Verizon Two-Tone Bumper for Moto Z3 (Moto Mod Compatible) Expired

The Moto mods are disappearing from all retailers. I think this is the end of them...

It's a shame because people will be buying the Moto Z4 for a while still

When I researched it a couple years ago, there were two Verizon bumper cases. The first gen ones were perfect. The second gen ones didn't fit quite right, and so the volume and power buttons were difficult to press with the case on.

Unfortunately I don't remember how to tell them apart. I ended up buying a first-gen one from a an overstock seller on eBay, and have been very happy with it.


For what it is (a thin ring of plastic), it protects pretty well. The rear of the phone ends up being the battery mod, which is in theory replaceable. So I don't really care if I scuff it up. The bumper protects the edges. And the bumper rises far enough in front to protect the screen from falls onto flat surfaces. It won't protect if you drop the screen onto a pointy rock, but then neither would a regular body case.

If you're worried about the rear of the mod being scuffed up, you can put those spray-on rubberized coatings on it. I did that because my Incipio battery mod was initially too slick - it kept slipping out of my hand. The rubberized coating would last about 1-2 moths before a hole would wear through and I'd have to peel it off and reapply it. After doing that 3 times I got lazy, and after a couple months of normal use the battery mod housing seemed to lose its slick coating. It's now grippy enough that I don't feel a need to spray a coating onto it. But if you're worried about scuffind it then that's still an option.

In a drop, the phone also dissipates energy by detaching the mod. The magnets holding the mod in place are pretty strong, so it takes quite a bit of energy to detach it. That helps absorb some of the kinetic energy of the fall, so it's not like the bumper is doing all the work by itself.



In normal mode, the battery mod keeps the phone battery at 100%. That is your phone battery stays at 100% and you deplete the mod battery charge first, When the mod is at 0%, the phone battery begins to discharge. (There's a limit to how quickly the mod can charge the phone battery, so if you do anything power intensive like gaming on the phone, the phone battery will drop below 100%, then the mod will charge it back up to 100% when you quit gaming.)

In efficiency mode, the battery keeps the phone battery at 80%. That is, you charge your phone to 100%, the phone initially uses its internal battery from 100% to 80%. The mod battery then keeps the phone battery at 80% until the mod battery is depleted, then the phone battery continues to discharge to 0%.

HOWEVER, the mod will not charge unless the phone battery is at 100%. So if you're hoping to use this as a way to avoid 100% full charges on your phone's internal battery (to extend its lifespan), there's no easy way to do it. I was hoping that in efficiency mode the phone battery would just stay at 80% as long as the mod was attached and had charge. And when the phone was at 80% and I plugged it into the charger, the mod battery would be charged instead. But nope, that's not how it works. Phone has to go to 100% before the mod will begin charging.

If you've got a mod with its own charging capability (either the wireless version, or with its own USB charging port), then you can remove it from the phone and charge it separately. But coupled with the bumper case, constantly detaching, changing cases (the bumper case will not work without a mod), removing the case, reattaching, and replacing the bumper case is a real hassle. Not to mention you also need to get your phone's battery charged above 80% (I run it in efficiency mode). if it's below 80%, the mod you just charged immediately uses some of its charge to bring your phone back up to 80% (100% in normal mode), partially defeating the purpose of charging the mod separately.

If not for the charging stage, the idea would've been perfect for preserving your phone's internal battery.


The Z2 Force doesn't have a glass screen. It has the so-called indestructible plastic screen. Being plastic, it scratches easily. So Motorola put a super-thick screen protector on top of it. This protector is what delaminates. I suspect it's only a problem if you carry the phone in your back pocket, which regularly bends it. I carry mine in my front pocket, and have had nothing even resembling delamination in 1.5 years.

Anyway, if you suffer the delamination issue, Motorola will replace it once under warranty. But only once. They won't replace it a second time for the issue. That said, because it's just an extra-thick screen protector which delaminates, it is possible to solve the issue yourself by removing this screen protector. Unfortunately they used a ton of glue to attach it, so you have to remove it very carefully (the real screen underneath has a plastic surface, not glass, so you have to be careful not to scratch it while removing the glue). But once all the glue is off, you can simply put a normal plastic screen protector on top, and you're good to go.

The other issue with the Z2 Force screen is that because it's plastic, it's not perfectly flat. Don't get the tempered glass screen protectors - those are nearly perfectly flat so are almost guaranteed to form bubbles if you place it on the Z2 Force screen. Get a regular plastic screen protector - those have a little more flexibility to contour over the uneven Z2 Force screen. And even then, you may still get some bubbles (I get one in the corner of the screen, fortunately outside the lit area).

While I've heard of it happening, off the top of my head, I've had 4 Moto, 3 pixels, an LG, and a Samsung, with OLED and none that have had burn in. AMOLED is much better than LCD, ESPECIALLY when paired with Moto Display or AOD. They can also help with battery life when used with dark mode and black backgrounds.

Burn in happens and sucks, but OLED is a great tech for both phones and TVs. It's one of the top specs I look for in a phone, and with most higher end phones going AMOLED and lower end phones going LCD, I'm definitely not the only one.