Moto Z Droid review: Birth of a new successor

Synthetic Benchmarks

The Moto Z features Motorola's 'Mobile Computing System' which joins a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 CPU (dual-core 2.15 GHz Kyro & dual-core 1.6 GHz Kyro) and Adreno 520 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 (U.S. models), 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 (Exynos 8890) and the Huawei P9 (HiSilicon Kirin 955).

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 Droid tied with the Snapdragon Galaxy S7 edge, yielding the same score.

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  2527
• OnePlus 3
  2383
• HTC 10
  2368
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  2345
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  2345
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  2273
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  2151
• Huawei P9
  1819
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  1363

When it comes to multi-core power, the Exynos-powered Galaxy S7 remains at the top, followed by Huawei's own silicon (Kirin 955 CPU) found in the P9. The Snapdragon 820-powered handsets come after both Huawei and Samsung's CPU offerings.

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  6600
• Huawei P9
  6558
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  5566
• OnePlus 3
  5520
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  5460
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  5420
• HTC 10
  5257
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  4539
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  4413
• Moto X Pure Edition
  3433

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 Droid posts excellent numbers, comfortably ahead of the other Snapdragon 820 contenders.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  2690
• OnePlus 3
  2365
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  2352
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  2261
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  2179
• Huawei P9
  2068
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  2050
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  2040
• HTC 10
  1839

The Moto Z Droid is well ahead of other Snapdragon 820 competitors when it comes to Antutu 6. However, the HTC 10 is well ahead and the Moto Z itself. The alternative CPUs find themselves at the bottom of this list of benchmarks.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• HTC 10
  154031
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  151619
• OnePlus 3
  141764
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  137420
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  132849
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  129229
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  116217
• Huawei P9
  98069
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  89345

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 Droid performed right at the top and scored the same as the Snapdragon variant of the Galaxy S7 edge.

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 Droid
  32
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  32
• HTC 10
  31
• OnePlus 3
  31
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  29
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  27.9
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  17
• Huawei P9
  10
• Moto X Pure Edition
  10

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 Droid
  18
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  16
• HTC 10
  15
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  15
• Huawei P9
  11
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  11
• Moto X Pure Edition
  5.6

GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)

Higher is better

• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  19
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  18
• HTC 10
  18
• OnePlus 3
  18
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  17
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  15
• Huawei P9
  6.5

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 3
  18
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  18
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  12
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  10
• HTC 10
  9.9
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  7.8
• Huawei P9
  7.1

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  36322
• OnePlus 3
  32715
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  32160
• HTC 10
  28882
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  28480
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  28450
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  22825
• Huawei P9
  16942
• Moto X Pure Edition
  14598

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 comes in right after the Exynos S7 edge. The 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
  733
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  648
• OnePlus 3
  625
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  624
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  551
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  504
• Huawei P9
  341

The older Basemark X performance test yielded top-of-the-chart results for the Moto Z Droid. The Exynos powered S7 edge also is just behind, then the rest of the Snapdragon 820 devices come after, and the Kirin 955-powered Huawei P9 came in dead last.

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

Basemark X (medium)

Higher is better

• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  42493
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  40998
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  36554
• HTC 10
  30680
• Huawei P9
  29583

The Moto Z 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 Droid and it performed exceptionally well and we saw no visible lag anywhere even in high-performance games like RipTide2.

Unfortunately, the super thin design of the phone obviously has not allowed for a serious heat dissipation system to be put in place and it can get uncomfortably warm at times.