Motorola has always been very good in producing mid-range smartphones, from the past few years some of the Motorola’s mid-level smartphones were really great and they were totally worth the short-timed hype. The quality smartphones that have been produced by Motorola were priced so less that some of them could easily put flagship smartphone from the other companies to shame.
Here I am not saying that the Motorola’s smartphones are the best in every way like the processor, camera, display etc. but they surely are worth the money and people who are looking for a mid-range smartphone in the budget so they can surely count on Motorola.
Last year Motorola announced a few new smartphones including Z Play, Moto M and a few others that caught people’s eye for a while. These were all under $500 and had some really good features. They were fast and had very decent specifications as well. The Moto Z Play revealed last year had a very great battery and many people bought that phone because it was a powerhouse mid-range phone with a really great battery.
Moto Z Play gave a whole day of backup with intensive use and 6 hours of video playback. Which made it the best smartphone with a long-lasting battery that actually had a very decent performance. The other specifications were an Octa-core processor with AMOLED 5.5” display, a 16mp back and 5mp front camera along with the 3gb ram and 32 GB of internal storage. The price for Moto Z Play is around $400.
The New Moto Z2 Play 2017 Is Even Better than Z Play:
The updated version of Motorola’s very beautiful Z Play has been announced and guess what? It’s more powerful, slimmer and lighter than the previous model, with all the goodness of the previous Z Play, the company decided to make it better, faster and compact this year, the best thing about the new Moto Z2 Play is the battery is almost the same like before, even though Motorola packed a small size battery in the Moto Z2 Play but it is going to give you almost the same backup like the previous model, making it possible for the users to get a whole day with one full charge and that too with intensive use.
The size and the shape have also been changed a bit. The new Z2 Play is more compact in design and is lighter than the previous model. However the screen size is the same, means more display with a compact and lightweight body. The general specifications of the new Motorola Z2 Play are as under.
- 5” FHD AMOLED DISPLAY.
- 99mm thickness with 145g of weight.
- 2Mhz Octa-Core cortex-A53 processor with 3 or 4Gb of ram
- 32Gb and 64Gb storage option.
- Dual-LED 12mp front camera with phase detection, 5mp front camera.
- Android Nougat 7.1.1
- A 3000mAh Battery with fast charging.
- USB 3.1, Type-C reversible connector.
- Water-repellent and a Nano-coating body.
- Finger Print sensor.
- Comes in Lunar Grey, Nimbus Blue, and Fine Gold colors.
The new Moto Z is set to be priced at around $499 and will be available worldwide in summer 2017.
Amazing Battery Life:
As said before, one of the main reason Moto Z Play got many Android enthusiasts attention was because of the powerful battery, lets face the fact that most of the flagship smartphones that are currently available for over $800 does not have a satisfied battery life, if you ask a moderate user he will tell you that they get a whole day performance with a minimal usage of their smartphone, but it’s a different story for a guy like me who uses a smartphone for almost everything and keeps a power bank all the time because it’s really difficult at times to plug in the charge, especially when you are travelling.
Motorola’s new Z2 Play in a looping video drain test gave us around 17hours of playback, which is pretty good for a mid-range phone, Galaxy S8 and LG’s G6 gave 15hours and 13hours respectively in the same test. And we all know how expensive these top-tiers smartphones are.
However, the previous model of Z Play ran for 23 long hours in our same test, which was really a great surprise. But Z2’s performance isn’t bad either if we compare it with the price it’s coming for.
The New Voice Command is Awesome!
Yes, you really don’t need to say HEY SIRI or ALEZA or OK, GOOGLE. You just have to say SHOW ME and your new Z2 Play will open apps for you. It’s very promising and upgraded feature, in my opinion, again keeping in mind the price of the phone, this feature looks really great. You will just say SHOW ME MESSAGES or SHOW ME CONTACTS or SHOW ME MAPS and your phone will pop that specific app for you on your Z2 Play.
It’s a very sophisticated feature. Something every smartphone must and will have in future and I would personally love to see more personalized hands-free commands on the smartphone.
The Overall Performance:
Starting with the processor and ram, this phone has a pretty good speed, not the best one but I’d rather call it justifiable performance for the price tag, one cannot expect this phone to perform like the super-fast top-tier phone because it’s not!
Coming to the 1080p AMOLED display, which is not the brightest of all or does not have the most pixel-dense display but still, it’s sharp and clear enough to do the job also works fine outdoors.
As far as the software is considered, its pretty smooth with the specs and Motorola has made some slight changes on the phone including the interface and have added some useful gestures.
The feature in Moto Z2 Play that shows the time and notification when you pick up the phone or wave your hand over the phone has also been improved with a battery icon.
The ability to reply to your notifications without using your phone is just awesome, you can reply to a text message with text or my voice right from the Moto display.
Moto Mods:
This new Moto Z2 Play is compatible with the Moto Mods, a fashionably getting famous concept in which you can add more power or more features to your phone, the three main modes that are available in the market are TurboPower pack charger ($80), Wireless Charging style shell ($40) and JBL SounBoost 2 speaker ($80).
The Verdict:
Moto Z2 Play might be a good choice under $500 for many people who want to try something different and new especially in regards to the battery life Moto Z2 Play is providing, however some people will think twice before spending $500 on a mid-range phone knowing they can get a top-tier phone in the same or a little more money like one+3T etc.
So if you want a phone with long battery life, with magnetic mods and simple smooth software, Motorola’s Z2 Play will be a good choice.