Modular smartphones were the subject of 2016 with the launch of LG G5. LG called the mods as Friends which didn't work out due to design related issues. Later in 2016, it was Motorola that showcased alternative way of implementing Mods on smartphone with the launch of Moto Z and Z play. In the LG G5, if you had to use a Mod, be it battery or camera Mod, the device needed to be switched off, the mod inserted and then the device was to be powered on. This by LG was a blunder however rectified by Motorola.
Motorola in their Z and Z play made use of mods which get magnetically connected to the back of the phone and can be used on and off without switching off the phone. A smart move by Moto indeed!
The Z play was a great device considering the build, battery life and also had a decent camera. Now, lets talk about the sequel i.e Z2 Play.
The Z2 Play comes with:
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| Moto Z2 Play in Lunar Grey |
Motorola in their Z and Z play made use of mods which get magnetically connected to the back of the phone and can be used on and off without switching off the phone. A smart move by Moto indeed!
The Z play was a great device considering the build, battery life and also had a decent camera. Now, lets talk about the sequel i.e Z2 Play.
The Z2 Play comes with:
- 5.5 inch 1080p super AMOLED display (1920 × 1080) and 401ppi
- Gorilla Glass 3 protection
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 SOC with 8 Cortex A53 cores clocked at 2.2 gHz and Adreno 506 GPU
- 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage expandable via sdcard
- 12MP f/1.7 aperture lens with 1.4 micron pixel, PDAF, laser Autofocus
- 5MP f/2.2 aperture wide angle lens and 1.4 micron pixel size
- 3000mAh battery with Turbo Charge (50% in 30min.)
- Nano SIM, USB 3.1 and type-C, 3.5mm audio Jack
- Bluetooth 4.2, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac and 2.4gHz and 5gHz band support
- A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC
- Sensors: accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, ambient light, ultrasonic, proximity
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| Moto Z2 Play |
Design:
The Moto Z2 play looks quite similar to the G5 plus from the front. The bottom houses the fingerprint sensor which also acts like the home button. The 5.5 inch screen is super AMOLED with Gorilla glass 3 protection. The top part houses the front facing camera, sensors, flash and earpiece.
The volume buttons, power ON/OFF button are placed to the right.
Thr rear houses a huge camera bump with dual LED flash and magnetic connector at the bottom.
The device has a thickness of 5.99 mm and weighs 145g. It has a unibody aluminum design with water repellent coating. (Do remember that the water repellent coating is not actually an IP rating. It can only resist and not fully protect from water related hazards)
The device is available in lunar grey and fine gold color variants.
Camera:
The device has a 12MP single f/1.7 aperture lens rear camera. It comes with 1.4 micron pixel size and supports dual pixel Autofocus. It also comes with PDAF and laser Autofocus. The camera specs is very similar to the G5 plus which fared pretty well even in low light thanks to the aperture size of f/1.7
The camera is capable of 4K video recording at 30FPS and 1080p at 30/60 FPS
The front facing camera is of 5MP with f/2.2 wide angle lens. It comes with same Pixel size of 1.4 micron as that of the rear camera. Pro mode is available and the camera is capable of 1080p recording at 30FPS. The wide angle lens will allow you to capture group selfies with ease.
Performance:
The Moto Z2 play comes with midranger Snapdragon SOC i.e 626. The 626 is based on 14nm process leading to better battery life and efficiency. The 625 has been known for good performance and the 626 is just an updated version of it with higher clock speed of 2.2gHz.
The GPU is the adreno 506 which comes with 130 GFlops capable enough for gaming and pushing the 401 pixels. However, for the price that it sells, a Snapdragon 653 SOC would have been bang on.
The device comes with either 3 or 4GB LPDDR3 RAM depending on regions ( in India its the 4GB variant with 64GB storage).
As the device ships with stock Android i.e 7.1.1 Nougat, the user experience will be great and multitasking must never be an issue. In practical usage, the 626 will hold good for heavy usage with lesser heating.
Speaking of battery life, with 3000mAh battery as against 3510 mAh on the Z play which had Snapdragon 625 SOC, there will be a reduced Screen On Time or rather lesser Juice available by the end of the day based on your usage. For those with heavier usage, its highly skeptical that the battery may last by the end of the day however with average usage there must not be any issue.
Even if your device runs out of battery, the Turbo charger can come to your rescue provided , sockets are available near you :-P
Now, lets talk about the selling point i.e Moto Mods.
