Moto Z Force Droid review: Toughened up

Synthetic Benchmarks

The Moto Z Force features Motorola's 'Mobile Computing System' which joins a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 CPU and Adreno 530 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (dual-core 2.15 GHz Kyro & dual-core 1.6 GHz Kyro) with a Natural Language Processor and Contextual Computing Processor. There is also a healthy 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM.

Likewise, the Snapdragon 820 is quite the improvement over the CPU found in the Moto Z's predecessor: the Moto X Pure Edition (A.K.A. Moto X Style), which sported a 6-core Snapdragon 808 CPU.

The Snapdragon 820 is found in several flagship phones this year like the LG G5, Samsung Galaxy S7 Active, and HTC 10. All of these phones will perform similarly with some phones perhaps outperforming others with different speeds of RAM or internal storage speeds for reading and writing.

We've also tossed in a couple of phones that use alternative-CPUs like the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos 8890) and iPhone 6S Plus.

Starting off with single-core power test, the iPhone remains at the top in these tests. It's no wonder the iPhone 6S only has a dual-core CPU, that's likely all it needs to power through its super-optimized software. Behind the iPhone are three Snapdragon 820 CPU powered phones. The Moto Z Force was in line with the other Snapdragon 820 devices of the bunch.

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  2527
• OnePlus 3
  2383
• HTC 10
  2368
• Lenovo Moto Z Force Droid
  2343
• Samsung Galaxy S7 active
  2328
• LG G5
  2328
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  2273
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  2151
• Motorola Moto X Force
  1273

When it comes to multi-core power, the Exynos-powered Galaxy S7 remained at the top. The other Snapdragon 820 devices all performed within reasonable margins of each other. The iPhone 6S Plus sits at the very end of the ranking here, unlike the single core benchmarks above.

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  6600
• OnePlus 3
  5520
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  5460
• Lenovo Moto Z Force Droid
  5395
• LG G5
  5362
• Samsung Galaxy S7 active
  5356
• HTC 10
  5257
• Motorola Moto X Force
  4693
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  4413

Basemark II 2.0 adds RAM and storage tests on top of CPU ones to give a better indication of overall performance. The Moto Z Force posts excellent numbers, comfortably ahead of the other Snapdragon 820 contenders.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Lenovo Moto Z Force Droid
  2689
• Samsung Galaxy S7 active
  2487
• OnePlus 3
  2365
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  2261
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  2179
• LG G5
  2065
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  2050
• HTC 10
  1839
• Motorola Moto X Force
  1669

The Moto Z Force is well ahead of other Snapdragon 820 competitors when it comes to Antutu 6. However, the HTC 10 is well ahead of the Moto Z Force itself.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• HTC 10
  154031
• Lenovo Moto Z Force Droid
  152548
• OnePlus 3
  141764
• Samsung Galaxy S7 active
  139492
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  137420
• LG G5
  134541
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  129229
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  116217
• Motorola Moto X Force
  87290

Next up with graphics, the Moto Z carries the Adreno 530 for hardware-intensive rendering, as do the other Snapdragon 820 phones of the bunch. The offscreen test ensures an even playing field for devices that might differ in screen resolution. The Moto Z Force performed right at or above the other Snapdragon 820 devices.

The other Snapdragon contenders did just as well with a marginal difference. The Exynos-powered S7 edge is right behind the Snapdragon 820 pack. Qualcomm's CPU setup shines here in the gaming and graphic-intensive department.

Keep in mind that onscreen tests will yield different results. The Xperia X Performance, OnePlus 3, and iPhone 6S Plus all have significantly fewer pixels that need to be pushed around. These devices, in turn, will perform better than the QHD offerings.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Lenovo Moto Z Force Droid
  32
• Samsung Galaxy S7 active
  32
• OnePlus 3
  31
• HTC 10
  31
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  30
• LG G5
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  29
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  27.9
• Motorola Moto X Force
  20

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Performance
  31
• OnePlus 3
  30
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  27.9
• Lenovo Moto Z Force Droid
  18
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  15
• Samsung Galaxy S7 active
  15
• LG G5
  15
• HTC 10
  15
• Motorola Moto X Force
  12

GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)

Higher is better

• Lenovo Moto Z Force Droid
  20
• OnePlus 3
  18
• Samsung Galaxy S7 active
  18
• HTC 10
  18
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  17
• LG G5
  16
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  15
• Motorola Moto X Force
  12

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 3
  18
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  18
• Lenovo Moto Z Force Droid
  12
• Samsung Galaxy S7 active
  9.9
• HTC 10
  9.9
• LG G5
  8.8
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  7.8
• Motorola Moto X Force
  7.3

The older Basemark X performance test yielded top results for the Moto Z Force. The Exynos-powered S7 edge also is just behind the rest of the Snapdragon 820 devices.

Remember that Basemark tests take into account other aspects of performance like storage and RAM speeds. This helped in favor of the Moto Z Force.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S7 active
  37316
• Lenovo Moto Z Force Droid
  36405
• OnePlus 3
  32715
• LG G5
  29456
• HTC 10
  28882
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  28480
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  28450
• Motorola Moto X Force
  26697

Basemark X (medium)

Higher is better

• Lenovo Moto Z Force Droid
  43049
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  40998
• Samsung Galaxy S7 active
  39675
• Motorola Moto X Force
  31561
• HTC 10
  30680
• LG G5
  29148

Basemark ES 3.1 measures the phone's OpenGL graphic performance. The results are a mixed bag. The iPhone 6S Plus leads the pack with the Exynos-powered S7 edge behind a large gap. The Moto Z Force comes in right after the Exynos S7 edge. The Xperia X Performance, OnePlus 3, and Snapdragon-powered S7 edge all scored lower despite having a similar CPU setup.

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  916
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  733
• Lenovo Moto Z Force Droid
  645
• Samsung Galaxy S7 active
  626
• OnePlus 3
  625
• LG G5
  587
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  551
• Motorola Moto X Force
  525

The Moto Z Force runs a bit warm when performing high-activity tasks like playing a hardware intensive game or updating a bunch of apps at once. But it gets the hottest when playing a GPS-intensive game that also uses the camera like Pokemon Go. The Snapdragon 820 is a great and crazy fast CPU, don't get us wrong. We love the performance on the Moto Z Forceand it performed exceptionally well and we saw no visible lag anywhere even in high-performance games like RipTide2.