This is what you get when you take the Moto Z Force, swap out the guts for mid-range parts, remove the “ShatterShield” display, hack a few hundred bucks off the price. It’s the Moto Z ay, a phone that looks almost identical to the Force, but hides significant differences. In fact, if you aren’t overly concerned about benchmark numbers, the ay may be the better phone, despite its lower price.

most a Moto Z Force, at a glance

The Moto Z ay Z Force look almost identical. They’re almost exactly the same size, with the same flat front back, round camera module protruding from the chassis. Obviously, the design uniformity helps maintain compatibility with the same Moto Mods that you can use on the other Moto Z phones. The Moto Z ay even has the same tiny-but-fast–accurate fingerprint sensor below the display. 

The silver b that skirts the Z ay is smoother than the darker gray, bezeled edge of the Z Force, but you’d be forgiven for mixing up the two phones at first glance. The Z ay is comfortable to hold, fairly attractive, just a little on the thick side with the Style Shell snapped onto the back (without that shell, the camera sticks out way too far, you see the ugly Moto Mods connector). But Motorola had to make a few cuts to get the price down, so there are some important differences in the Moto Z ay.

The ay has a bright, vibrant AMOD display, but it’s only 1080p (1920×1080), rather than the quad HD displays of the Z Z Force (2560×1440). At 5.5 inches, you can just barely notice the difference in resolution. It sts out mostly in apps like Maps, which are full of fine lines small text. It’s also not shatter-proof like the Moto Z Force display.

The Z ay’s processor, the Snapdragon 652, has been downgraded from the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 820 found in the other two Moto Z phones. It’s slower, but to be honest, I didn’t really notice much of a difference in most day-to-day operations. The lower-res display requires less graphics muscle, Motorola’s lean Android build, which stays close to the stock Android experience, is smooth well-optimized. Ignoring benchmark numbers, I had to deliberately look for apps—like high-end games—that would feel sluggish.

Oh, the Moto Z ay does have one major feature you won’t find on either of the other Moto Z phones: a headphone jack. I can see how the ultra-skinny Moto Z could have trouble fitting one in, but the Moto Z Force, physically almost identical to this phone, has no excuse.

The camera is different than the other two Moto Z phones, too. It’s a 16-megapixel shooter with f/2.0 aperture both phase-detect laser autofocus, but it doesn’t have the optical image stabilization of its more expensive cousins. In the few pictures I snapped with it, image quality was quite nice, the camera was quick to focus, with very little shutter lag. A deeper camera analysis will have to wait for my full review.

Epic battery life

The Moto Z ay has a 3510 mAh battery, nearly identical to that in the Moto Z Force. But the lower-res display slower system-on-chip use less power. The result is really impressive battery life: I had lots of juice left after more than 6 hours screen-on time. th the screen calibrated to 200 cd/m2, the phone lasted over 15 hours in the battery benchmark. This is one of the best results I’ve ever seen.

ople often tell me that battery life is of primary importance when choosing a phone, but then they turn around buy a phone with a super-fast processor high-res display. Honestly, for most users, the greatly enhanced battery life you get with this phone is going to be more noticeable than the difference in resolution or processor speed.

Verizon exclusive, with all that entails

ke the other Moto Z phones, this one is a Verizon exclusive (for now). It will go on Sale on September 8 for $408 (or $17 a month for 24 months), That means you may or may not have the right bs available to you for GSM carriers overseas, worse, you are saddled with Verizon’s bloatware. I do not need (nor want) VZ Navigator, NFMobile, VZ otect, or Verizon Cloud. These about half a dozen other apps (including IMDb, Kindle, Slacker) are preloaded cannot be removed, only disabled. 

Oh, Verizon’s track record of bringing Android Marshmallow to previous Moto phones is absolutely abysmal. ll they do better with Android Nougat? I wouldn’t risk it—even if I was already a Verizon customer, I would want to wait for Moto to eventually sell the phone unlocked see if that one will work on Verizon. On September 15, you’ll be able to preorder the unlocked version for $449.99, with availability in October.