Moto Z at Best Buy

[mikef91]

I was just at Best Buy this afternoon and they had the Moto Z and Moto Z Force on display. The Moto Z is stupid thin. It's ridiculous just how thin it is. Both phones are built really well and have a hefty, solid feel to them. Too bad they are on Verizon and LOADED with tons of bloat. Only downside I see with the phone, and this is just my opinion, is the fingerprint sensor. To have the sensor on the front and not have it also act as a capacitive home button makes no sense and is very confusing. Obviously they couldn't have put it on the back due to the Moto Mods, but it's designed to work as if it were on the back. They should have taken hints from the HTC 10 and OP3 and also made it a capacitive home button. If this phone comes out unlocked, I may be tempted to try it, but I think the pricing is a little on the high side.

 

[sydneycooper1979]

Ooooooh I'll have to go check them out!

 

[mikef91]

Ooooooh I'll have to go check them out!

They have mods there as well to try out, but with the security devices attached, they don't sit flush with the phone. Kind of defeats the purpose of trying them out.

 

[sydneycooper1979]

Yeah that sucks. But I understand why they need to.

 

[YAYTech]

I was just at Best Buy this afternoon and they had the Moto Z and Moto Z Force on display. The Moto Z is stupid thin. It's ridiculous just how thin it is. Both phones are built really well and have a hefty, solid feel to them. Too bad they are on Verizon and LOADED with tons of bloat. Only downside I see with the phone, and this is just my opinion, is the fingerprint sensor. To have the sensor on the front and not have it also act as a capacitive home button makes no sense and is very confusing. Obviously they couldn't have put it on the back due to the Moto Mods, but it's designed to work as if it were on the back. They should have taken hints from the HTC 10 and OP3 and also made it a capacitive home button. If this phone comes out unlocked, I may be tempted to try it, but I think the pricing is a little on the high side.

I wouldn't call it tons of bloat. It has the Motorola software for the voice/gesture stuff, and what looked like maybe ten apps from Verizon. I'll probably disable 2/3 of them, but it doesn't take up a lot of room. Still lightweight compared to anything from Samsung, and many others. I'm not sure too many have less aside from Nexus devices.

 

[mikef91]

I wouldn't call it tons of bloat. It has the Motorola software for the voice/gesture stuff, and what looked like maybe ten apps from Verizon. I'll probably disable 2/3 of them, but it doesn't take up a lot of room. Still lightweight compared to anything from Samsung, and many others. I'm not sure too many have less aside from Nexus devices.

I was talking about the Verizon bloat. I have a T-Mobile S7 edge and there isn't nearly as much bloat as what Verizon or AT&T have on their devices.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[benjamminh]

The bloat saw gets old now that it can either be disabled, if not uninstalled and generally takes up little space. But it can be annoying to take five minutes to take care of it.

 

[bucky716]

Is the bloat still that surprising that it has to be mentioned all the time? That's just the way it is.

 

[robertopod1968]

No bueno in my local best buy

 

[YAYTech]

The bloat saw gets old now that it can either be disabled, if not uninstalled and generally takes up little space. But it can be annoying to take five minutes to take care of it.

I understand, and I too would rather it wasn't there, but when you have people saying they refuse to buy a phone because of something that'll take 5 minutes to fix... just seems a bit silly to me.

 

[benjamminh]

I believe I agree with you or to be more chronologically accurate, you with me. I added the last sentence to be conciliatory towards other views.

 

[sangs]

Is the bloat still that surprising that it has to be mentioned all the time? That's just the way it is.

Yeah, bloat whining doesn't happen outside tech forums/blogs. The overwhelmingly large majority of people buying phones could give a ****.

 

[cbreze]

Did anyone get the Best Buy $1 deal on the Z and did it raise your access fee to $40 for getting back in contract? Was considering this but not if my access fee goes up $20/month for the life of a two year contract.

 

[YAYTech]

Did anyone get the Best Buy $1 deal on the Z and did it raise your access fee to $40 for getting back in contract? Was considering this but not if my access fee goes up $20/month for the life of a two year contract.

Yes, if you're currently on a non-contract plan with $20/mo line access, and you get the phone under a 2yr contract deal, it will raise your line access fee to $40.

 

[cbreze]

Yes, if you're currently on a non-contract plan with $20/mo line access, and you get the phone under a 2yr contract deal, it will raise your line access fee to $40.

Thanks, maybe worth it to some but not to me. I guess buying outright for a gently used device is the better way to go.

 

[tigerhoodz06]

You can also do a device payment plan with $200 off the total cost about the phone, but I think it works out to about the same as the extra $20 a month for a 2 year contract.

 

[YAYTech]

You can also do a device payment plan with $200 off the total cost about the phone, but I think it works out to about the same as the extra $20 a month for a 2 year contract.

Especially since BestBuy lists the Force at $800. So that would be $600 spread over 2 years, vs $100 + $20 extra per month ($580). In my case, we have a discount through my wife's work that applies to the line access, so it's less than that.

 

[cbreze]

Just gripes the $hit outta me that they basically say you want to get one of our shiny new phones you will pay us $20 more each month for that privilege. No incentive to stay in contract IMO. Used to be no increase, subsidized device, and a 2 year renewal. The subsidized phone was your reward/incentive for resigning for another 2 year hitch. Now it's mess with the stupid payments, increase your monthly bill with the BS access charge. It's personal with me. I'd rather pay upfront for the phone I choose and stay out of contract anyway. It's a done deal. I'm going to be a free agent. At least they don't have their hooks in me. F' em.

 

[benjamminh]

The $800 is for a Force that is not activated. If you do a monthly device plan it's $21.83 x24 months= about $523. I agree they should let people know they'll lose their per line discount if they get a subsidized contract price.

 

[YAYTech]

Just gripes the $hit outta me that they basically say you want to get one of our shiny new phones you will pay us $20 more each month for that privilege. No incentive to stay in contract IMO. Used to be no increase, subsidized device, and a 2 year renewal. The subsidized phone was your reward/incentive for resigning for another 2 year hitch. Now it's mess with the stupid payments, increase your monthly bill with the BS access charge. It's personal with me. I'd rather pay upfront for the phone I choose and stay out of contract anyway. It's a done deal. I'm going to be a free agent. At least they don't have their hooks in me. F' em.

I went through the same anger when I found out. I went from thinking I'd paid ~$140 for the Zf (they did mention a $40 activation charge) to finding out I was going to end up paying a total of around ~$550 after 2 years of higher bills. After some time, I decided to keep the phone, as $550 isn't a terrible price for how nice the phone (plus free speaker) is, but my enthusiasm certainly took a hit. I came very close to returning mine too.