Motorola Moto X Force / Droid Turbo 2 camera review

The Moto X Force is the international version of the Verizon-exclusive US model Droid Turbo 2 and the current flagship model in the Moto line. With a Sony 1/2.4-inch 21MP IMX230 sensor, F2.0 aperture, 4K video and a flash-equipped 5MP front camera, the Force's imaging specification is very similar to the Moto X Style. However, it comes with higher-end processing components, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset and 3GB RAM.

DPReview smartphone reviews are written with the needs of photographers in mind. We focus on camera features, performance, and image quality.

The Moto X Force's stand-out feature is its AMOLED display. At 5.4" it is a little smaller than the Moto X Style's 5.7" IPS variant but offers Motorola's new ShatterShield protection which means it's guaranteed not to crack or shatter. The device body is water-resistant with a solid metal frame and a back that is covered with a rubberized material, making the Moto X Force an ideal phone for use in rougher surroundings. 

Key Photographic / Video Specifications

• 21MP 1/2.4-inch SONY IMX230 BSI CMOS sensor
• F2.0 aperture
• 4K video
• Dual-LED flash
• 5MP wide angle front camera with flash

Other Specifications

• 5.4-inch Quad-HD AMOLED display (540 ppi) with ShatterShield protection
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 Processor with 2.0 GHz octa-core CPUs
• 3GB RAM 
• 32/64GB of storage
• MicroSD support up to 2TB
• 3760 mAh battery with quick and wireless charging technology (Qi and Powermat)
• Water-resistant

Our 9-page review

We've considered every aspect of the Motorola Moto X Force with the photographer in mind. We examined the user interface of the native camera app and its special features. We experimented with the camera's performance when taking stills and video, and had a play with the device's many special feature modes.

Design & Hardware

Thanks to a rubberized back the Moto X Force lies comfortably and securely in the hand when used as a camera.

From a design point of view the Motorola Moto X Force does not stand out much from the crowd but the almost logo-less black front looks nice and clean and the characteristic dimple on the back clearly identifies it as a Motorola device. And if you are more focused on practicality than flashy looks, the Moto X Force might be just what you have been looking for.

The 5.4" QHD AMOLED display comes with Motorola's new ShatterShield protection and claims to be completely shatterproof. I have - unwillingly - tested this feature several times while using the Force and can vouch for its efficiency. The device's rubberized back plate is comfortable to hold and much less prone to scratching than the metal or glass backs of other high-end phones. The device is also water-resistant, with internal components featuring a water-repellent nano-coating.

The Quad-HD display is very sharp and covered with shatterproof glass.	The camera module is located at center top, above the characteristic Moto dimple.

Underneath the rugged shell Qualcomm's top-end chipset Snapdragon 810 and 3GB RAM power the Android mobile OS. The large 3760 mAh battery supports quick as well as wireless charging and easily takes you through a day of heavy use. 

The components used in the camera module are very similar to those on the Moto X Style. A Sony 1/2.4-inch 21MP IMX230 sensor offers on-sensor phase detection autofocus and is combined with a F2.0 aperture and dual-LED flash. There is no optical image stabilization but in video mode the Force is capable of recording clips in 4K resolution. At the front you'll find a 5MP wide-angle camera for selfies and video chats and the 32 or 64GB of internal memory are expandable via microSD-slot. 

The combined SIM/microSD slot can be found at the top edge of the device.	Volume rockers and power button are located in the conventional position on the right edge.

Camera Operation

The Moto X Force camera app is very simple, with hardly any on-screen controls. The focus-target comes with a useful exposure compensation slider.

The Moto X Force comes with the same stock camera app we have seen on previous Motorola devices. It's very much focused on simplicity and ease of use. There is no manual control over shutter speed or DNG Raw capture and the Moto X Force does not support these features with third party camera apps either. 

However, if you are the kind of mobile photographer who thinks these features are overkill on a smartphone camera and prefer a snapshot-style of shooting the Motorola app does a very good job. You can tap anywhere on the screen to capture but can also activate a target for setting the focus and exposure point manually. Exposure and focus cannot be locked but with the target you also get a digital exposure compensation slider, allowing for exposure fine-tuning.  Tapping and holding captures a burst. 

Settings and special modes can be accessed via a pop-out dial on the left edge of the screen.

Almost all features and settings (such as video resolution or panorama and HDR modes) can be accessed via a pop-out virtual dial on the left edge of the screen.  A tap on the video icon in the top right corner starts and stops video recording. In the bottom corner you'll find the button for switching to the front cam.

