Remember when Motorola said last month that it had a "big announcement" planned for today? Turns out that it's a new Moto phone that's upgradeable to 5G.
The Moto Z3 is a Motorola phone that's exclusive to Verizon in the U.S. Specs for this Android 8.1-powered smartphone include a 6.01-inch 2160x1080 Super AMOLED screen and 8MP wide angle front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture. Around back there's a dual rear camera setup with two 12MP cameras, one RGB and one monochrome, along with laser autofocus and portrait mode support.
Inside the Moto Z3 lives an octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor along with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of built-in storage, and a microSD card slot. There's a 3000mAh battery and a USB-C port for recharging that battery, as well as support for Motorola's TurboPower solution to recharge in a hurry. Unfortunately, there's no 3.5mm headphone jack to be found here. All of those features are crammed into a body with a water repellent coating. Rounding things out is a side-mounted fingerprint reader and support for face unlock.
Like other Moto Z phones, the Moto Z3 includes support for Moto Mods. What's notable is that the Moto Z3 will include support for a new 5G Moto Mod. This means that you'll be able to jump on Verizon's mobile 5G network when it launches in 2019. The 5G Moto Mod also includes a 2000mAh battery to help you stay connected to the 5G network.
Motorola says that the 5G Moto Mod will be backward compatible with all past generation Moto Z phones on Verizon by 2019.
The Moto Z3 will launch on Verizon on August 16th at a price of $20 per month for 24 months, or $480 full retail. Verizon says that it's offering up to $300 off the Moto Z3 on a device payment plan when you switch to Verizon and trade in your old phone.
Pricing and launch timing for the 5G Moto Mod will be announced later this year.
