Last year, Lenovo owned Motorola shelved the Moto X series and made way for modularity through the whole new Z series smartphones. Though the concept was fresh and intriguing, the Moto Z (or Z force indeed) didn’t rake in the moolah due to the pathetic battery life and unaffordability of the mods. The younger brother Z play was pretty much a sensation with it’s stunning looks and stellar battery life. And here comes Motorola with the successor of the Z play. Let’s take a look at the spec and the opinion review of the smartphone.
Design:
The Z play featured a glossy rear design with the primary camera protruding above the surface and the 16 pin modularity supported connector sitting at the bottom. The Z2 play features a similar design with a metallic back and everything else remain unchanged. As Motorola had assured that the mods will support future generation Z devices and vice versa, they haven’t made any considerable design change except the depth of the phone which is now 5.99mm compared to the previous 7mm. But this comes at the cost of the most valuable asset the phone had.? Another interesting addition is the multi-functional fingerprint scanner similar to what we’ve seen in the G5+.
Display:
The display is a super AMOLED 1080p FHD panel with a pixel density of 401 ppi. It’s same as the one seen in the previous generation. That said, it must be appealing and vibrant as it is a super AMOLED panel.
Hardware and software:
The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm snapdragon 626 octa-core processor built on 14nm FinFet architecture. It is expected to be power efficient as it is nothing but a higher clocked version(2.2GHz) of the insanely popular 625.
On the software front the Z2 play runs on Android v7.1.1 Nougat with very less to no customizations on top. The device is expected to be fluid and snappier provided a power efficient and capable processor underneath. The stock android adds to the richness of the user experience.
Optics:
Now, this is where things get interesting. The Z play was criticized for its strictly average camera and this must’ve tempted Motorola to up the ante. This time, they’ve come up with a much better looking (atleast on paper) primary camera. The camera is a 12 megapixel sensor with an f/1.7 aperture which is capable of 4k video recording. If you wonder to have heard this somewhere before, you’re a genius. This is exactly the same sensor used on the g5+ which has arguably the best camera in its budget segment. So we’re hoping for a better camera performance this time around.
Battery:
Now, this is what irks us the most. The device is fuelled by a 3000mAh lythium polymer battery compared to the 3510 mAh battery on the Z play. The battery life was easily the most valuable asset of the Z play and what Motorola has done seems illogical. The Z play was comparatively thinner at 7mm and trimming it further to a 5.99mm at the cost of battery life is looking absurd. But, the battery life must still be decent as the 626 is not a bad chip though. Motorola is also providing a fast charger bundled in which is supposed to be quick as the G5+.
Verdict:
The Z2 play seems to be a decent contender atleast in terms of specs on paper. Now let’s move to the most important aspect of any smartphone, pricing. The device is priced at ₹27,999 for the 4/64 variant which seems to be hefty.Why? Moto’s very own G5+ with a strikingly similar specs and processor barring the modularity support is priced at ₹16,999 which seems legitimate and more practical. Even the p2 by parent company lenovo with similar specs and a humongous battery looks much better deal. So, we don’t think the masses opting for the Z2 play getting past those cheaper yet similar phones. Moreover, the mods are priced crazy that one can buy a whole new phone with price of buying the projector and camera mod.
But if you still want to experience the taste of modularity with a decent spec on-board, then the moto Z2 play is waiting for you.
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