Like most current smartphones the Moto X Force does not have a physical camera button but you can set the volume rockers to act as shutter buttons. The device also comes with Motorola's 'Quick Capture' feature. Snap-twisting the phone around the long axis twice opens the camera app. It works reasonably well but I've rarely found myself using it.  Overall the Motorola camera app best for those who want to keep things quick and simple. Camera apps with more manual control are available on Google Play for those who want it but keep in mind that the Moto X Force does not support manual control over shutter speeds, no matter what app you use.

In the settings you can switch between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio.

Features

The Moto X Force pre-installed imaging feature set is concise but with HDR and panorama mode you get the essentials. Night mode, which previously was a user-selectable function, now kicks in automatically when things get too dark. Like the Moto X Style, the Force comes with a dedicated front LED flash which helps capturing self-portraits in dark conditions. Unfortunately for more tech-minded mobile photographers, as we've already noted, Raw capture and full manual control are not possible.

HDR Mode

HDR mode combines several exposure into one and, as you can see in the samples below, does a good job at recovering some highlight detail and slightly brightening the shadows, without making the image look unnatural. In high-contrast situations, such as the one below, leaving HDR on all the time is not a bad idea.

ISO 64, 1/30 sec, HDR off	ISO 64, shutter speed not reported, HDR on
100% crop	100% crop

On the downside, HDR images are a touch softer than their standard counterparts but you'll have to view at 100% to see the difference. Occasionally you also get slight ghosting effects on moving subjects but again you'll have to look very closely to notice.

ISO 50, 1/1003 sec, HDR off	ISO 50, 1/969 sec, HDR on
100% crop	100% crop

Panorama mode

The Moto X Force's panorama mode produces results that are similar to what we've seen on previous Motorola devices. Panorama images are well-stitched but in comparison to the best in class very small, with low levels of detail. In fact the 21MP sensor's standard output images are larger in both dimensions than those captured in panorama mode.

Nevertheless panorama mode can be a useful tool when you cannot move further back to capture an entire scene as it was the case in the cloister that can be seen in the sample below. Panorama mode can capture an angle of view of approximately 180 degrees. You can stop capture manually at any time though, as we did for the image below.

Vertical panorama, 1632 x 912 pixels

100% crop

Unfortunately panorama mode does not deal well with moving subjects. Even slow-moving subjects, such as the persons in the sample below, will show ghosting artifacts. A faster moving object, for example a bike or car, can render an image unusable.

Vertical panorama, 3312 x 926 pixels

100% crop

Front Camera

The Moto X Force comes with a 5MP front camera. As you can see in the sample below, the wide angle lens allows you to fit a group of people into your self-portrait if you extend your arm a little. Image quality in bright light is decent for a front camera.  Color and exposure tend to be spot on but shooting in high-contrast scenes can occasionally lead to blown out skin tones. 

Front camera, ISO 64, 1/1364 sec

As you would expect, pixel-level image quality decreases as the light goes down but the Moto X Force front camera is still capable of capturing decent exposures, that are usable for social sharing, and similar purposes in pretty dim conditions. 

Front camera, ISO 1000, 1/17 sec

Like the Moto X Style the Moto X Force comes with a front flash that allows for subject illumination in very dark conditions. It is not more powerful than most of the solutions that use the display for illumination, for example on the LG G5, but it tends to produce warmer and generally more pleasant colors and is certainly useful when things get too dark. 

Front camera, ISO 640, no shutter speed reported, flash on

Features cont. 

Gallery and Image Editor

Standard thumbnail view

The gallery app has not changed much from previous versions. Images are organized by album (any folder containing photos on the phone) but you can also filter videos and sort by people who appear in the images. For the purpose of the latter you can tag faces and use the automatic tagging function. After activating the function you tag a few images of the same person to start with and from there the app starts tagging automatically. We found this to work pretty reliably.

In the individual image view you can click through to editing and sharing options.	The Details option in the menu shows the image's Exif data.

In individual image view you can also tap on the edit button to open up a good range of options. There are several filters and frames to choose from and you can crop and straighten your images. Under the exposure button you will find a pretty comprehensive range of tonal and color adjustments, including shadows, highlights, curves, hue and exposure. There is also a function to add vignetting and a pretty nifty digital graduated filter. Edited images are saved as a new file. 

The editing module includes a range of filter and frame options.	A good range of tonal corrections, including a curve editor, are on board as well.

Based on time and location of image and video capture the app also creates so-called Highlights Reels by picking the best images and clips from an event and mixing them up with a soundtrack into a movie. You don't have any manual control over the process but the results are mostly pleasant to look at and a nice way of sharing the impressions of a day out or an event with others. 