The different Mods available are :
1. Gamepad Mod
The gamepad mod turns the device into a mini console. It consists of a D pad and other buttons found in any controller. This Mod will work very well in racing titles and open world games like GTA.
This Mod has 1035 mAh battery and Motorola claims a battery life of upto 8 hours. The charging rate is 5V at 1A.
This mod weighs 140 grams almost the weight of the actual device.
The Mod is not available yet however you can register on their site for updates.
2. JBL soundboost 2
This JBL soundboost 2 consists of 2 stereo speakers with output of 6W i.e 3W per speaker.
It weighs 135g and comes with 1000mAh battery. The estimated battery life claimed is 10 hours and the charging rate is 5V at 1A.
This speaker is splash proof and comes with a kick back to prevent muffling of sound. The major advantage is that it requires no pairing like any Bluetooth speaker.
This Mod is available for $79.99
3. Projector Mod
The projector mod allows for displaying content on the phone to a projector screen or wall upto 70 inches diagonal and 16:9 aspect ratio.
It can display the content in 480p and the mod comes with 1100 mAh battery. After the battery runs up, it starts consuming the device's battery.
The contrast ratio is 400:1 and brightness is upto 50 lumens.
The mod weighs 125g and costs $299.99
4. Hasselblad True Zoom
This Mod as the name suggests provides 10X optical zoom or 4X digital zoom.
It makes use of BSI CMOS Sensor with resolution of 12MP. The pixel size is 1.55 micron and aperture ranges from 3.5 till 6.5
It makes use of Xenon flash and also comes with Pro mode. One main highlighting factor is that it can capture images in RAW format which can be tweaked later according to your liking.
It also comes with OIS and EIS
This Mod is available for $299.99
5. Turbopower Mod
The battery on the Z2 play is just 3000mAh and hence depending on use may not last by the end of the day. Hence, this Mod comes to the rescue.
It comes with a battery capacity of 3490mAh therby making the overall capacity of the device combined to 6590mAh.
It can charge the phone at 15W and the Mod can be charged at 30W via turbo charger.
This mod weighs 95g therby not adding to much weight.
These were some of the Mods available for the Z series devices. There is also the style mod and style mod with wireless charging capability (10W) however, its basically a back cover to the phone which connects magnetically. The style mod without wireless charging costs around $20 and the latter $40.
Not all Mods are available for sale and some are region specific. The Mods available in India are : JBL soundboost (Rs.6999) , projector (Rs. 19999), turbopower, style Mod and hasselblad true zoom Mod (Rs. 19999).
Final thoughts:
The Moto Z2 Play overall is a great device with good performance and decent camera. However, for a price tag of $408 or Rs.28,999 that it was launched, it competes directly with Honor 8 Pro and OnePlus 3T or even the OnePlus 5. Motorola is not even a tier 1 brand sharing with the likes of Samsung also the Mods are no-where cheap that everyone will buy them. Getting a Mod like projector or hasselblad camera Mod will make the overall effective price to almost a tier 1 flagship. Hence, speaking of value for money, this device from Lenovo owned Motorola doesn't stand apart from others.
Do let us know regarding your thoughts about the Z2 Play and will you be buying it and also what additional Mods would you like to see in near future from Motorola.
(This is not a review but just an overview regarding the device.)
The Moto Z2 play looks quite similar to the G5 plus from the front. The bottom houses the fingerprint sensor which also acts like the home button. The 5.5 inch screen is super AMOLED with Gorilla glass 3 protection. The top part houses the front facing camera, sensors, flash and earpiece.
The volume buttons, power ON/OFF button are placed to the right.
Thr rear houses a huge camera bump with dual LED flash and magnetic connector at the bottom.
The device has a thickness of 5.99 mm and weighs 145g. It has a unibody aluminum design with water repellent coating. (Do remember that the water repellent coating is not actually an IP rating. It can only resist and not fully protect from water related hazards)
The device is available in lunar grey and fine gold color variants.
Camera:
The device has a 12MP single f/1.7 aperture lens rear camera. It comes with 1.4 micron pixel size and supports dual pixel Autofocus. It also comes with PDAF and laser Autofocus. The camera specs is very similar to the G5 plus which fared pretty well even in low light thanks to the aperture size of f/1.7
The camera is capable of 4K video recording at 30FPS and 1080p at 30/60 FPS
The front facing camera is of 5MP with f/2.2 wide angle lens. It comes with same Pixel size of 1.4 micron as that of the rear camera. Pro mode is available and the camera is capable of 1080p recording at 30FPS. The wide angle lens will allow you to capture group selfies with ease.
