for mobile gaming. There"s also a 360-degree camera, which will arrive in stores for $299.99 on August 10.