Today, June 9th 2016, has been Lenovo – and by extension Motorola’s – day in the sun. They announced all sorts of products, from the first Tango-powered smartphone, the PHAB2 Pro, to the new Moto Z family as well as the modular add-ons Motorola is calling Moto Mods. As we’ve come to expect from Motorola and Verizon over the past few years, there’s going to be a DROID smartphone from Motorola launching this year. After last year’s DROID Turbo 2 was so close to the original Moto X Pure, we were wondering when the lines would be blurred further still, and that moment is now. Verizon will be the US exclusive network for both the Moto Z and Moto Z Force, but they will both be known as DROID Editions.
On the inside, the devices are identical to the original Moto Z and Moto Z Force, which means the Moto Z DROID Edition will feature the same 5.5-inch Quad HD display and Snapdragon 820 running the show. Backing this up is 4GB of RAM and 32 or 64GB of storage. Last year, the DROID Turbo 2 was a slightly different device for a number of reasons, one being that it feature a ShatterShield display which of course makes a return this year, but for 2016 the two devices are essentially the same, save for some branding on the back of the device. Even the press images that Motorola have used are basically the same. This of course has its advantages, such as all of the Moto Mods designed for the Moto Z and Moto Z Force will work perfectly with the Moto Z DROID Edition as well as the Moto Z Force DROID Edition.
For users looking to get either the Moto Z or Moto Z Force on a carrier in the US however, will have to go through Verizon. Otherwise, they’ll be able to buy the original versions of the Moto Z directly from Moto, just like last year. The Moto Z and Moto Z Force will work with all US carriers as well, which does take the sting away a little bit, but some more carrier partnerships other than Verizon would have been nice to see this year.