Performance:
The Moto Z2 play comes with midranger Snapdragon SOC i.e 626. The 626 is based on 14nm process leading to better battery life and efficiency. The 625 has been known for good performance and the 626 is just an updated version of it with higher clock speed of 2.2gHz.
The GPU is the adreno 506 which comes with 130 GFlops capable enough for gaming and pushing the 401 pixels. However, for the price that it sells, a Snapdragon 653 SOC would have been bang on.
The device comes with either 3 or 4GB LPDDR3 RAM depending on regions ( in India its the 4GB variant with 64GB storage).
As the device ships with stock Android i.e 7.1.1 Nougat, the user experience will be great and multitasking must never be an issue. In practical usage, the 626 will hold good for heavy usage with lesser heating.
Speaking of battery life, with 3000mAh battery as against 3510 mAh on the Z play which had Snapdragon 625 SOC, there will be a reduced Screen On Time or rather lesser Juice available by the end of the day based on your usage. For those with heavier usage, its highly skeptical that the battery may last by the end of the day however with average usage there must not be any issue.
Even if your device runs out of battery, the Turbo charger can come to your rescue provided , sockets are available near you :-P
Now, lets talk about the selling point i.e Moto Mods.
The different Mods available are :
1. Gamepad Mod
The gamepad mod turns the device into a mini console. It consists of a D pad and other buttons found in any controller. This Mod will work very well in racing titles and open world games like GTA.
This Mod has 1035 mAh battery and Motorola claims a battery life of upto 8 hours. The charging rate is 5V at 1A.
This mod weighs 140 grams almost the weight of the actual device.
The Mod is not available yet however you can register on their site for updates.
2. JBL soundboost 2
This JBL soundboost 2 consists of 2 stereo speakers with output of 6W i.e 3W per speaker.
It weighs 135g and comes with 1000mAh battery. The estimated battery life claimed is 10 hours and the charging rate is 5V at 1A.
This speaker is splash proof and comes with a kick back to prevent muffling of sound. The major advantage is that it requires no pairing like any Bluetooth speaker.
This Mod is available for $79.99
3. Projector Mod
It can display the content in 480p and the mod comes with 1100 mAh battery. After the battery runs up, it starts consuming the device's battery.
The contrast ratio is 400:1 and brightness is upto 50 lumens.
The mod weighs 125g and costs $299.99
4. Hasselblad True Zoom
This Mod as the name suggests provides 10X optical zoom or 4X digital zoom.
It makes use of BSI CMOS Sensor with resolution of 12MP. The pixel size is 1.55 micron and aperture ranges from 3.5 till 6.5
It makes use of Xenon flash and also comes with Pro mode. One main highlighting factor is that it can capture images in RAW format which can be tweaked later according to your liking.
It also comes with OIS and EIS
This Mod is available for $299.99
5. Turbopower Mod
The battery on the Z2 play is just 3000mAh and hence depending on use may not last by the end of the day. Hence, this Mod comes to the rescue.
It comes with a battery capacity of 3490mAh therby making the overall capacity of the device combined to 6590mAh.
It can charge the phone at 15W and the Mod can be charged at 30W via turbo charger.
This mod weighs 95g therby not adding to much weight.
These were some of the Mods available for the Z series devices. There is also the style mod and style mod with wireless charging capability (10W) however, its basically a back cover to the phone which connects magnetically. The style mod without wireless charging costs around $20 and the latter $40.
Not all Mods are available for sale and some are region specific. The Mods available in India are : JBL soundboost (Rs.6999) , projector (Rs. 19999), turbopower, style Mod and hasselblad true zoom Mod (Rs. 19999).
Final thoughts:
The Moto Z2 Play overall is a great device with good performance and decent camera. However, for a price tag of $408 or Rs.28,999 that it was launched, it competes directly with Honor 8 Pro and OnePlus 3T or even the OnePlus 5. Motorola is not even a tier 1 brand sharing with the likes of Samsung also the Mods are no-where cheap that everyone will buy them. Getting a Mod like projector or hasselblad camera Mod will make the overall effective price to almost a tier 1 flagship. Hence, speaking of value for money, this device from Lenovo owned Motorola doesn't stand apart from others.
Do let us know regarding your thoughts about the Z2 Play and will you be buying it and also what additional Mods would you like to see in near future from Motorola.
(This is not a review but just an overview regarding the device.)