In individual image mode you'll occasionally find a star symbol next to an image. This means that at the time of capture the camera has recorded more than one image and a clever algorithm is suggesting that one of the frames captured just before or after you hit the shutter might be better than the one you actually see in the gallery. The algorithm looks at facial expressions of subjects, composition and other criteria. A tap on the symbol lets you see the alternative images and a suggested keeper. The differences between images are usually small but occasionally you'll find a better image through this process. In any case, alternate images are saved in a special folder on the device, so you can download them to a computer to inspect more closely before making a decision.

Image Quality & Performance

The Moto X Force comes with Qualcomm's high-end chipset Snapdragon 810 and 3GB of RAM, so it's no surprise it feels quick and responsive in general operation at all times. The camera app takes approximately 1.5 seconds to open and be ready for shooting. That's not the quickest we have seen but good enough in most situations. 

Thanks to phase detection AF implemented on the Sony imaging sensor, the autofocus is very quick to lock on in bright light. It slows down noticeably in low light but generally performs reliably. We only had a handful of slightly out-of-focus images in our hundreds of samples, usually in low light and low contrast conditions. Battery life is one of the Force's strengths. The 3760 mAh battery easily takes you through a long day of shooting and general operation. 

Daylight, Low ISO

In bright light the Moto X Force captures good exposures with neutral colors and fairly strong saturation. The lens shows some slight softness towards the corners but is very sharp in central areas of the frame. There is some slight smearing of fine detail and fairly strong sharpening but overall the 21MP sensor captures very good detail, giving you a lot of flexibility when cropping images for apps like Instagram.

When viewing the first sample below at a 100% you can see some blurred noise in the blue sky but it's overall well under control and not too intrusive.  Thanks to the Moto X Force's ruggedness I wasn't afraid of taking the occasional main-camera selfie while riding my bike. As you can see skin tones are pleasantly natural but in very bright conditions some minor clipping can occur. Overall the Motorola is performing very well in these conditions though.

ISO 50, 1/1136 sec

ISO 50, 1/1031 sec

Images show good detail and saturated color. When shooting at close distance the 1/2.4-inch sensor and F2.0 aperture generate a depth-of-field that is shallow enough to allow for some blurring of the background and emphasis on specific image elements. 

ISO 50, 1/2048 sec

ISO 50, 1/1003 sec

Detail suffers visible in the shadow areas of the frame but noise is very well controlled. In high-contrast situations, like in the sample below on the right, the Motorola is a little prone to highlight clipping, but not any worse than most of its competitors. 

ISO 50, 1/484 sec

Low light, high ISO

In low light the Moto X Force camera maintains good exposure and color throughout the ISO range, with an automated night mode helping in the darkest scenes. However, detail is suffering noticeably as you go up the ISO range and slow shutter speeds can, like on most smartphone cameras, lead to blur on moving subjects.

For the two sample scenes the camera used a 1/30 sec shutter speed and only increased ISO moderately to 125 and 320 respectively. The first image still shows good detail and only slightly elevated noise levels but moving subjects show some motion blur. The right image was taken in a fairly dim bar and while smearing of fine low-contrast detail is now more evident, detail on higher-contrast edges is still very good. Some blurred chroma noise is creeping in in the mid-tones. 

ISO 125, 1/30 sec	ISO 320, 1/30 sec
100% crop	100% crop

In the scenes below the camera's auto white balance system is dealing very well with the mixed-light situations. At these higher ISO settings the levels of fine detail are clearly reduced but edges are still well-defined and with good color and exposure the images look still nice at smaller viewing sizes.

ISO 500, 1/24 sec	ISO 800, 1/15 sec
100% crop	100% crop

When things get too dark the Moto X Force's night mode kick in. It combines several exposures into one image, averaging out noise while achieving a brighter exposure. As you see below pixel-level detail is, as you would expect, not great in these images but colors are good and the camera is capable of capturing decent exposures even in very low light, like the scene on the right.

ISO 1000, 1/15 sec	ISO 1600, 1/15 sec
100% crop	100% crop

Flash

Like on most smartphones the Moto X Force dual-LED flash has a fairly low output and only works at short subject distances. That said, it does a good job as emergency lighting in very dark situations or as a fill-light in back-lit scenes. Exposure is generally good and the camera deals well with mixed-light environments, producing natural colors.

In flash mode the camera generally attempts to keep the ISO low which results in good detail but due to slow shutter speeds some images show a little softness caused by camera shake or subject motion. Occasionally a hint of red-eye is noticeable but overall the effect is well under control. 

ISO 160, 1/30 sec